Here we’ll take a quick look to how the cover came to be.

Before we begin, as Josh and I talked about the cover for Hard Wyred, we agreed that it must do three things:

1. Show the Online World in some way.

2. Stand out from other comic covers.

3. Let us have our own unique twist on it.

Sketches

It all started with sketches and cover concepts. Josh came up with three awesome ideas:

The first. A sketch of digital Sam unzipping his outer shell of offline Sam. There was also going to be wires being torn up from this unzipping like “roots and veins” as Josh first described it. The background would consist of the online world with futuristic cars and buildings. All in all, it was a fantastic design, and would offer us a chance to showcase both worlds.

The second sketch. It is Sam strapped to an upload machine that transfers him to the digital world. There would be wires all linked up to his head. On these wires we would have members of the supporting cast zip-lining down towards his head. Josh would describe this cover as “kind of crazy,” but again it would allow us to accomplish all three of the objectives we had set out to do when designing the cover. However, once Josh came up with the third cover idea it was all over.

The Third Sketch really stood out when compared to the other two (Josh really outdid himself on this one). Not only do we get to showcase both of Sam’s forms (offline and online), we get to see the distinct difference between them. The top being Sam’s ordinary and mundane world, while the bottom being Sam’s online form with his fantastical futuristic world. It accomplished all three goals we set out to do while making a cover, and I think just looks amazingly cool on it’s own.

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Pencils

With the design chosen, Josh immediately went to work on pencils.

Both worlds are taking shape now, with special care being taken to make sure that Sam is still the primary focus of the piece.

Inks and Colours

I forgot to mention at the start, but when we were initially coming up with cover ideas, Josh mentioned that he wanted to try a digital paint cover. Having seen his other work (and if you haven’t, check out the DeviantArt link at the bottom of the page) I imagined it was going to be a pretty good looking cover. The final result though…. I believe the word “Wow” was all I could initially say to him. See for yourself.

And that’s is how the cover for Hard Wyred #1 came to be.

If you’d like to see Hard Wyred come to life, than please keep an eye out for our Kickstarter campaign which will be beginning in early May.

And if you would like to see some of Josh’s other digital paint covers, check his DeviantArt here.