Original Cover Design
- Sleeve 029/100: Epica (2003)
- Studio Album by Kamelot
- Label: Noise Records / Sanctuary Records
- Genre: Power metal / Symphonic metal / Progressive metal
- Original Cover Artwork by: Derek Gores with Mathias Janke
After finishing “Month of Masters 21” and working out some inner drama, I’m back to my project #100albumsleeves 🎉
For the longest time in my life, I thought that setting high expectations for my art was the thing that was going to help me create GREAT art that I love, but the more art I create the more I realize that having [high] expectations is setting myself up for disappointment.
It goes like this: I get all excited ’cause I have this new idea and I can visualize it so vividly, so perfectly, looking its best. I’m going to love this so much because it is amazing. And then I start working on it… or so I say ’cause now I don’t feel READY: I gotta find the perfect references and read through a lot of info so I get the whatever right.
A lot of time and energy had already been invested in this “perfect” art piece that still doesn’t exist. Doubt creeps in, but somehow I start. The whole time feeling like crap because
- It’s not looking like I want.
- It’s taking way longer than I expected.
I procrastinate some and then some more, and then I beat myself up for not getting things done.
And after some time I get it: I’m putting too much weight on the final result. There’s no way I’m going to finish or enjoy or love this if I put strict terms & conditions around it. I’m avoiding the discomfort of disappointing myself (and others) and I’m afraid of making crap.
The good thing about realizing that I’m once again in the perfectionist loop is that I can now decide that “I’m OK with this being shit💩” and move on.
Album Cover Redesign by franzmori. This is fan art, no copyright infringement intended.
The castle in the background was made by photoshopping a photo of the Hohenzollern Castle by Sandra Ahn Mode on Unsplash.
And so I finish the illustration. This is the process story behind this album cover. I’m not cured of my perfectionism but at least this time around I didn’t beat myself up for beating myself up.
Did I like the final result? I think it looks good, but I’m not “satisfied”. I consider it to be a success though, as it conveys the idea I was going for.
The album Epica, along with its sequel The Black Halo (2005), is a rock opera inspired by the story of Goethe’s Faust. In my cover, I depicted the main characters: Ariel, Helena & Mephisto, with Mephisto’s castle in the background.
FUN FACT: the band Epica was named after this album.
The story takes place at an unknown time and place on Earth (Which I decided to be Europe in the 1830s).
😈Mephisto is an angel expelled from heaven, given the chance to return if he can claim the soul of God’s favorite man, Ariel.
👨Ariel is an alchemist and scholar researching the true meaning of life and why God created humans. He decides to leave his home country to search for answers and bids his farewell to everyone, including his lover Helena. Years pass as Ariel searches and believing that he will never find the answers he is looking for, he decides to commit suicide. But before Ariel has the chance, Mephisto arrives and proposes a deal: Helping Ariel in his search for the questions, and fulfill all his worldly desires; in return, Mephisto will claim Ariel’s soul when he dies.
👩Ariel is later found by Helena, who has been searching for him over the years since he left. Ariel and Helena sleep together, and a child is conceived, unbeknownst to both of them. Though he’s happy with Helena, Ariel decides to leave and continue his search for the truth. With the newfound power that Mephisto has provided him, he feels that the answers are within his grasp…
I don’t want to spoil the rest of the story as of now, but I was compelled to create both albums. So next I’ll be making The Black Halo around a similar concept to what I’ve done for Epica. I’ve decided to tackle it in a better mindset and I’m already excited about it (with low expectations lol).
Would you like your own Album Cover design?
I’m available for commissions!
Listen to the art! I’ll be adding a new album each week to this Spotify playlist HERE.
Go HERE to know more about my personal project and see the rest of the cover designs in this series.