2000 AD Covers Uncovered – Cadet Dredd’s Black Atlantic Beauty by Alex Ronald for Regened Prog 2306
2nd November 2022
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 it’s the return of 2000 AD Regened, where art droid Alex Ronald harks back to the days of Ron Smith’s classic Black Atlantic cover from 1979 for the new Regened Prog 2306 – out on 2 November from wherever you get your Thrill Power hit for the week!
Inside this week’s Regened Prog this time round, there’s a titanic Cadet Dredd, the latest catch-up with both Future Shocks and our young Marlon Shakespeare in Chopper. Plus there’s our very first look at the maniac-for-hire Ulysses Sweet in Psychobaby, and the pilot episode of a brand-new sports sci-fi drama thriller in Bladers. Oh yes, Tharg’ nephew does it again, bringing all-ages thrills to everyone!
And on front of it all, showing us the goings-on down at the MC-1 docks in the Cadet Dredd: Undertow tale by Paul Starkey, Silvia Califano, and Gary Welsh, we have Alex Ronald‘s cover… it’s a bit good!
ALEX RONALD: Matt had asked for a Regened cover which would be in keeping with the classic Ron Smith Black Atlantic cover from 1979.
Oh yes, that would be this classic Ron Smith cover from 2000 AD Prog 128, 43 years old and still looking incredible…
ALEX RONALD: In this scenario the catamaran ship would be a more industrialised tanker rather than ocean-going liner depicted in the original.
To create the ship I kit-bashed and custom-built the parts necessary to create this massive tanker. As you can see from the 3D scene, the scale difference in relation to the two 6ft human figures was absolutely massive.
Once the main characters were in place, I positioned the ship and set up the camera for the best possible angle allowing for the large retro 2000ad logo at the top.
A rough sketch over of the composition was approved then it was onto painting the scene with a fiery sunset sky. I hope you like it.
I did make the schoolboy error of using the modern gun…
A quick mail from Matt reminded me it should be classic era Lawgiver. No problem, a great chance to do the Carlos style gun.
It was a treat to reimagine one of Ron Smith’s stand out covers from the early Progs. I might be wrong but this was possibly our first exposure to the Sov Judges. What a part they were to play in the years to come.
And that’s it! Another cracking cover from the Ronald droid right there. Thanks so much to Alex for sending that one along. You can find 2000 AD Regened Prog 2306 wherever you pick up your weekly dose of Ghafflebette comics, including the 2000 AD web shop from right now – today.