The ‘Batwoman’ Cover Creation Process Of JH Williams III Finally Revealed

One of our favorite comic book artists, JH Williams III routinely bewilders us with the always beautiful illustrations and impressive designs he creates for Batwoman, the DC Comics series he also co-writes with W. Haden Blackman that was among our selections of the best comics of 2012. Having had the pleasure of seeing Williams' original art in person at last year's MorrisonCon, I can confirm that all the delicate and precise intricacies of the Batwoman artwork are right there on the page, which for those of us not gifted with drawing talent seems impossible to believe and invites the question: how the hell does he even do that?

Fortunately, Williams elaborated on the process behind his most recent Batwoman cover, issue #21. As it turns out, it's remarkably simple, as you can see below.Stage 1: Make a laughably rough pencil sketch to give Batwoman editors an impression of the cover concept.

Stage 2: Simply turn that sketch into an extremely gorgeous, tightly rendered and shaded black and white drawing full of mood, action and drama.

Stage 3: Add color.

And that solves the case of "how JH3 does that thing."

For more on this issue, including a developed storyline that will never be, head over to Williams' blog.

Featuring guest artwork by another one of our faves, Francesco Francavilla, Batwoman #21 is on sale now digitally and from your local comics shop.