I love when Mouse Guard creator David Petersen writes process posts, particularly when they involve the construction of models to help him draw mouse-sized rooms (or entire towns), and sewer tunnels ideal for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. His latest, for the cover of Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Vol. 2 #3, doesn't feature any little papercraft houses, but it's interesting nonetheless.

From reference material and initial sketches to inks and the finished illustration, the artist walks us through the creation of the cover, which features a trio of musicians "that could play so well, they'd call back the dead." However, the execution proved a little complicated.

"The inks were a bit tricky because of the ghost effects," he writes, "and at several times while inking I worried this cover wouldn't work the way I was proceeding with it, but I just pushed through figuring I'd make sense of it all in color." And it did, as you can see from the finished cover above.

Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Vol. 2 #3 arrives Aug. 28.