HARDY BOYS Cover Art
April 9, 2009 by Paulo Henrique
Filed under Papercutz Blog
Hey, everyone,
Interested in getting a look at some of the cover art before we add the titles? Well, have a look here:
This is from THE HARDY BOYS #16 “Shhhhhh!” – IN STORES NOW 
What follows is my cover sketch from THE HARDY BOYS #17 “Word Up!”
After I make some changes, I draw in pencil the black and white art which I then ink. After that, Laurie E. Smith colors the pages so what you end up with is this:
You can see how we changed John Pryde (the guy in the background) a bit. In my sketch he looked like he was raising his hand in class or something, or shaking a fist at Joe and Frank. I also did a little bit of a fisheye lens treatment. You see this kind of camera shot in a lot of skateboarding videos. (Go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisheye_lens for more info.) Miniature fisheye lenses are used in a lot of security cameras. Using one here gives you the impression that this is a closed-off world we’re peering into. “Word Up!” is a great Hardy Boys title; it’s in stores in May. Here’s some of my art from upcoming volumes…
Cover from THE HARDY BOYS #18 “D.A.N.G.E.R. Spells the Hangman!”
Cover from THE HARDY BOYS #19 “CHAOS at 30,000 Feet!”
ENJOY!
-PH
Thanks. All these covers look great! I like ”Word Up!” the best, though. The Hardys strapped to explosives? You can’t beat that! The fisheye lens effect really adds to it, too.
”D.A.N.G.E.R. Spells the Hangman!” is really mysterious. Who is that masked man? I’m looking forward to this title already!
The ”Shhhhhh!” cover is cool, because there’s been tons of Hardy Boys cover over the year, but never has one had the Hardys being pulled throw a bookshelf by six (or however many there is) bad guys. On the other hand it could be two monsters with six arms.
Paulo Henrique thanks for the cover comentary. I love that you put in the original #17. So you say you do your own inking? How hard is that? Its done with a brush right?
Hi, Robin! Inking takes some skill and training over the years, but the more you practice, the more you get the hang of it. I ink my pages with ink pens instead of brushes. The models I use are Standler pigment liner 0.05mm, 0.3mm, and .04mm or Sakura pigment ink- Pigma Micron 0.05mm, 0.3mm and 0.4mm. I have no idea if these pens are available in USA, but I would think so. Thanks for your question. I’ve got to get back to work!
-PH
Thanks for the info Paulo. I want to be a comic artist so I’m allways glad to find more info about the job. So how did you get into the field? Is there any really good schools for this job?
Hi Robin!
Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply. I think that the best way to get into the business is to prepare a good portfolio. Everyone has different artistic styles, but you should always include some action page samples in your portfolio, as editors often want to see those. It’s hard to recommend schools to you as I am in Brazil and you are in the US (I think). There are many schools to improve your skills, but its up to you to get out there and show your portfolio to editors. You’ll need to have the best samples of your work in your portfolio, and you should keep it up to date. Hopefully, you’re getting better and better as an artist. This is how I started in 1997, when I had the chance to show my art to a publishing house, which lead to me getting work. I hope that answers your questions. Thanks for reading!
Best Regards!
-PH
Yeah I heard about portfolios before. Right now I’m a Jounior in high school and I’ve never worked in comics before so I have troble filling it. I found out that Marvel uses 10×15 inch paper (or at least they used to) and made a few pages about whatever came to my head, but alot of times I cant think of what to draw. If its for a portfolio do I use copyrighted chacters or do I make up my own?
I don’t want to flood you with questions but I have afew more. I heard something about drawing in blue. How is that different? Can you erase in blue? (I know you draw in black but I thought I might as well ask.) Also any tips on drawing hands?
PS.
I just got my hands on some ink pens. They are so cool.