I was very pleased to receive a commission from the UK Spectator for a piece of cover art yesterday. The English covers are coveted (is there a pun there? No? Not even a little one?), and I am honoured they would ask me to draw one. The brief was brief: 'inter-generational fairness' - a topic I'm not too familiar with here in Australia, but big news in the United Kingdom this week. The suggestion was for a fight between a pensioner and a hooded youth, "more vicious the better". And humorous. At this point I rubbed my hands with glee, looking awfully Monty Burns.

The job was a little tough, though, due to our timezones. I sent over thumbs #1 and #2 (below), but the editor wanted to see another variation. Unfortunately he had left the office (it was midnight over there) by the time I sent over the rest of the roughs, so my direction before he went was to draw up whatever I thought would look best. Gulp!

While the face-off (#2) or duel (#3) covers would have worked well, I chose the safe option and drew up a fight scene, as most of the correspondence had pointed towards this. But I gotta say, I was a little nervous going to finished art without sketch approval.

But all's well that ends well - the art was approved, the music starts, the guy gets the girl, and the credits roll. This issue has hit the news stands in London Town and beyond... grab a copy if you're in that neck of the woods.

Thanks for stopping by! ~ Anton