Curse of the Eel chapter 2 cover process

Sooo Curse of the Eel 2 has been done for a while, and originally I printed the chapter with chapter 1 because I thought it would make it easier to sell. Instead of selling 2 smaller books, you get one big fat book and I hoped to keep the price down by not having to print 2 covers and bind a second book when I could print them all in one. However, the printshop I was going thru was charging so much to print the book that it's just not feasible, plus the increased page count made the book so thick, it was hard to drive a staple thru. Ugh.

So I found a new printer! I'm getting test prints done now, so I'm hoping that this will make the book more affordable so i can sell them less, but splitting Eel 1 and 2 meant 2 needed its own cover. So I whipped this together yesterday! I say whipped because the thing I love about Eel is that I have a design scheme for the covers, so finding ways to make each cover interesting but following that same idea is super easy! I'll need these books because I'll be tabling at SPX next month! I'll post again when I know my table spot!

So here are the steps, pencils to inks to color for the 2nd chapter cover of Curse of the Eel!

Curse of the Eel Ch3 Process

Here are the 3 art stages for the cover of Curse of the Eel chapter 3! The first book is chapter 1 and 2 together, so there hasn’t been a chapter 2 cover yet. When I reprint it, I’m going to make them only a chapter per book, it’s cheaper to print that way oddly enough.

Connie is a frustrated goth girl who is being bullied. One day she is chased into an abandoned shack and accidentally summons an eldritch-like eel creature into our world. Connie is horrified however to find that the Eel is a soft spoken meddler who loves to eat and watch Oprah. With the Eel as her only friend, Connie tries to navigate high school life with as few troubles as possible. Good luck with that.

Tools: Raphael 8404 #3 Brush and FW Ink
Paper: Stillman and Birn Beta paper.