This piece is another contest entry that I submitted to Wizard magazine during a "Design a cover" art contest they were running in 2003.

Although I have not been a fervent follower of "Cerebus" during it's historical run in the publishing world, I have been an admirer of the character and of it's creator/artist Dave Sim.

What started out as a silly little funny animal spoof of "Conan the Barbarian" in 1977 independently published by Sim's Aardvark-Vanenheim press, soon grew in scope and popularity. The adventures of Sim's wayward Aardvark became a cult icon and a shining beacon to small press creators everywhere, and when Sim stated that his series would run an unprecedented 300 issues, larger companies and comics professionals balked at his arrogance......well he proved them all wrong!

Cerebus reached it's goal of 300 issues in 2004, ending a twenty year run and over 6,000 pages of unforgettable storytelling. Assisting Sim in his art was an excellent embellisher by the name of Gerhard, who provided amazing detail and craftsmanship within the pages of "Cerebus". Dave Sim and Gerhard proved to be one of the most successful and longest creative partnerships in comics publishing.

When I did this illustration I wanted to capture the smooth, almost animated style of Sim's art while at the same time accurately depicting the character and his mood. The background was a feeble attempt at best to re-create in pencil, Gerhard's detailed backgrounds. As mentioned earlier this was an entry for a Wizard magazine cover contest and to add depth and interaction to the piece I depicted Cerebus slashing through the Wizard title art with his sword, the upper 3rd of the page was reserved for this reason.