How to create a horror cover illustration? The entire process- part 1

 The description I got for this specific project is like this: "The artwork should have a dark horrific style, with elements of realism to bring the horror to life. Think along the lines of The Crow or Hellboy.  He is a priest who has come back from the dead. He will be messy and still in his priest clothes, but with an Assassin's Creed style hood. He also has a noose hanging around his neck. Instead of knives, he holds two ornate crucifixes."

First things first. I have just estimated a rough time to complete this project. It will be around 8 working hours.

We can segment this time into 

1. Developmental phase
2. Process phase
3. Post production phase

Developmental phase (1 hour)

Collecting reference images for the project. Looking the works all great illustrators in the past who has done some great horror works.

Here is a list of the best Horror artists

Then collect the reference for the current subject. I will post some pictures I have used for reference in the way. Then block it in 3d to know the lighting and composition.

Blender 3d render 

Next step is figuring out things in photoshop. That is moving onto the next that is process phase

Will post more things in the next blog post