UH.com) Hello Ioannis, I hear there's an interesting story about how you came to be the artist for Uriah Heep's next album. Care to share the story?

Well Dave, let me first start by saying hello to you and the fans and thanks for the opportunity to talk to you.

Ioannis

I started to correspond with Mick Box in the fall I think of 2006. My good friend Jeb Wright who runs CLASSIC ROCK REVISITED made the introduction. I had just been interviewed by Tim Jones for UK’s RECORD COLLECTOR for the August 2005 issue #313 which you can see on my website. One of the questions he asked is “ you seem to have just about worked with all the music artists you idolized, anyone left in particular?’

My answer was immediate URIAH HEEP, I have a soft spot for those guys.

I am doing this interview late at night, earlier this afternoon I brought the finished cover package to FEDEX to ship to the label in the UK.

Simon the band’s manager and Mick have just signed off on it with a four word e-mail “JOB WELL DONE IOANNIS” that is probably the best honor you can get from your client. I got in my car, it’s a warm spring evening and put DEMONS AND WIZARDS on, I had not heard the album in a few years, CIRCLE OF HANDS came on and as the song builds to Mick’s slide guitar solo, Dave’s lyric AND TODAY IS ONLY YESTERDAY’S TOMORROW takes a whole new meaning for me as this was a long voyage indeed to get here.

The story goes way back to the fall of 1973, I was born in Athens Greece, in 1967 there was a military coup in Greece, my uncle Konstantinos was worried about my mom and her family and helped us emigrate to the US.
I and my brother George were just amazed when we arrived; MARVEL comics, TV, Animation and SCIFI films become our whole existence.

In i973 my parents started making plans to return (they never did) they sent me ahead to start High School there and I lived with my aunt and uncle.
The culture shock for me was big, and was the isolation, I had to start making friends all over again and adjust to the Greek lifestyle.

I was coming of age and Rock music was a great escape, the government controlled radio stations did not play much rock music, however pirate radio stations ran rampant with some wholly devoted to popular bands like DEEP PURPLE.

Uriah Heep Promotional Shot

That fall, T. REX, SLADE, DEEP PURPLE, YES, ELTON JOHN,
LED ZEPPELIN and of course URIAH HEEP were the top acts getting played. My first girlfriend Katerina was a huge Heep fan, and the only way I stood a chance of going out with her was if I listened to URIAH HEEP!

DEMONS AND WIZARDS had just been released there, EASY LIVING a major hit you could hear it blasting outside record shops, billiard parlors and discothèques. That Christmas the DEMONS AND WIZARDS LP was one of my gifts. I played it all day; sat there and stared at the cover forever as it all made sense to me. I did not know it was Roger Dean at the time, as the record label in Greece only printed half the sleeve! So you had the cover and the back of the vinyl was the inner left side of the gatefold! So I never saw half the credits or the whole painting or the whole band.

Anyway I remember a funny incident, one afternoon in geometry class I was bored out of my wits, the Greek professor was walking up and down the aisles spewing the days lesson. I started absent-mindedly drawing the cover of the album in pencil on my desk starting with the wizard.

In a half hour I had done the whole painting in pencil, as I was finishing I heard him stop right above me. “ What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
he said, that afternoon I had to stay after and wash all 40 desks, I think that’s what they meant when they said you have to suffer for your art,  ha ha ha.

Ok now we are in 1981 I have been getting commissions and doing artwork for local bands as I attend College, I run into this character named Mel Baister who told me he worked with Uriah Heep, (and for that matter in the months to come every major British act in the seventies) he showed me the live album with his credit to prove it!

One afternoon as I was showing him artwork for one of the act’s he managed the phone rang, he told me it was Ken Hensley and he said he would set it up so I can do their next cover. I went home floating on air, anyways it never came to be, Mel’s stories grew bigger by the day then he went to TEXAS and was never heard of again.

Fast forward 2005 and now I am talking to the brilliant Mick Box about their next album. I wonder if Katerina will read this, ha ha.

This time after 165 record covers to my name, give or take a few singles things worked out, although as SANCTUARY sank, incidentally one of my main clients in the US, I wasn’t so sure.

UH.com) I know that you are a Uriah Heep fan from way back, I'm wondering if any of the music they've done over the years has influenced you or your work in any way?

See all the above, seriously I always play music when I am working and yes the Heep past and present have been a soundtrack in the background as I paint. Plus I constantly run into musician’s who are fans and have been influenced by them from my good Greek compatriot Jim Matheos (Lead guitar player and main member of progressive metal act FATES WARNING) and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN’s lead singer among many others.

UH.com) Can you tell us ANYTHING about the new artwork that we can sink our teeth into? Where did you get the inspiration for the artwork on Heep's new album?

I combined these two questions so I can be more specific. When we started to discuss the art for the cover (me, Mick and Simon) I asked Mick which images in my website he saw that he liked and decided to go with me on the artwork (other than my credentials) and he could not remember.

So then he tossed around a few titles, (always another good start).
Simon brief was more direct, he wanted a more contemporary direct image and wanted to steer away from any Roger Dean type of artwork, particularly as this was not the band from the seventies I think and he did not want any connections with that past, Also he saw this as a fresh start for the act and a way to make them more relevant today. Incidentally his favourite cover is LOOK AT YOURSELF.

I understood that, however there is a more mystical side to URIAH HEEP
I felt than lets say their contemporaries like DEEP PURPLE (a long time client also incidentally), and felt this is one of the things that made them unique. You may even categorize URIAH HEEP at times as a prog-metal band.

Anyways WAKE THE SLEEPER was decided as the official title, and we agreed on one idea, I think it was Simon’s and then went from there.

Mick was keen on the idea when I spoke to him because I think he liked the mysticism of it and also told me that the band has built up a large following there.

So what does it all mean?? Well the way I saw it the listener can interpret it in so many ways. The title can mean the band literally coming back to life after its 10 year sabbatical from recording, it can be symbolic of far east countries emerging as world powers (CHINA, JAPAN, INDIA etc.)

Symbolized by the Buddha looking as though any minute it would come to life. (Sort of that sequence in that 60/s film by Ray Haryhausen, JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, where TALOS the metal giant woke up on the island.) It can also mean the Komodo dragon being woken up as it was sleeping behind the great statue and also a symbol of strength in Asian cultures.

I picked this particular Buddha because it had a very androgynous look to it although I believe it is a female goddess.

The backgrounds, temples, skies etc were all composed from various photos I took or collected. I intentionally wanted a very surreal look .

The final art is mixed media, Digital manipulation of images and acrylic painting on pearl paper.

I am a big fan of Hipgnosis and Storm Thorgensen as album cover designers. I grew up on their images in the 70’s. One thing that I loved is that they always approached a title of the album from a different angle and left interpretation to the viewer gently nudging them along, I always try for that, and hope it works. DEEP PURPLE ‘S ABANDON is a good example as is BLUE OYSTER CULTS CURSE OF THE HIDDEN MIRROR, then there are some disasters where no one got it, but that is a story I will leave for another day.

Ioannis's Office Surroundings

I showed the art to the band and management and everyone felt good about where we were headed with this, we tweaked it for a while as very good suggestions were made and finally in the summer of 2007 we were done as at the time we were looking for a August release date.

I am happy and relieved a bit that the fans were so enthusiastic about it as was the record company. However you have to understand as glamorous as this career may seem, the bottom line is that the person paying the tab (the band) is your client and that is all that you’re suppose to take care of as you’re simply a vendor taking care of a commercial need.

Coming up with something that goes beyond that, so both the critics and the fans love AND in time can stand for itself, as good artwork is a rarity and just fate I think. There were times I worked very hard on a piece at a great cost and it was a dud, and times when I did a cover that happened very quickly and it became a huge fan favourite, my painting for THE ALLMAN BROTHERS WHERE IT ALL BEGINS is an example of that.

Although as I get older and having done a few, I can get a sense of when I am in the ballpark.

UH.com) How did you start in your art? How did you get your start?

Well I am mostly self taught, I was drawing as far back as I could remember, I remember being six or seven and after we would come back from the movies or a walk in the national park in Athens or a parade etc, I would sit there and draw late into the night everything I had seen until my mother would make me go to bed. When we came to America I discovered comic books, when I was eleven me and my kid brother George decided to start our own comic book company, I drew on sheets of paper with markers and colored them with crayons we stapled the pages together and sold them to our friends on our block!

We had quite a operation going, hah ha, My parents brought me back from Greece when I was 15, I was really at that point heavy into comics and Rock music, and fantasy/science fiction art, I wanted to be a comic book artist I also bought a guitar as did my brother and even some keyboards and just fooled around.
I by now was experimenting with watercolor, gouache, inks, dyes etc.

I entered an art competition when I was a senior in High School and won
Scholarship to a University to study art, however by that summer I started doing artwork for local bands, (logos, flyers, t-shirt art etc.) But I still wasn’t sure if I was going to be a comic book artist or designer or an Architect, which is what my parents wanted.

My moment of clarity came that summer of 1976, my friend Bob who worked at the local record store walked up to me one day as I entered to see what the latest offerings were, I spent my whole paycheck every week on records, (I worked on the weekends at my uncle’s restaurant, and freelanced with the local acts and went to school) “Did you see this? “ he said “We just got it in, it’s the guy who does the covers for YES, Roger Dean its his new art book.” I was mesmerized I bought it ran home and read it cover to cover. It really connected with me, as Rogers’s early paintings were really coloured drawings, they looked like the coolest comic book art I had ever seen. Plus he worked with the bands I had become a fan off including my beloved URIAH HEEP.

I was able to break down the technique and very quickly pretty much
able to imitate the style using marbling, inks, airbrush etc. The key thing was I had found my calling, I WAS GOING TO BE A RECORD COVER ARTIST LIKE ROGER! You should have seen the expression on my parents face, I might have just as well told them I was going to be an astronaut and go to Mars.

By my senior year in College I had now gotten well known in the area did a couple of local bands covers and some artwork for some Rock radio stations. I also went to a lot of rock concerts and made a lot of friends, one afternoon BLACK SABBATH and BLUE OYSTER CULT were in town to play I was at the local radio station when they did the interview I showed Tony Iommi this painting I had done of the band playing to an audience of the characters of their songs. He loved it and purchased it, my first sale to an international band.

Roger Glover and Ioannis's brother George

I got backstage passes and great seats I was on cloud nine. Later that summer I met YES, Rick Wakeman was so impressed with my work that he sent me a letter about a few months later asking if I would do the cover for his next album (I have kept it to this day).

Neither commission came through as I learned how quickly rock artists can change their mind, or label politics can change. A lot of times commissions came from being at the right place at the right moment and oh yea some talent.

There were also meetings and ideas shown to JUDAS PRIEST, BOSTON, STARCASTLE, I was getting close but no cigar. Also at the time I still kept one eye at comic books especially HEAVY METAL, which in 1982 was the coolest comic book magazine around. My brother and I wrote a comic book and I did a number of finished pages and about a dozen paintings to sell the ideas first to HEAVY METAL or another comic book company, oh yea and I still tried to finish my degree in graphic arts.

My first big break came when I did the cover for a band that was signed to Epic records called ART IN AMERICA; it featured Steve Morse on guitar (KANSAS, DIXIE DREGS, DEEP PURPLE) and produced by EDDIE OFFORD (YES, ELP). It came out in 1983 and the cover got a lot of response, I also was commissioned to do art and animation (very basic) for their MTV video, actually I am in the VIDEO! Not my idea but the directors.
They had their 15 minutes of fame, Ironically the album was just re-released the video is up on YOUTUBE and Michael Och’s new book 1000 COVERS (best cover art of the last 4 decades) picked it as one of the best covers from the 80’s, success 24 years later! Hah ha.

By the mid 1980’s I was doing a lot of heavy metal covers, a lot of them were the paintings I had done for my comic book story! Then I got a gig
as the art director for a label on MCA and really got an education on design and also the opportunity to art direct some of my favorite photographers, artists, album designers, video directors etc.

By the early 1990s I was burned out and wanted out, my brother who had been working with a merchandising company suggested we just set up our own shop and do our own thing, Being Greek we were still the only two guys in the family who did not go into the restaurant business, ha ha.

That was the beginning of VIVID IMAGES DESIGN and it’s been a roller coaster ride from there, somehow we also found time to get married start families and pursue our creative interests to boot. So here we are today.

UH.com) You paint with conventional tools as well as computer based. Which do you prefer and why?

It’s not as much a preference as what is needed to get the job done.
As the owner of the agency that is my first job, as the creative element
also I pick the method that works for the band’s image.

The cover can be an illustration, photo. digital piece of art whatever is required that the marketing calls for, I lost my innocence about the music industry way back in those idyllic seventies. Marketing and branding is a big deal in today’s times. Show me the band and I can tell you from personal experience the strategy behind them, now if it was successful is another story and of course all is for nothing if the music is weak.
But when it all clicks it is huge, Derek’s work with IRON MAIDEN, Storm’s work for PINK FLOYD, Hugh Syme’s for RUSH and of course Roger’s with YES and ASIA.

But to get back to your main point as an artist I like basic painting as much and I think we are heading back to that as hand crafted art is being more sought after. In the end though its just another tool (DIGITAL ART) I mean its what it takes to get it done, I remember in the seventies Airbrush art was all the rage, however too many artists got caught up in the technique If someone looks at the piece and says “Great airbrush piece” you failed, When you look at Roger’s art you say great painting! not great airbrush.
Same in Digital or whatever, you should see the art not the technique.

By the way you may be surprised to know that WAKE THE SLEEPER is artwork, it’s a technique that I have been working towards. You start digitally take it a certain level then out put the piece on board and then work on it with paint. Thus an actual painting exists, you then rescan it and that becomes the cover. So it’s a mixed media piece a hybrid of digital and conventional painting, and this is what gives it its weirdness.

The actual cover art measures about 24 x 24 inches.

UH.com) Have you heard any of the new releases from the album, and did the music affect what the artwork will be like?

Mick kept promising me he was going to send me some, but never got around to it, I played my URIAH HEEP collection as I worked, and unless they had decided to go Techno I thought we would be ok.

UH.com) Where are you located?

I live on the coast of New England about ten minutes from NEW HAVEN (where YALE UNIVERSITY is located) in Connecticut, and about two hours from New York City. I share the home with my wife Lisa, my teenage daughter Maria who has posed many times for my cover art since she was two years old, and a parakeet named Philip.

My offices are about a half-hour away in a neighboring town where both me and my brother George who is a partner in VIVID IMAGES CREATIVE DESIGN and DANGEROUS AGE GRAPHICS work.

UH.com) Did you have any professional training in art? College? Was or is any particular artist a marked influence on you or your work?

Like I mentioned earlier mostly self-taught, I bought materials and experimented and I have tons of books through the years from fine artists to my idols in both art, design etc. I learned a lot about theory and design in college although it does not train you how to run a business and that is a massive learning curve in its self. I was lucky that my brother has a good head for that always did and is very good at bouncing ideas off.

My influences in art were my comic book artists and fantasy artists,
Neal Adams, Barry Windsor Smith, Rick Griffin, Hildenbrandts, Giger,
Jack Kirby, Rodney Mathews, Michael Whelan, Dali, Chris Achileos, Frazzeta, Rafael, Maxfield Parish, Disney, Chris Foss, Rich Corben and of course Roger Dean.

In album design Saville, Storm Thorgensen, Dean, Hipgnosis, Creem,
Bill Smith, there are so many.

UH.com) What kinds of music do you prefer?

Oh God it would have to be by genre,

In hard rock/rock, URIAH HEEP, JUDAS PRIEST (early albums) BLACK SABBATH, DEEP PURPLE, LED ZEPPELIN, THIN LIZZY, RAINBOW, UFO, METALLICA, SLAYER, NAZARETH, IRON MAIDEN, QUEEN (early albums) AC DC, THE CULT, BLUE OYSTER CULT, BE BOP DELUXE, TREX, BOWIE, SLADE, THE TUBES, MINISTRY, TEA PARTY, RUSH, THE WHO, RADIOHEAD, MUSE, THE POLICE, MOBY, FLAMING LIPS etc..

Where Ioannis Creates

In prog rock. YES, GENESIS, PINK FLOYD, GENTLE GIANT, ELP, PORCUPINE TREE, KING CRIMSON, TREY GUNN, CGT, CAMEL. MARILLION. DAVID SYLVIAN, AIR, STEVE HACKET. UK, BRUFFORD, ALAN HOLDSWORTH, PETER GABRIEL, KATE BUSH, BLACKFIELD, RPWL FATES WARNING, BRANDX, JADIS, etc.. Jazz/ fussion, JEAN LUC PONTY, RETURN TO FOREVER, WEATHER REPORT, JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, AND ZAPPA give or take 20 bands.

UH.com)What kinds of music do you prefer when you’re working?

Whatever the genre happens to be, but lately a lot of electronic, mostly AIR, FSOL, TANGERINE DREAM, VANGELS and PORCUPINE TREE.

UH.com) I'm sure people are wondering....
Ioannis - your name or your business name?

My full name is IOANNIS NIKOLAOS VASILOPOULOS, that was not going to work (ha ha).

So when I was 18, I got the idea of signing only my first name IOANNIS from my fellow countryman and favourite electronic musician VANGELIS full name VANGELIS ODYSEAS PAPATHANASIOU.

The other option was to go with the Greek slang word for IOANNIS, which is YANNI, Thank God I didn’t go with that Idea!

UH.com)  *lol* 
Have people remarked that your art is similar to any other artists in the mainstream today?

In my illustration work the Roger Dean influence is there, in my design work Storm’s influence is there. Also as I was doing covers and learning my craft in the early 80’s Whatever artist I was discovering you could see the influence like when I did prog rock band FATES WARNING cover Specter Within I was heavy into Giger.

I still feel I have so much to explore, as an artist and designer, yet I feel I am getting close to my own vision, in some interviews as of late I have read where the critic mentioned the art similar to IOANNIS style so I think I am close.

The interesting thing though is that because of the variety of my work I am different things to different fans. To the BIOHAZARD, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, FATES WARNING, QUIET RIOT, SEPULTURA, OVERKILL, UFO etc, fans I am a Heavy Metal artist.

To the KING CRIMSON, DREAM THEATER, CGT, TREY GUNN, FLOWERKINGS, SAGA etc. fans I am a prog rock artist.

To the ALLMAN BROTHERS, PARTICLE, BOB WEIR, DEREK TRUCKS etc. fans I am a Jam Band artist

To STYX, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, BLUE OYSTER CULT, URIAH HEEP, DEEP PURPLE, etc. I am a classic rock artist, don’t get me started on the jazz guys!

UH.com) OK I WON'T !!!  Your Website is titled Classic Rock Art - do you produce for any other medium, IE: Video Graphics, posters, one off paintings by request, etc?

There are two companies as I mentioned earlier, the first one is VIVID IMAGES DESIGN soon to become VIVID IMAGES CREATIVE. It was set up at first to serve Music Artists, we are able to do complete artwork, branding and marketing. What that includes is Logos; full Merchandise design (tour books, t-shirts, caps etc.) Stage graphics and tour graphics (passes, laminates, etc.) videos, photography and complete web and online viral campaigns and oh yea the record cover! Total comprehensive creative for the artist.

Since the late 90’s we have branched out to include Movie Posters, DVD artwork and menu design, Corporate ID, Radio station logos and, Record company campaigns, marketing, TV and Radio shows, pod casts etc.

We just about can handle anything although 99% of the time our clients are entertainment based because of our specialty on that.

The funny thing that has occurred is that since Rock has become integrated in the fabric of society because of the baby boomers, it is used to sell you everything from cars to hamburgers, The ad agencies seek out studios like us because we understand this audience and it can be very lucrative.

DANGEROUS AGE was launched in 2004 as the demand from fans who liked my work grew, its really my art site and a staff runs it, it sets up Exhibits, Merchandise Deals, Convention appearances, produces limited edition prints and is responsible for the sale of my paintings to collectors.

The Classic Rock moniquer is their idea as it’s a good positioning statement since they noticed the amount of Classic Rock acts that hire me.

UH.com) Do you mainly produce album cover designs?

The answers above pretty much cover this, although in my heart I guess I would be content with life if I only did that. This question presents also an opportunity to talk about something that is currently happening, basically the bemoaning that Album Cover art is something that is dying/dead or will soon be gone.

I politely disagree. In the mid 80’s the same crowd declared cover art dead because of the CD. Wrong although the size of the canvas changed, it used to be that as a cover artist you did a photo or painting and that was pretty much it, basically all that mattered was the front cover. The back cover was usually a photo and some credits, that was it. There were some magnificent exceptions however the bottom line was that most acts could not afford by the 80’s gatefold sleeves or deluxe packaging.

The CD forced the cover designer to think in 3D, about the complete package and how it interacted with the artist. All types of packaging emerged, DIGIPAKS, BOXSETS, METAL PACKAGES you name it and it was a creative and financial boon to the designer and the fan. It was just not about a cover anymore.

As we move into the millennium things are not going to be static anymore, artwork will be downloadable and interactive, with creative carried through to Live appearances and Film, it’s a very exciting time.

A new generation of artists like RADIOHEAD is showing the way as also a new generation of designers. In the end music artists still need to collaborate with other artists to create the visual compliment of their music to fans, they still need to be seen as ROCK STARS.

UH.com) Who have you produced work for?

God you sure you have the space for this, well lets just keep it to music acts and I will edit those.

SAGA, KING CRIMSON, DEEP PURPLE, ALLMAN BROTHERS, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, STYX, ROLLING STONES, MOUNTAIN, DREAM THEATER, QUIET RIOT, WARANT, SLAUGHTER, THE TUBES, BON JOVI, EXTREME, TRIXTER, VOIVOD, THE FIXX, OVERKILL, SEPULTURA, SKID ROW, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, BIOHAZARD, EDDIE MONEY, BANG TANGO, HEAVEN, WARLORD, LIEGE LORD, ONWARD, BOB CATLEY, TRW, SURVIVOR, FLOWERKINGS, TREY GUNN, CALIFORNIA GUITAR TRIO, VHS OR BETA, CYNDI LAUPER, JEAN LUC PONTY, OVERKILL, UFO, NAZARETH, FOGHAT, BLUE OYSTER CULT, SOUL MOTOR, SOULS AT ZERO, HALLOWS EVE… I think my brain just went blank I know I am forgetting some clients who are going to be pissed. Hell its about 25 years!

UH.com) Favorite band(s) ?

Well if you’re asking about my clients I can’t answer it because I am trying to be diplomatic. Currently who I am listening to is FSOL, PORCUPINE TREE, JARRE, VANGELIS (Bladerunner soundtrack) RADIOHEAD, and DEEP PURPLE, RUSH. And URIAH HEEP if Mick can send me the album! Ha ha

UH.com) Ha ha !!   Have you met Uriah Heep?

Not yet although Mick and I have agreed to go to the Greek section in London this summer and go restaurant hopping (as opposed to bar hopping when we were young!) actually I think I may go to one of the concerts, and there may be some promotional things that may happen.
Also if New York is in his or their plans I promised to show him around a bit.

UH.com) How did Uriah Heep relate to you what they are looking for in the art for the new release?

Mick would talk to the rest of the band as I bounced ideas off him (Cover art, package design, photos to use, new logos, etc.) and come back to me with answers, also Simon was very involved in the images chosen and the ideas presented, he has been doing this a long time and his opinion was very valuable.

UH.com) Did you speak with them often?

Mostly Mick sometimes 4-5 times a day via e-mail and Simon, and a couple of times on the phone. Gotta love the Internet!

UH.com) IS there anything you'd like to say to the fans that are waiting for this release and its artwork?

Even though I personally have not heard the music the buzz going around is that this is a very strong body of work and that it could go down as a classic, which I am so happy to be a part of.
As for the art even with the direction and conversations after the cover Mick and Simon trusted me to run with it, as did the producer Mike Paxman, it was a pleasure to do and very little was changed or edited when I showed them the final drafts. My approach was as a URIAH HEEP fan again to create something that felt personal and meant something more than on a commercial level to their fans.

I guess time will tell if I succeeded or failed, as for Mick, the band, the label and the management they felt they got their money’s worth and that’s all I can really do.

UH.com)...and the URL of your website?

WWW.VIVIDIMAGESDESIGN.COM 

WWW.DANGEROUSAGE.COM

UH.com) Dangerous Age and Vivid Images design are great websites. Did you do these yourself? Do you or does your company do web design and production?

I did the creative, my brother George who is a web and marketing genius set it up and the rest finished by the staff, Online Design (websites, online electronic press kits, e-cards etc) are the fastest growing segment of our company today.
We are about to completely overhaul both VIVID and DA with more interactive and targeted websites.

UH.com) What are you working on these days and what are you planning to do in the future with VIVID IMAGES, DANGEROUS AGE and yourself personally as it pertains to your work?

VIVID IMAGES as I mentioned is being re launched in the next 60 days as VIVID IMAGES CREATIVE, what is going to happen is a number of close friends and creatives around the world will be affiliated with us to work as a collective (example rock photographer extraordinaire MICK ROCK) the internet is making all this possible,

What will happen is that we can offer media companies world wide complete creative including soundtrack music (some of my music clients will join) thus we can do commercials, environmental graphics, massive campaigns, and oh yes those damn record covers!

DANGEROUS AGE is also being re launched, several exhibits are being planned in EUROPE and JAPAN possibly AUSTRALIA, and a clothing line is in the works.

Also my first book with famous metal writer MARTIN POPOFF will be coming out next year titled PAINT IT BLACK
THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY OF HEAVY METAL COVER ART.

It’s something I have had in the works for a while.
A video game with rock music, about 4 new paintings, a series of new limited edition prints

And saving the best for last something very special in conjunction with URIAH HEEP and management that we are going to announce very soon.

I think after all that I am going to go in hiding for a month!

Dave thank you and the fans of your site for this wonderful opportunity
to talk to you, I know you been after me for sometime to do this, and I think this is the most comprehensive interview I have done yet. I hope it was entertaining and interesting for you, and didn’t bore you to tears! Ha ha

Cheers

IOANNIS

And thank you Ioannis !