You can’t get too many looks behind the scenes at pulp magazines. There are a number of books that give insight into writing and producing a pulp, but not nearly as much from the perspective of the artist.
Over at Heritage Auctions, there’s a nice example of what artist Virgil Finlay went through to get the right image down for the cover of the September 1939 number of Weird Tales.
The five preliminary watercolors and gouache paintings (see the gallery at the bottom of this page) take you through the process as Finlay tinkered with the characters — Edgar Allan Poe and the raven — starting with a wide shot, then focusing in on them. He’s also narrowing the colors, even at one point depicting the raven as a blood-red shadow looming over Poe.
The final painting, shown on a reproduction of the cover (which isn’t included in the auction), is a variation of the last concept. But I think the preliminary illustrations do a better job of capturing the emotion in Poe’s face than the final painting. Unfortunately, Poe in the final painting is rather static, with only a slight surprised look on his face. It lacks the anger or terror from the preliminaries.
I’m glad that whoever was in charge of composing the cover didn’t clutter it up with teasers as Finlay did in his last two preliminaries.
It’s great to see such a step-by-step example from a noted artist. I’ve seen single preliminary drawings and paintings for pulp covers, but not multiple preliminaries.
The framed set, from the estate of John McLaughlin, is on auction through March 1, though online bids are being accepted only through Feb. 29. It is estimated to fetch $700-$900.
Update: This set sold for $2,750 on March 1.
