Mattias Frisk
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Mattias Frisk is a Swedish artist, illustrator, and musician with a background in graphic design. His artistic journey began with a strong interest in heavy metal album art and pen-and-paper role-playing games.
Frisk's art soon evolved towards abstract and symbolic painting. After studying art history and visual communication at Linköping University, his work became increasingly conceptual while remaining firmly rooted in the visual arts.
As a part of the death metal scene, Frisk has designed T-shirts, logos, and album covers for both local and international bands.
I use a variety of mediums depending on the project: mixed media assemblages for installations, LEDs on paper, oil or acrylics on canvas or panel, and digital painting in Photoshop. However, painting and drawing by hand is my preferred method these days.
For Sorcery: Contested Realm, I use oil on panel, often starting with an underpainting in acrylics or oil. The underpainting allows me to complete the painting in greyscale, ensuring the composition works before adding color in layers of thin, transparent oil paint. This builds up the colors and shades, with final adjustments made using opaque paint.
This process is used in most of my paintings, including "Mortality," "Gnome Hollows," "Minor Explosion," and "Exorcism."
Gnome Hollows: Painting "Gnome Hollows" was a lot of fun because it closely resembles my non-commission work. I enjoy blending the visual rhetoric often found in children's books with an eerie presence.
Scourge Zombies: I love the mist and the expression in "Scourge Zombies." The blue-black oil paint is a fantastic color to work with, allowing me to paint in a blue-tinted greyscale using just two colors. I'm a fan of zombies in other artists' work, so including one in "Sorcery" was great. I'm also thrilled that it appears printed on the Alpha and Beta boxes!
Exorcism: This piece turned out better than I expected, and I appreciate its simplicity. Painting the demons and undead was particularly enjoyable as I let the brush move freely around the hand and crucifix.
Find more of Mattias's work @ https://mattiasfrisk.com/