Anyone want Derek Riggs back to do the bands artwork?? whats up with dissin him??

rocket_man

rocket_man

mess with me and i'll pull out my rocket on you
Sad to say the newer artwork is ok, but it just aint the same to me without Derek's wild and inventive imagination. To me he has always been an official "silent" member of the band.
 
Here we go again.

No. Riggs was doing shit work for Maiden in the 1990s, which is why the band moved away from him. They paid him through their contract and were done with it. Riggs wasn't pleased with what happened in the late 1990s and their relationship has ended. Derek did a great job and I'm glad with him for helping establish the Maiden brand, but having watched and listened to several interviews with Riggs, I get the feeling the problem was not on one side. Both sides had distrusted each other.
 
thanks! i have absolutely no info on this, just miss his "touch" on all the artwork.
 
I think Maiden's album covers have generally, gone downhill in quality since Derek Riggs stopped doing them. I was really disappointed with Melvyn Grant's artwork for "The Final Frontier", although some of his other artwork for Maiden has been great, especially "Fear Of The Dark" (which ironically looks like it was painted by Derek Riggs! lol). Timothy Bradstreet's artwork for "A Matter Of Life And Death" was awesome, and I dunno why Maiden didn't use him again for the latest album. I've seen original fan artwork for the latest album that looks much better than what Melvyn came up with...
 
I didn't think he did any artwork for them in the 90s? He also said he doesn't enjoy doing that type of thing anymore
 
Where's the petition for this? :p

But seriously, I actually really liked the last two Maiden covers. And I saw sketches for the artwork Derek submitted for The Final Frontier, and didn't think they were that good. (If anyone is interested, I'm pretty sure they can be found on his website) His Flight 666 art was fantastic, and if he did stuff like that for Maiden then I would b e thrilled. But I think their recent covers (Excluding Dance of Death) are good enough. Sure, they might not be as amazing as the stuff from the 80's, but I doubt even Riggs could top those today.
 
I think that none of his post-Seven Son work is up to par with what he'd done previously. Looking at abominations like this, I've always had the feeling that he simply became tired of doing Maiden artwork, and Maiden eventually got tired of working with him as well. There is a very interesting interview on Metalbandart.com which not only confirmed all my thoughts, but also gives an idea of what kind of a character Riggs is to work with, if you read between the lines.

Also, a visit to his official website should give you a pretty thorough idea of what artwork he's done for Maiden.
 
Riggs did some amazing work for Maiden and not doubt deserves some credit for the bands success (I would not be surprised if they have made more $ on Eddie related products than on the albums themselves), but it seems like there was a pretty serious falling out and I would imagine he wanted to do something else besides Eddie. I thought the book Riggs released was very solid and gives some insight into this. I am not sure at this point Riggs could do much better than the recent covers (really, how much more can Eddie do?), but I would not be unhappy to see him pop up again for a future cover.

Riggs also did the Best of the Beast artwork in the 90s.
 
Perun said:
Also, a visit to his official website should give you a pretty thorough idea of what artwork he's done for Maiden.
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Yes, and look at the 'annotations' he's putting with posted arts. Example (from Accident of Birth folder): 'Bruce didn't want to pay me for that', 'not a good idea but I did it anyway' or 'it was a crap Eddie rip off, invented by Bruce. Doomed not to work'. :p Almost each artwork from this website has this kind of 'golden thought' attached. Funny to read. Well, personally I think he tends to dramatise. Riggs seems to be a hell of a frustrated guy. Even more talented, but still there's something weird about him for me.

PS. And one of my favourites... About SiT: 'This is the most complex album cover ever done by anyone... and I'm not going to do it again. It's too much fucking work.' : P

PS2. Sorry, I couldn't resist with this one. About SSoaSS: 'Oooh, I love pretentious bullshit, it's so meaningful and deep.'
 
i really do appreciate the insight here guys and gals! i have learned a bunch already, please remember no offense was intended.
 
SIT cover is just fantastic, I read where he said that was a reason for doing the more minimalist 7th Son cover, which is also quite good. Though I guess it did pretty much force an Eddie reboot, there was not much you could do with him from there.
 
Srogyy said:
Yes, and look at the 'annotations' he's putting with posted arts. Example (from Accident of Birth folder): 'Bruce didn't want to pay me for that', 'not a good idea but I did it anyway' or 'it was a crap Eddie rip off, invented by Bruce. Doomed not to work'.
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I really enjoy the "Accident of Birth" imagery. I think it captures the cartoonish charm of vintage Maiden.
 
Among those comments by Riggs on his website is also something like "the band chickened out after SSOASS and wanted to 'reset' Eddie", while Riggs wanted to continue exploring the 'deconstruction' of Eddie further...
 
Perun said:
I think that none of his post-Seven Son work is up to par with what he'd done previously.
Click to expand...

I personally loved the No Prayer artwork too (the one on the original album, NOT the remaster), but I can see why some might not have liked it, being as it is a bit more gritty than his past works. I also really like the Eddie artwork on the front cover of his book (and Maiden liked it so much, they used it for a "These Colours Don't Run" t-shirt from the AMOLAD tour).

I'm not sure if these have been posted before on this site or not, but in case they haven't been, here's two fan-made artworks for "The Final Frontier". Both are by the same guy, and in my opinion, both better than the actual artwork done by Melvyn:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7QyUhiMtBtk/S5vhKzYALOI/AAAAAAAAASM/ChE3fkedXjI/s1600-h/37FinalFrontier.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7QyUhiMtBtk/S5vhKSz_p5I/AAAAAAAAASE/5GippnEtPMM/s1600-h/36FinalFrontier.jpg
 
Sara said:
I personally loved the No Prayer artwork too (the one on the original album, NOT the remaster), but I can see why some might not have liked it, being as it is a bit more gritty than his past works.
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It's a good painting from a technical point of view, but I dislike what happened to Eddie. If you look at the various Eddie paintings on record covers and tour memorabilia from throughout the eighties, it's hard not to think that we do have some sort of genuine personality there. It's obviously a cartoon character with a visual evolution and a history of sorts - I can't help but think the covers are in some way connected to each other with an unknown and hidden story, no matter what Riggs himself says. With No Prayer, Eddie followed the course of the band, trying to ditch all that has been achieved so far and try and start anew by returning to the roots. In my very own personal opinion, that neither worked for the band, nor for Eddie. Starting with the No Prayer cover, and going on with almost every other image Riggs has painted since, Eddie looks like a soulless zombie. I just don't really feel we're dealing with the same character if I compare the original No Prayer Eddie to the Live After Death one, despite the fact that the scenes are very similar to each other. Eddie is supposed to be over the top, and when he rises from the grave, he's supposed to be a spirit evidently resurrected by some supernatural force that is hinted at in the LAD cover... not some random zombie as with No Prayer. That painting would have worked in 1981, but with all the history happening afterwards, seeing how it comes from 1990, it just doesn't work for me.
 
bearfan said:
SIT cover is just fantastic, I read where he said that was a reason for doing the more minimalist 7th Son cover, which is also quite good. Though I guess it did pretty much force an Eddie reboot, there was not much you could do with him from there.
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It is a great cover, but Riggs' thoughts on the painting are summed up in the painting itself. He painted a banner on the inside of the shop window saying, in reverse, "this is a very boring painting".
Obviously the band did't notice that one!

06time01.jpg
 
Perun said:
It's a good painting from a technical point of view, but I dislike what happened to Eddie. If you look at the various Eddie is supposed to be over the top, and when he rises from the grave, he's supposed to be a spirit evidently resurrected by some supernatural force that is hinted at in the LAD cover... not some random zombie as with No Prayer. That painting would have worked in 1981, but with all the history happening afterwards, seeing how it comes from 1990, it just doesn't work for me.
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That's one the things i like the most in the golden era: it's like a story,

They killed Eddie at the last show of Piece of Mind WT
Then the Powerslave theme, "I don't want to die, I'm a god, why can't I live on?"
Then is ressurrected in the LAD cover.
Then he's travelling somewhere in time (like recounting all the band's History)
And then the 7th son theme, also Maiden's 7th studio album.

After 1990, Eddie is more a painting than a character, i agree with you.
 
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