Oh that Dredd, you can't take him anywhere without him kicking off! I wonder if he's got ADHD? Neil 'The Abs' Roberts brings us this 'smashing' image of Dredd making friends in the Emerald Isle. It's a well known fact that Neil is an absolute martyr to art, being one of 2000AD's premier 'Method Artists' and so, gentle reader, for us, and for the sake of all art, Neil quite immersed himself in all manner of alcoholic delights to bring us this scrotnig cover.
Over to Neil, who despite a debilitating hangover, bravely decided to tell us about the creation of the cover. WARNING: Contains nudity, violence and nuts.
"It always starts off with a brief from Tharg, this time it was Dredd having a bar fight in an Emerald Isle pub. Awesome - one of my favourite covers of all time is Steve Dillon's 'Emerald Isle' piece:"
'My Judgeness, my Guinness'
"...ooh, the composition, those colours, the draughtsmanship!"
"So, I drew a sketch of the main gesture, using my imagination and a very never-to-be-seen semi-naked reference photo of myself:"
The Flash?
Neil continues "Oh, what the heck, because we're all friends here anyway, here's a peak at that pic..." Will nobody think of the children!?!
A profile view of a naked dianoga from Star Wars
Neil continues "All that working out finally pays off! Then I refined it into a full thumbnail for approval, using some of those emerald greens to reinforce the setting and also pay homage to that Steve Dillon image..."
"Did you spill my pint?"
And now, in the name of art, I bring you, ahem... grown men fun fighting. "Then I went and took some pictures of my drinking buddies getting into a fight, y'know for the sake of authenticity..."
BLAM!
POW!
KERRASSSH!
As the brief was going well and Neil was obviously at the height of his professional powers, he decided to take the risk of another sacrifice in the name of Thrill Power "So then it was off to the pub... to take more reference photo's of course, honest!"
"I visited one of my favourite local establishments and one that perfectly suited the mood of the piece, big thanks to Ben, the Boss!"
Kicked in the Cobbles!
I took a pic of my favourite bar stools, all in the name of reference:
A stool sample from Neil.
"And the all-important bar itself, all in the name of reference - mine's a Jack Daniels and Coke, please, and I'll double up for a pound..." Hmmm, I always had Neil down as a Babycham man to be honest...
Where's the bloody bar staff? I'm dying here!
"And remember, it's all done in the name of reference. With all that reference gathered (and having drunk a few 'reference' drinks) I went ahead and painted up the final piece:"
When Irish Eyes are Crying
However, I sneaked into Neil's studio and found his original post-pub version (shown below,) absolutely disgusting...
Luckily, the little flecks of vomit don't show up in this photo...
And here's how the cover looked to Neil...
"Hic! Shuper..."
"BLAM! POW! KERRASSSH! Right, I might just have a drink to celebrate this issue coming out... maybe just a cup of tea this time, though."
And here's how that very prog looks on your prog shelf...
"I said 'No drokking ice!'"
Let us all raise our glasses and thank the wonderful Neil Roberts and his drunken muses. I can hear Tharg charging up that Rigellion Hotshot right now as his expenses bill comes in...
Please be sure to check out Neil's wonderful site and blog here, for more amazing artwork which I assume he painted when sober...
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