Mark Sexton - Linky Monkey!

Ouch! Mark Sexton brings us this rather painful looking cover of jumping on issue, Prog 1973! The Mad Max storyboard and concept artist, and artdroid on the magnificent Dredd tale Ghosts, has given us an amazing cover fit for a jumping on prog! There's loads to discuss in this cover, so over to Mark to tell us more!

"Tharg (or his earthly incarnation, Matt Smith) requested an illustration - an iconic shot of Dredd, waist up, to be graced by appearing as a cover for the mighty Tooth!" Waist up because Dredd had no trousers on was my initial reaction here, which worries me - Pete.

"Had a bit of a think - there’s been some many iconic Dredd covers, where do you start?!? But it occurred to me that an iconic Dredd image would probably be a common thing that a very large number of perps in Mega-City One see - just after they’ve been shot… So with that morbid idea, I sketched out that idea (bottom left version)."

"I always like trying to tell a little story in every illustration if I can, so that felt like the best idea. I sketched out a few other possibilities - most of them terrible - and sent them to Matt. As is so often the case, the first idea is the strongest and that’s what he wanted..!"

I love all of these sketches, the top left is particularly cool, with the crowd all obviously looking at whoever, or whatever, Dredd has just shot. Very clever! The top right is terrifying too!

 "A macabre version of the Brady Bunch titles for the Dreddy Bunch was soon shelved"

 

"Sadly for buyers of original art, I did this digitally (straight after I finished the art for the recent Judge Dredd: Ghosts storyline written by the very lovely Michael Carroll)."

 

"So - take the sketch and attempt to make it pretty. Many, many sketchy trial and errors between there and the next, trying to get elements of Dredd right. He’s a tough character to make “feel” right - where everything looks balanced, and practical. I like trying to make things look like they exist for real..."

 Judge Dredd: Ghost.

 

I know Mark is a huuuuuge Dredd fan and he's obviously stressed over ever detail, as evidenced in his next quote: "Awful… Then inking, which takes me a while. Fixing many things on the way, as is evident… I had real problems with the head, no matter what I did, it felt wrong with Dredd bending his neck down to look at us. So eventually I finally did him looking down his nose at us with a sneer and bingo! Instant Dreddishness. Huzzah!" 

 



 Dredd gets lost in the giant dildo factory...

 

Next up, some  blatant cheek and provocation from the Antipodean artist!

 

"Then background bits - SO much easier after Dredd! Included are various jokes, including a certain chainlink obsessive and Pete Wells’ Sausage Surprise… 

 

As many fans will know, second biggest Dredd collector John Burdis (quite rightly) has a campaign to establish that the correct number of links in Dredd's chain is seven. Got it? SEVEN and only seven! Great to see Mark did six, just to wind him up!

 

Please note: Pete Wells' Sausage Surprise has since been renamed Pete Wells' Chipolata Disappointment, following a libel claim by my wife... 

 SEVEN DAMMIT!!!

Mark obviously had lots of erm... fun inking the background, his only comment being "…and then the f#¢&ing buildings in the background!"

Note the abundance of Star Wars vehicles in Megacity One, however, one has to ask why Luke's X-34 Landspeeder is flying upside down? I wonder if Dredd is looking at a Skywalker shaped stain?



"Dredd... you've got an erm... you might wanna just... wipe your nose a bit. Yep, it's gone."

 

"…aaaand then colour! Usually colour takes me bloody aaaages, because I’m not a natural colourist - but this one came together much quicker than usual!  And there’s a blood splatter on Dredd’s uniform. You have to have a bloody splatter on Dredd’s uniform, it’s an unwritten law, isn’t it?"

 

I thought it was tomato sauce...

"You've got red on you..."

 

I couldn't possibly publish this post without referencing Mark's previous IDW Dredd cover. Again, this image is an absolute stunner, one of my very favourites of recent years. I adore the blood splatter on the pedway... 

 

 Beatcop...

 

So many cool background details! How many can YOU spot?



He's just not a people person...



A huuuuuuuge thanks to Mark for the files and excellent write up. Mark is genuinely one of the most exciting new Dredd artists around at the minute, his love for the character absolutely shining through in his work. As a fan, it means a lot.

I'd also like to thank Mark for putting my sausage on the cover (where it belongs) and for taking the piss out of Burdis (which is what he deserves!)

Alex Ronald - Eager Alien Poet.

 

Alex Ronald is back with another absolutely perfectly rended cover, this time featuring everyone's favourite alien, the wonderful Sensitive Klegg. The hilarious 'Undercover Klegg' story by Rob Williams and D'Israeli is currently running in the Prog and sees Dredd's tolerance pushed to the absolute limit!

 

Below is Alex's black and white rough which is typically detailed and intricate...

 

 Flower Power

 

Next up, Alex's brilliant 3D model!!! This is simply perfect, I NEED a 3D printer so I can put this on my shelf, it's beautiful! Alex said "Originally I had the Klegg a bit smaller then resized him before doing the final image."  





Dredd and Klegg form an unexpected Abba tribute band. 

Most readers will know that Alex has been working closely with Planet Replica's on a few projects of late. He has helped produce the forthcoming Mekon Statue, based on Dave Gibbons' work, which is just gorgeous!

"Can I not shit in peace?" 

Alex also modelled Henry Flint's movie Dredd and I eagerly await a super cool pose from Mr Flint!



Dredd's deodorant hadn't dried yet... 

We will also see Alex's work in the forthcoming Strontium Dog Fan Film as he's modelled some of the ships for that, exciting stuff!

Below is Alex's final cover, and what a cover it is! I absolutely love this one...

 How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways!

 

Thank you to Alex for sending the wonderful images, I suspect Alex is going to storm the cover vote again this year too! Check out more of his excellent work here.

Tiernen Trevallion - World Record Gastric Balloon Attempt.

Could it be curtains for Intuitor Browne and Raleigh as they become wyrmfood aboard their flimsy balloon? The ever-brilliant Tiernen Trevalion brings us this fantastic cover which shows the horror of the Wyrmqueen.

Below we see Tiernen's pencils, if you look closely, you can see Raleigh is actually throwing some breath mints into the Wyrmqueen's maw...



Feed me Seymour!

And behold his wonderful inks.

 "In it's belly you will find a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over a thousand years."

 

 

And finally, Tiernen stays true to form with a two tone extravaganza, brilliant!

 

Shudder, it's like my wedding night all over again...

 

And here's how the prog looks on your shelf...

 

Mary Pop In.

 

A massive, wiggling thank you to Tiernen for sending the images. Another classic! 



Ryan Brown - Barking Mad Max!

 

It's bugs on the windshield time as Gene the Hackman makes his epic journey across the wilderness thanks to Ryan Brown! Will Gene be able to stop the megaswarm before it reaches the Kingdom?

 

Below we see Ryan's initial sketch, he says "Tharg asked me to do a kingdom cover in the style of Mad Max. He wanted vehicles driving towards the viewer with insects attacking the cars!" 

 

 In the future, blue snots are the worst kind of snots.

 

He continues "I wanted to make Gene the Hackman's face focused and angry in the fight. I used the picture below as reference but did'nt push the dog element to much in his face..."

Gene looking woof

 

And the finished image looks like this, George Miller would be proud!

 

Maybe Them should learn the Green Cross Code...

Cliff Robinson - Selfie Abuse!

In a year of excellent 2000AD covers, this was my absolute favourite! I make no secret of my adoration for Cliff Robinson's work, and this topical cover for Prog 1959 really made me smile!

Below we can see Cliff's rough, fans of cover speech bubbles will be thrilled to see Cliff had included one in his original vision... 

In 2137, retro phones were all the rage...

 



And here are Cliff's astonishing, brutal inks. Simply brilliant!

 



"Get that drokkin' camera out of my face!"

 

Genius as ever from one of Tharg's premier artdroids. Here's to more Cliff in 2016!

Jake Lynch - Silly Cons Carnage!

 

Aaaaaaandd, we're back!

 

I've been held captive by Thrisis Thrill Suckers since November but have managed to escape with the help of a couple of Rigellion Hotshots! So massive apologies for the lack of updates for a couple of months, consider that a solidary blip in this fine blog's history. Onwards and upwards my friends! Let the thrillpower commence!

 

I'll mix it up over the next few weeks until I'm back on track, starting with one of my favourite covers of last year (and the reader's too, scooping fourth place in the cover of the year vote!) Jake Lynch's crazy cover of Prog 1957!

 

Below is the image Jake started with and the chaos just spiralled out from there!  



 

Dredd farting

 

Like every good riot, the picture took on a life of it's own...

 

"Feeling run down?" 

Some tone added...

 Just an average Mega City Commute...

 

The lunacy continues with added lawmasters, manta tanks and the odd broken tooth! 

 

 Now that's a road hog!

 

Time to add some colour...

 

Dredd is late for his flower arranging class. 

And finally some added bloodstains and exploding heads (of course!)

"How's my driving? Call Megacity 911 if you have a problem, creep!"

An absolutely stunning cover from Jake who was placed TWICE in the reader's 2000AD cover of the year vote. This has so much energy and megacity lunacy it screams "Buy Me!"

Jake's work was also seen in this amazing poster in the end of year prog...



Howler singing Silent Night - genius!



Among the many highlights of this glorious festive treat, were a lovely looking pasty for Pete and naughty old Pete Wells on Dredd's naughty list! The very best Christmas present for me and something I'd like to publicly thank Jake for. I'm still beaming about it now!

A sweet mince pasty I hope!

A huge thanks to Jake for sending these images and for making my Christmas!

Damn, it's nice to be back!

Jon Davis-Hunt - Whack Pack Attack A Fat Twat.



Bad boys, bad boys, whut you gon' do? Whut you gon' do when they come for you? The ever wonderful Jon Davis-Hunt is back (where he belongs!) on the Galaxy's greatest this week with a Sinister Dexter cover that simply oozes cool!

Jon is a truly lovely guy and an amazing talent so I was thrilled last year when I heard he'd landed a high profile gig as artist on Clean Room for a little publisher called Vertigo. However, despite my best efforts at getting my clone-o-tron machine working, this meant that 2000AD was robbed of one of it's most exciting droids, albeit temporarily!

Getting such a high profile droid back required something massive, and it doesn't get much bigger than Sinister Dexter finally whacking that fat shite Holy Moses Tanenbaum! Over to Jon to tell us how he went about it

First Sketch – Possible Layout

 

Ohhh Vic, I've fallen...

"This was my first initial sketch, based on the idea of Sin and Dex making a last stand. However, my wife pointed out that just having them blasting away with their guns reminded her of a host of other covers (many which I had already drawn). She suggested ‘Why not try something different – maybe draw them as they would look after a battle had finished’. As always, she was right."

 

Ha, how pathetic! Jon is so under the thumb! You wouldn't catch m... Oh, hi dear. Nothing! Nothing! Just doing some work. A cup tea? And a sandwich? Of course, right away. Excuse me a minute folks... 

  
Second Sketch – Bruised but not beaten...



Finny and Ramone exposed in this weeks' episode of Dodgy Builders...

"I ran with that idea and almost instantly came up with this layout. I wanted to convey a real ‘80’s action hero’ pose. Low angle, Sin and Dex looking cool – almost like they had been in a battle, and more adversaries were possibly on their way, but they were completely undeterred."

"It was at this point that I started to tweak their clothing (particularly Finn’s). Sin and Dex have such a strong, iconic look, and their clothes are so important. I kept Dex in a neat, tailored suit, then loosed his tie and roughed it a bit, to give him that slightly night-after-Vegas, almost Rat-Pack look. With Finnegan, I made his clothing more casual and then picked out the red from Dex’s suit on his gloves (which I changed to leather) and added baseball boots. I also gave him a more James Dean haircut and chrome aviators. I was just thinking ‘make em look as cool as possible’."

"I do all my sketching now straight into Photoshop (although I will still do very small, quick thumbnails, normally in biro on a piece of A4 or A3 paper). When I rough ion Photoshop, I uses a large brush and keep my sketching quick. I’ll then drop the opacity of that layer down and sketch again over the top. I’ll keep doing this several times (sometimes discarding layers) until I get the proportions and composition correct."

Inks

Ramone teabags the invisible man.

"My next step is to start inking over my worked up sketch. I ink completely digitally, using a simple set of Photoshop brushes. I vary brush size, to get a nice gradient and granularity to my line work. I like to vary images now with some heavy blacks (for clothing) but keep faces and hands almost always shadow free. I also like to add more detail to hair and then any clothing or prop features (e.g. clothing seams, gun clips etc)."

 Background inks

Cool as der cucumber - oops, wring strip...
 

"I knew in my head what I’d like the background to be, but hadn’t bothered to rough it in (lazy!). Once the figures were drawn, I simply roughed it out very quickly, reduced the opacity of that layer (in Photoshop) and inked it in."

"Flat Colours"

Finny models the North East Winter Collection

"I flat in Photoshop. Here I knew that the Red was going to be important, so I added that first, then went in and coloured the remainder of the figures, keeping the palette quiet subdued."

"Modelling"

Artist in artistic licence shocker!

"I then added some highlights and shadows. My lighting for this uses a fair amount of artistic license."

"Final Colours"

"Next!"
 

"And finally, I added all the finishing touches. BOOM!"

And here's how the prog looks in your local Thrill Merchant, coooool!!!

 

Thanks soooooooooo much to Jon for sending the images! Be sure to check his website out at http://www.jondavis-hunt.com/