Derek Riggs

Last updated

Derek Riggs
Derek Riggs by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Riggs at the 2022 Phoenix Fan Fusion
Born (1958-02-13) 13 February 1958 (age 67)
Portsmouth, England
NationalityBritish
Known forPainting, drawing, graphics
Notable work Iron Maiden album covers
Website derekriggs.com

Derek Riggs (born 13 February 1958) [1] is a contemporary British artist best known for creating the band Iron Maiden's mascot, "Eddie".

Contents

Career

Born in Portsmouth, England, Riggs is a self-taught artist, both in his traditional painting and in his digital work. [1] He began drawing and painting as early as he can remember. [2] He also attended art school, but he was expelled after complaining about the course. [1] Riggs' most famous achievement is his work with Iron Maiden and his creation of Eddie, the band's mascot and subject of their album and single covers. [3] Riggs' first picture of Eddie was originally entitled "Electric Matthew Says Hello," [4] and was actually painted for a possible punk cover. [5] Iron Maiden's management came across it while looking through Riggs' portfolio, [6] and asked him to add hair to the figure to make it look less punk-like. [5] The resulting picture was used for the debut album, Iron Maiden , released in 1980, and Riggs went on to work with Iron Maiden throughout the 1980s and into the '90s, creating many of the band's famous album covers. [3] In 1992, however, the band decided to accept contributions from other artists for their next album, Fear of the Dark , resulting in much less input from Riggs in recent years. [7] [ needs update ]

For a long time, Riggs did his paintings with acrylics and alkyd, which is a fast-drying oil-based paint. However, after realizing the chemicals were affecting his health, he switched to digital painting in the early 1990s. [8] His choice of software include Bryce, Strata Studio Pro, and Photoshop. [9]

Riggs has also designed the cover of World's Only Female Tribute to Iron Maiden , the self-titled debut album by the all-female tribute band, the Iron Maidens, a piece which was inspired by the Killers album, featuring a similar "Kinky Sex Shop" which featured in the Iron Maiden artwork. [10]

He has also worked with Iron Maiden lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson for his album Accident of Birth , [11] Stratovarius for their album Infinite , [12] Gamma Ray for their Power Plant album, [13] Artension on their 2004 album Future World , [14] Gillman on their 2003 album Cuauhtemoc, [15] and with many other bands and companies most of which are featured on his website.

Riggs currently resides in Riverside County, California, US. [16] [17] He has seasonal affective disorder. [17]

Tribute

As a fan of Iron Maiden, game designer Tim Schafer named the main character of 2009's video game Brütal Legend Eddie Riggs, which is a combination of Eddie The Head and Derek Riggs. [18]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 6. ISBN   1-4276-0538-6.
  2. ↑ Stenning, Paul (2006). Iron Maiden: 30 Years of the Beast – The Complete Unauthorised Biography (1 ed.). Chrome Dreams. p.  218. ISBN   1-84240-361-3.
  3. 1 2 Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 133. ISBN   1-86074-542-3.
  4. ↑ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 18. ISBN   1-4276-0538-6.
  5. 1 2 Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 21. ISBN   1-4276-0538-6.
  6. ↑ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 134. ISBN   1-86074-542-3.
  7. ↑ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 289. ISBN   1-86074-542-3.
  8. ↑ The House of Wormwood (9 February 2012). "The Pantheon Part I : The Maker of the Beast – Derek Riggs". The House of Wormwood. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  9. ↑ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run For Cover: The ARt of Derek Riggs. Aardvark Publishing. p. 159. ISBN   1427605386.
  10. ↑ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 168. ISBN   1-4276-0538-6.
  11. ↑ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 128. ISBN   1-4276-0538-6.
  12. ↑ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 149. ISBN   1-4276-0538-6.
  13. ↑ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 138. ISBN   1-4276-0538-6.
  14. ↑ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 166. ISBN   1-4276-0538-6.
  15. ↑ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 163. ISBN   1-4276-0538-6.
  16. ↑ Rolivia (17 March 2013). "IRON MAIDEN Artist Derek Riggs Interview at Rock Your Loxx". Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2020– via YouTube.
  17. 1 2 Metal Swap Meet (12 July 2019). "Derek Riggs Iron Maiden artist interview at High Dive San Diego". YouTube. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  18. ↑ Grayson, Nathan (27 February 2013). "The Past, Present, And Future Of Brutal Legend". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.