Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #1 Sketch Cover

When I saw a reprinted blank cover of the comic that changed the industry in the 1960's - and with the film due out in a few months - I had to take a shot. This is my rendition of Fantastic Four Vol. 1 Issue 1. The composition is influenced also by those classic 1950's sci-fi film posters; they were always collages of important players and scenes. For this cover, I cemented their origin on top of their first adventure: the initial encounter with the Mole Man on Monster Island. I did my best to show Ben's proto-Thing form with minor hints of the rocky texture his skin would take. For Sue, I used a bit of colorless blender to dissolve her arm into the blue. Reed's stretchy arm was the easiest; I even threw in some arm hair to get across this is still human flesh. For Johnny, however, I kind of had to show the arm as opposed to Jack's initial interpretation of him being engulfed in fire with no visible human form inside. The idea to make the rock they place their hands on double for Monster Island was very late in the developing stages. I hoped the illusion of Johnny's flame illuminating part of the rock as opposed to the grim, ominous mouth of the island's cave would be balanced out. I used two different colors of Gellyroll pens to create some depth in the cosmic ray storm that empowers the FF. In the end they proved a lot more effective than using a paint brush. It's always a balancing act to see which elements will work and allow the art to breathe as opposed to suffocating it with too much detail. To that end, although inspired by 1950's movie posters, I didn't want to throw in captions to clutter what was very self-explanatory. I'm very pleased and relieved at how this cover turned out. Expect it posted for sale in my "Art for Sale" gallery shortly.