Shots From The Studio #33

 So this week I’m going to talk about  another art book from my collection. It spotlights an artist who was incredibly important and formative to me. He is an artist whose influence slithers his way into my own artwork even after more than 40 years since I was introduced to him.

   But this artist didn’t come to me via a comic book,  a pulp novel cover, a Saturday morning cartoon show or even a well worn art book from a library shelf. I first discovered Mr. Derek Riggs on the cover of Iron Maidens 4th studio album Piece of Mind.

   It was the summer break between 6th and 7th grade in1983 I was 12 and spending the weekend, as I usually did, at the home of my best friend Scott. Now at this point I had just started to discover heavy metal thanks to two older cousins and MTV. But nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to hear and see. Now please keep in mind this is an approximation of a 40+ years old memory.

   Scott’s older brother, Matt, called us to his room and said “You’ve got to hear this.” He lowered the needle down onto the turn table and the sound that issued forth instantly etched itself in to my brain. It was the opening guitar riff to “The Trooper”. But I’m not here to talk about this bands amazing music but the other thing that blew my mind that day…the albums art work.

   I had never seen an album cover like Piece of Mind before. It was dark, frightening, haunting and beautiful. I was hooked. As I plunged into Iron Maiden fandom so to I became a fan of their artist Derek Riggs. Not only did Riggs paint all of their album covers but he did the illustrations for all their singles, tour promotion, posters and t-shirt design.

   Fast forward to 2006 and the release of Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs. I had been waiting for this book for over 20 years. It weighs in at 180 pages, the text was written by Martin Popoff and it was published by Aardvark Publishing.

   This book is packed with tons of great art. The main focus of the book is obviously Riggs’ decades long collaboration with Iron Maiden but it also features quite a bit of non Maiden related art. Inside you get a glimpse behind the scenes of some of the most iconic artwork in music history. There are rough sketches, alternative takes on classic covers, rare promotional material both foreign and domestic  and the writing shares some great untold stories about the creation of some of of the most famous album covers in heavy metal history.

   If you are a fan of Iron Maiden this is obviously a no brainer but even if you’re not really familiar with the band the artwork stands on its own. Thumbing through this book it is easy to see how these iconic images were not just mere illustrations but were, at least partially, responsible for adding to the legendary status that Iron Maiden is known for.