My original plan for this project was to create the equivalent of an illustrated book by weaving together the lyrics of the story with sketches and art similar to the great illustrated books from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.My love for these types of illustrations was shown with the cover of my first release, "The Stranger", in which I used some carefully selected pictures from the work of Gustave Dore (1832-1883) to represent the story of the title track.
While writing for the new CD, I was eager to get an artist to provide some original illustrations for the story. I was initially lucky when the husband of a family member said he could do it, and the black and white sketches that I had seen from him in the past were excellent and exactly what I was looking for.
After putting together some ideas, he quickly came up with some excellent initial sketches that really excited me. The idea we had for the cover was especially striking, featuring a Viking ship floating past icebergs in some distant northern sea.
We were off to a great start, and after a month or so, he had already put together more sketches for specific songs.
Things seemed to going alright, and we had discussed taking some of his test sketches and redoing them in proper form. Then... I lost contact with him.
Unknown to me, a domestic situation had arisen, and the couple had separated. For six months when I thought he was working on the pictures, nothing had been done. The original deadline (although fairly open) for getting my CD into the record company at the time was getting closer, and all I had were a few good sketches, a few test sketches, and that was all. We hadn't even got as far as designing the layout and the lyrics with the illustrations.
I decided to forge ahead on my own and design the layout with what I had. The results were not that great, as I'm not terribly adept with graphics and designing. The record company took a look and were not happy with it. And neither was I.
Feeling at a dead end, and not having much money to pay for a new design, I made a few inquiries with some other bands, and managed to get in contact with Paul McCarroll of Unhinged Art from Ireland. He had done work for Primordial's "The Gathering Wilderness", Mourning Beloveth, and other well known bands.
After hearing my dilemma, Paul and I decided it might be best to go back to the original inspiration of "The Stranger", to use more of the work by Gustave Dore. By putting together a collection of decent illustrations and having Paul do the basic layout, it was the best I could do in a bind, without having to go through a long period of original design (while of course saving a bit of money too). Paul came up with a fantastic concept for the layout, which required little if any changes from my part. The CD booklet would look like an actual book with an old parchment paper background. I went through some of the books I owned that were illustrated by Dore, and picked out several illustrations which I thought went well with the story.
Now at this point, I'm sure there are some purists out there who have seen the illustrations I chose and say, "What the heck do these pictures have to do with the Vikings? These aren't true Viking ships etc.."
All I can say is that while the "Sailing The Seas Of Fate" story itself is based specifically on the Vikings and their time period, the overreaching themes of a quest, of sailing to unknown lands, of the search for a Grail or other mysterious object, are scattered throughout similar myths, stories, and artwork throughout our cultural traditions. In Greek myth, we have the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts searching for the Golden Fleece. "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" by Edgar Allan Poe, where the protaganist sails to various locales on a wild ride to Antartica amongst storms and visits to the"Hollow Earth". Poe's only novel was of great influence to later writers such as Jules Verne (who wrote a sequel to Pym in "The Sphinx Of The Ice Fields"), H.P. Lovecraft with his Antarctic nightmare "At The Mountains Of Madness", and even Moby Dick.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" takes a sea faring crew through a variety of adventures, also somehow ending up in Antartica. It was Gustave Dore's illustrations for "The Mariner" that really inspired the layout for "Sailing The Seas Of Fate", featuring numerous pictures of the doomed ship floating through icy waters.
So, when it was all said and done, I think the layout turned out fantasic, and Paul did such a great job on short notice. It wasn't exactly how I originally envisioned my project, but I think it still complements the music and lyrics perfectly.
I'm quite sure the next CD I'm working on will finally have some original artwork, and I hope it continues the SIG:AR:TYR tradition of complementing the music and the lyrics to create the the complete atmosphere that was envisioned.
— Daemonskald, 36th Winter
