Few characters in comic’s history have remained as consistently inconsistent as Judge Dredd. The late Steve Dillon’s Dredd offers a realism different from Ian Gibson’s, but they’re both beloved. Mega-City One’s hero has always been open to change. How is it to draw Dredd?
Dredd regular PJ Holden tells us, “I think it comes down to both the iconic unchanging elements and just how amazingly flexible the design has proven, which means that you pick and choose how you want to draw him.” PJ continues: “Hopefully over time you end with a look that’s unique to you and strong enough it might eventually become one of those iconic portrayals.”
TRICKS OF THE TRAD
PJ has come up with his own way to draw Dredd. He imagines there’s an armour plate under the iconic eagle, enabling him to reposition the pad to create a more dynamic character.
“I also tend to push the cartoonier aspects of Dredd’s world while leaving him like a big lump of realistic granite in it,” he says. “Reflecting, I think, how Dredd’s world is (Mega-City One, home to 400 million lunatics, and Dredd the incorruptible face of justice) and how I like to draw.”
PJ adds that Dredd, as a strip, is unique in its pacing. With six to seven panels per page, the pacing is faster than a usual comic. “Carlos would frequently do a great Dredd shooting and person being shot right beside each other – close-ups on both – solving the perennial problem of ‘Dredd shoots perp’.”
INDUSTRY INSIGHT
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Denne historien er fra November 2021-utgaven av ImagineFX.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Jan Wessbecher
Dominic Carter talks to the visual artist about creating his own comic and why sketchbooks are great for creative experiments
Kyounghwan Kim
The Korean character concept artist speaks to Dominic Carter about staying open to ideas and the value of drawing regularly
Slawek Fedorczuk
Dominic Carter talks to the concept artist about what keeps him motivated and the advantages of using physical sketchbooks.
Raquel M. Varela
Raquel is inspired by magic, fantasy and fairy tales. She loves designing female characters from distant worlds. \"My greatest reference is Loish's art, thanks to her I learned to draw the movement and fluidity I like to convey.\"
Estrela Lourenço
Estrela is a children's book author and illustrator. Her work is influenced by her background in character animation and storyboards for clients such as Cartoon Network, and she channels comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes.
Daria Widermanska
Daria, also known as Anako, has been drawing for as long as she can remember. Inspired by Disney and classic anime, she loves creating new characters and often finds that a single sketch can spark a unique story.
Allen Douglas
Allen has been painting professionally since 1994 for the publishing and gaming industries. Inspired by folklore, he distorts the size, relationships and environments of animals, and calls his paintings 'unusual wildlife'.
Thaddeus Robeck
Thaddeus has been drawing from the moment he could hold a pencil, but it was the 2020 lockdowns that gave him the time to focus on honing his skills.
DRAW FASCINATING SYMBOLIC ARTWORK
Learn how JULIÁN DE LA MOTA creates a composition from his imagination with a focus on crafting figures, volumetric modelling, and light and shadow
First Impressions
The artist talks about his journey into the mythological world