Sandman Covers

As research for the comic brief I've looked at the existing examples of comic covers for the Sandman series. I haven't decided on a series yet but the Sandman is my favourite so it could be a good choice to work with though it may also be quite a hard one.

The sandman covers are illustrated by Dave Mckean, and artist from Berkshire who currently lives in Kent. He works pretty exclusively with mixed media collage to create his covers but also works with illustration and some type for titles and names etc. 

You can see that each of the covers does link and each has elements that remain the same throughout which link them together. They also all share a kind of chaotic grittiness and they are pretty clearly sinister. The narrative is generally quite dark which comes through in the covers so in that sense they are suitable.

What is most striking about the covers is that they are obviously very fine art-like in execution which is massively out of character for a comic book series, especially one set in the DC universe (Batman and Robin and the Justice League etc).

I want to create a really different kind of look for the covers, maybe a lot cleaner and a bit more in line with contemporary graphic design. I haven't decided whether to go down an illustrative route or symbolic but image will be the main focus. I hadn't considered the sinister look for the covers which might be important.