Melvyn Grant
Encyclopedia
Melvyn Grant is a universal artist
and illustrator
. Trained traditionally he originally worked with oil paints, but now has switched to creating most of his work digitally. Although he now paints digitally, his work is still produced by hand, brush stroke by brush stroke, and still takes time and looks identical to his oil painting. Currently, Mel lives and works on the coast in the Southeast of England
, although the bulk of his work is commissioned internationally. He is well-known for his Fantasy
work, mostly for books, with a versatility ranging from cute children's artwork to dark and realistic adult images. He is also known for being one of the artists associated with Iron Maiden
's mascot
Eddie
. He designed the album covers for Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark, Virtual XI
, Death on the Road
, and their latest album The Final Frontier
, as well as the covers for the singles "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
" and "El Dorado
", making him the only artist other than Derek Riggs
to have been used to draw Eddie on more than one Iron Maiden album.
In addition to his work on album covers, Melvyn Grant has produced illustrations for many books, including the Fighting Fantasy
gamebooks FF 3: Deathtrap Dungeon, FF9: Shamutanti Hills, FF 11: Khare Cityport of Traps, and FF13: The Seven Serpents, Terry Pratchett
's Where's My Cow?
, The Demonata
series by Darren Shan
and The Bartimaeus Trilogy (USA) by Jonathan Stroud
.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
. Trained traditionally he originally worked with oil paints, but now has switched to creating most of his work digitally. Although he now paints digitally, his work is still produced by hand, brush stroke by brush stroke, and still takes time and looks identical to his oil painting. Currently, Mel lives and works on the coast in the Southeast of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, although the bulk of his work is commissioned internationally. He is well-known for his Fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
work, mostly for books, with a versatility ranging from cute children's artwork to dark and realistic adult images. He is also known for being one of the artists associated with Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
's mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
Eddie
Eddie the Head
Eddie, also known as Eddie The Head, is the mascot for the British heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. He is a perennial fixture of the group's artwork, appearing in all of their record covers and in their merchandise, which includes t-shirts, posters and action figures...
. He designed the album covers for Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark, Virtual XI
Virtual XI
Virtual XI was met with mixed reviews from critics. Allmusic commented that "on the surface, there's nothing terribly wrong with the record, as it delivers all the crunching riffs and demonic horror of their best records. The problem is that there's nothing memorable about the hooks, riffs, or...
, Death on the Road
Death on the Road
Death on the Road is a live CD, LP, and DVD released by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden on 30 August 2005 and on 6 February 2006...
, and their latest album The Final Frontier
The Final Frontier
The Final Frontier is a 1986 album by the heavy metal band Keel. It was the band's second album to be produced by KISS bassist Gene Simmons. Videos were filmed for the tracks "Because the Night" and "Tears of Fire."...
, as well as the covers for the singles "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
"The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" is a song by Iron Maiden from their 14th studio album, A Matter of Life and Death. The song is the leading single from the album, released on 14 August 2006....
" and "El Dorado
El Dorado (song)
"El Dorado" is the second track from British heavy metal band Iron Maiden's album The Final Frontier. The song is the band's thirty-sixth single, and the only one from the album. It was made available as a free download on the band's official site at 00:01 on 8 June 2010 , one day before the...
", making him the only artist other than Derek Riggs
Derek Riggs
Derek Riggs is a contemporary British artist best known for creating the heavy metal music band Iron Maiden's mascot, "Eddie the Head".-Career:...
to have been used to draw Eddie on more than one Iron Maiden album.
In addition to his work on album covers, Melvyn Grant has produced illustrations for many books, including the Fighting Fantasy
Fighting Fantasy
Fighting Fantasy is a series of single-player fantasy roleplay gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volumes in the series were published by Puffin in 1982, with the rights to the franchise eventually being purchased by Wizard Books in 2002...
gamebooks FF 3: Deathtrap Dungeon, FF9: Shamutanti Hills, FF 11: Khare Cityport of Traps, and FF13: The Seven Serpents, Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's Where's My Cow?
Where's My Cow?
Where's My Cow? is a picture book written by Terry Pratchett and illustrated by Melvyn Grant. It is based on a book that features in Pratchett's Discworld novel Thud!, in which Samuel Vimes reads it to his son....
, The Demonata
The Demonata
The Demonata is a series of books by best selling author Darren Shan. It deals with the world of demons . The series is told by three different protagonists: Grubbs Grady, Kernel Fleck, and Bec MacConn, the latter of which is the first female protagonist in a Darren Shan book...
series by Darren Shan
Darren Shan
Darren O'Shaughnessy , who commonly writes under the pen name Darren Shan, is an Irish author. Darren Shan is also the main character in Shan's The Saga of Darren Shan young-adult fiction series. He also wrote The Demonata series as well as the stand-alone books, Koyasan and The Thin Executioner...
and The Bartimaeus Trilogy (USA) by Jonathan Stroud
Jonathan Stroud
Jonathan Anthony Stroud is an author of fantasy books, mainly for children and young adults.-Biography:Born in 1970 in Bedford, England, Stroud began to write stories at a very young age. He grew up in St Albans where he enjoyed reading books, drawing pictures, and writing stories...
.