AWESOME DEREK RIGGS INTERVIEW IS AWESOME

Around the MetalSucks Mansion, we refer to Rodney Githens of Vertebrae 33 as “The Derek Riggs to our Iron Maiden.” The dude does amazing artwork, and has designed some of our most favoritest MS stuff, like this t-shirt, and this t-shirt, and this poster.

And now he’s started his own website, Metal Band Art, devoted entirely to the ongoing search for the world’s finest chili recipe. No, of course that’s what the site is about. It’s about metal band art. Duh.

ANYWAY, I mention it now because Rodney just posted part one of an excellent interview with the legendary Derek Riggs, a.k.a. the creator of Eddie, a.k.a. the dude who did all the Iron Maiden art that’s worth a damn. Here’s an excerpt:

How do you create your work? Take us through the process from concept to final.

Actually it’s never the same twice in a row. Each picture is different and I have to approach it in a slightly different way. People sometimes have ideas, sometimes not. Both have their own set of problems. The ones with ideas can never seem to express exactly what they really want and tend to babble a lot. The ones with no ideas, well, I end up doing loads of sketches for them and they are never pleased with anything. Then they all come at me with huge lists of “Details” for the picture, which is usually a big list of words that don’t mean anything to anyone else. They don’t even have an idea for a descent picture yet, but they have all these fucking little bits they want me to somehow shove in there. it kind of gets old… A CD cover is only 5 inches Sq for fuck’s sake.

Check out the rest of the interview here. You should explore the rest of the site, too, because Rodney already has lots of great content available.

Oh, oh hai, while we’re on the topic, you might as well check out the interview that The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley did with Riggs on our behalf last summer. ‘Cause can really never have too much Eddie in your life, y’know?

-AR