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How Frank Cho Breaks Down Harley Quinn

Published Sat, 07 Jan 2017 10:00:37 -0600

Last updated Wed, 11 Jan 2017 10:56:31 -0600

From this week's Harley Quinn #11, Frank Cho breaks down his cover.

I wanted to capture the old illustration look, especially that gorgeous Franklin Booth style. So I sketched out a pose that reminded me of the time gone by, almost like an old wedding portrait.

I always thought the Joker is in essence a knife – straight, sharp and ever so menacing. And Harley should be beautiful with a slight hint of mania lurking behind her eyes. Early on, I decided to make the folds of Harley Quinn's dress to be the main focus. (Love drawing folds and draperies.)

STEP 2 – Once I have the pencil down, I start inking. I always start on the darkest areas of the folds and the shadows first.

I predominately use two pens. I use Micron Pigma pen, size 08, to ink the dark areas. I use Micron Pigma pen, size 01, to ink in the light areas.

As you can see, I vary the line angles and slants to follow the contours of the different folds. This aids in the illusion of depths and highlights of the dress folds.

STEP 3 – I started working on the Joker and the curtain drapes, focusing on the dark areas using Micron Pigma pen, size 08.

I continued conturing the folds of Harley's dress with ink lines, varying the slant of the strokes. I also tighten up the cats and outline them. I decided not to texture the cats and just keep them white which will help them stand out and not get lost in the folds of the dress.

STEP 4 – On the home stretch. I've finished inking the Joker, Harley and the drapes. Now I have to finish off the couch.

I added in pencil guide lines on the couch, to help my ink lines straight. I later decided to add leafy patterns to the couch which I'll show you in the final piece.

The funny part was the damn roses and flowers in the vase took a lot longer than I anticipated.

Here's the final step. I inked in the bat-signal and added the rain effects on the window. I wanted Harley, Joker and bat-signal to be the brightest thing on the illustration, so I didn't add any texture to their features.

From start to finish, this piece took me about 4 days. But it was worth the effort. :-)

This Harley Quinn #11 variant cover is out this week in all comic shops. I noticed my local comic shops are selling out of this issue with my variant cover so good luck hunting them down.