book 5 covers continued

I knew that I wanted this year's collection of Falling Rock comics to be a companion of sorts to last year's:

I was at a disadvantage this year because Ken Burns has not put out any new National Parks documentaries since my last book.  I could not steal any of Mr. Burns' good ideas.  This thought put me into a severe depression only a glass of Scotch could cure.

In my last post, I decided to go a little less historical and a little more spacey.  Basically, this meant putting Ernesto and Carver in a rocket.  Here are two early sketches for the cover, which I drew at the size it would be printed:

Although the detail was better for the latter sketch, which might indicate I was happier with it, I actually preferred the dynamic composition of the former sketch.  What's a man to do?  I combined the best parts of both sketches!  I'm positive I was the first artist to conceive of this technique.

This was the final sketch before I put brush to Bristol board paper.  Yeah, that's right!  I used a brush to ink the cover!  But you'll have to wait a little while longer to see the final cover.  I gotta save something for future posts.

You might also notice the title for book 5 will be Scenic Byways.  The best way to see America's beautiful wilderness areas is by rocket.

Here are some sketches for the back cover:

 

The sign reads "WILDLIFE REFUGE and ROCKET TESTING GROUND," which is just a joke.  There are no rockets allowed in Falling Rock National Park.