Thursday 3 December 2015

MAKING OF THE 2000AD PROG 1958 COVER!!!


 And so came the day when The Mighty Tharg did the unthinkable.... A SUPERHERO COVER ON 2000AD!!!

Utter madness you say, but hold those spanking paddles everyone. It's relevant to the issue's Defoe storyline where Defoe faces off against 17th century London's "pseudo heroes"!

Tharg sat alone in his chamber, and whispered to himself, "There's only one man who can do this.... The Most Handsome Man In Comics...."

And so I was teleported to The Nerve Centre where he demanded that I create a cover based on this panel I drew in the episode......


"Can I colour it mostly red like my other covers? Most people seem to like that, and it's piss easy!" I asked....

"NO, YOU LAZY FECKER! DO IT PROPERLY!!!" Tharg bellowed! His eyes burning like a thousand suns....

"Ahh bollocks." I said, before getting to work.

Here's my rough pencils. Quite a squeeze with 7 characters!


I then tightened up my pencils, swapping a couple of characters over to make the cooler ones more visible.

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiinks!

Colouring 7 characters took a while. Mainly the flatting which is always a ball ache. Slight grey wash layer added.


And then I added a cool sky background, with some extra photoshopped airbrushing and a hazy overlay added.


So then it was sent to 2000AD's production droids of which you can see the final cover at the top of this post!

You can find a preview of this prog 1958, featuring Defoe: The London Hanged episode 9, written by Pat Mills, drawn by me, and lettered by Annie Parkhouse, at CBR HERE!

And you can purchase it in all good comic stores or digitally at the 2000AD online store HERE!

See ya!

L

Thursday 15 October 2015

MAKING OF THE 2000AD PROG 1952 COVER!!!!


So my alien editor, The Mighty Tharg says to me, "Leigh, you're the most handsome artist I have, and I need a cover for part 3 of Defoe:The London Hanged, but I know you're pretty pressed for time, so I was thinking of offering it to someone else..."

And I was like, "Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! I can fit it in honest! Don't get someone else to draw my baby! And thanks for calling me handsome!"

So he was like, "Ok, I was thinking of Defoe surrounded by the zombies like at the end of episode 2."

And I was like, "Cool! I had an image in my head of the leader of the zombies lurched over Defoe with zombies hanging from his fingertips, like a puppeteer. Goes with the theme of The London Hanged. How's this rough for you?"


Then Tharg was like, "That's brilliant Leigh! Not only are you really, really good looking, but you're also brainy to think of such a clever idea. Get to it!"

And then I shook his Gibbleschlong and got to work! First with some photo reference! Look at me all macho!


Then some pencils....

And look! Inks!

Then I whack it in Photoshop to colour! Due to having not much time, I went for a simple colour scheme, trying to pass it off as clever design.... sssshhhh, don't tell anyone....

But knowing that the glaring red may be too similar to a previous Defoe cover I did, as shown here, I thought I'd give Tharg an alternative, and so did this light blue version....



 Tharg was happy to use the red version , and you can see the final cover with text at the start of this post!

2000AD Prog 1952, featuring Defoe: The London Hanged, written by Pat Mills, drawn by me, and lettered by Annie Parkhouse,is now available in all good shops and digitally online at the 2000AD website here!!!

Buh Byyyyyeeeeeee!!!!


Tuesday 8 September 2015

DEFOE: THE LONDON HANGED! COMING SOON......

Yup, Defoe's finally back in 2000AD soon this year in..... THE LONDON HANGED!!!!

Written by Pat Mills and drawn by myself, this will be our SIXTH book of Defoe! Can't wait for you to see it, so here's a few little teasers....




(And yes, Defoe has lost a little weight by staying away from 17th century Krispy Kremes...)

L

AQUILA FINAL ISSUE OUT NOW!!!!

Hellooooooooo....

 So yes, the final issue of the US format collected Aquila came out this month from 2000AD/Rebellion.

You can find the CBR preview here (with a gorgeously creepy Dave Kendall cover), but here's the interior pages written by Gordon Rennie, drawn by me, coloured by Dylan Teague and lettered by Annie Parkhouse....





I hope you enjoy it! I'll do some more Aquila "making of" features soon when the dust has settled.

Available in all good comics shops now, or digitally at the 2000AD online store!

It marks my final trip into the world of Aquila. Drawing two separate historical fantasy strips (this and Defoe) for 2000AD can get a bit much sometimes with all the research involved, so I'm aching to do some sci-fi!!!!

L

Thursday 7 May 2015

AQUILA MINI SERIES OUT NOW!!!

OK, time to get back on this bloggy thing!!!

So y'know Aquila, the series I draw for 2000AD written by Gordon Rennie, coloured by Dylan Teague, Gary Caldwell and lettered by Simon Bowland? Well it's time to don your loin cloth once more as the entire sage is being repackaged as a 5 issue US format series, OUT NOW!


Issue 1 came out last month that you can still get in stores or digitally from the 2000AD online shop!

I was pleasantly surprised to see that it had a really nice quality glossy cover that feels so nice on my face, and reviews have been great! Comics Alliance say, " Aquila is a smart choice for a standalone book, and the creative team is one of 2000AD's best."


Issue 2 will be out 20th May. Later on in the series I take a break and my nemesis Patrick Goddard takes over for a storyline, but then I return!!!

By the way, if you'd like to take a step into my time machine and check out this early post on the creation of Aquila, and what was used for the first issue cover, head HERE!