Weird Science

Paolo Rivera says this cover was made for Mondo Gallery’s EC Comics and Tales from the Crypt tribute show, and that he chose to honor Wallace Wood rather than the Crypt Keeper. He notes that the piece was drawn to fit actual EC trade dress, used an unused issue number, and was made under a tight deadline.

He also walks through his process: digital penciling in Photoshop, printing in blue-line, then inking the original himself with a Winsor & Newton Series 7 #6 brush, a Speedball B-6 nib for lettering, and Holbein Drawing Ink. He says the full process took 30 hours, with half of that time spent inking, and that the original might still be finished later in color.

Reading notes

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• Cross-posted with Muddy Colors.
• The cover is titled Weird Science #32 Cover and is dated 2013.
• The piece is ink on bristol board, 13 × 19 inches.
• Mondo Gallery in Austin, Texas hosted the EC Comics and Tales from the Crypt show, It Didn’t Rot Our Brains, from October 25 through November 23.
• Rivera chose a sci-fi tribute to Wallace Wood instead of a Tales from the Crypt tribute.
• He says he takes draftsmanship seriously.
• He inked the cover himself because the show needed it quickly; his dad, Joe Rivera, usually inks his work.
• He penciled it digitally in Photoshop, printed it as blue-line, and inked straight over that print.
• He used a Winsor & Newton Series 7 #6 brush for everything except the lettering.
• He used a Speedball B-6 nib for the lettering.
• He prefers Holbein Drawing Ink because it gives a rich black and dries waterproof.
• The blue-line was made with a Photoshop adjustment layer set to Colorize.
• He gives one setting for the blue-line conversion: Hue 196, Saturation 100, Lightness +94.
• In the rough stage, his main concerns were composition and legibility.
• He keeps major elements on separate layers so he can move or scale them.
• He also uses a perspective template to keep technical elements aligned.
• The tribute used trade dress from an actual Wood cover, with support from the Bill Gaines estate.
• The only request from the estate was to use an issue number that had not already been taken.
• Because the piece was not for publication, the approval process was lax.
• He says the process made him want to draw an entire series.
• The whole process took 30 hours, with half spent inking.
• He did not have time to color the original, but hopes to color it digitally later.
• If the art does not sell, he says he will get it back and finish it with watercolor and gouache.
• He includes two captioned details: “In space, no one can hear you sigh.” and “The New Year isn’t looking so good for our commander.”