It was great to catch up with Dom Reardon to talk with him about his work on ” Gone” by Jock, from DSTLRY.media. Dom is best known for his work on 2000AD , co creating the series “Cabalistics ” & ‘The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael ” plus work for Dark Horse, Walker Books, and Humanoids.
Gnash: What is your creative process like, and how does it differ when working on a project like Gone or a project within an established universe.
Dom Reardon: Well, Gone is very much Jock’s project. The process for the variant cover was pretty straightforward, once I’d worked out what elements I wanted to include it was just a case of trying to find some nice design shapes. One of the interesting challenges for Gone is that the covers are wrap arounds, so they need to work when you just look at the front, but also work when you open them up.
Gnash: Were you given creative freedom for the variant cover or design, or were there specific guidelines or themes you discussed with Jock?
Dom Reardon: It was very free, but I’d been chatting with Jock a lot about the story so I already knew what I needed to know, I told Jock roughly what I had in mind and he was happy with that.
Gnash: How did you interpret the essence of Gone in your cover artwork, and were there any particular elements from the series that particularly inspired you?
Dom: Something I love about Gone is the sense of scale, the feeling of being a tiny thing in a vast universe, so I wanted to try to include this. I also knew straight away that I wanted to feature the captain, he’s so central to the story and he’s really fun to draw.
Gnash: Can you describe any unique artistic techniques or styles you employed in the creation of this cover?
Dom: A lot was done on the computer for this one. I did a simple line drawing of the Captain and I made a whole bunch of ink splatters, once these were scanned everything after that was done digitally.
Gnash: Are there any other upcoming projects you’re particularly excited about?
Dom: I think there will be a short project with Jock coming up, also a thing with writer Baden Mellonie which will be a horror with lots of magic and monsters.
Gnash: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us and a very huge thanks for such a stunning variant cover exclusive to Gnash! Looking forward to your next projects!