Derek Riggs talking about Maiden

Chev Chellios said:
Yeah the Riggsy FOTD was dreadful and cheesy. And from what I read in the 30 Years of the Beast Book, he was just bitter. He comes off as a total asshole.
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He also sounds retarded when interviewed  :lol:
 
Come on guys. We have to look on both sides. Being completely honest, Maiden were kind of harsh and nit-picky about Riggs's artwork. It sucks when you create something that is a masterpiece to your eyes, only to have someone else find something wrong with it and make you redo it. You should expect him to be a bit bitter.
 
But to be fair, we really only have his side on this.  What if Maiden thought he was a pain to work with as well?  I'm sure there's some middle ground in there where reality truly lies.

Maiden owes a lot to Riggs for creating a visual medium to go along with their amazing music.

But Riggs owes nearly all of his success to his work with Maiden.
 
Donner said:
But Riggs owes nearly all of his success to his work with Maiden.
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Very true.  No matter how good his art was, he wouldn't have reached anywhere near such a huge audience as he did with Maiden.

I also agree that he comes off as a general asshole.  He might have reason to be bitter, but I still don't really like the guy based on all the interviews I've seen.
 
I wish Riggs would actually paint instead of that digital nonsense...Personally, I don't he's capable of doing the kind of work he did back in the 80's...shame.

Herve SHOULD NOT do any album covers...Even though his backgrounds are nice, his Eddies look awful.
 
I've emailed Derek before, asking him for some advice on improving my artwork (and my band's mascot), and he replied. He seemed pretty kind and interested in helping me out, so I don't really think he's a total asshole (or if he is, at least he doesn't blow off fan emails). He does seem bitter in these interviews though.

As for his FOTD idea that was posted above, I honestly don't think it looks horrible. It wouldn't have made a good album cover, but with a little more work, it could have been a cool shirt deisgn or something.
 
I'd never say Derek is an asshole. He's a prima donna. He knows how it's gonna get done, and he does it that way. And Steve and Rod are the same way. So, the band gets bigger, Riggs gets bigger...something's gotta give in that relationship. I think Riggs started putting less into his artwork starting with NPFTD, and possibly earlier, probably because the band was being picky; as a result, the band got pickier.
 
As much of a whiner he seems to be, his contribution can't be denied. Maiden is notoriously known for their merch, which Riggs heavily contributed to. They wouldn't be where they are without him.
 
They should also consider using Hervé Monjeaud for album covers:
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Wow! That is amazing work there! I especially love the Moscow painting and the ROTAM "cover"; could really have been something. However, the "maiden2008" Powerslave poster is the one Maiden used for the Somewhere Back In Time tour. If they are in collaboration with this artist, an album cover of that kind would kick ass.

I also really like the El Dorado cover with that classic comic style. Something different, yet it fits the "Final Frontier" theme so perfectly.
 
Herve's stuff is pretty cool.  I like his backgrounds and scenes, but all his Eddies look exactly the same.  They are either totally derivative of what's already been made, or in the Killers mold.  I haven't really seen him do anything unique enough to warrant an album cover.
 
Riggs does have some reason to be bitter, but he started getting pretty lazy after SIT.  Seventh Son was a great cover, but it had so much less then SIT or Powerslave, and No Prayer was just boring.
 
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