have you guys already talked about this? I saw the new iron maiden's cover art, and it's horrendously bad... it was obviously done in poser, the victoria models are easy to pick up, but they're posed like hell... people who don't know about poser may think the disfigured elbows and shoulders are intentional, but you can tell that those were problems of posing models without the "use limits" option... i might be wrong, but that cover DOES look like something done in poser. Max

oh it's poser all right we dicussed this in the poser news group a while back, the 'artist'(and I use teh term lightly) sucks.

Oh, yes, it's been discussed, at some length. And it was indeed done with Poser figures. The wolf is a dead giveaway.

Actually, I wouldn't take it if it was a "giveaway", dead or alive! It is one of the most truly awfully incompetantly assembled images I've ever seen commercially. One would think that a major old-time rock group would have a budget for cover art. I confess to having bought a couple of albums because of the neat cover art... discovered Blue Oyster Cult that way... but this Iron Maiden cover is so repellant that putting it in a plain brown wrapper is too kind a treatment. Carolly

Okay I'm dying here!! I've hunted and hunted and found one picture, small thumbnail actually, didn't see a vicky only eddie and wolves. Does anyone have a link??? I really would like to see this!

Attached Link: http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=0aca2ed545dd840eb8f98a4b9cd3f5b9&threadid=78713&perpage=15&p

oops first link turned out to be to the cg forum

I have to agree with Carolly it's bl**dy awful. What happened was the designer was using poser to previsualise what the album cover would like like when finished, but he/they made the mistake of showing it to the band who decided they liked it as it was. And the rest as they say is history :) ps. It may not be a surprise to anyone but the designer refused to take credit for the cover at all.

Yeap we've discussed it before alright but what c1rcle has said I wasn't aware of. It's a great idea of a cover - the image I mean, had it been done properly it would have been an awesome cover for what is truely a great album - don't let the artwork put you off if your thinking about buying the album The one saving grace about the cover that I love is Eddie himself - he's been done really well, I'd love to be able to get something similar so that I could do one or two Maiden inspired images myself. I guess there is a moral to the tale of the album cover - if you're going to show a band some concpetual artwork for an album cover, make sure i'ts done well in case they like it immediatly Roll on the 8th Dec is all I say :oD

O-M-G I hadn't seen this. Ok that is just truly BAD. And what gets me is that the cover background was quite obviously painted, as was the reaper. So why not paint ALL of it? Why get someone to do THAT to it? Terrible. Just terrible. Gimme back Eddie. (I saw Eddie once in his box. WAAAAY back somewhere around the mid-Jurassic period (Or thereabouts) in Hannover. Now that was fun, he was HUGE!)

there was already a thread abotu this this sumer :) and yes, though i am a huge and anient fan of the rock band (and relistening all the albums right this week), no matter how i like their music, just laughed at the cover, in a poser point o view... would have better had the "cover" concept drawn by hand, withotyu using (badly) a 3d software because the idea itself of the scene is rather nice, but god, shiny mannekins in grotesque poses with joint bugs as i never saw since poser 3 !

The moral of this story is something any decent photographer or artist usually learns the hard way. NEVER show the client ANYTHING but the finished product. Showing them half-assed intermediate work is a sure-fire way to guarantee total disaster. mac

Yeah, dreadful cover, and they're one of my favorite bands. A shame really. I was very dissapointed when I saw that was the final artwork since their covers are usually very good. As stated, Eddie looks good, but the other characters are rubbish, defualt Poser 4 figures without textures. Sigh. I'm ashamed they actually chose this (I REALLY hope someone else told them they had to, but then I'd be saddened that they caved in...ugh, no win situation here). On a side note, someone, I forget who, did the "Piece of Mind" album cover in Poser some time back. Looked very good.

The dog and baby (textureless naturally) are what really put the icing on the cake ... arrghh. In defense of the artist, if indeed this was just conceptual, you HAVE to show them concept work. You can't just do the entire project and present a finished product. You'll waste far more time than it's worth. The moral really is, never give them hi-res proofs until the final work. Which makes me think the line about "being just a concept" is a bunch of bunk. Why would the artist provide camera-ready proofs of the concept to the band/publisher??? -Tim

Stupidity? Not knowing better?

Who says the artist gave camera-ready proofs? Perhaps he just showed the concept art, the band (for whatever utterly bizarre reasons of their own) liked it and insisted that he give them the concept work as finished. Assuming he couldn't talk them out of it, the artist didn't have a lot of choices. First option: Refuse outright and lose all time/money on the project. Second option: Take the money, give the hi-resolution art (of the concept images), and just refuse to let anyone know you did it. I'd take the second option. My time is worth more than that, and so long as I'm not going to be associated with a horror like that, well, take the money and run, I say. You can't give clients good taste! ;-) bonni

good point .... I suppose that scenario IS possible.

You know if the artist really did just show a work in progress and the band wanted it as is. Then the bad taste is their own fault lol. But if that is the case I have to feel kind of bad for the artist, especially if they remain nameless, can you imagine the publicity they would have gotten, could get? You know what I mean?!

Holy sh*t! Apparently I have a future as an album cover designer. Gizza job. I can do that! ~lmao~