Tales From The Trash: Transformers

Give you a look at what gets thrown away

There are two sides of the curtain on the stage of my comic book covers. The side you all see which is the finished cover that gets your blood pumping and your FOC numbers changing. The side that seems like an assignment was given and moments later an idea popped in my head and BOOM. There’s another cute version of fill-in-the-blank ready to take the stage and dance its heart out for everyone.

Then there’s my side of the curtain. The side that starts with the blank rectangle of a page and wonders if the 2117th cover I need to have done in a few days will be the last one because apparently, based on that days performance, I have completely forgotten how to draw. This is the side that fills pages of sketchbooks and photoshop layers with bad doodles and even worse jokes. The side where the trash can sits, filled, overflowing with the parts that will never make it to your side of the curtain.

Well, until today. I’m going dig around in the bin and show you what got crumpled up and tossed out and thrown away before the cover you all have in your hands. (Or, at least most of you. We’re still shipping like crazy. I will never tell you how much I didn’t draw last week but how many comics I bagged and boarded. It was a lot. It was A LOT!)

ROLL OUT!

Right away, I’ll just say, i’m not great at drawing Robots. I don’t play well with straight lines, precision , or anything else that usually makes you a good robot drawer. Especially when working on something where you need to stay pretty close to on model. And incase you’re just joining us, Hi. I’m Skottie Young and I don’t enjoy staying on mode. I’m not that great at it, especially when it comes to licensed properties. They’re usually the most strict. I have a general rule that I just pass on most licensed properties. But Transformers was a such a big part of my childhood and me starting to draw, I had to do it. And it was HARD.

Trying to draw a little version of Optimus Prime while maintaining the elements that make him recognizable AND actually pull off a cool pose proved to be a big challenge for me. The blocky design of him really causes some issues when the parts are so much smaller than drawing a traditional sized Prime. The doodles began.

I tried the hero poses and the joke/gag pose (though I had no joke yet.) After a few days, it just had scribbles like this. And these were the ones that are most legible. Most of the of the others were barely shapes.

The deadline had arrived and I had to pick something and commit. So I decided on a “hero” pose and would add a word balloon saying ROLL OUT! Because, you know, that’s what OP says. Pretty genius right? Cue the WAH WHA WAAAAAAHHH sfx. Here’s what that thumbnail looked like.

At this point, I wasn’t happy with it, but i figured i could save it somewhere between there and the final. The sketch was sent off for approval and got the thumbs-up to finish it so I off I went to clean up the sketch and find the actual drawing.

This was my first pass a the pencils. And man, that head. THAT HEAD. It wasn’t sitting right with me at all.

So I tried again. This time I like the head an proportions more. But…yeah. It still felt underwhelming.

It’s easy to become use to your own work and not see it clearly. Often, I’ll show a piece around the studio and the response will bring me back to reality and make me realize a cover is good and I’m just over thinking it.

This was NOT one of those times.

I took this drawing into Megan’s office and asked what she thought. Her reaction was so hilariously UNDERWHELMED but still delivered in her crazy nice way. Instead of her usual “Oh my god, I can’t wait to post this.” “Everyone is going to love this.” “Can I keep the original?” I was met with…

“Ah, Cool.”

FUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCK. Those words confirmed what I had been thinking with every second I’d been working on this cover. It absolutely SUCKED. Hahahaha. It just didn’t have…SOMETHING. She saw it, I knew it, and now it was out in the open. (you want a REAL behind the curtain moment? It’s happening right now. Megan is logged in and reading this newsletter as I type it and just texted me about this part!)

“I’m laughing so hard remembering. I had mere seconds to decide what I felt about it because you were right there, staring at me and waiting for an answer “ -Megan Hodges, Stupid Fresh Mess Boss and “Ah, Cool.” Delivery Person

That reaction is exactly what I needed. So deadline be damned, I threw this and the days of work right in the trash. Pulled out my actual sketchbook and pencil and started all over. Just doodling. Almost instantly I had this.

I could see the awesome 90’s movie explosion in the background right away and knew Jean-Francois Beaulieu could bring that to life if I could pull off a cool drawing. This had the something that was missing. Energy, motion, and a soon to be kick ass wall of fire! And so, once again, I took to the drawing table.

And after all that, Jean did CRUSH the explosion to bring us to the final cover!

And that is a look behind the curtain at what it took to get to what seems like a simple, quick drawing. Since then, we sold of out our first prinitng, had a second printing available only at Skottieyoung.com and it sold out in like 4 minutes, which is crazy and a record for us at Stupid Fresh Mess.

Speaking of multiple printings on this Skottieyoung.com exclusive cover, Optimus Prime will be running at you once again in early January! Yup! Transformers #1 is going back to print for a 4th time and we’ll have new version of this cover available on the site! Make sure you are signed up for this newsletter for more details coming soon!

Here’s a look at the 4th printing cover! You know my love for a cover with a white background!

Store wrap up

Hi guys! I’m so glad Skottie shared this story with you. There is just SO much behind the scenes and almost every cover has a fun back story of creation. It makes me really happy when Skottie has the time to share it with you all.

So, Saturday morning I called Skottie and was like, “look FOC is Monday for Edge of Spider-verse. I know your art isn’t dressed with the logo yet but I think you should share it. Like right now. Now, NOW”. He laughed said give me two and put it up on his Insta. In case you missed it…

It’s incredible, right?! Edge of Spider-verse #1 is FOC TODAY so let your shops know NOW if you want one, or 5. We will have CGC Signature Series for sure at skottieyoung.com. Possibly some signed copies. Possibly a few remarks. This one comes out Feb 21 so we’ll announce in the newsletter as always sometime in January!

We really want to thank you guys for your patience on Batman Off-World and X-Men 141. We are quite literally shipping around the clock and have had extra help (Skottie included!) I even broke down and got myself a super hot wrist support to help with the repetitive movements- just like Megan in Bridesmaids which is now my nickname around here. We had thousands of orders and still need to give the level of care needed with exclusive covers. There is a TON of unpacking and inspecting, signing with Skottie, bagging and boarding, packing and then shipping that requires time. We said in the listing that it would take us 5 weeks after the publication date of November 22 (due to volume, Thanksgiving, attending LA Comic Con). Everyone is used to a few week turnaround so I get that the wait has felt longer! If you don’t have yours yet, promise they are coming

Happiest holidays from all of us at the Stupid Fresh Mess studios. 2023 has been a wonderful and surprising ride here and you all are to be thanked and appreciated for that! We love ya! Skottie, Megan and John