When Image Comics reached the milestone of Youngblood #100, I had the opportunity to create a retailer-exclusive cover for a series that had meant so much to me growing up.
This one meant a lot to me personally. I remember reading those early Youngblood issues in bed during my teenage years, completely blown away by the energy of Rob Liefeld’s art. I was a huge fan back then, and I still love his early work today. Getting to contribute to Youngblood #100 wasn’t just another cover assignment — it was something genuinely sentimental, a chance to reconnect with the excitement I felt as a kid.
Several comic retailers joined forces to produce an exclusive edition and brought me on board to create the artwork. We wanted an image that would immediately stand apart from the other covers — something energetic, unexpected and unmistakably collectible.
We agreed on a manga-inspired direction. With manga's visual language resonating so strongly with collectors, an homage to Toyotaro's Dragon Ball Super volume 24 cover felt like the right creative challenge: capture that same group energy, framing and sense of impact, but make it work with the Youngblood cast.
01 — the homage & editorial prelim
To make Youngblood #100 stand out, we took inspiration from Toyotaro’s Dragon Ball Super volume 24 cover. I quickly sketched the idea on a comic backing board, translating the reference’s group energy and framing into poses suited to the completely different Youngblood characters. This prelim was submitted for editorial approval before work began on the full-size original.
I also designed two Youngblood logo options inspired by the reference. The retailers ultimately preferred the art without a masthead — a virgin cover.
02 — pencils & outlines
After approval, I drew the full-size 11 × 17-inch pencil sketch, then began outlining the figures in ink.
03 — ink & shadows
I build the inks in stages: outlines, deep blacks, shadows and final details.
04 — scanning & digital cleanup
Once the inks are finished, I scan the original artwork using a large-format scanner capable of handling ledger-size (11 × 17-inch) sheets. I work at 600 dpi so the fine ink lines are captured at high resolution.
I then open the scan in Procreate and adjust the Curves to make the whites cleaner and brighter and the blacks deeper and richer. This gives me crisp, high-contrast line art. I also make small digital corrections whenever an area needs cleaning up or a detail needs adjusting.
When the file is ready, I export it as a high-quality 600 dpi TIFF (.tiff) and send it to the colorist. For this particular Youngblood cover, I worked with Ceci de la Cruz, who handled the digital colors. I collaborate with different colorists from project to project.
Once the digital colors are complete, the finished cover goes to the publisher for final approval. After the artwork is approved and the issue is printed, the last part of the story is receiving the finished retailer-exclusive copies.
05 — final cover
Seeing the printed comic is the moment the entire process comes together — from a quick sketch on a backing board to a physical cover in collectors' hands.