Making of KREATOR's new cover artwork

Gatefold-Cover for "Dying Alive"
Here's how the Zombie-Apocalypse came to life:

After working on Kreator's 2012 release "Phantom Antichrist" I was asked by Singer/Guitarist Mille Petrozza to create the coverartwork for their upcoming 2013 Live DVD/BluRay "Dying alive".

So we met in February and discussed some rough ideas. Since we both are fans of the whole Zombie-Genre we quickly agreed on a post-apocalyptic setting with the band comin' at ya, according to the title as the Undead.

Here's a little "step by step" for everybody who's interested in the process of creating a "post apocalyptic zombie attack scene".

Several days after our meeting I came up with the first sketch and showed it to Mille.

His feedback was quite positive but he wanted the Zombies more Band-like, more threatening and with Guitars.
There was a group of extras in the background added, serving as additional zombies.

The car wrecks in the middle ground were removed because Mille wanted a more timeless look (not a '99 Honda Accord).

Finally the giant demon in the background got a "rotting-corpse-makeover".

The rough sketch of the demon and his "servants". Mainly linework and blocking out the skyline.
Every step of the painting was created in Photoshop using a WACOM Intuos4.

Adding some shades and value to the demon and putting some clouds into the sky.

Fantasy Horror characters are the most fun because the rendering doesn't need to stick too close to reality (like it'd be with a portrait of a person everybody knows).

And it's fun to add all the gore and broken bones...

From the very first meeting Mille and I agreed that the artwork should be as gory and gruesome as possible. Since KREATOR is an old school Thrash Metal Band the cover of this epic Live-Record should reflect the energy and aggression of the Live Set.

Putting some detail on the main character's faces.

The amount of detail made me spend night after night on all the rotten skin, skull and accessories.

But I knew that Nuclear Blast records will also release a Gatefold-vinyl and giant promo-posters, so it'll be worth the work.

As always I work in black and white for the main part. There has to be a lot of blood on a horror artwork though. So I began to add red to the demon to see how it'll turn out. I was satisfied with the result and it gave the illustration some great horror effects. On top of the bloody veins and wounds are some whites added to make the blood wet and give more depth to the surface.

Some blood on the band characters as well and going on with more details.

The hands in the foreground add some depth to the composition and serve as a slight hint to the audience of Kreator show.

A close up of the same image.

Now there's some color added. When possible I try to avoid any color of the object itself and stick with the colors that the light delivers on the scene. Coloring the jacket, the skin and the ground is something I don't like personally and most of the time it serves the atmosphere of the image if there are only two main colors (one warm and one cold tone).

The blacks are lightened a little bit to avoid a comicbook-style look.

The rest of the image is completed. All additional Zombies did get their individual looks, the skyline's amount of detail is ok this way and so it is on the ground. Some junk and stuff is lying around, so it makes a good stage for the apocalyptic scene.

The demon disappears in the skies above the city with a lot of clouds and smoke in front of the character. Using "sfumato" for objects in the background is giving the scene some extra depth.

Especially if something should come out realy gigantic. This effect is supported by the birds I have placed in front of his belly.

The sky gets a dramatic look with orange, red and yellow like hellfire or purgatory.

Deep red and fire-tones always works on Fantasy and Metal paintings. Using some cooler blue and grey desaturation here and there makes sure not to drown in a soup of the same tones.

The logo and title is added and everything's wrapped up.

After completing the cover artwork I have also created the booklet design, all sleeves, packaging and the impressive 48-page earbook. But that's another story... off to bed now, kids.