The piece - let's call it "Ire of the Erinyes" - is about three sisters who are the Greek version of the more famous Roman furies. They are Alecto ("unrelenting"), Megaera ("grudging") and Tisiphone ("avenging murder"). They represent the anger of the dead. As far as their appearance is concerned, they're supposed to be rather ugly, their heads are wreathed with serpents and the cray tears of blood. Oh yeah, they have black wings and carry torches. I'd like the painting to be majestic (hence the central composition), powerful, frightening and beautiful at the same time. It's a crepuscular, nightmarish vision. The scenery around them is the Tartarus. I'd like to suggest hell and nightmare with the colors rather than going over the top with the details in the background.
 

Although I'm mostly an oil painter (thanks to Frank!) this one is going to be digital. However, It will mostly look painted in traditional media because that's where my heart goes!

 

I was born in 1974 near Paris, France. I began drawing very early on, but I found painting quite frustrating: too dirty, awkward. Of course, the reason was that I was clumsy. But the feeling remained until much later.

            I think I became acquainted with the work of Frank Frazetta in the late 70′s, when Ballantine’s The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta was published in France. I remember coloring Frazetta’s pen and ink drawings with felt pens! Anyway, it was quite a revelation for me. I’d been a fan of dinosaurs since my kindergarten years, especially all of Zdnek Burian’s stuff. Now, I discovered fantasy art. There were guys before him, there will be guys after him, but Frazetta will always remain the greatest for me.

            I kind of stopped drawing when I was in my teens. It was probably a result of my beginning to play the guitar (at age 11). It was a bad idea, though, as my drawing skills stagnated (at best) when they should have skyrocketed. I was convinced I couldn’t draw anymore, that the thrill was gone.

            Then, when I was in high school I felt the urge to draw again. I started honing my skills with photorealistic portraits. I also copied Boris Vallejo’s pencil drawings (in particular, those in the first section of Mirage). But my second revelation came in '93, when Frazetta's Illustrations Arcanum was released. Now that I’m thinking about it, my ‘inspiration lapse’ lasted until he came back from his forced retirement.

            In ’97, I started painting. I suddenly felt confident enough to work with oil paints. I’ve never stopped from then on. Although I paint digitally as a boardgame illustrator, whenever I come back to oil, I remember there's nothing like it. Nothing beats the smell and feel of oil paint. Ire of the Erinyes is my humble tribute to Frank. It was done digitally, but I tried to emulate what I would have done with oils. I hope I've managed to capture a tiny fragment of Frank's spirit with it. And I hope you'll like it.    

            Arnaud Demaegd works as an in-house illustrator for Ystari Games. He's become a household name in the boardgame world over the years. He has two children, a cat, a PhD in Linguistics and teaches Phonetics at the University.