My most recent 2000Ad try-out,Tales of Telghuuth,written by Steven Moore.
Some panels from my aborted 2000AD submission.. always like to have a cameo! ;)
You should finish it, this is a fun Dredd story and I am curious how it’d work out in that photo-realistic style.
Anyone taking on the sample scripts should see this thread on the 2000AD forum.
Practising my Dredd for a 2000AD submission…
Looking good, it has a Kev Walker-like feel to it, which is never a bad thing. Just a reminder, people working on sample scripts should check the relevant thread on the 2000AD forum and post up samples for feedback. It is one of the best ways to hone your submission before passing it under Tharg’s inquisitorial eye.
Droid PJ Holden is as helpful as he is talented (i.e. very) and has been giving valuable feedback in the sample scripts thread (for aspiring droids preparing examples to show to Tharg). The most popular script by an order of magnitude is the Judge Dredd story “Cycles of Violence” so it made sense for him to give his view on how he would approach the script:
One of the many interesting posts to be found on the 2000ad message board is this one where a number of artists are presenting their version of the Judge Dredd sample script “A Cycle Of Violence” (you can download the full script here)
If you go through that thread (and I recommend you do, if you want to learn how to draw comics, especially if you want to draw for 2000AD) you’ll find a couple of things interesting:
1) There are as MANY different ways to draw a script as there are artists to draw it.
2) None of them are really wrong.
I’ve offered up critiques of various attempts in that thread. What I’ve never done, until now, is actually read the script – my critiqs were based solely on my interpretation of the art – and believe me, if people can understand what’s going on in the art without lettering then you’ve cracked one of the big challenges of comics: communication.
So I sat down and thought I’d spend a couple of minutes drawing up a layout for page 1, and here it is. It looks unlike any of the other layouts (because, as I’ve said, 100 artists you’ll get 100 layouts) but, I think, does the job of the script.
More.
The full version of one of the pages I teased a couple of weeks ago, from the 2000AD tryout script.
Be sure to post it in the sample scripts thread on the 2000AD forum for feedback.
2000 AD Submission
Judge Dredd - Cycle Of Violence: Revised Page 1
I have received some invaluable feedback on my submission via the 2000 AD Online Forum. I sent a request to the artist PJ Holden for a crit via Twitter as he had been kind enough to give advice to fellow aspiring artists in the past. PJ was quick to come back with an amazingly detailed crit that really got to the heart of where I need to focus my attention and improve. PJ also took the time to do his own layout of the page in a post on his blog which has offered a good insight into his approach. I have also had some great feedback from Simon Fraser, another established 2000 AD artist. The crits and encouragement on the forum have been a great help to me and my submission will be all the better for it.
This is my 3rd go at the first page, the essential elements remain the same but almost everything been tweaked and refined to make a, hopefully, more convincing page. Although I was happy with the final panel featuring Dredd I have made a few changes to better serve the story and adhere to the script. I altered the angle so that it is from the boys perspective looking up and reduced the amount of shading to Dredd’s face to give him a younger appearance as the sequence is set in the past. I shall continue my amends to the remaining pages applying the good advice that has been such a great help.
Any excuse to add in a reminder that artists working on the sample scripts to show to Tharg would be well advised to drop into the linked thread for useful feedback.
I did these as a speculative submission for the comic 2000 AD - they have a bunch of sample scripts you can download on their website here, and ask that prospective artists do one of those to show what they’ve got (If you’re interested, this is my version of the script titled “Holed Up”). It’s a lot of work for no money, but it’s 2000 AD, so I’m doing it anyway.
I really enjoyed doing all the shiny metal. And the Kirby Krackle. My only regret is that there aren’t more actual human beings in it, as I would have liked to have shown off my figure drawing a bit more.
Wish me luck.
Good luck. Tharg is tough but fair and his feedback should be useful.
Good choice of script too, it doesn’t get done much. For a full list of scripts and to see other people’s there is this thread on the 2000AD forum.
Judge Dredd - Cycle Of Violence
Page 1 of my submission to 2000 AD. Work in progress, thinking of adding background detail to the second panel. I will post my work so far on the 2000 AD forum for feedback before finalising and submitting my artwork.
It is the last panel that is the tricky one and I think you’ve done a nice job with it.
