ELIRAN KANTOR
ARTWORK ARTIST
Eliran Kantor is a thirty-year old Berlin-based artist and illustrator with roots in Israel. He has worked his way up and today he is one of the most respected artwork artists in the business. He is working closely with Testament and he has also worked with Sodom, Satan, Mekong Delta, Iced Earth, Master, Anacrusis and Evile and many more. This is the first time I'm interviewing someone that works behind the scenes. Well, Over to Eliran.
Eliran Kantor
How did you become a artwork artist?
I was always drawing and making pictures since I was a kid. Around high school many of my friends formed local metal bands, so all the early commissions came from that metal scene in Israel : Bishop of Hexen, Solitary, Dissonant, Abed, Eternal Gray, Tears of Israfel, Matricide etc - we all knew each other from going to the same gigs, clubs or through mutual friends.
Have you studied arts or are you self-taught?
Mainly self taught. I did take a biweekly junior art course at about age 12 for a year. They covered the very basics of perspective, composition and handling various mediums. You had to enroll into two different classes so I took animation as well, but couldn't be bothered to draw the same thing 24 times per second, so I worked with clay instead.
How do you get in contact with the bands?
They usually get in touch with me by email though my website, sometimes it would be the record company or management but mainly it's the bands. A decade ago when I was first getting my name out there it was mainly the other way around with me hitting up the labels and managers.
What styles and techniques do you use?
Many different mediums, mostly a combination of a few on the same piece. 'Mixed-media' would be a fitting category for lack of a more accurate one.
What are your inspirations?
The music, as an illustrator forming a visual to accompany a sonic piece I try and let that set the tone. Much time is spent talking to the band and getting the overall lyrical themes, so I can come up with my own interpretation of them with a fresh spin coming from my own personal viewpoint.
What artwork are you most proud of?
Either Sigh's 'In Somniphobia' or Testament's 'Dark Roots of Earth'. Great records too. Musically speaking my favorite record I've been on so far would be Kenn Nardi's 'Dancing with the Past'.
If you could chose any band to collaborate with, who would that be?
Mercyful Fate or Iron Maiden.
You have created the artwork for the last two Testament-albums. Do they contact you or do you send finished ideas to them or how does it work?
Our collaboration started out by chance. I was in touch with Maria Ferrero who runs a P.R company and managed many bands, we were talking about possibly working on the new Lamb of God record and she suggested Testament instead, as they were working on a new record and are looking for a right fit for the artwork.
She sent Eric Peterson my details, and he emailed me a pencil sketch he did which became the basis for 'The Formation of Damnation'.
It was a great drawing, I really didn't stray too far away from it for the actual cover as far as composition and characters are concerned.
For 'Dark Roots of Earth' we both developed the concept together. Eric came up with the idea of having the forest god somehow and using a cool color scheme, initially much greener then the bluish teal of the end results. I came up with the composition and having the forest god as a giant, with only his huge head coming out of the ground creating a contract with the small people in the foreground. Eric also suggested the swarm of worshipers, the faces in the clouds and lightning storm etc.
I've done about 90-something% of Testaments artwork, singles, stage design and merchandise for the last 8 years, excluding maybe a handful of tshirts. 
Testament - Dark Roots of Earth
You created the artwork for Sodom's In war and pieces?
Yes, the concept came from Tom Angelripper, he was very focused about what he wanted. He imagined their mascot, Knarrenheinz, all buried in a field while war is raging around him with crosses, tanks, planes and helicopters etc.
It was a very relaxed and easy process, with Tom being really open to everything I suggested like the new style I came up with for Knarrenheinz's mask, or having their logo sprayed on the tank and the album title on a torn flag.
Sodom - In War and Pieces
How would you describe your art?
If it's a piece commissioned for an album cover my main goal is to make an interesting, unique looking and exciting picture that also makes sense with the music. When I'm working on a personal piece for myself, I care mostly about getting what I see in my head. It can be symbolic, storytelling or abstract, it varies. I also find myself contributing sometimes to the album's lyrics, like a few lines in Communic's 'The Bottom Deep' or coming up with the album titles like in MindGrinder's 'Prop Agenda'.
How to you chose between all the bands that want you artwork? Is it important that you like their music as well or do you paint before you hear it?
With the growing demand came the privilege/necessity of becoming picky, because there's just not enough time for everything.
So these days the music comes first, for sure. Though it can be that I'll pass up a project with great music but an already settled visual concept that's not particularly interesting.
The most ideal situations are when the music is inspired / exciting / unique and the cover concept I'm asked to create needs to match it.
That's as far as commissions are concerned - another ideal situation is when I do a piece for myself beforehand with no music in mind, and the right band with the right record comes along and is interested in licensing it as a cover.
Satan - Life Sentence
What music do you listen to?
I listen to many types of music but I guess 90+% of my record collection is comprised of metal of all kinds, with the most of it on the spectrum ranging from Black Sabbath to Voivod.
As for recent music, of everything I've heard in 2014 I've most often revisited Devin Townsend's 'Sky Blue', Triptykon's 'Melana Chasmata', Prong's 'Ruining Lives', Menace's 'Impact Velocity' and above all Kenn Nardi's 'Dancing with the Past'. Regardless of my involvement in it that's now one of my all time favorite records.
Are you working on anything right now? What's your plans for the future?
I do this full time and have pre-booked time-slots covering months in advance, so I always have about 5-10 covers lined up.
I've just finished the new Hate Eternal and Dragonlord covers, the new Satan studio album is lined up for next month along with a few others that are not yet confirmed publicly, so I can't discuss these yet.
Any last words for our readers?
Thanks for having me! Maybe see you in Sweden sometime if the right opportunity arises to set up an exhibition over there.
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