2000 AD Covers Uncovered: take cover with Jake Lynch on Prog 2339
5th July 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!
Another video contribution from Dredd artist Jake Lynch now, who took up the artistic duties on the latest of Mike Carroll‘s Dredd tales – In The Event Of My Unlikely Demise, taking over from Paul Marshall in Prog 2338.
And it’s another great Lynch Dredd there on the cover of Prog 2339, which is out now – under fire and ready to unleash justice on the mobs of MC-1.
I say it every time we see one of these time-lapse videos from the Lynch-droid, it’s so amazing for non-artists like us to actually get that glimpse behind the curtains and see the magic happening. Seeing it all unfold in front of us – why, you can practically hear the Lynch-droid weeping as he adds more and more detail with every meticulous step he takes.
Here’s the entire thing, the video of Lynch’s time-lapse that shows you just what it takes to put a great looking – and damn, that’s a great looking – 2000 AD cover together.
But now you’ve seen all that, let’s break it down a little with the aid of a few screenshots…
It starts with the Lynch-droid sitting in front of his arch nemesis, a blank screen. He stares at the blank screen for the longest time, wondering quite how to start. Then he realises it’s probably a good idea to turn the damn thing on first.
Once that step’s taken, this digital-only droid is off and running. First up, we have Lynch’s thumbnails for this one, a simple Dredd under fire, with and without bullets…
Now comes the pants-wetting stage, the send it over to Tharg and see what sort of mood TMO is in today. As Lynch has told you before, this one’s tricky, as Tharg is always, always angry and this step often involves a Rigellian Hotshot or two.
Thankfully for Jake, this one thumbnail image he sent over got the okay and, wiping away tears of joy and glad there were no toilet accidents this time, the Lynch-droid sets to work.
With that thumbnail image approved, it’s transferred to the full-sized template page, where grey wash and inking details are started. As Lynch works completely digitally, it’s not a case of pencils then inks, more a building up of digital detailing and form…
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To firm up the background details and make sure it’s all working – time to add in those perspective lines.
Now comes what Lynch has previously described as ‘trying to work out how it will ‘pop’.
Although looking at just how painstaking it all is, this adding of background details, more tones, shadows, more inks, more inks, more inks, more inks… we would imagine Lynch said that through a wet mess of tears and sweat.
And then of course there’s all the little essential details that have to be added in, filling in the badge, adding in the chain, that sort of thing, all of it on painstaking layers.
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So, by now the Lynch-droid is in pieces, the constant pressure from Tharg demanding to know where the cover is has taken its toll.
But after more tinkering and more detailing, a moment of joy, after the poor artist has nearly gone insane with the little touches, the close work, the stuff that they know most people might not notice is there but just makes the whole thing so much better, it’s finally done and finished…
Once the elation dies down, the realisation sets in that, no, that’s not it – there’s the damn colours to add now. No doubt Lynch curses the heavens for deciding he was going to colour his own covers. It happens every single time you know. These droids and their faulty memory circuits.
So, now comes the equally painstaking process of adding in the digital paints, stage after stage of adding colours, adjusting colours, trying one thing and then another to see what works best. Or, as Lynch has told us in previous Covers Uncovered pieces, ‘I wish it was as simple as just ‘washing’ colour over the toned artwork (though that is the starting point) – it’s a little more long-winded and often feels like reworking the whole pic over again, hardening it out.’
First steps, get the main colours in and see what it looks like.
Now, tinkering and tinkering and tinkering with it all… tones, background colours and shadows, the small bits of added colour. More messages from Tharg, more weeping from the Lynch-droid. It takes an age of course but every single step adds and adds value to the overall piece…
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And then, after days of this stuff, the artist sits back once more, exhausted, back aching, fingers aching, looking at the final version.
The tears well up again. First, it’s with the relief of knowing it’s done, but then those tears of relief change to tears of dread – all the Lynch-droid has to do now is summon up the courage to send it to Tharg!!!
As usual with Jake Lynch’s video Covers Uncovered, a wonderful, insightful look at just how much goes into every single cover for Tharg’s mighty organ. Thank you to Jake for sending it along – hopefully, he’ll be recovered enough from the whole experience to do another one sometime soon?
You can find Jake’s Dredd under fire cover out on the shelves of your local newsagents and comic shop, not to mention from the 2000 AD web shop from 5 July.
There’s plenty more of Lynch’s excellent Covers Uncovered available – for Progs 2017 , 2172, 2181, 2203, and 2297, plus Megazine 446. And be sure to have a look at a trio of great interviews with Jake – The Red Queen’s Gambit (with Arthur Wyatt) and The Hard Way (with Arthur and Rob Williams), and then there’s talk of Dredd, Y-fronts, and more to do with his wonderfully daft Dredd & Zombo strip, The Immigrant, in the 2020 Sci-Fi Special.
Finally, for more behind-the-scenes videos and info from Jake, be sure to go and sign up to his Patreon and follow him on Twitter.
Now, just a few big blow-ups of the final detail you can see in Jake’s finished cover… head to wonderful boots… what a Dredd!
