2000 AD Covers Uncovered: Andy Clarke’s Nightmare of New York for Prog 2403
9th October 2024
Every week, 2000 AD brings you the galaxy’s greatest artwork and 2000 AD Covers Uncovered takes you behind-the-scenes with the headline artists responsible for our top cover art – join bloggers Richard Bruton and Pete Wells as they uncover the greatest covers from 2000 AD!
This week, the return of Andy Clarke to the Prog cover, as Prog 2403 shows us all the Nightmares of New York…
That’s a cover showcasing the latest new thrill to hit the Prog, as Kek-W and the late, much-missed John Burns tell a tale of magic in the Big Apple in Nightmare New York. It’s one final chance to see just what made Burns a true legend of British comic art and it’s unfolding right now.
So, up steps Andy Clarke for a cover that’s a real homage to Burns… all coming from a few reference pieces from the interiors that Tharg sent over for Andy to see…
ANDY CLARKE: The chance to do a cover for the Nightmare New York series was the perfect opportunity to pay respects to John Burns’ incredible work. His drawing and painting always looked so confident and consistent.
One of the things that always impressed me most was his ability to capture a time and place – you fully believe you’re in whatever period of history the story is set. The clothing/costumes and settings always looked completely authentic, and it always looked effortless. He could do anything.
I wanted something fairly simple that would let that great John Burns character design take centre stage, which thankfully is what the brief from Tharg had called for.
I pulled back on some of the detailing so it wouldn’t look overly fussy – I didn’t want to get bogged down too much with stuff that wouldn’t actually add anything. A trap I fall into all the time.
It all probably came out a little darker than it should have, looking at it now with fresh eyes – but hopefully the underground setting is a partial justification for that.
I still have a lot of learning to do with getting a decent contrast light/dark balance.
It wasn’t easy working in the shadow of such a great artist, I had to stop myself thinking about it too much – a bit intimidating certainly – but it was foremost a real privilege.
I’m very grateful to Tharg to have had the opportunity to work on it and contribute my own small tribute to John Burns’ wonderful work.
Oh yes, Andy, we think you’ve done the man proud.
And finally, time to add colours, first flats and then the final colours that you’ll see adorning another great Andy Clarke cover…
Thank you so much to Andy for sending along the art for this one! Looking fabulous as always, and a wonderful tribute to a legendary and much-missed artist.
You can experience all of the nightmares of New York, both on Andy’s cover and Kek-W and John Burns’ zarjaz new tale with Prog 2403, out everywhere the galaxy’s greatest is sold, including the 2000 AD webshop.
And if that’s got you wanting to see even more of Andy’s artwork for his covers, make sure you go through all his past Covers Uncovered pieces – Megazine 444, Megazine 470, Prog 2287, Prog 2290, Prog 2312, Prog 2388, and Prog 2396. Plus, there’s the three covers he did for the now collected Smash! – issue 1, issue 2, and issue 3.
Now, as is our want, here’s some close-ups from the cover, showing you all that incredible detailing Andy puts into each and every piece he does, including that rather spectacularly done brickwork…
