Stickleback Number of the Beast: 2000AD Prog 1824 Cover

The new Stickleback steps out of his tank on the cover of 2000AD Prog 1824.
Stickleback Number of the Beast copyright Rebellion Developments Ltd/2000AD.
Stickleback created by Ian Edginton and Me

2000AD Prog 1824 see the start of our new Stickleback story, Number of the Beast, and sports a cover featuring the new Pope of Crime himself! Pete Wells at 2000AD Covers Uncovered has kindly hosted a step-by-step demo of the making of said cover, including a short video segment showing exactly how I produce  those texture effects. Check out the demo here. 

Happy New Year!

The Lowlife "Hokusai" Cover for 2000AD Prog 1752
Dirty Frank © 2012 Rebellion Developments/2000AD
Dirty Frank/Lowlife created by Rob Williams and Henry Flint.

I was delighted to discover that the Dirty Frank "Hokusai" cover for 2000AD Prog 1752 has won Cover of the Year 2011 on the 2000AD Covers Uncovered blog. Thanks to everyone from Covers Uncovered, ECBT2000AD and the 2000AD messageboards who voted. It's been a corking year for 2000AD, so competition was stiff, and I'm proud to have placed in a field that included Greg Staples, Cliff Robertson and Henry Flint (no less than 3 times!)

Thanks where thanks are due: Tharg-in-Residence Matt Smith came up with the idea of basing a cover on a Hokusai print, and also approved what is a very radical take on Dirty Frank. 2000AD design stalwart Simon Parr also deserves thanks for his ever-sensitive design work. Thanks, gentlemen.

Finally, and at the risk of turning into Richard Attenborough, thanks to Pete Wells of 2000AD Covers Uncovered for his ongoing work showing the time and effort that goes into the cover art for the Galaxy's Greatest every week.

Cover to 2000AD  Prog 1713 - for a Dredd story written by Brendan McCarthy
Judge Dredd © 2010 Rebellion Development/2000AD
Judge Dredd created by John Wagner & Carlos Ezquerra
Colour scheme for this image based on one devised by Brendan McCarthy

There'll be some scarred retinas amongst the Squaxx this week - this is my cover for Prog 1713, based on Brendan McCarthy's amazing psychedelic Dredd story that's running at the moment. Brendan's a bit of a hero of mine, so doing something that would live up to his work was a real challenge. Matching his positively electric colour palette took quite a bit of time and thought. I haven't seen the finished article in print yet, and I'm still a bit nervous about whether it'll turn out alright.

If you're interested in seeing how this cover was put together, there's a full step-by-step demo on Pete Wells' excellent 2000AD Covers Uncovered.

OM NOM NOMINATION! 2000AD Covers Uncovered!

The cover to 2000AD Prog 1631, nominated for a 2010 Eagle Award
To see a step-by-step demo showing how this cover was made, click here.

Dirty Frank/Lowlife © 2010 Rebellion Developments/2000AD
Lowlife created by Rob Williams and Henry Flint

Delighted beyond words to be nominated for a 2010 Eagle award for the cover to 2000AD Prog 1631 ("Stained Glass Frank"). Serious thanks to everyone who voted for the nomination. I'm really pleased by this because covers have always been a bit of a weak point with me - I'm much better at tying together lots of single images to make a comic than I am making one image that sums a whole story up (if you see what I mean).

Credit where credit's due; Tharg-in-Residence Matt Smith was the one who came up with the stained glass window concept, and of course, without Rob Williams' amazing character Dirty Frank there'd be no cover to start with. Simon Parr's excellent design work (for example integrating stained glass into the 2000AD logo) really added the finishing touch that helped make this one a winner. Plus, apologies to the unknown 14th-Century stained-glass artist whose composition I nicked for the window design ;-)

2000AD Covers Uncovered

While I'm at it, it's well past time that I bigged-up 2000AD Covers Uncovered, Pete Wells' amazing blog devoted to step-by-step demos by a whole passel of 2000AD creators showing their different working processes. It's a fascinating read for anyone interested in the process of making artwork, a tribute to the time and effort put in by the creators of 2000AD, and a great resource for nicking ideas from.

Pete kindly did an extended  Easter Special on "Stained Glass Frank," check it out here.

Finally I'm waaayy behind on thanking the members of the 2000AD message board who voted "Stained Glass Frank" Cover of the Year 2009 on 2000AD Covers Uncovered's poll. I was ill around Christmas and missed Pete's original email notifying me of the result, and since then I've been scurrying to catch up on deadlines and D'Blog has ended up being rather neglected. And the dog ate my homework.