2000 AD Covers Uncovered: PJ Holden, Chimpsky, John Woo… It’s All On Prog 2308’s Cover
16th 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 that super simian, protector of Ludi Wittengenstein Block, the one and only Noam Chimpsky coming out fighting for the cover of 2000 AD Prog 2308 by PJ Holden.
Inside, it’s the penultimate episode of the latest Chimpsky’s Law: A Terrifically Disturbing Adventure by Ken Niemand and PJ Holden and on the cover it’s PJ getting his John Woo on and letting those doves pigeons fly!
So it’s over to PJ to tell you all about it…
PJ HOLDEN: OK, some behind-the-scenes scuttlebutt – I hadn’t got the script for this episode, so I knew as much as the readers knew – Chimpsky and Mr Grofaz are locked and loaded ready for BATTLE!
Matt asked for something with just Chimspky on it, all armed up, and I sat and panic-drew a few sketches – along with a note.
1) Chimpsky will save us all (maybe American flag behind him?)
2) Chimpsky – with guns or without (as a wanted poster? or just close-up of Chimpsky about to get into it…)
3) Chimspky spray-painted a la Banksy or Che Guevera pic – on the wall somewhere.
4) John Woo-impsky
5) Hard spotlight on the lean, mean, ape-machine
6) Turning and firing his dart gun (sort of bond like? a spotlight lighting a circle around him)
I favour one, but happy for any of them or if there’s nothing here you like I’ll have another pass!
As it turned out, Matt favoured number 4 (the obviously most action-packed one) – and so I set to work.
The idea of number 4 did make me laugh, pigeons flying off, Chimpsky – two guns in hand – firing darts as he dives through the air (with the clunkiest looking dart gun that ever existed – in my head this thing takes small cartridges of some kind that contains dart in very compressed form, and when it fires the explosive force of it – pumped by the battery sitting where a magazine would sit – forces the container out of the side (which like an idiot I forgot to draw here) and then the dart flies out.)
My process is boringly uncomplicated, this was all done in Clip Studio Pro EX (from thumbs to finished colours) – I blow up the thumbnail to full size, then do a quick pencil sketch of it enlarged, maybe move things around then pencil it much tighter and then ink.
Like a fool I decided since there were so few elements to this, it might be useful for production if I did everything in layers, so we could drop Chimpsky into his own or put text behind him, so I spent ages isolating each element and then … forgot to send the layers – they got the flat file.
So well done, me. No extra oil rations for you PJ.
When I got the script for the next issue, luckily, I could shoehorn the doves in to the scene, so it at least feels part and parcel! Anyway, that’s it!
So there you go, thanks so much PJ for sending that one along – You can find 2000 AD Prog 2308 wherever you pick up your weekly dose of Ghafflebette comics, including the 2000 AD web shop from 16 November.
For more from the Holden Droid – take a look at his previous Covers Uncovered work, complete with the previous exploits of Chimpsky – Prog 2178, Prog 2234, and Prog 2301. Or there’s his Dredd covers – the homage to King Carlos Ezquerra with Prog 2221 and the cover of Judge Dredd Megazine 420. And if you want to hear what PJ has to say, first there’s a great interview with him about this latest Chimpsky adventure here, and then there’s a couple of interviews about his Department K series here and here.