2000 AD Covers Uncovered – Dredd, Lawmaster, Overthinking it… Peter Yong tells us about Regened Prog 2346
23rd August 2023
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 another all-ages Thrill-fest with the return of Regened for Prog 2346. And on the cover, it’s Peter Yong’s second-ever 2000 AD cover with a cracking Cadet Dredd…
Inside, there’s four zarjaz tales brought to you by Joko-Jargo. We’re back on the streets of MC-1 with Cadet Dredd, where a cadet from Mega-City Two joins the Academy of Law in The Exchange. Dwarf private eye Renk returns courtesy of Paul Starkey and Anna Readman for Twinkle Toes. There’s another Future Shock, AutoCop, by Karl Stock and Toby Willsmer that takes a look at AI. And finally, we return to the wizarding school of Lowborn High for the latest adventure by David Barnett and Mike Walters, Wishing Well.
But we’re here to talk covers right now, and the great Cadet Dredd cover you’ll see on the front of Prog 2346 from 23 August comes from the incredibly talented Peter Yong. He’s a concept and storyboard artist from Australia who’s worked in the video games and animation industries. He first saw print in 2000 AD with his winning Angel Gang piece for Art Stars appeared in October 2021. After that came his cover for Prog 2288… and now this one!
So, over to Peter to tell us about the making of this second cover…
PETER YONG: This is the second cover that I have done for 2000 AD and when Tharg contacted me to do another, I was very excited!
The brief for the cover was simple: Dredd on his Lawmaster coming towards us. Nothing to do now but have to some fun and do some very loose sketches:
I like to zoom out when I draw these so I can get a feel for the image as a whole. I was lucky enough to have a friend visiting England when my previous cover was on the shelves and he took a photo of it for me.
It made me think about making the general composition of the cover clear and punchy so it would hopefully stand out on a shelf. Here is what I submitted to Tharg:
Here is another version of number 2, (which was actually my original) but I was not happy with it and changed it into what you see above. I didn’t even bother sending this through but here it is:
Tharg gave me his permission to proceed with sketch number 2 and I couldn’t be happier (it was my favorite).
Next come the pencils:
And then it’s over to the inking, nailing down the final lines for the piece. This part of the process took me way too long…My day job is a storyboard artist and designer in animation. I hardly ever make finished refined artwork, so I was overthinking things…a lot!:
After a break from looking at this, I made some pose changes to Dredd and a slight redesign of the Lawmaster.
One of the things I love about 2000 AD is that the artists have free reign to give their interpretation of Dredd’s world and that there does not seem to be a “house” style. 2000 AD is so much more interesting because of this and it really inspired me as a youngster, seeing all the skill and creativity of everyone involved on display:
I then laid in some basic colour.My plan was simple, give Dredd more colour than the background so he stands out!:
Then some more refinements and some more overthinking and then it’s done!:
I had so much fun doing this and I hope you enjoyed reading about the process. Thanks to Tharg for the opportunity and to everyone at 2000AD for all they do!
A second cover and a great cover from Peter Young there. Our thanks, as always, to the talented art droids for taking time away from the drawing board/screen to talk to us and share what they do and how they do it.
You can find 2000 AD Prog 2346 wherever you pick up your weekly dose of Ghafflebette comics, including the 2000 AD web shop from 23 August.
For more of Peter Yong’s artwork, be sure to check out his first ever Prog cover and his Covers Uncovered for it – Prog 2288. And then head off to take a look at more of his work at his website and Instagram.
Now, another look at Peter’s Angel Gang piece that won Art Stars back in October 2021 and his very first Prog cover…
