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 we have the new Judge Dredd Megazine issue 474, where we take a deep dive into the mind of the Law, as Nick Percival graces the cover for another cracking wrapround piece of brilliance for Judge Dredd: Memory Lane inside…
Yes, it’s double duty for the Percival droid with the latest Megazine, providing a stunning wrapround cover and interior art on Judge Dredd as he joins Mike Carroll for Memory Lane, where young memory diviner Psi-Judge Nash is needed for the most dangerous of missions, extracting a memory from the mind of Dredd…
It’s everything you’d expect from having Nick Percival on art, wonderfully detailed grotesqueries and terrifying imagery, all beginning with that wrapround cover.
So, let’s bring out the Percival droid to take a bow and tell you all about it…
NICK PERCIVAL: It was great to hook up with my old partner in crime, writer Mike Carroll for this bizarre Dredd one off, Memory Lane and it was Tharg’s lucky day as this time I gave him TWO cover ideas to go with the story (which is something I rarely ever do) – Bloody hell!
I originally planned on going with the first idea (above) which was Dredd’s head splitting in two, unleashing all the weird shit he has locked up in there.
Just as I was getting ready to email the Mighty One with this idea, I suddenly had another take on it which was a wraparound version, Dredd now in profile as his head breaks away, letting all the strange things out (literally quickly scribbled on the back of a paper receipt)– I kind of hinted that this might be the better image to go with and luckily Tharg agreed.
So, I went for a nice, big high impact shot of Dredd, teeth gritted in pain, with the breakaway effect and all these weird, twisted Dredd ‘memories’ flowing out of him.
No more detail was needed as it’d detract from the main image.
After I’d finished the painting, I thought it’d be good to also apply the same FX to the Megazine logo. I pitched that idea to Tharg who went for it. One email later as I received a hi-res version of the Meg logo and then I set about breaking it apart with my trusty virtual hammer.
This was great fun to do and to incorporate it into the final art image was cool – I took great care to make sure it flowed with the artwork – It’s something I’d like to muck about with again on future covers and I have a few plans.
This was a fun, crazy Dredd story to ilustrate and a nice little palette cleanser before I started the art on the terrifying follow up to Judge Dredd: Iron Teeth, that will be unleashed in the Prog next year. Scaring myself silly with this one…
Oh, it’s always great to get the artist doing weird things to the logo – a rare treat done so well by Nick on yet another truly great cover there. And there’s even more Percival greatness inside as he and Carroll put Dredd and a young Psi-Judge who’ll never forget this particularly petrifying experience through the mill in Memory Lane.
You can find Megazine issue 474 on shelves right now wherever Tharg’s monthly gift to you is sold, including the 2000 AD web shop.
For a lot more from Nick, head for a brace of interviews we’ve done with him over the years – first there’s the one about Iron Teethhere, plus multiple chats about his work on Dark Judges with David Hine here, here, and here. And if that’s not enough of the particularly horrific delights, Molch-R talks to Hine and Percival about all things Dark Judges in the 2000 AD Thrill-Cast Lockdown Tapes here.
Nick also kindly sent over some of the interior art to Memory Lane for you to have a look at… it’s enough to give you nightmares…
And finally, because there’s so much going on in that cover, how about some close-up looks at the details from Nick’s artwork? Yep, we knew you’d like that…
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’s 2000 AD cover by Tazio Bettin gives us the two sides to Dan Abnett and Tazio’s gloriously mysterious Azimuth.
Azimuth began as this… ‘Welcome to the city of Azimuth, a data-driven metropolis, where anything is possible. Ruled by an aristocracy of the New Flesh, such concepts of life, death, and body forms are fluid. Anyone can take any shape, if it can be conceived by the imagination. Suzi Nine Millimetre, for example, is a cadavatar, whose existence is given purpose by the jobs she undertakes for her New Flesh masters.’
Since then, we’ve seen mystery layered on mystery, with the introduction of one Ramone Dexter into the world in series one, and now, in series two, The Fabled Basilisk, we’re taken on twin journeys, as Dexter, accompanied, somehow, by a very familiar Psi-Judge, faces down the Kray Twins, and cadavatar Suzi Nine, tries to get to sanctuary.
What will Abnett and Bettin bring us as this second series runs to its end? That’s the great unknown and the whole mystery and the stylish way Bettin brings us the action are all part of what’s made Azimuth such a hit.
Now, over to Tazio Bettin for this latest Azimuth cover, showing us the two sides to this particular tale… starting with his concept sketches sent to The Mighty One…
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TAZIO BETTIN: As per usual, I provided some concept sketches for cover ideas. The Fabled Basilisk follows the structure of a parallel storyline, and I wanted the cover to reflect that, but I thought of providing options with alternative cover ideas.
To my joy and satisfaction, the first idea was the one that eventually pleased our Lord Tharg.
And here’s that first idea worked up into the preliminary cover sketch…
Azimuth – where up is down and down is up – never take anything for granted! Tazio’s initial sketch from his chosen cover concept
TAZIO BETTIN: I wanted to draw something a little playful, an image you need to flip around in order to appreciate it fully.
So, I did an initial sketch, checked that the layout worked (sometimes it is ok to cover part of the magazine title a little but one can never be careful enough with such a delicate thing as object placement in a cover piece) and proceeded with final pencils, inks, and colours.
Mirror, mirror, on the floor, who’s the deadliest of them all? Tazio’s pencils for Prog 2409’s Azimuth cover
Stranger Things doesn’t have the monopoly on the Upside Down… Inks and layers to Tazio’s cover
During the story, Suzi finds herself in a desert, and the series colourist, the amazing Matt Soffe, chose such a wonderful palette for that desert that selecting the chroma for this cover was a no-brainer.
I like to make the characters pop with a chromatic contrast between character and background: if the background has saturated colours, I go with muted ones on the character and vice versa.
Naturally, the character pops out more if the saturated colours are on them, and the neutral ones are in the background, and that’s perfect because Dexter is at the centre of the main storyline in this chapter.
So, that is why I did Dexter with his signature red dress against a desaturated background, and Suzi and her typical cadavatar whites against a background with vibrant violets. And I have to say, violet’s not a colour I use nearly enough in my go-to palette, so I’m glad I had a chance to fix that.
It’s a gorgeous cover from Tazio, perfectly illustrating the twin threads running through Azimuth: The Fabled Basilisk. Thank you so much to Tazio for sending along his tale of how it all came together.
Azimuth: The Fabled Basiliskbegan in 2000 AD Prog 2406 and continues, brilliantly, the tale of this data-driven metropolis, thrown into chaos by the introduction of Ramone Dexter.
You can Tazio’s brilliant cover everywhere Thrill Power is is sold, including the 2000 AD web shop from 20 November.
We’ve talked to Dan Abnett and Tazio about the delights of Azimuth in an interview here, an interview where Tazio had so much to talk about that we split it into two, with the second part Tazio only, talking about Azimuth, creativity, collaboration, and art.
We’ve also talked with Tazio plenty here in Covers Uncovered, there’s Sinister Dexter covers for Prog 2259, and Prog 2283, including his unusual guest appearance in this Andy Clarke Covers Uncovered for Prog 2290, all to do with the worst car in history, the Austin Allegro! Then there was his cover for Hope… In The Shadows for Prog 2302. And finally, there’s his Azimuth covers for Prog 2337 and Prog 2342.
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 iconic Judge Dredd now for the cover of Prog 2407 by Paul Williams, who’s making a name for himself with this sort of classic Dredd image.
Paul’s another one of the droids who got their shot through the annual 2000 AD/Thought Bubble script and art contests, winning the art search competition in 2017, alongside script contest winner Laura Bailey. Since then, Paul’s art has appeared in the Prog with his contest-winning Future Shock, Sunday Scientist, in Prog 2072, and the DeMarco, P.I. 3-parter, An Eye, in Judge Dredd Megazine issue 410-413, both scripted by Laura Bailey. He’s also been a cover artist several times, with a great line of iconic Judge Dredd poses, of which this is the very latest. But you haven’t seen him in Prog or Meg recently, as he’s had, as you’ll read, a bit of a ‘season-ending injury’, so to speak
It’s great to see his work back on a cover here – and here’s Paul Williams to tell you all about putting this one together…
PAUL WILLIAMS: There was a little A4 drawing I’d sold at a convention (probably ‘Thought Bubble’ in 2019 when myself and Laura Bailey were placed, conveniently, right next to the 2000 AD stand!) which I’d always felt *could* be something more. It was nothing particularly spectacular or anything, but I liked the concept and design.
Here’s the original convention piece – I’ve no idea who owns this but I’m sure their eyes popped out of their head when they saw the latest cover!
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I’d thought about making a cover out of it but previous attempts had been a bit half-hearted. Then, this summer, I was – frankly – in dire need of some work (I broke my shoulder blade last year which put a considerable halt to my career) and thought I’d have another look at this as Matt had not been interested in one or two other ideas I’d sent previously.
So, I quickly bodged together what I thought might make a good cover and, hurrah, this one landed!
I used the original artwork scan for the mock-up so I wouldn’t waste time if it was rejected, simply adding a bit more below-the-belt (literally!) and adding tones...
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As I had the 2019 piece and quite liked most of the line work, I didn’t think it necessary to start from scratch and so most of the inks that appear on the cover are simply inked directly from that original.
That being said, there were some areas that I identified as needing significant improvement, including the left shoulder pad and Dredd’s hands and face and so I set about creating a better version of those elements.
That included getting some photo reference for the improvements using my “Judge’s glove” prop. In the background, you can see my McMahon Dredd statue and the massive photo frame containing my previous 4 covers, a gift received for my 40th birthday earlier this year...
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And those photo refs all went into making those fixes and improvements Paul talks about…
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PAUL WILLIAMS: Another part of the image that I deemed not quite up to scratch was the American flag itself.
No, I’m not referring to the fact it is – as I’m sure the more cynical amongst the ‘2000AD’ readership have already pointed out – backwards! I consider that element of the drawing to be a bit of artistic license as this was truly the only arrangement of Dredd (in this pose) and flag that looked right in terms of the weight of the composition.
No other arrangement worked as well and so I thought “Drokk it!” and took the liberty; I do recall from working on Z2 Comics’ ‘True War Stories’, however, that the flag is reversed on American military uniforms so I’m sure there’s a way you could make sense of it in a representational/conceptual sort of way!
But no, the problem I’m talking about is obviously that the stars appear a little weak on the original (probably a result of inking them at that scale) so I made sure to make them bolder and clearer and also made the blood drips look more realistic.
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Those completed inks which are a mix of digital and physical – I’ll get into that shortly!
There is something quite significant about this cover for me, and that is that it is the first bit of artwork I ever created for 2000AD which I coloured myself (though not the first to see print as something I did later came out first).
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not the best colourist but I had a very strong impression of how this should look (such as the background remaining completely, solidly white) and so thought I’d have a crack at it.
Being happy with the result, I cheekily sent that along and was happy to see it accepted for publication rather than me being sent to Mek-Quake for overstepping my bounds.
Here’s original “finished” colours before the inevitable tweaks that happen after you think you’ve finished...
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You’ll also notice that the inks have not been adjusted to a solid black, which was quite intentional on my part (though this will probably be less noticeable in print than on your screen).
I always like to see the brush strokes in black and white comic art as I think it adds a bit of texture and so I thought I would experiment with leaving them in on a coloured piece.
This also explains why these inks which I drew digitally have a physical counterpart – I printed off the linework without fills and then inked all that in with a brushpen so that lovely texture would be there. I also hoped that this technique – of printing it off and then scanning it back in – might help give the artwork a less “digital” appearance – which I think it does.
After a little more tweaking, I decided to add a red spray-paint effect to the bottom of the flag and adjusted the hue of the whole image to match and voila – the actual, final, finished artwork! (which I promptly sent off so I wouldn’t spend the next day tweaking it even further into oblivion)…
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One tiny niggle I have had with some of my previous covers, if I may be so bold as to say so, is that they have occasionally been designed with the 2000 AD template in mind but then used on the Megazine with its much bigger logo which has caused some compositional issues that I feel reflected badly on me as the artist to the unknowing eye. With that in mind, I was careful to ensure this would work well on either publication and so could rest easy once it was signed off!
As mentioned above, readers of the Megazine (which you all should be!) will have already seen a self-coloured piece of mine that was drawn soon after this, as issue 471 included a DeMarco pin-up that was created using the same techniques as this cover, featuring the distinctive scar that Laura Bailey and I gave her. Sorry, Galen!
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Another cracking Dredd cover from Paul there! Thank you so much to him for sending all that along.
You can find Paul’s Dredd adoring the cover of 2000 AD Prog 2407, out everywhere the galaxy’s greatest is sold, including the 2000 AD webshop.
There’s more Covers Uncovered from Paul for Prog 2199 (the rather iconic end of End of Days cover), plus Megazine 422 and Megazine 436. In addition to all that, there’s a couple of interviews we’ve done with Paul. First, with him and fellow Thought Bubble winner, script-droid Laura Bailey, here. Second, Paul and Laura talking about their recent DeMarco strip on the Thrill-Cast here. Finally, be sure to follow Paul on the socials – Twitter, Instagram, website.
Now, a couple of extras Paul sent along for you to oooh and aaaahh at…
Paul describes this first one as, ‘anunpublished Anderson/Death piece, unsuccessfully pitched as a pin-up for the Meg. You win some, you lose some!…
And finally, a Bill and Ted crossover that Paul drew last year and went viral, ‘shared by many a 2000AD reader last year, though most were unaware it was drawn by one of Tharg’s own!‘
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 a 48-page extra special thrill-parked Prog, loaded with eight strips instead of the usual five, and including the latest meeting of two iconic characters, as Brit-Cit’s best robo-hunter and the galaxy’s greatest Search/Destroy agent come together. Oh yes, it’s Sam Slade, Robo-Hunter vs Strontium Dog – and it’s John McCrea and Mike Spicer with another Zarjaz cover…
Yes, after first bringing together Robo-Hunter and Judge Dredd in Prog 2351, Garth Ennis and Henry Flint are back in this extra-sized special Prog to bring together two of the best bounty hunters in the business, as Sam Slade meets Johnny Alpha.
And you’ll find that and much more besides in Prog 2406, wrapped in the latest cover by John McCrea and Mike Spicer. Although actually, as John’s about to show and tell, it turns out Garth Ennis is actually the artistic brains behind all this…
JOHN MCCREA: This cover is to illustrate a story by Garth. He had an idea for the cover and send me this amazing rough. Obviously I didn’t really have to do much except tighten up the pencils a little bit...
Oh yes, the writer who just dreams of being the artist. It’s a tale as old as time. Those poor, poor deluded script droids, always that fault in their circuitry that makes them believe they can actually do it all.
Anyway, taking Garth’s <ahem> masterpiece, the McCrea droid needed to do almost nothing to get his first cover draft, as you can see…
JOHN MCCREA: I then scanned in my rough and shifted things around in Photoshop so that all the characters were in the right place…
I didn’t understand that the main characters were meant to be obscured by their sidekicks for comedy effect.
So I did this. I also added a little decapitated robot head and Sam Slades stogie. I love this character and just wanted to draw him.
All was approved so I inked the cover…
It was at this point that we realized I had spelt Robopoly incorrectly, so I fixed that and added some digital tones…
Happy days! The cover was approved so off to Mike Spicer for delicious colours. I had a few little bits and pieces that I wanted corrected…
And Bobs your Uncle, another 2000 AD cover complete. Now send me my Galactic Groats, Tharg!
Oh yes, another masterpiece from the McCrea and Spicer droids, although Tharg’s now thinking maybe the Ennis droid should get a cover credit and a cut of those Galactic Groats!
Thanks so much to John for sending along his latest cover work. Another fantastic piece giving you a glimpse of just 1/8th of the Thrill Power you’ll find inside the latest bumper Prog!
Prog 2406 is out right now, available everywhere that stocks the Galaxy’s Greatest, including the 2000 AD web shop.
Of course, it’s only right we point you in the direction of some more rather spectacular Covers Uncovered by John McCrea, with plenty of great art and quite a bit of art droid angst and anxiety! Start with a fabulous Armitage for Judge Dredd Megazineissue 467, and then feast your eyes on multiple incredible Dredds on Prog 2024, Prog 2224, Prog 2328, Prog 2351, and Prog 2361. If you’re after a bit of droid pain and torture, try the absolute rollercoaster of emotions that was the Aquila cover for Prog 2380, and there’s a great Prog 2386 cover featuring that other famous blue-skinned G.I. And finally, most recently, his subscriber-exclusive cover for Nordland Rising on Prog 2400.
Oh yes, that’s some collection of covers John’s building up recently!
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, the return of Andy Clarke to the Prog cover, as Prog 2403 shows us all the Nightmares of New York…
That’s a cover showcasing the latest new thrill to hit the Prog, as Kek-W and the late, much-missed John Burns tell a tale of magic in the Big Apple in Nightmare New York. It’s one final chance to see just what made Burns a true legend of British comic art and it’s unfolding right now.
So, up steps Andy Clarke for a cover that’s a real homage to Burns… all coming from a few reference pieces from the interiors that Tharg sent over for Andy to see…
ANDY CLARKE: The chance to do a cover for the Nightmare New York series was the perfect opportunity to pay respects to John Burns’ incredible work. His drawing and painting always looked so confident and consistent.
One of the things that always impressed me most was his ability to capture a time and place – you fully believe you’re in whatever period of history the story is set. The clothing/costumes and settings always looked completely authentic, and it always looked effortless. He could do anything.
Andy’s first sketch – all the elements right there as New York gets handsy
Next up, Andy’s digital pencils, with Lil’s pal getting ready for the biggest hook-a-duck ever
I wanted something fairly simple that would let that great John Burns character design take centre stage, which thankfully is what the brief from Tharg had called for.
I pulled back on some of the detailing so it wouldn’t look overly fussy – I didn’t want to get bogged down too much with stuff that wouldn’t actually add anything. A trap I fall into all the time.
Time for the inks – starting with the beard and that magnificently detailed brickwork
It all probably came out a little darker than it should have, looking at it now with fresh eyes – but hopefully the underground setting is a partial justification for that.
I still have a lot of learning to do with getting a decent contrast light/dark balance.
The incredibly detailed grey tones that Andy adds to all his work… and it’s a hell of a lot of work!
It wasn’t easy working in the shadow of such a great artist, I had to stop myself thinking about it too much – a bit intimidating certainly – but it was foremost a real privilege.
I’m very grateful to Tharg to have had the opportunity to work on it and contribute my own small tribute to John Burns’ wonderful work.
Oh yes, Andy, we think you’ve done the man proud.
And finally, time to add colours, first flats and then the final colours that you’ll see adorning another great Andy Clarke cover…
Thank you so much to Andy for sending along the art for this one! Looking fabulous as always, and a wonderful tribute to a legendary and much-missed artist.
You can experience all of the nightmares of New York, both on Andy’s cover and Kek-W and John Burns’ zarjaz new tale with Prog 2403, out everywhere the galaxy’s greatest is sold, including the 2000 AD webshop.
And if that’s got you wanting to see even more of Andy’s artwork for his covers, make sure you go through all his past Covers Uncovered pieces – Megazine 444, Megazine 470,Prog 2287, Prog 2290, Prog 2312, Prog 2388, and Prog 2396. Plus, there’s the three covers he did for the now collected Smash! – issue 1, issue 2, and issue 3.
Now, as is our want, here’s some close-ups from the cover, showing you all that incredible detailing Andy puts into each and every piece he does, including that rather spectacularly done brickwork…
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!
More Rogue Trooper cover action now with Prog 2402 and the zarjaz return of Trevor Hairsine, with colours by Dylan Teague…
Trevor Hairsine is another one of those droids that started off at the house of Tharg, only to get tempted away by work elsewhere. But, like so many art droids, there’s obviously just something in the synth-oil rations that brings him back for this latest, rather spectacular Rogue Trooper cover to go along with the new Rogue series by Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard, When A G.I. Dies.
Like so many, Trevor began his career at 2000 AD, starting off with his co-creation, Harmony, in 1994. An instant fan hit, he graduated to Dredd, Strontium Dog, Missionary Man, Anderson, Mercy Heights, and Downlode Tales before being tempted away overseas to work on Rob Williams’ underrated Cla$$ War and a load of Marvel Comics, including Captain America, Ultimate Galactus, X-Men, and Wisdom in the 2000s, along with work at Valiant and DC Comics.
But, like we say, the lure of the Prog stays in the circuits, and it’s a real pleasure to see his art back here on his first cover for way too long.
In fact, that was the first thing we asked him – what’s it like to be back?
TREVOR HAIRSINE: In answer to your question, working for 2000 AD is like coming home. I was one of those kids who grew up waiting for the news agent to open of a Wednesday so I could collect my dose of Thrill Power and I recapture that feeling when I work on a character like Rogue.
Oh yes, absolutely. Say it together. There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.Welcome back Trevor!
TREVOR HAIRSINE: Okay, so there’s two covers for you – I’ve labelled them 1 and 2 because that’s how high I can count these days. [Tell a lie! I can still count to 4. I’m a bass player.]
First up, my version of the classic Dave Gibbons running pose. It was one of those that just… popped out.Cover 2 came from a little thumbnail I did for cover 1. I showed it to Matt, and he told me to work it up in addition to Cover 1.
Well, I could show you both of them… but Tharg has ways of dealing with folks that spoiler his covers… and they’re not nice. So, you’ll just have to wait a while for the reveal of that one. But right now, we have this cracking take on the classic Gibbons cover.
And if you didn’t know, here it is, the classic Dave Gibbons Rogue pose from way back in 1981…
And here’s the pencils for Trevor’s take on the classic…
TREVOR HAIRSINE: I figured it was my one shot at drawing Rogue so I HAD to get some Colin Wilson Hoppas in there. Colin’s hardware is the BEST!
I’ve included some partial inks. I ink digitally most of the time these days, mostly because I travel a lot and it’s far easier to cart a laptop and tablet around rather than all my physical inking paraphernalia.
And here’s the inking, really leaning into that Gibbons classic for what would become the final cover – looking like this…
Thank you so much to Trevor for giving us the lowdown on his rather triumphant return home!
You can find Prog 2402, with that great Trevor Hairsine cover wherever you get your Thrill Power right now, including the 2000 AD webshop. As for that second cover, another great Rogue moment, you’ll just have to watch this space!
Now, as has become tradition… a little closer look at some of that glorious Hairsine artwork from across what he sent over…
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!
Just as you think you might have recovered from the Thrill Power of the mega-multiversal crossover Nordland Rising in 2000 AD Prog 2400 & Judge Dredd Megazine, it’s time for Tharg to overload everyone’s thrill-circuits with Prog 2401, a new jumping-on Prog, including Book Four of Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison’s magnificently spectacular sci-fi space opera The OUT.
And speaking of Mark Harrison… that’s him behind the cover for this week…
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It’s always a pleasure to get Mark talking about art. We’ve gone from the stage of actually talking about how he puts together the actual cover to far more abstract things, like where the ideas behind the cover and The Out in general come from – it’s always absolutely fascinating. And this one’s no different.
As for The Out Book Four, well, it’s back on the road with photojournalist (and now Zoomber driver) Cyd, travelling the furthest edges of the universe. In three books of The Out, she’s been so far and seen so much, cataloguing her encounters with all the alien societies and wondrous sights she encounters. But, having lost Cheerio, the nearest thing to a friend she’s ever had out here, and having said goodbye to her daughter Joey, it’s time for Cyd to go even further…
In fact, just as a treat, let’s hold off chatting to Mark for a mo’ and give you the first two pages of episode one of The Out Book Four as a particular treat and to show you what it’s all about and just how gorgeous it looks…
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Yes, The Out is everything you could want from sci-fi – expansive, amazing, epic, whilst also focusing on the very deeply personal. It’s quite simply incredible. And of course, so much of this comes from the art of Harrison, doing so much on every single page, creating incredible beauty in the massive alien vistas he’s creating every single episode.
So, enough intro – let’s head over to talk to Mark about this latest cover, the return of The Out, ideas, sci-fi, film posters, sculpture, influences, the horror of ‘average’, and so much more… down the rabbit hole we go…
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MARK HARRISON: It’ll be “interesting” to see what I recall on this one as the whole period has been a bit of a blur. In fact, I may be repeating myself here from other covers uncovered so take note!
Just finished book #4 of The OUT! Roll on Book 5!
Looking back on it it’s been quite the ride. More alien than alien weirdness where “humanoid” is definitely in the minority, with added intrigue, unpleasantness, loss, disconnection, shock, shock and awe… 40 Light years of bad space road.
And 16 months ago (probably more), I had a cover to do where none of this future story existed… but I had to allude to it somehow in another ‘film poster” inspired cover.
My inspiration for its layout came from the compositional brilliance of Bob Peak and his film posters of the 70’s. Great stuff worth hanging on your wall!
We absolutely agree with Mark – Bob Peak’s designs are timeless brilliance
MARK HARRISON: It was to sell the reader a “promised future”, taking from the Roger Corman school of hyperbolic delights within, and hopefully delivering on some of that promise. [No money back – no refunds.]
So, looking back at it… what was I trying to do here? Well, suggest high concept and epicness! There are some “spoilers” on that cover but without context hopefully meaningless.
There is also a red herring or two (not literally but hmmm… note to self: Red Herring race, time wasters. Totally left alone because they are meaningless and an unnecessary distraction in the lives of other races.)
Mark’s thumbnail sketch version – so close to what the cover would eventually become
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MARK HARRISON: The cover was based on the synopsis, which would be the broad strokes of the story, which is how Dan and I work on The Out. We kind of know where we’re going but how we get there is anyone’s guess.
It’s a “join the dots” approach, (the dots being ideas) describing a shape of story (as Tharg had to sign off on it) that allowed for a bit of colouring outside of the edges.
(A great process by the way- thoroughly recommend it for a super collaborative investment of artist and writer.)
And then the final image – complete with portal and the remnants of ‘Amazon world’ – just one of the lost story ideas.
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MARK HARRISON: Such a process, fun as it is, does unfortunately jettison around 60% of the ideas I throw at Dan that don’t make it into the story (but they may get recycled in a later book).
An example of that would be the significant ‘sci-fi’ image on this cover, namely the portal and how it went from fleshed-out idea, with script mechanics and otherworldliness, to ending up as mere background in the final strip.
Because of that I can talk about without spoiling the story, but you’ll see some things aren’t arbitrarily drawn, they had a purpose in a draft that was never realised.
It’s weird, because looking at this cover again, I could, like the reader, hypothesise what story could be behind the images.
Which, ironically, was the inspiration for The OUT; looking at old science fiction novel covers and coming up with our own ideas inspired by them.
The original idea was this planet was it was a junction planet, an in-between planet, a sort of airport baggage handling world. Perhaps a better analogy would be a warehouse world transporting goods via high‑floating trolleys that carried the goods thru stargates dotted over the planet – Stargates with laser barcode readers.
From big idea all the way to the final, in strip, background detail – the ‘portal’ and a little reference gag Mark sent along
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MARK HARRISON: The planet’s economy crashed or there was a catastrophe (isn’t there always?) leaving the Amazon World literally suspended in time. Over time (millennia) those monolithic trolleys of goods hanging in space (much how trolleys don’t) began to disintegrate and shed their loads to earth, creating oases in what was now a desert world, the planet nothing more than dust, bones and ruins.
Cyd would traipse across this landscape from oasis to oasis, encountering alien diversity and adversity in these areas supporting the only life.
But then we had another idea, a better idea – so that was all junked!
Maybe one day we’ll be able to see some alternative versions of The Out and you’ll get to do it finally? After all, that Abnett bloke seems to have a good enough imagination to do something with it?
MARK HARRISON: Just the background imagery and the cover remains, but hey, reading the story when you come to that bit you can go: “I know what’s going on in that background!” Additional bonus content.
The oval portal was inspired (as has much of The OUT’s design) from modern art and sculpture, in this case the work of Barbara Hepworth. It came from my desire to be mischievous repurposing Modern Art.
One of the constants of every episode of the The Out has always been the inclusion of some reference modern art/ sculpture (which I think in particular lends itself to science fiction).
Yes, indeed it does – and Mark was good enough to play show and tell with us, highlighting the various ways he’s referenced so much art and sculpture through the series so far, starting with the Barbara Hepworth references…
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MARK HARRISON: I might not be alone in this source of inspiration. I was struck walking around the Barbara Hepworth garden and museum in St Ives, Cornwall by a sense of deja vu. Something was familiar about these sculptures. The holes in ovals, the donuts and obelisks. It was like bits of an old Star Trek set.
I double checked the art magazines publishing her work in the early 1960’s (displayed in the museum) and it’s not a stretch to think Star Trek designer Matt Jefferies might possibly have had some of Hepworth’s work up on mood boards as inspiration. (Mood boards; a collage of other peoples work designed to springboard the imagination. Often concept artists would draw from the art around them at the time to “wet the canvas” at the start of a brainstorming process.)
I recommend all Star Trek fans to check out her stuff/ visit St Ives. Could this be a portal to another time and place? It won’t be the last time I pilfer from Hepworth’s work. Everyone stands on the shoulders of giants. Not getting caught is the trick.
Well, yes, unless you point it out to us! … here’s another one – A Bar at the Folies-Bergère by Édouard Manet
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MARK HARRISON: In The Out Book 2, I pasted a series of quotes from artists in Lustra’s ‘Mind palace’ – that was a spaceship ‘thought balloon’ which I thought was quite cool… what ever happened to thought balloons in comics by the way?
In case you’re wondering… this was Mark’s ‘thought balloon’ spaceship – very cool indeed…
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MARK HARRISON: One quote I think attributed to Picasso in the mind palace of that episode was: ‘Good Artists copy. Great Artists steal.’
And artists like myself use Google search.
It’s a useful leftfield way of thinking/realising the fantastic – something that that image generation A.I. is currently lagging far behind in. Ask for a spaceship and A.I. apps will probably data scrape all available images of spaceships on the internet, and even with additional prompts it’s going to be an approximation. An average! (Gawd, let’s hope A.I. doesn’t take over comics and we are conditioned to accept ‘an average’.)
A.I. is still logical and, to quote Capt James T. Kirk, machine learning needs “The ability to leap beyond logic” for a truly imaginative creation and the blending of disparate images. See a street lamp. See a spaceship. See Boba Fett’s Slave One born courtesy of Joe Johnson and some leftfield thinking.
Thanks to my art history teachers. It sunk in eventually.
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So there you go, didn’t I promise you this would be just the sort of deep dive into art and artistry and so much more? Oh, Mark, you never let us down here at Covers Uncovered!
You will obviously be rushing down to wherever Thrill Power is sold to pick up 2000 AD Prog 2401, including the 2000 AD webshop.
And, seeing as The Out is one of the best things to come out of 2000 AD in the last couple of decades or more, we’d hate for you to miss out on it! So, if you did manage to pass it by first time round, be sure to pick up the first collection of The Out, containing Books One and Two of the series and available right here at the 2000 AD web shop.
And of course, there’s a lot more of Mark’s always enthralling explanations of making art and The Out in previous Covers Uncovered – Prog 2187, Prog 2193, Prog 2251, Prog 2254, Prog 2261, Prog 2314, and Prog 2333. And be sure to go back and read the interview with Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison all about The OUT right here.
The Out Volume One – essential reading
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Now, because Mark sent them along and we couldn’t fit them in – more of those modern art/sculpture references he’s brought into The Out…
Francis Bacon – Study For Three Heads…
Arnold Böcklin – Isle of the Dead…
Antony Gormley’s Angel Of The North and The Out’s Tankinar War Fleet…
Piet Mondrian’s famous work repurposed for alien tech…
Salvador Dali – Le Sommeil (Sleep)…
Jacob Epstein – Rock Drill and the Tankinar from The Out…
And finally, this one, possibly my favourite of them all – Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, better known as the urinal of course, and Mark’s unique repurposing of it as Urinal City…
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!
Something rather special this week as we have another long-serving of Tharg’s art droids returning – as Jim Murray takes the cover to the second-part of the mega-crossover of Nordland Rising for Judge Dredd Megazine 472.
Nordland Rising is the special event where all-out war has broken out across the 2000 AD multiverse in a story so big it couldn’t be contained in the Prog alone!
The Nort Empire’s already invaded across realities in 2000 AD Prog 2400 and now it’s over to Megazine 472 for the zarjaz conclusion as the resistance begins the fight back with four teams, four hits…
Cover art droid Murray doesn’t do that many covers for Tharg these days, but that just makes those he does all the more special. Incredibly, it’s now 30 years since his first taste of the joy of working for Tharg back in 1994’s Megazine volume 2.62. It didn’t take long for him to become a regular droid through the mid to late-90s with the dynamic fully-painted art he’s known for. After work on the Dredd/Batman Die Laughing crossover of 1998, he moved to DC where he worked on Batman and JLA projects before heading out of comics and into illustration and video game design, something he still does to this day.
However, as with so many of Tharg’s alumni, the lure of the Galaxy’s Greatest is strong enough to pull them back in from time to time, with a cover on Prog 2002 in 2016 and now with this latest zarjaz cover from Murray for Megazine 472.
Oh, and not coincidentally, Murray’s interviewed inside the Meg as well, ending with this, which proves to be a perfect intro to this latest cover…
‘I’m always drawn to comics. If I go too long without painting something, I start to really miss it. I’ve asked Matt Smith for the covers I’ve done and he’s been kind enough to indulge me. I really enjoyed painting this latest one, it took me back to the old days and I’d love to do more.’
So, with that said, over to Jim Murray for this latest cover – he’s welcome back any day…
JIM MURRAY: This idea is Dredd holding forth in front of the Nort symbol, so it was fairly open for interpretation, I felt it warranted some sort of struggle, or aftermath of a struggle to give it the right kind of dramatic impact.
At any rate, the first round of sketches, thumbnails really, I did on the plane coming back from a vacation.
From those I worked up a few sketches to send to Matt, variations on a theme…
JIM MURRAY: Striking the right balance between Dredd and the Nort symbol was challenging. Having a foreground that was too busy meant the symbol was getting lost. Then again I really wanted Dredd to be dominant and imposing.
In the end we settled on something along the lines of the second sketch.
Here’s the inked version...
Then the paint, all acrylics. I painted this over several evenings after work.
This is a snapshot about halfway through…
At some point you’ve got to call it done. I scan the painting (usually in 4 sections) with an old Epson scanner from 2007 that somehow still seems to work fine.
Thanks Matt for indulging me with another cover, always a pleasure and a privilege.
So, welcome back to the 2000 AD fold, Jim Murray – it’s like he’s never been away! But hopefully it won’t be another eight years before we see the next cover from him!
You can find Megazine 472 on the shelves everywhere the Galaxy’s Greatest is sold, including the 2000 AD web shop. But remember that this is but half of the Nordland Rising story – you’ll need to get hold of 2000 AD Prog 2400, also out right now, for the beginnings of the Nort invasion of the 2000 AD multiverse!
Now, a few extras for you to enjoy from Jim, starting with the last time he was on the cover of Tharg’s mighty organ – 2000 AD Prog 2002…
And now, the full size versions of the initial sketches and a few blow-ups to show you all that perfect detail Jim puts into each and every cover…
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, a look at the making of the spectacular subscriber-exclusive John McCrea and Mike Spicer cover to 2000 AD Prog 2400, the start of the ghafflebette mega-crossover story Nordland Rising – a story so big it had to spill over into Judge Dredd Megazine issue 472, also out this week!
Nordland is Rising, – all hail the Nort Empire!
It’s all-out war across the 2000 AD multiverse this week as the Nort Army invade throughout the whole of 2000 AD history! It all starts in 2000 AD Prog 2400 and concludes the same week with Judge Dredd Megazine 472 – it’s Nordland Rising and it will bring the world of 2000 AD to its knees!
Against this invasion, it will take a special kind of resistance and that’s just what we get, in stories featuring Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Venus Bluegenes, Bad Company, Major Eazy, Judge Anderson, Jaegir, The V.C.s, and even the Fiends of the Eastern Front!
And it all comes under not one but two covers. There’s the standard newsstand edition by Cliff Robinson & Dylan Teague and a very special subscribers-exclusive wrapround cover from John McCrea and Mike Spicer!
Now, over to John McCrea, not only on cover duties here but inside with Judge Dredd: Nordland Rising…
JOHN MCCREA: I’ve always wanted to do a wraparound cover for 2000 AD, since seeing the fabulous Bolland, McMahon, Ezquerra etc wraparounds from the glory days of 2000. I had noticed the Prog was doing them occasionally and, when I was asked to draw some interior pages from the Nordland Rising crossover I thought this might be my chance. I dropped Tharg an email and asked if it was possible. Being the galaxy’s greatest editor (TM) he quickly decided that I should do a subscriber‑exclusive!
I’ve never drawn Venus Bluegenes before so I wanted to make her front and center. Let’s face it, Dredd and Anderson have had plenty of covers to themselves!
I don’t get to draw many wraparound covers so I really wanted this one to be epic, reflecting the scale of the story inside. The cover pencils came pretty easily, and I sent this rough to Tharg…
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As you can see I did not want to commit to drawing hundreds of little background figures and spaceships before the picture was approved. I’m not Chris Weston crazy.
John, NO ONE is Chris Weston crazy when it comes to detail!!
Tharg gave it the green thumbs up, so I tightened up my pencils to this…
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Then came ALL the spaceships. I really wasn’t looking forward to the pain in my hand when I inked this!
I used some carefully placed symbols to cover up some of the hard work of running figures and massed spaceships.
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Okay, next it’s the inks. I actually enjoyed every minute of this and it took me two days to ink, mainly because I took lots of breaks. You’ve got to look after your health when you’re a comic artist as it can be a brutal job. Take lots of breaks, get up and walk around, do some stretching exercises and eat your 5 fruit and veg a day!
Next – Inks scanned and digital tones added for a little extra texture. It’s always tricky getting the balance right with digital tone, I never want to overdo it and obscure the drawing, which is obviously the most important aspect.
With the cover approved by ol’ green bonce, I sent the inks to Mike Spicer with these few colour notes…
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Mike did his usual fabulous job but, being the fussy get I am, I had a few last notes…
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The final cover turned out well, I think. I can only hope that it encouraged a few more Earthlets to subscribe to the Galaxy’s Greatest. If that happened, then I’ll have done my job.
Thanks so much to John for sending that one along, it’s another great cover by John and Mike – if that’s not enough to send you all rushing for the subscribe page, we don’t know what is! And whilst you’ll have missed out on that particular sub-exclusive, subscribe right now to make sure you don’t miss out on the next one!
Nordland is rising right now, first in Prog 2400 and then over in Megazine 472, is out right now. And if you did miss out on John and Mike’s zarjaz subscriber-exclusive cover this time, don’t despair, as the standard edition has this little beauty from Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague, available in all the usual places you find your Thrill-Power, including the 2000 AD web shop. And of course, be sure to pick up Meg 472, with a great cover from Jim Murray…
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And don’t leave here without having a look at all of John (and Mike’s) past Covers Uncovered from John, there’s plenty here to bring before your eyeballs – there’s that fabulous recent Armitage for Judge Dredd Megazineissue 467, and then multiple incredible Dredds on Prog 2024, Prog 2224, Prog 2328, Prog 2351, Prog 2361, the rollercoaster of emotions that was the Aquila cover for Prog 2380, and Prog 2386 featuring that other famous blue-skinned G.I.!
And finally, as John sent along huge size images, I get to show you some glorious blow-ups of his art, all that absolutely fabulous detail, all those characters…
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!
The final episode of John Wagner and Colin MacNeil‘s latest ghafflebette Judge Dredd tale, Machine Rule, comes to a thrilling finale this Prog – so who better to deliver a cover worthy of the shocks inside than the titanic team of Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague?
And what a cover it is from Robinson, brought to finished colour splendour by his regular colourist, Dylan Teague, a perfect cover for the finale of Wagner and MacNeil’s latest bit of Dredd magnificence!
Robinson’s been an art droid for many, many years, with his first strip art coming in Prog 362, soon followed by a first cover for Prog 414. And although he hasn’t drawn all that much inside the Prog, he’s been responsible for coming up to a couple of hundred covers, every one of them an absolute classic the moment it hits the stands. He’s just the master of beautiful composition, linework that’s so fine it’s almost unbelievable, and finishing that’s just so incredibly clean – all of it combining to achieve perfection every time.
So, time to see what wonders Cliff has for us this time with this latest, surely one of the covers of the year…
It all started off, Cliff tells us, with four different versions of the cover, based on Dredd’s stand-off with the Mechanismos on page 1 of this final Machine Rule episode…
CLIFF ROBINSON: Versions 1 through to 4: Dredd’s helmet, shoulder pads and badge of office were all taken from previous covers (of my own, of course!!). Waste not, want not.
All the rest are original, with help from a few reference photos I took of myself standing in as Dredd. These photos will be released to the public in 100 years from now.
For those who cannot wait, here’s a small teaser (the gun barrel extension was supplied by Jus-Rol Puff Pastry Sheets, and I deeply thank them).
Version 3: I decided that I didn’t like the figure drawing, so I re-drew it. Then I realised the second version wasn’t that much better, so reverted back to the original. I’m still unsure about it. Maybe Dredd’s body is a little too small compared to his head?
Yep, the familiar art droid insecurities kick in – there’s always a better way to do it, their version’s never good enough! But Cliff, trust us, it’s incredible!
After that, it’s time to put all that fine, fine, glorious linework into place and give us the finished cover, all ready for Dylan Teague to add his perfect colours to it all. Although, as Cliff says, sometimes it all depends on the pens. [Which is, of course, absolute rot. Cliff Robinson could make unmistakably perfect art with a blunt Crayola.]
CLIFF ROBINSON: The line art came out okay-ish, but mainly because I was lucky enough to have a half-decent ‘Hunt 102 nib’. Life is like a box of Hunt 102’s. You never know what you’re going to get.
As usual, Dylan Teague’s colours are excellent. Thanks, Dylan.
That they are Cliff, that they are! And here’s that finished cover in all its glory, another perfect Robinson/Teague collaboration…
Damn, every time the Robinson/Teague droids join up for a cover it’s just something special. And as a special treat, there’s another one coming up in just two weeks time, with Robinson & Teague returning for the cover of Prog 2400, the start of the Nordland Rising Prog & Meg event!
But first, head on out to wherever you get your weekly dose of Tharg’s finest prescription of Thrill Power and marvel over the wonders of this cover for Prog 2398 – out right now and available everywhere, including the 2000 AD web shop.
As for more of Cliff and Dylan’s always special covers here at Covers Uncovered, look no further than these beauties – Megazine 441, Prog 2000, Prog 2152, and Prog 2362.
And finally, we couldn’t let you go without showing you those pencil and ink beauties Cliff sent along at full size… gaze on his work and be amazed once more…
