John Henry

This here's the cover of an upcoming edition of the Graphic Spin series of graphic novellas for young readers, published by US publisher Stone Arch Books. The series deals with the re-telling of popular folk and fairytales; previous highlights include Luke Feldman's (a.k.a. Skaffs) vectorious take on Beauty & The Beast.

The tale of John Henry was completely new to me (this is probably the case for most folk outside the United States), and it's a fascinating yarn, partly because the source period of the story is relatively recent: post civil war America. I'm hard pressed to think of many folk tales/myths which are derived from a time during which people were actually walking around with cameras. So naturally I've done a demented amount of research, just because the lovely, lovely internet made it all so easy: steamboats, 19th century railroad construction, the colour and atmosphere of the West Virginian countryside etc.

Anyway, all that googling is getting translated into the finished pages right now. Here's a few process shots of the cover from rough to completion...




(That leg on the left had a particularly thrilling journey, didn't it? Aaaand relax...)