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2000AD: Project Sketchbook

Started by ming, 16 November, 2013, 04:44:59 PM

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ming

I've had a little something in the works for a while now and, although it's far from complete, it's now far enough along that it's now worth sharing with you lovely lot.  A few people here are aware of this to some degree and a number of people have helped out one way or another.

Someone very kindly sent me a couple of the official 2000AD 35th anniversary sketchbooks from SDCC last year and, as I'm living in Norway these days, with young kids and zero chance to get to any conventions any time soon, I decided to try and get these sent out to artists for contributions.

This is a long-term labour of love and entails the books going from artist to artist for a couple of years (at least) before finally coming back to me.  The two books are bouncing around, crossing counties, countries, continents and hemispheres...  It's been great fun and hugely rewarding so far and, if there's one thing I've discovered, it's that 2000AD creators are an incredibly nice and generous bunch, as well as being immeasurably talented and ridiculously modest.

Anyway, I'll share some of the sketches here (I won't dump them all at once and some even I haven't seen yet) and add more as and when they show up.  As I say, this is likely to go on for another year or two before completion.  Varying image quality / size is a result of dependence on artists to send pics or scans of what they or others have done, but I'll scan everything properly when it's all done and dusted.





Are you sitting comfortably?  Then I'll begin...

Colin YNWA

Great to hear this is ready to be shared. Can't wait to see the results of your labours.

hippynumber1


ming

Heh, you lot will have to have patience... :lol:


Ian Kennedy - Himmel!



I'll start off not with the sketch that started the ball rolling, but with one that probably means the most to me.  I started reading Starlord before switching over to 2000AD and some of my earliest and fondest comics memories are tied up with Ian Kennedy's stunning work on Ro-Busters.  Despite a modest page-count within 2000AD, Ian is one of those artists I can't get enough of; an instantly recognisable, completely solid style coupled with great storytelling skills.  Ian's now in his eighties, so you can understand me being blown away by the pic he did - referencing the classic 'Himmel!  This isn't Stalingrad! cover from Prog 446.

Spikes

Ah, so it begins  :thumbsup:

Lovely stuff by Ian Kennedy, and like you im a huge admirer of his work.
And seeing anything by him, it instantly takes me back in time to when I was a comics hungry nipper.

I never really bought Starlord (think I maybe bought the first couple), but Ian's work was a pretty much constant presence in the WWII comics I devoured in the years before 2000ad launched.

And this sketch is just wonderful. Great to see this.

pauljholden

THAT is beautiful. Imma tweet this link...!

ming

Henry Flint - Blackblood



There's another sketch from Henry in the book as well as this one; if this sketchbook was a diplomatic function, Henry Flint's contributions would be the Ferrero Rocher served up to astonish guests and make them feel slightly ill due to overexposure to art godliness.

Judge Nutmeg

awesome pic of blackblood , looking suitably evil

ming

Brendan McCarthy - The Zaucer & Co.



Especially fitting since his classic Dredd pic was used for the cover of the sketchbook, Brendan kindly agreed to do the first sketch in the first book I sent out.  As a huge fan of Brendan's many and varied talents it was great that he was willing to put something in here; a lovely selection of a few of his 2000AD creations (plus Martin 'Atchet from Skin and Captain Cracking's floating head from Freakwave).

Bolt-01

Holy flurking schnitt!

Ming, your evil knows no bounds. Awesome all ready

maryanddavid

Great to see it Ming, great idea, how long before you will have it finished, or is it kind of an open ended project?

ming

Thanks, folks!  It's been running for just under a year and is about a third done (2 x 24 page books), so maybe two more years to go?  If I get can get a sketch every couple of months (occasionally more frequently) I'll be more than happy.  Once I've posted pics of all the sketches I've seen so far, updates to the thread will be irregular!  There's a fair bit of organisation and juggling of schedules to do but mainly it's an exercise in patience.  Still, there's a lot of goodwill helping this along and it'll get there in the end.

A couple more...


Colin Wilson



Colin Wilson has been a favourite artist of mine since I first clapped eyes on his work on Dredd in the 1981 Sci-Fi special.  No-one beats Colin when it comes to future tech and he was a perfect fit for Rogue Trooper - his hoppers and atmocraft always blew me away.  I suggested a downed hopper with a teeny Rogue in the distance and he seemed to like the idea...  Colin definitely pulled out all the stops and the end result is phenomenal.


Dave Gibbons



What can I say?  Another legendary artist, another amazing contribution.  I got particularly lucky with the timing for this one as I suggested that Dave Gibbons might take the book after Colin, and Colin was able to hand it to him in person while they were both at Supanova in Sydney...


hippynumber1


Fungus

Just wonderful stuff  :)
Everything about the Colin Wilson is... perfect.

Spikes

Wow! Both those Wilson and Gibbons piece's are simply knockout. Mightily impressive stuff!