Comics

Covers Uncovered Special – Into Battle once more with Nelson Dániel!

19th September 2020

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.

But this week, there’s more than just 2000 AD – this week, we have the publication of the Battle of Britain Special ! We’ve shown you the making of the web-exclusive cover by Keith Burns yesterday, but now it’s the turn of the brilliant artist behind the regular cover that you’ll see on the shelves of your local comic shop and newsagents.

And that action-packed cover comes to you courtesy of Nelson Dániel.

Inside this new Battle of Britain Special you’ll find action and adventure, bravery and heroism, but also strips looking deeper into the tragedy of war and the terrible sacrifices involved. Amongst some incredible new strips from the likes of Alex de Campi, Alan Grant, Rob Williams, Simon Coleby, Glenn Fabry, PJ Holden, and Tom Paterson, there’s also a return to the pages of Battle for two classic strips – Rat Pack, by Garth Ennis and Keith Burns, and El Mestizo by Alan Hebden and Brent McKee.

It’s a must-have collection of the best war strips in decades and it’s out on 16 September from the Treasury of British Comics! If you get your copy from comic shops or newsagents it’s the Nelson Dániel cover you need to be looking for!

Nelson’s been involved in cinema, illustration, and comics for the last 16+ years. He’s worked as art director, production designer, concept artist and storyboard artists for feature films including Machete, Robotech, Fantastic Four, and The Green Inferno. As far as comics, he’s worked as an artist and colourist for Marvel and IDW, where he’s provided art and covers for the IDW USA Judge Dredd series.

This is his first work for 2000 AD or the Treasury of British Comics and it’s a great cover that jumps off the shelves – great visual imagery, perfect for what’s inside!

Unfortunately, Nelson was way, way, way behind with deadlines and couldn’t carve out the time to talk to us about his work putting the cover together. But he did send over the important part – the images of his process stages!

First up, the preliminary thumbnails for editorial to look at. Already fixed on the idea of a poor German gunner looking out at the deathly Spitfires, it was a case of the close-up or longer shot.

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Next stage is pencils, with a shift in position for the gunner and even more Spitfires!

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Next, it’s time for putting down inks…

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Everything in place and ready for colours now – two colour versions were produced. No doubt editorial saw the first and just decided it was time for more guns, more bullets, more effects, more, more, more!!!

And the end result of that work? Well, it’s the action-packed view through a Luftwaffe gunner’s turret as the Spitfire’s open fire – not a sight you’d like to see from that perspective at all – but a sight that makes a great cover!

Thanks so much to Nelson for chatting to us about this action-packed cover to the Battle of Britain Special. Be sure to follow Nelson on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and ArtistGO site.

And don’t miss out on the greatest Battle action in 30 years when the Battle of Britain Special is released on 16 September!

And finally, just a little extra – a glimpse at Nelson’s Judge Dredd work over at IDW…