Derek Riggs

Derek Riggs (born February 13, 1958 in Portsmouth ) is a British contemporary artist. He gained fame through his creation of the mascot Eddie of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden .

life and work

Eddie the Head, stage puppet from 2008

Riggs is a self-taught artist, both in his traditional painting and in his digital work. Although he also attended art school, he was expelled after complaints about the course. Riggs' most famous achievement is the creation of the mascot Eddie , the mascot of the band Iron Maiden , which became the theme of their album and individual covers. Eddie's first draft by Riggs was titled 'Electric Matthew Says Hello' and was actually painted for possible punk cover. Iron Maiden management then asked Riggs to add hair to the character to make it look less punk. The resulting image was used for the 1980 debut album Iron Maiden . Riggs continued to work with Iron Maiden through the 80s and 90s, creating many of the band's iconic album covers. In 1992, however, the band decided to use contributions from other artists for their next album, Fear of the Dark , which resulted in significantly fewer orders for Riggs in recent years.

Derek Riggs initials hidden in most cover art

Since the first Iron Maiden single Running Free and later the first Iron Maiden album Iron Maiden , Riggs has designed over 60 covers for the band - each with variations of the Eddie theme. On the cover of Somewhere in Time , Riggs began to incorporate references to old albums and songs by the band. This way of playing the cover design is used again and again by him, for example on the album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son , Iron Maiden's seventh album. Here Riggs immortalized the six previous versions of the Eddie theme in the ice. Riggs also designs covers for other bands, including Stratovarius and Gamma Ray .

Riggs lives and works in the UK.

literature

Martin Popoff : Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs. Aardvark Global Publishing 2006, ISBN 1-4276-0538-6

Web links

Iron Maiden cover

Cover of Somewhere in Time ( Memento from March 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
Cover of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son ( Memento from March 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

swell

^ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. P. 6. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6 .
^ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorized Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. P. 133. ISBN 1-86074-542-3 .
^ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. P. 18. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6 .
^ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. P. 21. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6 .
^ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorized Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. P. 134. ISBN 1-86074-542-3 .
^ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorized Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. P. 289. ISBN 1-86074-542-3 .

personal data
SURNAME	Riggs, Derek
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British draftsman ( Iron Maiden Cover)
DATE OF BIRTH	February 13, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH	Portsmouth

[1] Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. P. 6. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6 .

[2] Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorized Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. P. 133. ISBN 1-86074-542-3 .

[3] Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. P. 18. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6 .

[4] Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. P. 21. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6 .

[5] Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorized Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. P. 134. ISBN 1-86074-542-3 .

[6] Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorized Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. P. 289. ISBN 1-86074-542-3 .