A fun experiment in making a faux pulp novel cover!

I knew I wanted to draw a femme fatale. It was fun dressing her in clothing of that time period — the long dress, the arm gloves, the long cigarette, the hat, etc. Also decided to color the image in grayscale, but add the red spot color to give it that Frank-Miller-Sin-City modernized noir kinda look.

Did some quick research on book covers of the time to give my mock cover a contemporary look. I love the sayings that would go on book covers — I chuckle everytime I look at the “A gripping thriller with a stunning ending” blurb.

Once all of the image was done, I went about giving it that beat-up, aged look. A LOT of trial and error, but finally got something I was happy with. You can barely see it in the jpg, but the book cover has a paper texture to it as well as halftoned dots for that old printed look.

I have a print of this piece available in my Shop page! Take a look to and check out what other items I have on sale also.

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[11″x17″] Col-Erase Pencil -> Micron Pens -> Photoshop (for coloring) -> InDesign (for design & typography) -> Photoshop (for “beating it up”)