Amazing stuff!

[Mark]

First of all, I'm a big fan of illustration From the cartoony quality of Riggs's work with Maiden to Dave McKean's photoshop'd work with various people (and his work on Sandman).

I think Travis's work is great! Especially considering the variety of styles. I particularly like this one he did for Devin Townsend.

And of course the latest Opeth cover

I'd be interested in finding out what medium he uses most? Obviously there's some photoshop work in there, but does he use hand illustration as well, or is it all digital?

 

[Till Fjalls]

I have no idea what he uses, but I'm sure photoshop is a part of the process. I assume he also uses a decent SLR camera as well. I can't imagine anyone creating such awesome work from scratch.

 

[HoserHellspawn]

I'm pretty sure he has a preconcieved idea of what the image is going to look like, then goes about aquiring the necessary "photo data" to put it all together, be it going out and taking photos, finding photos, perhaps he has a pro photographer as a business contact... however, even that often seems to all be combined with some hand-drawn/comic-book-style art. I'd imagine Photoshop would have to be the primary tool for his work, tho. The stuff that gets me is the textures... the grittiness of the surroundings of the main focal points of the images. It seems each work is very densely layered.

However, the stuff for Terria is my favourite thus far, as well.

 

[spawn]

Ok, we ALL know Travis' best work is the Iced Earth stuff, his other stuff is brilliant, but lets face it, Iced Earth is always a step above the rest
Though the nevermore cover for dead heart comes close.....

Have you seen the brilliant work he did for the Iced Earth box set? Simply amazing!

 

[Mark]

Originally posted by spawn
Ok, we ALL know Travis' best work is the Iced Earth stuff, his other stuff is brilliant, but lets face it, Iced Earth is always a step above the rest
Though the nevermore cover for dead heart comes close.....

I don't think the Horror Show cover even touches the Opeth - Blackwater Park cover

Have you seen the brilliant work he did for the Iced Earth box set? Simply amazing!

No Care to share a link, spawny?

 

[Russell]

Yeah, my favourtie has to be BWP But I also really like AFDTE for Anathema

And Dave McKean's and Travis' work are often very similar... both amazing

 

[spawn]

Originally posted by Mark


I don't think the Horror Show cover even touches the Opeth - Blackwater Park cover



No Care to share a link, spawny?

http://www.icedearth.com/images/genesis.jpg HOW good is that?!!! We have a new champion.

BTW, a grey bunch of trees (That no matter how cool looking, are still a grey bunch of trees versus the antichrist, a graveyard and a cool castle? Dont make me laugh Besides, we both know horror show is the better album (I hope Kem doesnt read this....... )
In the end though, id buy posters of every single travis smith album cover ive seen so far if they were available!

 

[Mark]

I'd prefer subtle nuancity (is that a word? ) to in-your-face obviousness

 

[FatherVic]

XDDDDDDD IMHO the one he did for Iced Earth is one of the worst works of his.
Opeth BWP is the best one by far IMHO...followed really near by Devin Townsend's Terria (which makes me piss my undies each time I see it)
but it's nice to see some ppl differ...

BTW have all of you checked worx from Niklas Sundin???
he's the guitarrist of Dark Tranquillity and his artwork is really similar to Travis, so I think you should love it...
he's site is <a>www.cabinfevermedia.com</a> but now there's nothing shown...shame!

 

[Unregistered]

hoser: agreed. photoshop is most likely the most
used of all of these. i wondered myself if the photos
were all his or from photographer contacts.

anyways, this is the list i saw on the site:

Programs used:
Photoshop 6
InDesign
Acrobat
XPress 4.1
Illustrator 9
Streamline 4
XPress 4.1
and Various Natural Mediums and Photography.

 

[Seems like Trav]

Yes, Basically everything is prought together and usually mostly created and refined with photoshop. When doing A piece i figure out what i wanna do first and then decide the best way i wanna do it. The i work on creating or gathering the elements and put them together. Sometimes I start with all photography (new anathema and Katatonia is all photography) which i mostly shoot myself, or sometimes i will start with other things. For example, new Jag Panzer, Opeth, And King Diamond are all combinations of watercolor, pencils, and photography.
Each piece has an extensive amout of layers.

Also I need to note I don't think i deserve to have full credit for the iced earth stuff as on those i am working with someone else who first drawn the art and then i just color it and give it a bit more life. The ones who deserve the true credit for iced earth are Greg Capullo from Spawn/Creech (SWTWC), Danny Miki from Spawn/X-Men (Alive In Athens, Horror Show, D&W), and Axel Herrmann (AIA, Dark Genesis).

Til Next time
Trav

 

[spawn]

Originally posted by Mark
I'd prefer subtle nuancity (is that a word? ) to in-your-face obviousness

Noone likes a smartass Mark

 

[spawn]

Originally posted by Seems like Trav

Also I need to note I don't think i deserve to have full credit for the iced earth stuff as on those i am working with someone else who first drawn the art and then i just color it and give it a bit more life. The ones who deserve the true credit for iced earth are Greg Capullo from Spawn/Creech (SWTWC), Danny Miki from Spawn/X-Men (Alive In Athens, Horror Show, D&W), and Axel Herrmann (AIA, Dark Genesis).

Til Next time
Trav

Well, being an Iced Earth nut, I did know that
I also know you did some great inking on Spawn covers amongst other things, is there anything you CANT do you bastard?

The Jag Panzer cover was awesome as well, you know, when I think about it, I have just about every cd you have done a cover for....I either have good taste in music, or I have good taste in art. Or possibly both.

At the risk of asking a stupid question that could very well be on the website and I have missed it, do you do prints of the album covers you have done?

 

[Lutz]

Wow that Iced Earth artwork is really something!

 

[Till Fjalls]

Did you go to school to learn art and/or photoshop/other computer programs??? I'm just blown away by how surreal some of these images look. I mean, I like to tink I know Photoshop fairly well, but I'll be damned if I can ever make an image even look remotely close to one of your pieces!

 

[Seems like Trav]

nope. i actually dropped out of high school and was a bum for a few years
living off my dad. so the i discovered a macintosh and started messing with
my own drawings and photos on it and from then it was just a matter of "wonder what will happen if i do THIS..."

T

 

[FatherVic]

you lucky bastard XDDD
I'm still doing that and it's seems the engine won't startup!
I just can design some lifeless websites...grrrrggrrr

 

[Till Fjalls]

Wow man, congrats on taking that risk and coming up with something kick-ass and unique!!! Damn, I know people who have been in school for years for this stuff, and I guess they know the programs technically, but can't come close to presenting an end product like that. Damn, makes me wonder if I should quit University before too much debt piles up!

(BTW, not in art, but radio and television...)

 

[Seems like Trav]

yeah.

i guess everyone knows what they need and what they have to do.
some things work for some and not for others. i know 2 people that
both went to different design classes of some kind. One started a business
out of his bedroom because of it and is now doing very well doing stickers
and such and another who is a great artist put a bunch of money into
a graphics course. when he eventually left, he wasnt getting much out
of the course than what's in the photoshop manual. Sometimes i think
that you don't need school if you are a creative individual. but McKean
went to art school so what the hell do I know?

t

 

[Seems like Trav]

i think i worded that last line wrong, and it wont let me edit it.
i didn't mean it to sound like school is for non creative peeps, i mean
it as school might give you tecnicalities, but it can't teach you how do be creative. some creatives might want it for fine tuning or to have some newer doors opened for them (i could use some of that), but at the same
time it's also full of people who want to walk out with a piece of paper
that says they are a designer now. you get the drift. i think creativity
for the most part is something that you are born with.

Like with musicians, there are a lot who can't read a piece of music
or that have had no formal instruction, who can write songs that are
epic and emotional (and some who ccannot), and then there are some that can dictate music theory and jargon to you all day long but cant write a really really good song (and some who can).

but of course, this is only my opinion. LOL

T

NP: My Homemade Devin Townsend compilation cd,