GI Cover Artist Shares His Process

We knew we were excited to get Sam Spratt's fantastic illustrations on the cover of GI #212, but the response from all of you has outstripped our expectations. Spratt recently shared some of his in-progress sketches and color treatments of the three massive paintings that are on the cover of our December issue, and this glimpse behind the curtain is fascinating.

Above, you can see how a grayscale drawing becomes a full-color painting. Below, a desaturated grayscale process shot shows a near-complete version of the Master Chief/Alyx Vance/Shepard cover.

The Facebook gallery Spratt shared has much more, including zoomed-in detail shots that show off more of the techniques he employed in creating the three paintings. High-res images showing all three final covers in their full glory can be found in our cover reveal.