Cover Story, Damon Renthrope's Process
 The article as it appears on page 13. | |
| Author | Clarence D. Meriweather |
|---|---|
| Genre | Article |
| Published | EF Issue 2020.3 |
| Pages | 4 |
| Website |
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Take a peek into the creation of this issue’s cover! By Damon Renthrope.
Article Transcript
Ideas for this cover came really easily to me. Notwithstanding that I generally get ideas for art way more easily than finding the time to draw and paint, I still could have filled pages of ideas for this cover, because the theme has filled my head for as long as I can remember.
At the time I started focusing on the newsletter, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon, etc. were strong in my mind. Then John Lewis died. Then my cousin died from cancer. Then my parents caught C19. Then I found out I wouldn’t be receiving any stimulus money. Etc., etc.
So, I had a lot to go on. Clarence (the guest editor) and I tossed some ideas back and forth, and we decided to go with the first handful of ideas that came out, since newsletters have deadlines.
Sam Wilson (the new Captain America) was my first thought. I felt that with everything happening, a peek at perspective could spur some thinking. One thought is that seeing a black man in the iconic Uncle Sam stance, finger in our face, as Cap ‘Merica, demanding of us with firm authority — it makes us see the issues from the other side, especially if we, the viewers are opponents of BLM and police reform. It helps that this character — according to Marvel — is actually Cap America, named Sam. Captain America and Uncle Sam are two of America’s most “traditional” images of a white man as our leader, boss and model. In my mind, they’re the most accurate illustrations of the “Great America” that some of us want to see again. The image of Uncle Sam Wilson forces the acknowledgement of a black man as that figure. If it bothers us, we have more thinking to do. If it doesn’t, at least it reminds us of Marvel’s next movies.
Other ideas included images of George Floyd with police tape as a noose, a statue of Django replacing confederate generals, shooting targets, a Donald Trump statue being pulled down Iwo Jima style, a Harriet Tubman portrait with elements of a $20 bill, and more. As I did with a portrait sketch of John Lewis, I may still flesh some of those ideas out. I really just leaned toward Sam Wilson for this cover.
Once the ideas started, I grabbed my iPad, sketched them out, and jotted the notes before I could forget them.
As shown on the previous page, I’ll scribble the image in light blue, then just start rendering on a separate layer. I’ll sometimes give shadows and highlights their own layers, but it’s usually unnecessary. The cover took a while because I worked on it sporadically. I had other deadlines, but I also had to finish moving to a smaller apartment at the time.
I like Procreate and Fresco, but I feel more comfortable in Sketchbook by Autodesk. I use the first default pencil tool.
I liked the red in the glasses because I feel the mood more that way. I originally planned to include blue, as a ghosted image of George Floyd, and to overlay swatches of red, white and blue on an off-register, but it felt more poignant this way.
The red puts focus on his expression, and it still lets you see his eyes upon closer inspection. With the eyes, the likeness of Anthony Mackie (the actor for Falcon, who becomes Captain America) becomes more evident, but I felt the tone of the image was more important. The red shows more intensity. While drawing the face, I thought of the famous quote by James Baldwin, “to be a negro in this country, and to be relatively conscious, is to be in a rage almost all the time.”
You can find more of Damon’s work at damonarts.com..
See Also
External Links
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