Boo Cook - Flaskback!

There's nothing better than a 2000AD artist who's a 2000AD fan, and one of the biggest fans of all is Boo Cook. I've met Boo a couple of times it always strikes me how excited he is to talk 2000AD and how lucky he feels to be a part of the comic. 

With Thought Bubble fast approaching, Boo has contributed a Dredd strip to the annual charity anthology comic. The strip is a crossover with Dredd meeting one of Boo's other passions, the awesome Elephantmen!

No stranger to tribute covers, Boo has chosen the seminal cover of Prog 180 by Mick McMahon as inspiration for the crossover - and what a stunning job he's done! Below we can see inks and the coloured version of Mick's iconic classic...  

Aaaah, the good old days when the comic was only 5G on Saturn...

A Dredd Mobile? Once again, Tharg predicts into the future...

Below are Boo's pencils for the cover, note the Ezquerra-esque dashes on the pedway and borders, sublime!

Lets hope that suspension holds...

And those perfect inks...

 

The Law of the Jungle

Add a dash of toilet paper colouring...

Flask to the Future

Add a retro logo and we're ready to go! Hey wait a minute... 75C on Saturn? What the hell are Starkings and Cook trying to pull? What have they got against Saturnarians? Bloody swindlers...

Massive Junglist

Boo also included this fabulous Judge Flask that he did for Richard Starkings for the MCM Expo a couple of years ago...

But would Dredd take issue with the facial hair? 

As well as this brilliant Sketch Card which he did for Michael Garrity...

Aaaagh, flashbacks to those awful, non-2000AD artist's sketchcards from the strictly ink series!

The anthology comic will be available in all good comic shops in November, with proceeds going to the Barnardos charity. Mega, whoppa kisses to Boo for sending these images, he will be at Thought Bubble on 23rd and 24th November and has promised to apologise to all Saturn folk across the weekend. Check out his beautiful blog here!

Prog 1854 - Great Robinson's Arse!

Do you know just why Cliff Robinson is the best in the business? Because, after a staggering ninety three covers for Tharg's mighty organ, he still manages to come up with fresh and inventive ideas like this one. Once again, Punks Rule as Dredd faces off against a 2000AD squaxx, resplendent in 2000AD finery!

A love letter to Planet Replicas, the cover features several of their zarjaz products including keyrings andthe famous biochip usb drive! Buy 'em today Earthlets!

Other notable additions to the painting are his badges, tats (Ezquerra Alpha, Death, Dante's biocrest, 2000ADOnline, the eagle of justice and the seminal SD and GI logos.) The image is topped off with the glorious Space Spinner, brilliant!

As it was my birthday on Saturday, Cliff was kind enough to send me this picture of his arse. It was only later that I realised it was the reference photo for the cover, the title of which is 'A Bad Influence.'  'Bad Flatulence' more like...

Cliff's attempts to light his farts ended disastrously... 

Here's Cliff's rough for the cover, I just love the clever composition...

The perp meant to swat the radfly on Dredd's helmet with the comic, unfortunately he used the wrong hand...

Below the pencils start to take shape, note the Dredd figure, Cliff says "Dredd's helmet and badge were swiped from an earlier picture. Waste not, want not, particularly if it saves a little time!" Disgusting! I say Tharg should dock the Robinson droid's oil rations!

Dredd has a bad case of the Jigsaw Disease...

And here are Cliff's stunning inks which, as ever, are outstanding. Give that droid an oil-raise I say!

"I'm a cheap punk!" 

With the image completed, it is whisked to the brilliant Dylan Teague who has the unenviable job of doing it justice with his colours. Naturally, Dylan did an exceptional job; he's been colouring Cliff's covers since Prog 1698 and the pair seem to have a real synergy.

 

Daft Punk

Here's how the cover looks on the shelf of your local thrill merchant. Well done and congratulations to Violet's new dad Pye Parr on a top job!

The Filth and the Fury

While I'm raving about Cliff and Dylan, here is the 'clean' image of the brilliant 'Faceboot' cover of Prog 1847. Cliff has promised me the roughs etc. 'before Hell freezes over.' More news when I get it!

Gaze into the boot of Dredd

Many, many thanks to Cliff and Dylan for these wonderful, wonderful images. Certainly a fans' cover and contender for cover of the year?

Dave Kendall - Gorehead Revisited!

Good Grud what a cover! I know that my eight year old self (and forty year old self for that matter) would be grabbing this off the shelf instantly, it's brilliant! Beautifully painted by Dave Kendell (who brought us that stunning Slaine poster a few weeks' back,) it shows Gorehead in all his terrifying splendour! Over to Dave to tell us more...

"Tharg's brief was effectively 'Gorehead'."

"I started off the job like I do most commissions, doodling sketches in my sketchbook. Although I used to draw dinosaurs all the time in my childhood, I'd not done any prehistoric beasties for a long while. The sketches were really a means of familiarising myself with current thinking on T-Rex anatomy. They had gone from lumbering beasts to animals with the grace of a running ostrich. "

The front row of the Tory party conference. 

Everybody walk the dinosaur!

"After a couple of pages I felt I was getting into the stride of the beast. I was checking James McKay's drawings for clues to Goreheads personality."

"I started producing digital sketches.  The first approaches centred pretty closely on Goreheads head. My first idea was a symbolic shot of the jaws pushing up through a bone pile..."

Gargle with minty Gorefresh after cleaning teeth...

"The bone desert became important in the final piece. I did a couple of mood pieces with Gorehead looking mean and moody under a stormy sky."

"Ouch! I've cricked me neck!"

"Gorehead's killer smile was a hit with the ladies."

"The final image was a very quick piece suggested by my partner. She suggested I widen the shot and have a full body shot of him churning through a bone desert. This was the image Tharg chose..."

Someone stole Gorehead's piano as he was playing it!

"I refined the image and pencilled it up..."

I challenge you to find better pencils than these.

"I transferred it to board and then painted the beast. One of my favourite films when I was young was the dinosaur film, Valley of the Gwangi. The desert setting inspired the lighting and mood of the final painting. It was still feeling a little too clean so I washed a burnt sienna over the final image. This gave it a slightly grungy, dirtied feel."

Tyrannosaurus Vexed!

"On Pat Mills suggestion I added a rangers hat on one of the skulls. Whether this is hidden by type I am yet to see..."

Well, the good news is the hat made it, the bad news is the skull didn't! Still, that burnt orange text goes wonderfully with the colour scheme of the painting.

Thank you SO much to Dave for sending the images and text, I've waited a long time for this cover to see print, it's absolutely superb! Please visit Dave's site here!

INJ Culbard - Boost For Scythe!

Gah, I feel sick!

 

Woah, what a dizzying cover from INJ Culbard. I love the trickery of this, initially you think that the flowers are on the ground before the perspective shift makes you realise that they're climbers and Ramkin's situation suddenly becomnes even more treacherous!

 

Ian has provided absolutely dazzling visuals for Brass Sun from the get go, seriously some of the most impressive, inventive spreads the comic has seen, in my opinion. I asked Ian to tell us about this cover, he said "My brief was simply a high-angle shot looking down as Ramkin climbs the Ivy to safety and we see a Scythe in pursuit. Something menacing and vertiginous.  After a couple of rough ideas that didn't really feel like anything other than being just another panel from the interior strip I had this idea to switch it to a character's perspective. I was really keen by this point to move away from what was in the story in terms of shot.  And because the Scythe had to be in the same shot, it was a clear choice that that POV should be Ramkin's and that we'd see Ramkin reflected in the Scythe's red eye."

 

"I said 'Hands up!' I won't have any shouting out! That's better."

 

With the rough completed, Ian moves on to the final piece. He continues "I quite like the idea of POV shots because, as an artist, it throws up its own interesting challenges. It also gives the reader a moment they wouldn't otherwise experience in the story.  So I settled on the following image and the rest as they say..."



 

The manicure robot prepares to go to work...

 

Simply brilliant! I have to say that Scythe needs to change the razor on his legs or at least start using Imac (or Veet as the youngsters call it these days.) He's obviously using a cheap Bic and making a right old mess...

 

Moving on, here's how the prog looks on your newsagent's shelf, a nice, understated design this week I think...

 

 

Walloping great, wall crawling thank you's to Ian for sending the images, please visit his swishy blog here!





Patrick Goddard - Road Rage!

The mighty Aquila is back in Rome and back in the Prog in his latest saga 'Where all roads lead." Regular readers will know that there has been a change of artist for the strip with Leigh 'The Handsomest Man in Comics' Gallagher stepping aside for Patrick 'The Most Well Endowed Man in Comics' Goddard. It's an inspired move, with Patrick's intricate, beautifully detailed artwork complementing Leigh's perfectly.

This arc introduces the mysterious Veiled Priestess, who will quite literally fight tooth and claw against the followers of false gods and prophets. Pat was kind enough to send his astonishing preliminary bit's and bobs over, so over to Mr G to tell you more... 

"After getting the call to do a cover, it was a nice and simple brief of Aquila standing in the square ready for battle, with the Veiled Priestess faded into the background. I sent Tharg a few ideas and he picked No.2!"

The titles are as follows: 1 - 'The Parp;' 2 - 'On your Marks...;' 3 - 'The Hokey Cokey;'

4 - 'The Radcliffe Toilet Stop' 5 - 'The Full Moon' & 6 - 'The Triple K' - Pete

Back to Patrick, "As I had already drawn the episode, the reference was already done so it was pretty much straight forward just to draw it out. When I've done covers, I've generally drawn them A4 in size as it helps me gage the proportions more easily and sort out any layout problems (which I badly failed to do as I didn't leave enough space for the main title/heading!!). I think I just got carried away drawing the background and it got higher and higher leaving little room for the Priestess, Doh!!"

Naturally, what Pat meant to say there was he purposely placed the Priestess so that she interacted with the comic's logo, foreshadowing her as a major force in the story - yeah, that was it...

"I draw in blue pencil as I find it less messy and then tighten things up with a normal HB/H pencil if need be."

I always really enjoy seeing Patrick's artwork in the flesh, there's a myriad of perspective lines other technical elements beneath his inks which shows just how much work he puts into panel of every page.
  

'Ha! Nice sandles, ya pansy - OUCH!'

With the pencils down, Pat gets ready for inking; 'I then expand the rough up to full size (A3) and trace it off onto the board ready for inking. As I'm a left hander, I have a fear of dip pens (from a chidhood mental trauma of using calligraphy pens in school!) So I just use a variety of technical pens to ink the majority of it and use a brush to put in any heavier lines and blacks. I like using the rougher side to the bristol board I use as it's better to get the dry brush effect I like.'

Aqulia hadn't realised they could all see his balls.

Pat says 'That's it done from me, no real magic, just a straightforward drawing which took about a day to do and then it's shipped off to be coloured!'

Pah, no magic indeed! It's a great image which absolutely nails the character and is technically awesome. Straightforward drawing? It makes me weep!

The cover was masterfully coloured by Gary Caldwell, I should have a clean image for you soon, fingers crossed!

Finally is the cover how it appears on your shelf, I really like how the Priestess interacts with the logo, foreshadowing her as a major force in the story. Very clever.

A million whalloping great thank yous to Patrick who has long been a supporter of this silly little blog. The images he's sent are truly outstanding. I couldn't imagine a better artist to follow Leigh but once again our Betelgeuisian overlord has chosen wisely! 

Henry Flint - Dredd Underbelly

Over at CBR.com Henry Flint talks about this months' glorious Dredd 2 cover for the Megazine. Cool! 

Clint Langley - The Dog's Molochs!

Prog 1949 sees the end of Slaine's 'Book of Scars' and once again, Tharg and Clint Langley have a treat for us in the form of a scrotnig Variant cover! I know variants divide the readership, but as the writer of a covers blog, it's ruddy good news for me!

There are two variants, the one above showing a brooding, rather cheesed off looking Slaine and the one below featuring Niamh's killer, the evil Moloch...

Ow, that eye piercing always freaks me out! 

The glorious hardback collection of Book of Scars comes out in November, featuring not only the special anniversary story but also a covers gallery and more! Speaking of which, Clint was kind enough to send a tantalising glimpse of one of the, quote, "many extras" he's putting together for the graphic novel. Once again, Clint beautifully channels the late, great Massimo Belardinelli, we see his take on Slaine's post-Burning Man warp spasm...  

Old One Eye... oops, wrong strip!

Belardinelli's bonkers yet brilliant original.

Warp spasm 2013!

Below are the covers as they'll appear at your newsagent, let's hope no one of a fragile disposition sees those!

Moonpig. 

Cop a load of that Axe.

A  great walloping thank you to Clint for sending the images, as usual they are amazing! The graphic novel is released on November 12th 2013, order it now Earthlets!