Tag: coversuncovered

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 time we chat to Nick Percival about his ssssstunning cover to Judge Dredd Megazine Issue 430 (which is out now!) and a brand new look for the Dark Judges…

Now, over to Nick…

NICK PERCIVAL: We revealed the new look Alien Dark Judges with a splash page at the end of Part 6 of ‘Deliverance’, so it made sense for the cover for Part 7 to feature them in all their glory.

We had to keep this cover image under wraps for advance orders, so this wasn’t the cover shown on order forms  – didn’t want to spoil the surprise in advance! 

Since Judge Death is on an alien planet, it made sense that the new hosts for Fear, Fire and Mortis would be alien bodies and hence the re-design. I wanted them to have that otherworldly feel and something different but still retain core elements of what the Dark Judges look like and reflect their various attributes.  

NP: Fire is a little bit more of a classic Xenomorph type creature who likes to leap onto his victims, roasting them alive. Fear has that Edvard Munch ‘The Scream’ vibe going on – His whole head and torso open up to reveal your greatest fears and Mortis is a bulkier, slovenly type beast, who not only decays his victims but eats them as well. 

You can see from the events in Part 7, that they’re much more brutal than the original versions and luckily for them, there’s an almost never-ending amount of willing victims from the Death Cult that are just lining up to be killed in all manner of gruesome, fun ways –such is the ‘life’ (death?) of a Dark Judge.  

NP: So for the cover, it’s a pretty standard group shot with Death residing over them but keeps the focus where it should be.

As ever, my roughs are very loose but Tharg knows that by now. I did make one change from the sketch in the painted version with raising Death’s arms but there you go.

I have a special cover lined up for the final part but since it gives away a key element of the series and where we’ll go from there, my lips are forever ssssealed….

Thank you to Nick for giving us that fasssscinating glimpse behind his designs for those new Dark Judges. You can find that cover and Deliverance Part 7 in The Megazine 430 – make with the clicky and head to the 2000 AD web shop to get your hands on Megazine #430 from 17 March. For more from Nick in COvers Uncovered, head here for the covers process to Megazine 425.

Now… a couple of process images from that great Nick Percival cover. First the loose cover rough and then the final painted image…

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 2000 AD Prog 2223, with a gorgeous but gnarly Thistlebone: Poisoned Roots cover by Simon Davis.

The first series of Thistlebone chilled us to the bone back in 2020, with writer TC Eglington and artist Simon Davis collaborating so well to give us a dark and chilling tale of folk horror madness. That first series will be released as a collection on 29 April, but before that we get to enjoy the 12-part second series, Thistlebone: Poisoned Roots that began in 2000 AD Prog 2221.

After the events of the first series, Poisoned Roots takes us back into the woods, back to the horror, as a terrible archaeological discovery in the woods uncovers ancient skeletons and evidence of ceremonial killings. With new horrors coming to light, Seema, the journalist responsible for persuading Thistlebone cult survivor Avril to return to Harrowvale in the first series, finds herself digging far deeper than she should into the mysteries surrounding the Thistlebone cult.

All of which means more chills, more terrors, and more chance to revel in the dark beauty of Simon Davis’ artwork.

In our Thistlebone interview, Simon talked a lot about his process of putting the art together, the labour-intensive old-school methods eschewing computers and embracing the joy of the paints. Everything starts with lots of reference and models for characters to produce the complete story in watercolour roughs.

After that full Thistlebone watercolour rough comic is done, he begins anew with traditional drawing, all finished off with gouache, ink and crayon on hot-pressed watercolour board.

For the latest Thistlebone cover, Simon only has one process image… the cover rough done pretty quickly…

SIMON DAVIS: I wanted this cover, like the covers on the first series’ not to be directly linked to the narrative. I prefer to do images that can be used out of context that hopefully still convey the nature of the story.

Because the early part of this story is linked to the forest and more specifically a downed tree, I felt that roots would be a good starting point. Skeletons are revealed in the first episode and a deer mask in the third so I thought a combination of the two and a unifying spinal root would make for a pleasing image.

I was also clear in my mind that a visually simple layout and composition would be ideal, so I settled on the white background. Not only does it prioritise the image, it also will hopefully be intriguing when seen on a newsagent or comic shop stand.

The rough was done quite quickly and the final image, painted in oils, stayed pretty faithful to it.

And from there, with Tharg’s approval (of course), it was time to begin the drawing and painting process again!

And for the result, check out 2000 AD Prog 2223 that you’ll see on the shelves or in the 2000 AD web shop from 17 March.

There you go, a short and sweet this week – but that doesn’t make that any less of a stunning cover!

For more on Thistlebone, be sure to check out the interview with writer TC Eglington and Simon Davis here. Thistlebone: Poisoned Roots began in 2000 AD Prog 2221 and the first volume of Thistlebone is being released as a collection on 29 April.

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 talk to PJ Holden about his cover to 2000 AD Prog 2221. A cover that’s certainly going to give long-time Squaxx dek Thargo some very familiar vibes…

Oh yes, that’s PJ doing a wonderful job of following in the footsteps of the great Carlos Ezquerra and his brilliant synthi-sausage cover to 2000 AD Prog 333, way back in September 1983.

It’s all part of the new Judge Dredd series, Who Killed Captain Cookies, beginning this Prog. Kenneth Niemand rejoins PJ to give us a classic Dredd tale of a do-gooder in Mega-City One, handing out cookies to the juve gangs to get them to change their ways.

Problem is, someone doesn’t seem to like the Captain…

Anyway, we’ll leave the fun of the storyline to you to enjoy when you pick up the Prog – and we’re certainly not going to spoil the not too surprising ending to this first episode.

Instead, we’ll share this wonderful Holden Dredd giving us his verdict…

Okay, now let’s hand over to PJ to talk us through that wonderful Ezquerra homage cover…

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PJ HOLDEN: I can’t put my hands on pencils or inks owing to the fact I think this was done in August last year? And it’s been, dear readers, a LONG one.

But here are my initial roughs followed by the notes I sent to Tharg.

A- a Watchmen spoof, with the cookie replacing the watchmen smiley face, would mean changing the dressing for 2000AD (down the side to complete the watchmen look) but might be fun.
B – Cookies, outlined in white.
C – Shadow of Dredd’s bike as he arrives on the scene, Captain dead, background people milling around.
D – Dredd looking at a cookie – partially a homage to Magritte’s The Son of Man (bowler-hatted man with an apple in front of face)
E – Dredd standing above Cookies, looking down
F – Dredd looking at cookie dripping with blood, people milling about in the background
G – Same, different angle, looking up at him. (This might work in a graphic b&w noir with red colouring for the blood of the cookie?)
H – Heroic Captain triumphant, RIP written across him
I – Close up of Captain Cookies’ corpse, Dredd looking over.

(My favourite is A – but I love a fun cover pastiche… And I also like C..)

Matt preferred Dredd holding a cookie and suggested aping the classic Carlos Ezquerra synthi-sausage cover from Prog 333.

Ok! Says I.

Did a pencil and colour rough.

Matt OK’d that and boom a cover was born.

There you go! Short and sweet this week for the Covers Uncovered, but damn, that’s a fine, fine cover.

Our thanks to PJ Holden for sending these over for our viewing pleasure

You can get hold of 2000 AD Prog 2221 on 3 March from all the usual places, including the 2000 AD web shop!

And now, of course, we’re not going to miss the chance to give you a look at the two covers together… first, the classic Ezquerra in all its wraparound glory and a zoom in on the front cover…

And finally, a little side-by-side comparison…

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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 wonderfully talented Nick Roche talking us through his action-packed cover to the new 2000 AD REGENED Prog 2220 – OUT NOW!!!

It looks a lot like this…

Inside 2000 AD REGENED Prog 2220, you’re going to find five exciting new strips – a brand new Cadet Dredd: Suboptimal by Arthur Wyatt and Davide Tinto, Future Shocks: Geeno Firenzo by Karl Stock, Silvia Califano and three completely new strips, Action Pact: The Radyar Recovery by Mike Carroll and Luke Horsman, Viva Forever: 9 Amazing Tips by David Baillie and Anna Morozova, and Mayflies: Precious Cargo by Mike Carroll and Simon Coleby.

It’s a real Scrotnig Regened to kick off 2021’s all-ages 2000 AD selections, with a great looking cover by Nick sure to attract all those tiny Earthlets to the Zarjaz thrills of 2000 AD for years to come!

So, take it away Nick…

NICK ROCHE: I was first made aware of Tharg’s presence by an uncontrollable twitch behind my left eye. My initial thought was “That toxic paint I licked off that bootleg Transformer in 1989 has finally kicked in.” But soon I realised he was making contact telepathically. He had need of me. And who was I to refuse? (Nick Roche, Writer/Artist on Scarenthood, Transformers, and Death’s Head, that’s who!)

I had the honour of being in The Mighty One’s ‘Regened Pool’; a cadre of “talent” called upon to ensnare younger Earthlets into the realm of inescapable Thrill Power. And so Tharg was gifting me the chance to craft the cover for 2021’s first all-ages prog. A Regened Cover meant two things: Dredd, and LOTS of blank space. I was in.

The brief was thus: ” I was thinking of something like: Dredd leaping out of the way as a giant robot smashes down its fist – or along those lines.”

Getting to draw a robot AND Judge Dredd for a 2000AD cover? I would have paid for the opportunity. Unfortunately, Tharg detected my stray thought, and took me at my word. And as such, I now owe him a large amount in some obscure ultraterrestrial cryptocurrency I’ve never heard of.

Here’s my first – and only – draft at a layout for the cover. I had asked if the cover required the uniform white background that worked so well on previous Regened covers, and Tharg had said it wasn’t essential. I thought it was a great unified bit of branding across the All-Ages issues though, so I thought I’d sell him on the idea: I’d keep the cover free of ALL background elements, and have the impact of the giant mech’s crash fists create the only definition and colour on the image, apart from the figures themselves.

I stayed close to the palette of the earlier covers, with strong vibrant colours smashing out of the crack in the ‘ground’, and intense flashlines. They’re the sort of colours and elements you don’t often see on a 2000AD cover, so I thought they’d stand out and serve their purpose by saying ‘This prog’s a little different, lads’, with Dredd and the big bot anchoring readers in more familiar territory.

This is the only prelim sketch I did for the robot too; I got a sense of what sort of imposing shape was needed right there on the page, and what proportions it would need to dominate the space on the cover, and overwhelm Dredd too.

I emailed it off to Tharg, but he reminded me that he still had control of my every waking thought and he’d seen the image before it had even entered my own cerebral cortex. I didn’t ask why he hadn’t said that earlier and saved me the bother of the sketch. It turns out, The Mighty One was “well-chuffed” with this initial layout, and I could go ahead to finish the image. This rarely happens in comics, and I was almost masochistically waiting for the multiple mental hoops Tharg would force me to hurl myself through to earn his pleasure – I’d heard so much about it all! Maybe next time, eh?

So using the layouts, I basically went into “add detail” mode. Most of the brainwork had been done by figuring out where all the elements should be in that rough sketch. I remember focusing on Dredd first, making sure his pose remained strong and all his bits and bobs were in the right place. I saved the robot as a sort of visual ‘dessert’; the mech didn’t have to look like anything in particular, it wasn’t tied to a specific design that was to featured within, I could have fun and lose myself in its design. One of the treats in creating a one-off visual for a cover like this, is that no matter how much detail you add, you don’t need to fret about it being replicated panel-after-panel within an actual strip.

I’d made a name for myself drawing robots over the years — I’m mostly known for my Transformers work, so I know my way around hinged knuckles and extraneous panelling detail. One of my strengths honed on drawing those guys is to make the robots as readable and characterful as possible, and that was one of my aims with this guy. But I also felt duty-bound to stick to a 2000AD aesthetic with this mech.

There’s no such thing as ‘Too Subtle’ for any of the Prog-born bots, so i leaned into his dumb face and OTT chompy teeth. I think I struck the balance between giving him enough detail to make younger readers lose themselves in, and enough appealing body shapes to reassure their older guardians who will be tasked with shelling out for the comic on their behalf.

I tend to work traditionally- on physical paper with pencils and pens – so this is a scan of my inked line-art. I drew my pencils on cheap cartridge paper, scan them into photoshop, convert the pencil lines to blue, and then print those out onto better quality Bristol Board for inking. I ink straight onto the blue-line print out, and when I scan the finished piece, I have photoshop tuned up to eliminate any of the unwanted blue marks, leaving only the pure black and white you see here. That way, I don’t have to take time to erase any of the pencil marks if I’d inked straight onto them. That’s always a time-suck, especially as you often have to go back and re-ink elements as the eraser has removed some of the ink’s intensity.

I use lots of vinyl-tipped Japanese ‘disposable brush pens’; the tips are flexible enough that be leaning into them or easing off on them, you can create different thickness of lines, while still maintaining good control. I like using these on robots and mechs, because it gives them a lively feeling, without relying on rigid lines, and that adds a little more character to them. I use fineliners for the fiddly bits, and Pentel pocket brush pens when I want a nice tapered brush stroke here and there.

The impact/flash-lines from the finished piece would normally be added to the page traditionally, but I waited until the next stage to drop those in…

To aid the colourist (the amazing Gary Caldwell, but I didn’t know who was on duty at this stage), I dropped in the flashlines on a different layer and in a lighter tone using Manga Studio (recent versions are called ClipStudio, and it’s a great piece of kit that’s really intuitive for creating comics digitally). This would (hopefully?) make it easier for Gary to separately select them when colouring, instead of having to fiddle with the line art and extract them manually. (Also, there’s a handy tool on Manga Studio to draw lines that radiate from a specific point and move things along quicker for any Betelguesian publishing moguls.)

All that remained was for me to email it to a company called Rebellion, and a soothing sense of a job adequately abandoned that remained in my soul after Tharg severed his mindlink with me. A while later, I’d be treated to a look at Gary’s smashing colours and I join the rest of the earthlets in waiting for the latest Regened issue to pass through my letterbox. Though why all these people are in my hallway watching my front door is a mystery, and not something that was discussed with me by Tharg.

Mind-link severed, Nick still has a nagging pain in his temple, far too many people in his hallway, and a very large bill in Betelgeusian crypto-funds to pay thanks to enjoying his job far too much. But fear not, Tharg is a (relatively) benevolent dictator.

So, as we leave him with Tharg’s minions knocking at the door to arrange transport to the Art Droid cells accommodation cubes and will let Nick work off his debt, let’s give our thanks to Nick for sending over those images and we’ll be looking forward to seeing his next art for 2000 AD Regened soon!

For more from Nick, you can find him on Twitter, and be sure to check out the interview he did with writer Cavan Scott about their Rogue Trooper Regened strip that ran in 2000 AD Progs 2130 and 2170… looking like this…

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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 talk to John Higgins about his stunning cover to the Judge Dredd Megazine issue 429, available from 17 February with the sixth and final part of Dreadnoughts: Breaking Ground – brought to you by the creative team of Michael Carroll, John Higgins, Sally Hurst and Simon Bowland.

JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE 429 is OUT NOW!

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Have no fear though – although it’s the finale of Breaking Ground, the series will return with a second series, The March of Progress. Mike Carroll has already turned in his script and John Higgins will be getting cracking on the art once he finishes the art for a new John Wagner-penned Judge Dredd six-parter meant for June 2021, Now That’s What I Call Justice.

So, now it’s time to luxuriate in the brilliance of John Higgins’ latest cover art…

JOHN HIGGINS: Matt Smith asked me to do a series cover rather than an episode-specific cover for the final episode of Dreadnoughts. The setting is Judge Glover standing in front of the traditional law enforcers who she and her fellow Judges are starting to replace, I felt it gave an allegorical spin to the scene and also established her as a fearless individual who leads from the front and represents the best that you can hope for in what will be a new world order.

Matt approved the very first black and white rough I did so I felt confident with the composition and focus of the image.

I painted it traditionally, using Gouache and magicolor inks on washboard, I knew Glover and the cops were going to be backlit by the flames of a city-wide riot, so to achieve a flame effect I tipped yellow, magenta and delta violet transparent inks on to a wet board and let them blend in a fractal way, one can be pleasantly surprised with how the colours intermix and form interesting shapes with little guidance.

I used gouache paint on Glover and the rioters lying in the foreground, gouache is a great paint to give a solidity to objects set against the transparent inks of the background, it really threw her forward.

I then scanned it in and finished digitally with background details, such as highlights on the riot police helmets and shields, and colour balanced the background colours, I was happy with Glover and the foreground so did little digital adjusting on that part of the painting.

Now that, I think we can all agree is a suitably stunning cover to mark the end of what has been perhaps the debut of the year. Dreadnoughts has been a story that’s firmly established itself as a favourite with fans, revealing just what it was like on the ground as the world that would become Dredd’s world changed forever, a shifting world where the rule of law is changing to the rule of the Judges.

Thank you to John for taking the time to share the work behind that great cover.

You can find Megazine issue 429 on the shelves and in the 2000 AD web shop right now!

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, on the cover of 2000 AD Prog 2219 we have Patrick Goddard and colourist Dylan Teague giving us a wraparound skysurfing spectacular from their Judge Dredd strip, Against The Clock.

Patrick Goddard’s been a mainstay of both 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine since he made his double debut in November 2000 on both 2000 AD and the Megazine.

His first published work came with the John Wagner written Judge Dredd: Jimping two-parter in Megazine 3.71-3.72, quickly followed later in the same month with Sinister Dexter: Lucky in 2000 AD Prog 1220.

His crisp and super clean artwork has featured on plenty of strips since then, including Mean Machine, Young Middenface, Chopper, Savage, Sinister Dexter, Anderson, Grey Area, Armitage, Wardog, and of course Judge Dredd. Most recently, he’s been the go-to artist on Ales Kot’s recent work on the Vampire dandy extraordinaire, Devlin Waugh in the Megazine and given us more Aquila in the pages of 2000 AD where he’s most recently taken the returned from the dead gladiator down into hell in The Burning Fields.

All of which brings us up to date with 2000 AD Prog 2219, out on 17 February, with Goddard’s stunning skysurfer cover art as well as contributing the interiors for Judge Dredd: Against The Clock, where he’s twisting and turning through the skies of MC-1 for the tale of a skysurfing delivery worker.

Now, over to Patrick to tell us all about putting together this super-soaraway skysurfing cover…

PATRICK GODDARD: I drew six rough thumbnails for Matt to choose from, it was a pretty straightforward brief of having a double page wraparound cover of the skysurfer flying over an imposing Mega City 1.

We went with option 2 but having her showing the baby on her back ( I was trying to hide it for the reveal in the strip).

I think I drew the city at A4 and then enlarged it to trace over using a lightbox.

I drew Mona (skysurfer) separately so I could play around with her placement over MC1, I tried a few different poses and chose the most dynamic one. 

Once it was finalised, I just had the task of drawing it! I think my eyes may have suffered a bit mind!

I knew Dylan was colouring it and he asked for any colour suggestions for Mona, so I sent some colour ideas and he worked his magic and we got the final cover, simple really.

It was nice to be asked to do a cover for a strip that I’d drawn, so you already had all the ref and a feel for the character.

Thank you so much to Patrick for taking the time here to share that absolutely gorgeous wrapround cover with us. Make sure to pick up 2000 AD Prog 2219 from the 2000 AD web shop from 17 February where you have not just the pleasure of staring in awe at that cover but also get to see Patrick and colourist Dylan Teague drawing the Judge Dredd strip inside.

As an added extra, Patrick also sent along his initial character studies of his skysurfing heroine…

For more great cover breakdowns from Patrick, be sure to check out these Covers Uncovered for Prog 2021, Prog 2185, and Prog 2205.

And you can also see and hear Patrick on the 2000 AD Thrill-Cast Lockdown Tapes where he’s talking Aquila: The Burning Fields

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 talk to the insanely talented art droid Simon Fraser, whose gorgeously muted palette of colours and striking linework is making the second series of Hershey – The Brutal – look simply stunning!

On the cover of 2000 AD Prog 2218, Fraser takes brutal to a whole new level, giving us a beaten and bloodied Dirty Frank (and canine companion)…

You can find 2000 AD Prog 2218 out on 10 February in all good newsagents and comic shops and from the 2000 AD web shop. Inside, you’ll be able to thrill to the penultimate episode of Hershey: The Brutal, written by Rob Williams, art by Simon, showing us just how bad an idea it is to get on the wrong side of the former Chief Judge.

Now, over to Simon to see just how he went about doing the dirty on poor old Frank…

SIMON FRASER: So this cover was almost comically straightforward. There’s barely a story here but I’ll stretch it out as far as I can.

Matt asked me for a cover of Frank, ” a battered looking Frank with his bare fists up, about to fight El Demonio. Can just focus on Frank, though, looking like he’s been through the mill.”

So I drew this...

It’s a reasonably polished pencil ( for me ) not a rough layout because I really don’t think there’s a lot to quibble with here and I’m under a bit of deadline pressure to finish the last two parts. If I can cut out a stage then that’s a win!

So I chuck some colour on it from the limited palette I’ve been using for the story itself. Like so…

As for my Palette for Hershey:The Brutal – it’s comically small!

I basically just downloaded a couple of picture postcards of Brazil and Colombia and sampled some of the colours into a photoshop palette. I stuck to this palette for 94.7% of the time.

Occasionally I used a different tonal value of one of the palette colours. The thing about keeping things so disciplined is that when you eventually do break the rules, it’s quite shocking. For example, there’s no vivid red in the whole story (all that blood you see is purple) so when I push that right at the end, it adds an extra kick to the storytelling.

Matt gives me the ‘GO’ to do the final art based on my rough. I inked in ClipStudio, Blue-lining the pencil rough and working on it using a Pen called ‘Frenden Feathering’ which I’ve grown to love. It’s very squishy and a bit square so I can get a slightly erratic line out of it if I want, but at the same time, it does beautiful delicate feathering if required to.

The other pen I use a lot is a fineliner with a very small amount of flexibility and Stabilization turned up to 100%. I call it ‘Architecture’ and I draw buildings and machines with it. The line has some feel to it (like a fineliner pen), but stabilization keeps my hand steady enough that I don’t need to use rulers very much at all. I try and use rulers as little as possible as they can make things too rigid and tense. Anyway, I digress.

I coloured it up in my trusty old copy of Photoshop CS5. I added a bit of lens flare (don’t hate me!) and that was that, Hershey’s favourite punching bag in all his gory (not a misspelling).

And that’s it – another thrill-powered 2000 AD cover in the bag! Once more, thanks so much to Simon for sending these over to us.

That beautifully brutal Dirty Frank cover is on the front of 2000 AD Prog 2218 – and you can pick that up from the 2000 AD web shop from 10 February.

And if you’re looking for more from Simon and Hershey, check out the Covers Uncovered piece he wrote for us about the surprise return of Hershey in Disease with 2000 AD Prog 2176.

And of course, the collected Hershey: Disease comes out on 17 August 2021. You can find details of that, along with all of 2000 AD’s collections for the year here.

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, with 2000 AD Prog 2217, it’s a very special occasion for Dan Cornwell, whose artwork we’ve been seeing on various Judge Dredd strips since his debut in 2017 on the John Wagner written War Buds in 2000 AD Prog 2045.

He’s been drawing Dredd inside the Galaxy’s Greatest for three years plus now, but up until this week he’d not had the thrill of getting on the cover. That changes right here, right now, with this rather stunning Judge Dredd on the cover of Prog 2217, out 3 February…

Dan’s also the Dredd artist inside the Prog this week on the rather revealing done-in-one Dredd, Naked City, written by Ken Niemand.

Ever wondered what you’d see if you had some kind of psychic x-ray vision in Mega-City One? Well, Moe Hallam, mall security cop, doesn’t have to wonder… but she does have to make sure she averts her eyes…

All that and much more in the latest Prog (and if you ever wanted the thrill of seeing a naked Dredd, this is the Prog for you!), but right now we’ll hand over to Dan Cornwell to tell you all about putting together this debut cover… and it was all a complete accident!

DAN CORNWELL: There was no remit from Matt for this cover, in fact he never even asked for a cover. This all happened by pure chance.

Long story short, I was having difficulties with the paper stock I would normally use – 280gsm Bristol board, so decided to try other types. The problem was, in the heat of the summer the inks weren’t soaking into the paper quickly enough and I found myself waiting for 5 minutes after inking a section of the image before I could continue, and even then in some cases the ink was still wet. I decided to try Windsor & Newton 220gsm smooth surface heavy stock cartridge paper. This worked – I still use it now.

I thought I should do a quick sketch and ink it to see the results. I penciled out my ‘go-to’ character, Judge Dredd. Took about half an hour.

Once he was sketched I thought it was quite a good pose, so added a little more detail.

I decided that this could be quite a cool picture so I started to play with the idea of adding a background. This is when I had issues. What to add? His badge? His Lawmaster? Mega City One? All been done before. Anyway I chose the latter. But I wanted it to be different. A bizarre angle that was not as the same perspective as the foreground character. 

Making things difficult for myself I chose a 5 point perspective cityscape. When I was happy with the result I inked the whole thing. This was the purpose of the task after all. Thankfully I went well.

Next up, time to scan and clean up the image…

I then had to figure out the colour palette for this image. As I was drawing it, in the back of my mind I was seeing an 80’s synthwave, Bladerunner colour vibe. That’s how I see MC1 in my mind’s eye.

First job – and as all colourists will tell you, the most boring and tedious part, laying out the flats – blues and pinks...

Once the city and Dredd were flatted on separate layers (easier to select specific areas to work on) I then added tones to the city itself. I was working on the basis that the light will emanate from deep within the city and the tops of the buildings will be relatively dark. This in turn will make Dredd pop...

Then I worked on the light and shadows on Dredd and the city. Trying to find the right balance. Looking at the colour layers without inks, or looking at the whole image with a black and white filter which allows you to see the tones of the picture and where you can adjust the image...

Once I was happy with the overall composition and feel of the piece I added the final details here and there, adjusted the colour balance and levels. Then I flattened the picture. I made two versions, one slightly darker than the other. Printing can darken images.

I sent both to Matt to see if he would be able to find any use for it.

He’s a hard nut to crack. I’ve tried before. But this time he actually said he loved the image!

Of course, at this stage, there’s still no guarantee it’ll be a cover – that’s something you just have to hope for. But to quote Pa Angel “PRAISE THE LORD”, it was chosen as a cover! 

After making my debut in the Mighty Prog four years ago, and now the Meg, I am lucky enough to get a cover. And all by chance!

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And thanks to Dan Cornwell for sharing that happy accident with us – you can find that Dredd cover on 2000 AD Prog 2217, out on 3 February from all good newsagents, comic shops, and the 2000 AD web shop.

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!

Prog 2216, out 27 January, brings us not just the conclusion of Michael Carroll and Will Simpson‘s Judge Dredd: Desperadlands, with Dredd wrapping up his latest Ciudad Barranquilla adventure, but also finishes off with a cracking cover by Will Simpson. This one…

Now, we’ve already had chats with both Mike Carroll and Will Simpson, including seeing plenty of examples of the fully-painted artwork Simpson has produced for the series in a Behind The Art feature. So, quite understandably, with this Covers Uncovered entry, Will simply sent along his process pictures. But, oh, they’re great images!

As far as process goes, Will explained how he does what he does in the interview:

‘I’m still a caveman. I get the charcoal out of my fireplace and after I’ve cooked the wild boar, I mix the fat in with my egg yolks and then…..I pick up my 2B pencil and start scribbling! Pencils, paper, artboard, ink, acrylic, watercolour, gouache and sometimes oil paints, and then after I’ve scanned and pieced together my pages, maybe a little bit of photoshop highlighting, and that’s the art! I’m very old school. I’m in awe of what is done on computer, but I’m better with my tools. It does mean I have lots of physical artwork and a need for great amounts of storage space!!! Other artists could probably do it digitally, but not me. There’s lots of happy accidents creating a page and moving paint around.‘

And putting together this cover was essentially the same process.

Firstly, it’s the planning stage, for which Will came up with two different poses for Dredd, describing it as, ‘The one I thought about doing….and then the pencil of the one I did. More powerful hero angle.’

Here’s idea #1

And now the one that did make the cut, the more powerful hero angle…

As you can see, there’s a fair bit of Western iconography all the way through Simpson’s ideas for the cover, fitting as Desperadlands is effectively Mike Carroll taking the lawman down to the corrupt Western town to sort out the problem, just with a bit of sci-fi and a South American setting.

After the ideas and planning stage, Simpson takes it through loose pencils, to inks, complete with that Simpson splatter!

Next, the painting stage, with Simpson building up his colours as each stage unfolds…

And that’s it. Painting done, it’s all scanned in, cleaned up, maybe a few alterations and then off to Tharg for another cracking Will Simpson cover.

Once more, thanks so much to Will for sending over all these beautiful looking pieces. And remember to check out the interviews with Mike Carroll and Will Simpson, along with the extended look at much of Simpson’s process work from all four parts of Desperadlands.

You can get hold of his Dredd cover for 2000 AD Prog 2216 – and you can pick that up from the 2000 AD web shop from 27 January.

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 welcome Mark Montague to the esteemed ranks of cover artists for the Galaxy’s Greatest.

2000 AD Prog 2215 features Mark’s very first cover and he’s absolutely hit the ground running with a stunning rendition of Slaine doing what Slaine does best, as he comes up against the Dragons of the Trojans. You can see more stunning Slaine artwork inside the latest Prog with Leonardo Manco’s gorgeous work on Pat Mills’ Slaine: Dragontamer.

Mark’s name first appeared in 2000 AD with his 2018 winning entry for the very first 2000 AD Art Stars competition, the incredible competition that regularly gives you the chance to see your art inside a future issue of 2000 AD!

His winning Art Stars entry, featuring a captured Dredd, appeared in the Prog as a Star Scan, the pin-up page that’s been graced by some of the finest artists of 2000 AD history, including Brian Bolland, Brett Ewins, Brendan McCarthy, and so many more!

And now he’s back with a debut cover that’s already setting a high bar for the best cover of the year – and we’re only into January! It’s an absolute classic Slaine and Mark was thrilled to get the gig!

Mark Montague: Tharg contacted me & asked if I’d like to do a cover for 2000 AD. I felt thrilled and honoured to be deemed worthy of contributing to the galaxy’s greatest comic.

Tharg wanted a picture of Slaine, which would depict him up close, dominating the cover, with a dragon approaching from the background. I did 3 prelims sketches for Tharg to chose from. I tried different poses for Slaine but the first one I drew, seemed to work the best, so I just concentrated on the dragon poses.

Once a prelim was approved, I did a colour rough, which I would use for my colour palette.

I’ve found that knowing the overall colour scheme a painting, speeds up my work flow by not having to play around & experiment with colour, until I get something that I like, which could mean that I might miss a deadline. 

The next thing was to draw the picture in tighter detail. I spent most of my time getting the drawing correct, because I don’t want to be making major corrections once I start painting. It’s easier to correct a drawing, than trying to colour match a repainted arm or leg. There will still be corrections towards the end but hopefully they will only be minor ones.

I started painting the background first, as this will inform how the colours of the environment will affect the colours on the characters. I masked out the characters & went very gestural with the paint brush.

Once I finished the painting, I left it for a day & then looked at it again with fresh eyes, to see if there were any changes that needed doing to it. There were a few corrections but they were very minor & then I sent the finished piece of work off to Tharg.

And that’s that! The making of a gorgeous looking Slaine cover all done.

Thank you to Mark for giving us that glimpse behind the scenes. And we’ve no doubt that it won’t be too long before we see more 2000 AD covers from this very talented artist.

It’s not the first time Mark’s delivered the goods with Slaine though, as his second Star Scan appeared in 2000 AD Prog 2181, showing us all the promise and talent that comes good with this first cover.

For more, go and read the interview Mark gave us back in 2018 after winning the inaugural 2000 AD Art-Stars competition with the piece below, a captured Judge Dredd in the clutches of Brother Morgar and the Brotherhood of Darkness from The Cursed Earth saga.