Blind Guardian Live album: Making-of
As promised in my first post about the Blind Guardian – Live Beyond The Spheres album I will now share some of the making-of-progress.
It all starts with thumbnails and scribbles in my Moleskine Sketchbook. I usually carry two sketchbooks with me. A large and a small one. Whenever inspiration hits me I scribble on everything that I have at hand if those books are not around. I just need a pen and something to draw on to capture an idea.
As a fan of Blind Guardian’s music I am inspired by their songs and stories. When I create the album artwork I translate my inspiration from their music into my painting. Whether I work on a T-Shirt design or a cover: it is me as a fan who creates something for the fans of this music. Hidden in my artworks you can always find lots of hints that refer to the Blind Guardian universe.
One of the things I have to take into consideration when I draw is anatomy, the size relations between characters, objects and perspective. My oldschool approach to these things is to draw the object from different angles to experience any problems that occur first hand. I stick to a quote from my mentor Glenn Vilppu: “You do not see it until you draw it.”
Using a 3D model might be an easier option but it doesn’t give you the mileage and experience of drawing it for yourself. To get better and better at drawing you should practice a lot.
Some of my favourite tools are Faber Castell Watercolor Pencils, Pentel Waterbrushes and Moleskine Sketchbooks
Below is a photo from the sketchbook that I used during the development of the album cover. The dragon changed quite a lot during the development and we decided to use a dragon without extra front legs (which I prefer).
I intend to post more about the creation of the cover over the next few weeks.