by Will Henderson

from @ScottForbes

Scott Forbes, who is killing it on the covers for Iceman, and who has drawn covers for issues of Generation X and Lando: Double or Nothing, wasn’t intending to come to NYCC this year, but decided last minute to sit with good friend Kris Anka in artist alley.

There, Forbes heard from fans of Iceman about his covers and also agreed to speak with The Beat about his early career, process, Iceman, approach to digital work, and the books on which he’d one day like to work.


Will Henderson: How did you get your start?

Scott Forbes: It all began with me drawing fan art, essentially fake comic book covers to help flesh out my comic portfolio. One of them, featuring Spider-Woman, got the attention of Nick Lowe at Marvel, and it sort of snowballed from there.

Henderson: How do you approach drawing a cover? What from the script do you look for to help you compose it?

Forbes: Rarely am I ever given a script, I’m usually only going off of a premise or a prompt of what they’re wanting to feature for the cover. From that, I build up a handful of preliminary sketches and send them off to the editors for review and approval.

Henderson: How has working on Iceman been?

Forbes: It’s been a lot of fun getting to draw the star-studded cast. I never thought I’d be fortunate enough to draw Emma Frost, Firestar, Spider-Man, and Mr. Sinister in one cover run.

Henderson: What do you enjoy about working digitally?

Forbes: A few of my earlier covers were done traditionally, but I switched to digital to ultimately help speed up my process. [Working digitally] comes with the added benefit of being able to adjust aspects on the fly, which can be both a blessing and a curse.

Henderson: What are some of your favorite covers that you’ve drawn?

Forbes: I think it will be a while before I top my cover for Jim Zub’s Wayward, but the cover for the third issue of Iceman came pretty close to it.

Henderson: What’s your process?

Forbes: My process is pretty straightforward. I start with a rough sketch in Photoshop, fleshing the lines out until I’m confident enough to clean it up. Once everything’s set, I’ll flat and begin rendering it out, tinkering away until I have to send it off to the editor.

Henderson: Any future work you can talk about? Or books you’d like to work on?

Forbes: I’m currently finishing up production on a personal art book, “Pithos.” I don’t want to say too much about it just yet, but it’s been in the works for the last three years. Anyone interested should follow me on Instagram for updates (and teasers). It should be announced soon. As for my dream book, that’s a difficult choice, but I’d love to get the chance to professionally draw The Runaways, Young Avengers, Catwoman, or Elektra.