Cover: 2000AD Prog 1673

It's been a long while since any real posts (deadlines and all), so here we go with another 2000AD cover for the Galaxies Greatest Comic.

My initial idea was for a "90's rave version of Dredd in a Denim advert" - but with more mutants:



Add to that a dash of Brendan McCarthy 90's colour palette, a hairy chest and a good dose of digital painting and voilà, the finished product:


Apologies to Jon Haward and Chris Blythe, as the reference I had for the piece was the B&W line art - so I went ahead and gave her blue hair because it contrasted well against the pink. It was only when I recieved my contributors copy did I notice that she had green hair - I think no-one seems to have noticed!

It seems to be a cover that has split the online fans, which I'm quite pleased about, it's better to have an opinion than not.

With that in mind, here are some of my favourite comments regarding the cover from the 2000AD messageboards, copied and pasted ad verbatim:

W.R. Logan - "Cover: Would go in to my worst cover ever catagory."

DanDontDare - "That cover could have been so much better - the actual artwork is fantastic, but I loathe that pink background Ugh! "

Jamescor - "All the purples on the cover remind me of McCarthy for some reason."

Mikey - "Cover I like this; initially I thought I'd eaten a funny mushroom, but on reflection it's eyecatching and different with being greatly executed."

Tim Tailz - "Havent got round to reading it yet but the cover is superb."

Good work all, thanks for caring enough to post - that's why I love 2000AD fans (myself included!)

Cover: 2000AD Prog 1659

WOOHOO! I've only gone and done it, I've bagged myself A 2000AD Dredd cover!

(Above)

Dredd on his Lawmaster in the Cursed Earth.
Image courtesy 2000AD Online

I'll do a 'How it's made' in the near future - I'll bask in the saccharine, self-satisfied and extremely pleasant glow of a dream coming true for a while.

I think this calls for an even stiffer drink.

Edit: I've even made onto the superb Forbidden Planet Blog!

Local news for local people

Well, I seem to have made quite a stir with my recent Dredd piece, so much so that my local newspaper ran a little article in last weeks edition of the Louth Leader - I even made the front page:

(Above)
Look - there's me on the left...
at the top...
above the strange veg!

I just have to be thankful I made it above 'Strange Veg' otherwise I'd never be able to live that down...!

Here's the piece as it appeared on page 3:

(Above)
The chap who wrote it, Charles, was a keen Dredd fan and I feel
he enjoyed writing the 'Top 5 Dredd Facts' piece to accompany the article -
Nice one, Charles!

Great stuff, a couple of local people have since recognised me and stopped to talk to me about it which is always nice! I imagine CNN or BBC World News may be next on the list ;)

In other news, I'll be appearing at this years Games Day at the NEC on the Sept 27th, so if you want any books or posters signing, bring them on down and I'll deface them with my signature!

(Above)
Games Day in full flow - Sept 2006

Also, I've recently been pencilled in to be appearing at the big Horus Heresy signing at the Forbidden Planet Megastore next February - I'll talk more about this nearer the time, I guess.

Workwise, I'm currently doing some more 2000AD/ Megazine covers and a nice, big set of illustrations for an Iron Warriors book from BL Publishing.

Oh, and it looks like I'll be doing some lecturing at the University of Lincoln on their Computer Science course - all those years in the games biz might amount to something yet!

Peace out, y'all.

Cover: Judge Dredd Megazine

Well, here's a piece I've been aching to talk about, and now it's in the shops... the cover for Judge Dredd Megazine #288!

(Above)

Judge Dredd Megazine#288:
Dredd looming over a troubled Mega City-1

After meeting the Mighty Tharg a couple of times at the Bristol Comic Expo, I'd put it to him about doing covers for 2000AD/ Megazine. After a few emails had been exchanged, I set about doing a couple of quick thumbnails:

(Above)

Thumbnail #1: Old Stoney Face above MC-1

(Above)
Thumbnail #2: More Dredd visible so you can see
all his cool bits, shoulder pads, badge and elbow pads

Of the two, Tharg preferred the mid-length body shot, so I took a quick reference photo and set about making Dredd in 3DSMax and ZBrush:

(Above)
Me attempting to strike a Dredd power pose.
We'd just moved in to our new house
so the studio was in a right old state!

The image was finished off in Photoshop, dropping in a red background, a few low-key lens flares to give it some kick and finally a few layers of colour correction and grain to tie it all together:

(Above)
"I AM THE LAW!"
The final piece sans logo and blurb.

I can't say how cool it is to see my artwork on the cover of the Megazine! Which I clearly remember reading during my lunch breaks when it first came out way back in 1990. To be on the cover of the self same comics I read as a youngster will always be a real buzz.

(Above)
The finished product in my local newsagents - Woohoo!

As for this cover, Tharg seems to have liked it and I've recently completed another cover, hopefully to be used some time soon - but I'll save that for another post.