Check out Creees Lee’s New Banner Art!

247 Comics Fam,

BLADESMYTH, VOLUME 1 is coming soon!

Noodle shop owner Loren is a member of a secret organization known as the Bladesmyths - master chefs who moonlight as highly skilled assassins. When a vengeance-seeking former associate kidnaps Loren’s son, he must rely on his skills – and his blades – to rescue him.

Writers Justin Calen-Chenn and Lingie Park, artist Creees Lee, and colorist Wil Quintana serve up a killer dish where culinary mastery meets deadly precision.

Creees is working on brand new cover art which we’ll be unveiling soon. And meanwhile, he just sent over new banner art for the Kickstarter page, and it’s sick. More on that below!

This new collected edition will feature 12 additional pages, expanding the world and filling in the history of the secret society the Bladesmyths. It will also feature behind-the-scenes insight, including script pages and character turnarounds.

The Artist Edition

In addition to the premium trade paperback, we’re also offering an exclusive Artist Edition. This will be double the length, with everything from the deluxe edition plus all of Creees’ gorgeous original line art, free of colors and lettering.

Creees is a Korean-American dynamo who has crafted unforgettable artwork for Marvel’s Tiger Division, Moon Knight, and Invincible Iron Man. Recently, he created two variant covers for DC’s Absolute Batman, including one with a vivid image of Scarecrow:

Creees Lee’s Process

Creees shared a little about his approach to designing the new banner art:

“I looked up 247’s other KS pages, and thought what kinda image would pop and make our project more noticeable. Mina is the best character to use for the banner art. I initially sketched out a full body pose with her sword but saw it wasn’t fitting the ratio of the banner as well as I hoped.”

“The pose worked better on a portrait oriented canvas; like a regular comic cover, but in the process of sketching the pose, I liked having the sword “cut” horizontally. So, in the next sketch, I had Mina bigger and had her sword horizontal in front of the title. Then to create a bit more depth, had her hair go behind the title.”

After sketching this out, I changed gears and drew Loren and the Spirit.”

“But in the end I really liked the Mina sketch. I’m happy we went with that.”

And here is his stunning final banner art with ink:

Now, it goes to Wil Quintana to work his color magic. In the meantime, if you haven’t yet, click below to follow the campaign, and be notified as soon as we launch!

Follow Bladesmyth Vol. 1 Campaign

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Onward and upward,
Carl Choi