New 2000AD Covers Blog

[Woolly]

Blimey, that Jake Lynch is a bit good, isn't he 
Tharg - lock this new droid in his cubicle, and feed him constant oil 

[judgerufian]

Missed the old school 'argument', i'd opt for an old school pic being a one off, "I'm well 'ard me" pose from Dredd completely unrelated to the story inside as opposed to the JD covers recently for Traumatown which were totally related.

[Proudhuff]

not wanting any argybargy,  'old school' is just one of those terms that is occasionally mentioned and I'm never quite sure what baggage it carries.

[Art]

I've seen some upcoming Jake Lynch art - it's really, really good.

[Pete Wells]

Thanks to Pye Parr, a lovely breakdown of Simon Coleby's Jaegir One Shot cover on the blogeroonie today.

Woppa picture ahoy:

http://2000adcovers.blogspot.co.uk/

[I, Cosh]

That black and white version is stunning. Who needs colour, eh?

[Steve Green]

That's great - what I particularly like about Simon's version of the Norts is the clinging suffocation of the chem mask, it really brings home how claustrophobic the suit would be.

[Pete Wells]

Alex's cracker is up!

[Frank]

Cracker indeed. Maybe Alex didn't want to repeat himself with another tight close-up portrait image so soon after his incredible Ulysses Sweet cover, but the cropped version you use above would have made for an even more arresting composition than the great Blade Runner homage he went with.

I really enjoyed reading about the incredibly complex and deliberative approach Alex adopts when coming up with these masterpieces, but it seems like an awful lot of effort. When Ron Smith wanted to produce a cover image of a grotesque character looming large from a vid screen on the side of a building (with a grasping hand and issuing a command via a speech bubble too), he just cheated the perspective and inked it up with a number 2 sable brush, rather than a fancy Z brush:

[Cpt Rhodes]

If I was half the artist Ron Smith is I wouldn't bother with Z Brush either.
But I'm not, so I use every visual/digital avenue open to me to raise my game.

Some prefer the more traditional approach, fair do's. Digital is not everyone's cup of tea

[Frank]

I was only really chuffed that I'd managed to remember which Ron Smith cover the central image reminded me of. I don't really make much distinction between CG and old school art; all that matters is whether the result is good, and you're one of the very best to grace the prog, Alex.

That recent Spiderman piece you did gave me cold sweats, imagining a Marvel editor seeing that and luring you away to work for them with the promise that you can depict Spiderwoman's arse in as much photo realistic detail as you please.

Reading about the incredible degree of craft that the likes of yourself, Weston, and D'Israeli put into everything you do blows my mind, so thanks for taking the time to share your process with Pete. Just to prove I'm not a Luddite, here's the other old school cover your fantastic image reminded me of. It's by another very talented artist - but it's not even half as good:

http://www.2000ad.org/functions/cover.php?choice=916&Comic=2000ad

[Cpt Rhodes]

Thanks for the kind words.
You have no idea how chuffed I am to get a second bite at the 2000ad apple.

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

Quite right too. Your artwork is easily prog/Cover worthy.   

[Pete Wells]

Dave Kendall's yucky cover is on the blog today - seriously impressive work!

[Proudhuff]

If I was half the artist Ron Smith is I wouldn't bother with Z Brush either.
But I'm not, so I use every visual/digital avenue open to me to raise my game.

Some prefer the more traditional approach, fair do's. Digital is not everyone's cup of tea

Get your light out from under that bushel Alex! If you're okay with it, I'll scan that stunning pen and ink Dredd you done for me and post it up to show off your talent?