Like I said before, "Lost In The New Real" is probably the most richly illustrated album I've ever participated in. The booklet alone seems like a mini graphic novel!
This particular image illustrates the song "Yellowstone Memorial Day", which is about a massive volcanic eruption in Yellowstone Park. The moment Arjen told me about the subject of the song I knew how technically difficult it was going to be; I've never painted neither a volcano or lava before, so as usual, in preparation for this task I reviewed tons of photographic material. This is what is illustrators call research; I saw countless pictures of volcanic eruptions like the ones of Etna, St Helens and Krakatoa. I really wanted to get it right but obviously with the fantasy touch on scale and atmosphere.
Te result speak for itself... I think it took me around four days, 8 hours a day. It is an extremely detailed painting. Hopefully, Arjen will print posters someday to take advantage of its full resolution.
Colonization and cultural contamination are two subjects (or maybe just one) that I always been interested in. Nothing good could result when a developed society invades (either in a friendly or unfriendly manner) a more primitive culture. There is plenty of examples for this in history but this image deals specifically with the colonization of South America. It was commissioned by chilean band Huinca (term for the non-aborigine in Mapuche language) as cover art. The concept is a mix of a little bit of mythology with modern politics... it blends the ancient battle of the common man against an impossible adversary (like David and Goliath), which in this case is represented by a massive Lovecraftian creature; in its back, it carries what I call the "unholy trinity" of powers... war (missiles), religion (a cathedral) and economics (oil plants + Wall Street). Our heroes, are representatives of the three main aboriginal cultures of the lower part of South America: Mapuche, Inca and Rapa-Nui (Eastern Island). All three against an all-powerful and evil adversary... will they succeed???
This was the second of two sketch proposals; the original concept was a rendition of David and Goliath; a regular joe against a super-powerful foe. The Cuthulhu-like creature came out almost naturally. The three aboriginees, represent the three main cultures of the chilean territory (even though Rapa-Nui or Eastern Island is in the middle of the Pacific!!!). I wanted it to be really epic! to achieve this I new I needed a very dramatic lighting treatment and a spectacular angle view to take full advantage of size and scope! It was painted in adobe photoshop; I used very thin brushes for the all the details of the main characters and really thick hairy brushes for the landscape, which is rough and texturized... this is a classic Frazetta trick!
This image was produced for Arjen Lucassen's "Lost In The New Real" album.
Not every day I get the chance to explore humor in my art commissions. Most of my clients have an interest for the darker side of life, which I always try to approach with some irony; I couldn't possibly go dark all the way (well, not all the time!)... I need at least a little bit of dark humor. Well, this image goes way beyond your usual sarcasm... it embraces it.
One good day, Arjen sent me this really happy song about a euthanasia clinic in the future... only Arjen could get away with something like this! "I want a twisted Doctor and two hot dancing nurses in front of their clinic", he said. I thought this concept was insane! But immediately regarded its endless graphic possibilities. I envisioned the classic "mad scientist" in his creepy Art Deco laboratory; tesla coils everywhere and a stormy sky!
In Arjen's words: "This is a very happy song about...suicide! I wanted the image to look like a campy advert for a 'euthanasia home', where (in the far future) people could voluntarily end their lives in a humane way. But of course I wanted it to be very tongue-in-cheek so we could get away with it, it's such a delicate topic! There had to be an evil doctor holding a syringe, some dancing nurses, a building with sleazy neon letters and a menacing sky. But I expected that would be impossible... Imagine my surprise when Claudio arranged a REAL doctor holding a real syringe and two hot nurses! This image is amazing, just look at all the intricate details that Claudio came up with. A both funny and disturbing image, not easy to make! Claudio did an amazing job with this one, I think this is my favorite image in the booklet"
I am allowed to show you now some of the process behind the creation of the cover of "Lost in The New Real", the upcoming solo album by Arjen Lucassen.
It was an interesting journey for sure... one that neither Arjen nor I anticipated. A journey filled with fierce battles, time anomalies, alien diplomacy, strange communications and weird visions! It began around June 2011; I decided to establish communications with Mr. L's outpost to express my interest in a possible collaboration. At first, Mr. L was somewhat reluctant to the idea... he didn't fully trust this new life form so he put my abilities to the test. He told me about this new concept he was developing; I found the storyline extremely cool and reminded me of an old Gene Roddenberry TV movie called "Genesis II". So between Star Trek quotations through email and countless days of non-sleeping I came up with some sketches featuring a William Shatner-like character, not knowing that the main character was Mr. L himself!
After looking at my sketches, Arjen made clear that he didn't want a cold digital-looking cover and this was deffinetelly not the right approach. Instead, he wanted an old fashioned illustration in the style of the old sci-fi movies of the 50s and 60s. "Forbidden Planet", "The Day The Earth Stood Still", "Fight To Mars" and "The Time Travelers" (to name a few) were some of the posters we analized to be used as reference for our project. Again, a very cool idea, but one no easy to create as we would find out soon enough. At first, I wanted to pay tribute "by the book" to that style and imitate the 50s illustration style to perfection but as I started showing advances to Arjen, he pointed out that some of the elements looked cheap! I said, "well of course it looks cheap! everything about those old movies was cheap and cheesy. It's part of the style!". He then went on by saying that maybe people won't understand that kind of obscure graphic tribute and will simply see a cheap-crappy-illustration. It took me a couple of days to process this but ultimatelly I agreed to this logic. This basically opened up a whole new universe of possibilities since we were paying tribute to classic sci-fi with modern tools. So the new aproach was, what if 50s illustrators of movie posters would have had Photoshop! What would they have done!?
The final product of this concept is a very eerie but interesting looking scene. One that was the result of two weird minds clashing together through space-time continuum. Mr. L and Mr. C going to where no artist has gone before!
The image itself shows a troubled Mr. L inside a holodeck (those of you who are familiar with Star Trek TNG will know of what I'm talking about - if not, shame on you!) simulating a very colourful alien landscape (somewhat inspired by the movie Forbidden Planet). In the far distance, the Dream Sequencer can be seen; tying in the whole concept with the Ayeron universe in a way that remains a mistery! (yes, I know). Outside the holodeck room and consciously overseeing everything, we can see the excentric scientist Voight-Kampff, who is also operating the holodeck's master controls. The whole scene is framed in a very cool space setting that adds just a little bit more oddity to everything.
So there you go! The cover explained!
Just wait to see the rest of the art I made for the record. At least 6 of the songs have individual illustrations, turning the booklet almost into a nice little graphic novel. And that story shall also be told!
None other than Rutger Hauer, the legendary actor, will be taking the rol of scientist Voight-Kampff in the production I recently completed all artwork for: Arjen Lucassen's solo album. Here's a greeting and sneak peek of that big release!
The Album is another masterpiece by the mad-scientist-hippie-rocker Lucassen; it's an amazing collection of sci-fi stories accompanied by an equal variety of cool artwork (turning the booklet in a quasi-graphic novel!). It was one of most demanding an challenging projects I've ever taken place in... can't wait to share it with the world!
It will be released in April through Inside Out Records.
Here's a new interview in which I talk about influences, recent work, processes, geeks, pop culture, music, art (and the lack of it) and of course my graphic novel!
I've recently produced several images about the Illuminati mythos. In this one, we actually get to see one of them.
The unholy trinity of powers of the world: Economy and his two bitches, war and religion. I am very aware this image might upset some people but is just the way it is, the way it has always been.
You are probably wandering just who are the people depicted in the portraits on the far wall. Well, they're very relevant personalities related to this concept, you may like to check on each of them: Issac Newton, Leonardo DaVinci, Jacques de Molay, Alister Crowley and Sir William Sinclair.
Suggestedreadingand media to complement this picture's subject: Any book by David Icke, Zeitgeist (documentary), Inside Job (documentary), The Shock Doctrine (documentary) and of course ultimate Illuminati documentary: watch here.
I can't even tell you how much work I put into every little detail of this one... it was a graphic nightmare.
If you live in Europe you might spot the vinyl edition in your local metal music store: It was produced for a very cool progressive metal band from germany; The Outside.
