MARGARET LISS:
A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.
We've looked at Dave Sim's notebook #13 twice before. Once in February of 2015 in "Jaka's Sweet old Aunt Victoria" and the in August of 2015 in "Outlines for The Poet". Notebook #13 covers Cerebus #122 to 125 and had 67 pages scanned.
On page 41 of the notebook we see the first sketch for what would become the cover to issue 124.
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| Notebook 13, page 41 |
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| Notebook 13, page 45 |
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| Cover to Cerebus #124 |
4 comments:
Um...
Just guessing here...
Buuuutttt...
Maybe take the notated name (if that's what it is) out of the upper right corner of the reproduced (scanned) notebook page?
If I'm wrong, M, then feel free to rip me a new one.
That's a pretty sweet preliminary drawing of that cover by Dave solo. And Gerhard was starting to hit his stride by then, so for Dave to be "hitting in the same ballpark" is quite impressive.
Dave's is good design work, but the craft level of Gerhard's is another 100% on top.
Look at the hatching to contour the stones and compare Dave's spotted blacks.
On the other hand - It's fascinating to see Dave's design work on the image. It's great design work and great skill and has more abstract style. Makes you wonder what the series would have looked like fully drafted by Dave.
This has always been one of my favorite covers, not just of Cerebus but of comics in general. The stark, white borders down the side are a beautiful touch. I was hoping it was going to be one of the ones offered as print. At least I got to see a behind-the-scenes look at its creation. Thanks, Margaret!
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