Has Dredd had his chips? Has he finally met his mash? Erm... Spud on a Greenie! Ah, I'd love the job as cheesy tag line maker at the Nerve Centre!Behold, the god-like Cliff Robinson's fantastic cover for Prog 1726 which features the welcome return of the Couch Potatoes. Another crazy Mega-City fad, the couch potatoes were lovable humanoid/vegetable lifeforms that sat in front of the Tri-D, repeating common phrases to it's owner - think of a Little Britain fan and you'll get the idea. The creatures were outlawed by the Justice Department when it transpired that they were super-evolving and feeding on their owners!
Below we see Cliff's initial sketch which already features an insane amount of detail and the very tightest of pencils...
Obviously unhappy with Dredd's head, Cliff draws a new one, making Dredd look a bit grumpier which isn't surprising as he now has a potato tuba tugging at this lip and up his nose, yuck!
The sketch is further tightened up, with changes made along the way such as the position of Dredd's hand to make the scene of Dredd being attacked by a giant potato even more dramatic! Note the shoulder pad and eagle, it'd appear that Cliff has stock elements which he can Photoshop onto his sketch before inking the image proper...
Which brings us to the final inks which demonstrate, once again, that Cliff is the best in the business. It's a brilliant, brilliant cover.
Finally, the coloured image for this striking cover. I have to say, I love it, Cliff has once again got the balance of comedy and horror just right - those intrusive tentacles make me squirm and the creature itself manages to be both cute and scary, amazing!
Many thanks to Cliff for sending the images, he really is the king (Edward!) of the Dredd cover! Remember to visit his wonderful blog here!
Cool, great to see all the stages and always a pleasure to colour Cliff's stuff. I don't think Cliff has stock images for Eagle and shoulder pad as they're always going to be seen from slightly different angles, More likely he's drawn(probably in full!)the shoulder and eagle in the specific angle separately and then combined them in photoshop,I could be wrong though.
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