So, I had an idea a while ago that I'd like to collaborate with Joe on a cover. He would bring the pain with the paint and I would take what he gave me and apply some Johnson design to it. This is the result.
All I told Joe was I wanted a unfinished painting. Showing brush strokes and all. To keep it in the vein of the old pulp novel covers from the 60's. Not to worry about the over all design. Hell to be honest, Joe went above and beyond what I thought he was going to do. I figured a cool head shot would be all he had to do, but the Joe has always been an over achiever so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.
I really didn't have a plan when I started this. Play around with some ideas, settled on a direction and go with it. And adding elements along the way, like the hypno lines to give it that 70's cop show feel, the highlighted blue strip to call your attention to the gun behind his head, and the map of Manhattan to drive home this story takes place in NYC.
Know what I just realized; the logo is at the BOTTOM of the cover! I've been trying for years to get editors to let me design covers like that and those sketches are ALWAYS rejected.