2000 AD Covers Uncovered – Toby Willsmer With Prog 2299 – ‘ You can’t beat some good old-fashioned gun blazing Dredd action’
14th September 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 the antipodean art droid Toby Willsmer on the front of 2000 AD Prog 2299 – out wherever you get your Thrill Power on 14 September. July.
Toby Willsmer’s bright, bold, and kinetic pieces have been a fairly regular fixture on the front covers of the Prog for a couple of years now, ever since we first burst into the Prog with a Sam Slade, Robo-Hunter piece that won the 2000 AD Art Stars competition back in January 2021. After that, it was just a few months before he made his debut on the front cover of the Prog with 2240’s Dredd in July 2021. Since then, he’s rather specialised in providing Tharg with images of Dredd perfect to leap from the shelves – and this cover is no exception, with Dredd delivering Justice the hard way.
So, what went into the making of yet another excellent Toby Willsmer cover? Well, here’s the art droid himself to tell you…
TOBY WILLSMER: I had an idea for an urban scene that would see Dredd caught in some sort of spotlight whilst blasting away on his trusty Lawgiver. So I came up with a couple of versions for Tharg to mull over...
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I’m a big fan of graffiti and had this one been chosen, I would have covered the wall in more of it.
However, this one was Thargs weapon of choice for the cover and as luck would have it was also mine...
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Once the mighty Tharg had chosen to have the perp being arrested by the Dreddlocks (couldn’t help myself). I went ahead and started to draw up the line work...
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With the line work all done and Tharg happy. I’ll add the shadows and some texture to the wall. This stage for me is important as it’s how I visualize the lighting and where I need to make sure the contrasting dark and light works as I intended.
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From there I add some base colours. It always looks a bit flat at this stage but from this I can see where I’m going to use the yellow lighting from the blasting Lawgiver.
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Once the basic colours are done I’ll add the yellow lighting from the gun blast and then the lighting that falls on Dredd from it. I tweaked the background a bit here so that it was a little rougher and grittier in appearance. Fading out to blacks in the dark corners drawing your eye into the main area.
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Then onto the fun bits, adding all the details and moving stuff. From smoking bullet shells from the Lawgiver, to bullet holes in the wall. Not forgetting the blast and bloodbath splats from an unfortunate perp that’s off-screen. You can’t beat some good old-fashioned gun blazing Dredd action and I have to admit I enjoyed doing this one.
And that’s it! Thanks so much to Toby Willsmer there for yet another one of his very distinctive Dredd covers for the Prog.
You can find 2000 AD Prog 2299 wherever you pick up your weekly dose of Ghafflebette comics, including the 2000 AD web shop from 13 September.
If you want to see more from Toby, head to his website, his Artstation site, and catch him on Instagram.
As for Toby’s previous covers, well, feel free to check out what he’s had to say about those in previous Covers Uncovered here – Prog 2241, Prog 2262, Prog 2269, and then there’s his 2000 AD Art Stars winning Sam Slade, Robo-Hunter piece. We’re certain we’ll be seeing more of his impressive work emblazoned on the covers of both Prog and Meg in the future!
