Blessed Brian

I'm sure I'm not alone in remembering sitting down and copying Brian Bolland's artwork as a youth (probably when I should have been doing something slightly more academic).

Stuff like this.


Stomm...!

Anyway, it was our immense pleasure to sit down with another of 2000AD's all time legends. There are really no words that can describe the impact that Brian's work on Dredd had on this reader's fragile little mind.  His art in such classic stories as The Day the Law Died, The Judge Child Quest, The Cursed Earth, Block Mania, Judge Death & the Dark Judges was seminal.  In the US he had a massive impact drawing important books like Camelot 3000 and The Killing Joke, and has since drawn hundreds, possibly thousands of astonishing covers for DC comics.

During the filming of this doc I have asked contributors who their favourite artist is and Brian's name is usually the first word from their mouths.

So I'm meeting arguably the most most recognised comic artist of all time, a man whose work I have pored over for many hours of my life, and he turns out to be the most humble and cheerful gentleman you could possibly imagine, what a joy. Brian welcomed us into his studio, a treasure trove of his work and the place where for many years so many of his iconic images have been designed.  The room is littered with piles original art pages, racks of comics, framed sketches from other comics legends dedicated 'To Brian' and various bits of animals...  No lie!  It turns out that a sheep's skull perched innocuously on a window ledge was the life model for Judge Mortis!


We had a lovely chat about the old days, Brian's techniques and inspirations, his thoughts on the superhero genre and tons more stuff that I'm beaming about during the edit!

Many thanks to Brian and his family for the hospitality!






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