"I'm fighting a war for you, sonny!"
Now how's THIS for a fantastic cover!?! If Shepard Fairey ever painted an OAP in a mech battle suit then it might look a bit like this! Neil Roberts has produced a truly stunning cover which catches your eye on the newsstand before ripping it out and making it go pop! Pure 2000AD and pure thrillpower if you ask me!
Neil was kind enough to send his mad etchings but not before he broke my heart, over to Neil to tell you why: "First off, no ridiculous reference photo's of me for this one, sorry to disappoint!"
Naturally I WAS very disappointed so I'm sure he'll be happy to know I made my own ridiculous Neil Roberts reference picture. If any artists are reading this, I'm happy to make reference photos for you once an image is finished.
Neil always goes the extra mile for Tharg.
Neil continues "As you know, the brief comes straight from Tharg and into my brain, where I start off with a few sketches - all based on a sneak peek at Lee Carter's wonderful art..." Yep, I've got to agree, Lee's art on this strip is absolutely amazing! Below are Neil's initial ideas for the Mech Suit Mouldies...
"I wanted original Werther's Originals, not chewy!!!"
Albert was always first in the pension queue.
Neil continues "Tharg preferred the second idea, a single war machine with guns blazing - and if Tharg likes it, I'm good to go. It was reappropriated from on an old circus poster - I love the 3 colour print quality. It's very basic, but also very direct."
Terrifying...
"And with that I get to painting! Using a bit of 3D for the basic shapes, but also in keeping with Lee's design for the machine, I work on the image until I'm done..."
"Your Titan is ready!"
"Then it's off to Tharg's awesome design droids to make it look all pretty, by placing the logo and punchy straplines in groovy fonts all over it - it gives the whole image a different feel."
Albert over-reacts after losing at the bingo again.
And there we have it, another superb cover from Neil Roberts. In my opinion, Neil's covers are also really classy affairs and I'd love to see more, especially if we get reference photos!
Huge, mech-sized thank you to Neil, please check out his website here.
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