Solaris, the making of a cover

[ChantalFournier]

I just posted in my blog about the making of a magazine cover. I feel somewhat like I'm spamming by posting this here but I see so many people in the paintover/critique section who don't use references, don't do thumbnails, don't think about design or composition that I feel it might be useful to repeat it all over again. You can't do great art without great preparation.

SteelButt Jack, a Solaris cover

It's the making of for this image and it covers everything mentionned.

Because skipping references doesn't mean you are good enough, it means you aren't good enough yet.

[meat]

Guilty of all accounts, haha! Thanks for sharing this! Good reminder to myself to kick that Slothy Ass and do things right.

[ChantalFournier]

I don't want people to think that I'm bragging. I have a lot to learn still. I know I need to improve. But my art would be way worse than it is now if I didn't do the prep work.

[yass100]

This image is looking well. Also look like a spider man.

[Madzia]

first of all congratulation on making cover for Solaris :D And praise You for your words. Yes, skipping thumbnails, references and planning will just hurt your art.
"[...] starting out with no conception, or depending upon "snapping up" something as you go along, is mighty poor procedure and has two strikes against it at the outset"-A.Loomis
I repeat all around to everyone who want to know - read Creative illustration by Andrew Loomis. James Gurney also shows in his books how important is preparation!
Artists have a tendency to believe in magic, that other artists just start in one corner and create painting from nothing. And many step-by-step tutorials only shows rendering stage, not how the idea is created. For me just establishing composition and colors takes 50-60% of whole time. Rendering is easiest part!
Thanks again for sharing~!