Derek Riggs

Derek Riggs
Born	13 February 1958(1958-02-13) Portsmouth, England
Nationality	British
Field	Painting, drawing, graphics
Works	Iron Maiden album covers
Website	http://www.derekriggs.com/

Derek Riggs (born 13 February 1958 in Portsmouth, England)^[1] is a contemporary British artist best known for creating the heavy metal music band Iron Maiden's mascot, "Eddie the Head".

Career

Riggs is self-taught in his art, both in his traditional painting and in his digital work.^[1] 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.^[2] Riggs' first picture of Eddie was originally entitled "Electric Matthew Says Hello,"^[3] and was actually painted for a possible punk cover.^[4] Iron Maiden's management came across it while looking through Riggs' portfolio,^[5] and asked him to add hair to the figure to make it look less punk-like.^[4] 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.^[2] 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.^[6]

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.^[7]

He has also worked with Iron Maiden lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson for his album Accident of Birth,^[8] Stratovarius for their album Infinite,^[9] Gamma Ray for their Power Plant album,^[10] Artension on their 2004 album Future World,^[11] Gillman on their 2003 album Cuauhtemoc,^[12] and with many other bands and companies most of which are featured on his website.

See also

Iron Maiden portal

• Eddie the Head
• Iron Maiden

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised 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. ^ ^{a b} 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 Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 134. ISBN 1-86074-542-3. 
6. ^ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 289. ISBN 1-86074-542-3. 
7. ^ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 168. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6. 
8. ^ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 128. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6. 
9. ^ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 149. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6. 
10. ^ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 138. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6. 
11. ^ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 166. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6. 
12. ^ Popoff, Martin (2006). Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs (1 ed.). Aardvark Publishing. p. 163. ISBN 1-4276-0538-6. 

External links

• Official website

Persondata
Name	Riggs, Derek
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1958-02-13
Place of birth	Portsmouth, England
Date of death
Place of death