Eddie The Head - Other Artists

Other Artists

From 1980 onwards, the band's Eddie artwork was provided exclusively by Derek Riggs until 1992, when the band decided to accept contributions from other artists, with Smallwood explaining that they "wanted to upgrade Eddie for the '90s. We wanted to take him from this sort of comic-book horror creature and turn him into something a bit more straightforward so that he became even more threatening." Since then, Riggs has contributed much less to the band's artwork, creating part of one studio album, one single and two compilation covers, while the band have employed a number of different artists:

• Melvyn Grant first drew Eddie for the Fear of the Dark sleeve, the first time anyone other than Riggs had designed a cover for Iron Maiden in which Eddie was pictured. Grant also worked on the Virtual XI, Death on the Road, "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg", The Final Frontier and From Fear to Eternity covers.

• Mark Wilkinson depicted Eddie as a bat for the poster of their 1992 Monsters of Rock appearance, which was later used for the cover of the Live at Donington remaster. Wilkinson has also contributed to "The Wicker Man" and "Out of the Silent Planet" singles, as well as the Best of the 'B' Sides album.

• Hugh Syme, noted for both his album cover work and guest musician appearances for the Canadian progressive rock band Rush, provided the artwork for The X Factor, the band's first digitally illustrated cover.

• Tom Adams provided the artwork to Edward the Great, showing Eddie as a King on a throne.

• Although not listed on the record's release, the From Fear to Eternity album sleeve credits David Patchett with creating the Dance of Death cover. The artwork was negatively received, with Sputnikmusic deeming it "terrible."

• Tim Bradstreet, best known for his contributions to The Punisher comics, created the cover of A Matter of Life and Death.

• Anthony Dry created the "El Dorado" and "The Final Frontier" radio promo covers, featuring Melvyn Grant's The Final Frontier Eddie in a comic book cover style.