Not too long ago I had an active Patreon where I posted process documentation for Joe Death and the Graven Image and other random side projects. I’m currently deep in developmental primordial ooze for my next book so I wanted to bring out a few older posts from that Patreon. This will be a four-part series I “aired” between August 2020 and May 2021, called The Past is Pulp. Please enjoy!

Alright, the last and most likely final Planet Stories cover copy! My intention was to do a series of 5 but I think 3 is enough as I'd be treading the same territory over essentially. This cover is different than the last two in the case of the main characters who are featured in closeup with only one supporting character in the back, firing a gun off-camera, it's also a black backdrop instead of a brighter color.

At this point, my interest in copying closely the costumes and characters is gone and I wanted to just make up something that felt more interesting to me.

Same process as found in the other two cover copies, sketching small, getting to know the relationships of shapes and composition.

This third cover was a little more difficult for me than the last two, something just felt off. Maybe not seeing the full figure of the main character put it in a different sort of balance.

Lining them up together felt good, a representation of unity and variety. Seeing them together has maybe been more illuminating than I should admit...up until this point I really have been only thinking about covers in the singular, never together. I think there's a collectability aspect to this, a type of desire to "catch them all," in a sense. Hmm, interesting haha.