Covers Uncovered – Draw Misty For Me… Simon Davis talks the Misty Winter Special
3rd December 2020
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This winter, with the nights drawing in, it’s the perfect time for traditional Christmas ghost stories – and here at 2000 AD and the Treasury of British Comics, we’re delighted to be able to give you two perfectly creepy tales of winter chills in the brand new Misty Winter Special!
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It’s all coming your way on 2 December, with a brand new cover from that master painter, Simon Davis (Sláine), which will look like this when you see it on the shelves…
Published between 1978 and 1980, Misty was the weekly anthology comic aimed at young girls that told tales with supernatural or spooky themes, and this winter special features two brand new tales designed to honour Misty‘s legacy and send a shiver down your spine!
First up, there’s ‘Infection‘, written by Anna Savory (Tales from the Satanic Library) & V.V. Glass (Doctor Who), and illustrated by V.V. Glass. ‘Infection’ is a disturbing tale about how far people are expected to conform to societal standards no matter how warped the rules become! And in ‘Home for Christmas’, writer Lizzy Boyle (Scream! & Misty) and artist David Roach (Anderson, Psi Division) unveil a harrowing ghostly home-invasion that reveals dreaded sins of the past!
But first, that cover, a stunning rendition of Misty herself by Simon Davis, who we were lucky enough to catch up with as he prepared himself for another nightmare lockdown.
As usual, everything began with Davis prepping a couple of cover roughs before getting into the far more complicated than usual process of getting the cover drawn…
I was very excited to be asked to paint the Misty Special 2020 cover as I really like that comic and any excuse to do something spooky should never be passed up.
I started with a couple of watercolour roughs and finally settled on the first one being the one I’d develop. The first idea is often the one that I go with but it’s helpful to do more as it’s not always the case. Sometimes the very act of doing variations points you back to the original and is therefore not a wasted endeavour.
I wanted it to have a wintry feel, as it was for Christmas after all, so knew there had to be snow in it and, in particular, snow-covered standing stones. The original rough had a looming goat head in the background but it was suggested that maybe a reindeer skull would be fun and a little more seasonal.
A friend of mine, Manko, is a professional artists’ model and I really wanted her to be the basis for Misty. Unfortunately, I was starting the cover in March so we were all about to go into lockdown so being able to see her to take photographs face to face was going to be tricky.
So as a way around that, I emailed her the cover rough and asked if she could take photos of herself in positions similar to it so I could decide what would work best. Manko is always incredibly collaborative and helpful with the creative process so she made sure she had the perfect red dress, wore a long black wig and even used a real human skull.
And here we have a selection of the ideas Simon worked up into the final cover image, all wonderfully posed by Manko…
What was great about this was that my rough was a little vague, so Manko’s poses were often much better. Indeed the final composition that I settled on was one she had done that was beautifully symmetrical and far more pleasing than what I had originally planned.
I paint in oils on board , using short flat brushes that give the painting a ‘choppy’ angular feel.
The Standing stones reference I used was of the Callanais Stones up on the Isle Of Lewis as I thought their angular blockiness perfect for this.
Bats were added to the composition as this is a bit of a Misty cover tradition as are pentangles … who doesn’t like a reindeer skull with one carved on?
All of which painterly brilliance gives us this, the final image sent off by Simon…
Thank you so much to Simon for sending along all of those incredible images and talking us through putting together his cover.
You can get your Christmas chill on from 2 December with the Misty Special 2020, perfect for a Christmas Stocking on the big day!