2000 AD Covers Uncovered: Dan Cornwell & ‘The Citadel’ finale… Glub, glub, glub says Dredd
28th April 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 sees the Scrotig finale to what’s bound to be one of the major tales of the year – Judge Dredd: The Citadel by John Wagner and Dan Cornwell. After seeing Dredd vs Dredd on 2000 AD Prog 2277, Dan Cornwell returns for the cover of Prog 2279 with Dredd in deep water… but which Dredd is it? Well, Dan’s not telling and neither are we!
But trust us, The Citadel is one you’re definitely going to miss – and remember that the collection is available for pre-order right now!
First of all, Dan sends his apologies to you all – he’s looked everywhere (and yes, he did check down the back of the sofa and under the fridge) but just can’t find the pencils and the flats for this one… so just fill in the blanks. But I’m sure you’ll agree with us that we love seeing whatever Dan can send to us!
DAN CORNWELL: When Matt approached me about providing the cover for Prog 2277 – Double Dredd, he also said the cover for the final episode of ‘The Citadel’ in Prog 2279 was available if I was interested? Of course I was!
I’m sure the squazz are sick of the sight of me, so give them more?
Nope, not a bit of it Dan, more, more, and more is always welcome!
DC: I had a number of prelims ready from the web exclusive of Citadel and Prog 2277 and sketched a few more for Matt. He liked the simple, clean image of Dredd? sinking into the depths.
He suggested I could add an image of Winterton in the background, or something along those lines. He said he liked the image as it also reminded him of Mike Collins’s cover to his book ‘Apollo’.
That would be this one… a cracking graphic novel from SelfMadeHero…
DC: I started to pencil the image on my regular A3 bristol board then I started playing with adding Winterton in the background. After a few false starts, I ended up swaying to an image of Winterton looming in the depths.
Once it worked well as an image I then tightened the pencils and inked the image. I chose the red background to symbolise blood. Well that was the idea anyway.
(and yes, this is exactly where Pete would make the gag about Dredd’s nethers being violated!)
Once the inks were finished I scanned the pic in photoshop, added the flats then transferred it to Procreate for finished colours. I added highlights, textures and filters.
The more the image came together the more it was looking like a James Bond cover or even Jaws. Not a bad thing I guess.
And thanks so much to Dan for taking the time to send that along – even though he’s drowning in deadlines right now for future Thrill Powered Prog episodes!
You can find Dan’s cover to 2000 AD Prog 2279 out on the shelves and in the 2000 AD web shop from 27 April – and remember, inside you’ll find the Ghafflebette finale to The Citadel by John Wagner and Dan Cornwell – which Dredd is which? And who lives? Who dies? And why? There’s only one way to find out Earthlets… get out there and buy it now!
And remember, the Citadel collection is out on 20 July, complete with a web shop exclusive hardcover with a brand-new Dan Cornwell cover!
