Tuesday, January 28, 2025

MAJESTICA's OTHERWORDLY TRAIN STATION

Jan "Örkki" Yrlund of Darkgrove Design created the cover artwork of "Power Train," the new album of Swedish Power Metal act, Majestica.

Exclusively for And Justice For Art, the artist reveals that vocalist/guitarist Tommy Johansson "had searched some artworks that depict steam trains and as I had done some he liked, so he contacted me. We got along right away, and I felt this was exactly the kind of stuff I like to do. There had to be magic in it, fantasy, science fiction even. He had great ideas for details. All kind of things I actually like myself. And he had crazy ideas for some easter eggs too, not to mention the actual band members being featured too."

Yrlund started the design process "with some reference photos of old locomotives and once I found a nice angle that I had in my mind I started to build this fantasy town around it. I actually used some miniature train set props for inspiration, you know those old wild west train houses, stations etc. I also used some 3D environment for the perspective, shadows and lightning as it had to an evening scene"

The artist confesses that "this was actually a very challenging cover to make. And there were a lot of trials and errors. There were so many layers, sometimes even a single window or a rooftile was a layer on its own. Once my composition was ready, I started coloring and drawing with my drawing tablet, which took a while actually. I made everything to match. So, it’s a combination of 3D, fantasy photos, drawing and painting, digital art if you like. In the end I just color graded everything."

Majestica's "Power Train" is available through Nuclear Blast and can be pre-ordered at: https://majestica.bfan.link/powertrain-album.fpo

See more of Jan "Örkki" Yrlund's work at www.darkgrove.net

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