Hellgate | Graphite Drawing

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Image Courtesy of SPIRIDON | Tributes: HR Giger (interior)

“My paintings seem to make the strongest impression on people who are, well…who are crazy.”

-H.R. Giger

With the year coming to an end, as well as the Tributes: HR Giger Kickstarter campaign, I thought I’d share my drawing that will be included in the art book. It’s one of my favourite pieces to date, and I’ve been waiting to share the full version with you all.

Hellgate, graphite on paper & paintshop pro, 21.5×30.5cm, 2023.

Hellgate, WIP

When tasked to create a piece that would pay homage to a very unique body of work that is Giger’s, I was left clueless on where to start for days. It wasn’t going to be anything Alien-esque, but I did want to revisit some of his paintings like Bombs II (1983) or Katarakt (2004) ─ and one my favourites, the Bar installation from the HR Giger Museum. Below are a look at some rough thumbnail sketches that were used to draft an idea of how I wanted the composition to look; the shapes & negative space. Soon I had the beginnings of what looked like a gate, and the idea to introduce some Norse-Pagan themes that would coincide with my body of work as well. The ‘Blood-Eagle’ ritual came to mind when incorporating the male figure in the center, and from there shaping the figure with some ‘Giger’ elements that would work for this project; flesh & bones, as well as other ‘adornments’ if you will.

Hellgate, sketchbook thumbnails ─ eliminating ones that either looked too busy or not interesting.

Linework & Drawing

Like always, I start with my line-work drawing on tracing paper before transferring the base drawing onto my paper (usually Strathmore’s Bristol in Smooth or Vellum surfaces). For graphite I rotated between 2H/3H pencil all the way up to a 7B, using my blending stumps in between layers. This time I wanted to experiment with some digital edits ─ nothing too complicated, but seeing how mirroring for the side panels would work with my photo editing software. Although successful, I don’t see myself using this technique again unless I absolutely need to. Editing anything digital without a tablet is a nightmare (but that’s a me problem, that has yet to be amended), but more importantly I just didn’t enjoy not completing the drawing to full; taking on the challenge of learning how to mirror a complex design the traditional route. It’s something that’ll unfortunately be on the back on my mind whenever I look at this piece, in what was an otherwise fun & exciting project.

Once again, thank you to everyone who supported us with the Kickstarter campaign. The Tributes: HR Giger art book is scheduled for release for backers December 2026. You can keep up to date through Éditions Caurette & all of Spiridon’s art book news & releases. Happy New Year, and see you all in 2026!

Tributes | HR GIGER

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I’m excited to announce that I had the opportunity to contribute to yet another amazing project. From SPIRIDON and Éditions Caurette ─ in collaboration with the H.R. Giger Estate, comes a brand new art book for November 2025. Tributes: HR GIGER is now on Kickstarter; with a successful launch, we’re excited to see pledges now reaching the stretch goals!

This will be my second project with Spiridon, and I still can’t believe that I get to be part of a Giger-related publication. My drawing Hellgate will be included as one of the artworks in this book, alongside the works of over 100 artists. I will be sharing the full piece later on, but for now here’s a little preview.

Hellgate (preview), graphite & digital | Tributes: HR GIGER 2025

“In official collaboration with the HR Giger Estate: A collection of art, interviews, photos, and essays in tribute to HR Giger.”

– Spiridon, Kickstarter | Tributes: HR Giger
Interior preview, Tributes: HR Giger | Images Courtesy of Spiridon Giannakis

Limited Edition | A Giger Cover Tribute by Andrea Chiampo

Another special addition to this campaign is the opportunity to acquire a limited edition version of the art book. Featuring the unique spinal detailing again, this edition comes with a different cover with black edges; signed & numbered, with a limited edition giclée print from Nikolay Georgiev. What I love the most about this version, is the transition of the ‘corruption/infection’ when held side by side with the regular edition. You can see the hints of colour on the spine of the paler cover ─ fully spread to its eerily, inky, darkness to the second version.

Tributes: HR Giger | Images Courtesy of Spiridon Giannakis

If you haven’t had the chance to discover the art of Andrea Chiampo, I highly suggest doing so. He’s the artist behind this this amazing cover for this campaign; and I dare say it’s become one of my favourite book designs to date. From his own influence of Giger’s work, Andrea’s breadth of work ranging from 3-D illustrations to Intaglio printmaking, showcases his immense skills alongside his signature surreal & eerie worlds ─ an obvious choice for a Giger tribute.

LIMBUS, A FUTURED PAST | A look into his printmaking process, by Andrea Chiampo

Now Live on Kickstarter

TRIBUTES: HR GIGER

kickstarter.com/projects/spiridon/giger

Runs until December 11, 2025 12:00 PM EST

We thank you for your continued support.

Keeper, A Quick Watercolour Project

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Looking through some of my older pieces, I’ve realized this painting among a few others, have not yet made it the blog. This was done in October of 2022, as part of an experiment to see how my paintings could translate into bookmarks and other smaller products.

Laying down the first few watercolour washes over the pencil line-work.

I knew what I wanted for the concept of this painting, but was forced to work around the other design elements; such as the Celtic knots & negative spaces, which would work well for the composition of a bookmark design. The goal was to create a piece designed specifically for the dimensions and purpose of the product, rather than have one of my paintings slapped onto a bookmark template. I haven’t had many opportunities to work with graphic design, so I’ve been experimenting with creating pieces specifically for certain formats and hopefully other materials too.

Keeper, watercolours, 5.5×15.5cm (6.5x19cm paper), 2022.

Glittery & Gold | CODEX Obscurus

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I had the immense pleasure of opening my copy of CODEX: Obscurus this week. This was an artist collaboration of ‘witchy’ and occult themed artwork produced by SPIRIDON. The book itself is quite hefty, and I’m especially loving the texture on the cover and back  ̶  not to mention it’s glittery and gold. Each artist has a page dedicated to their work, so you get the enjoyment of seeing the work in proper scale (no small/quarter images). On top of that you have the talents of Viktor Pushkarev with all his lettering, graphic, and calligraphy work. I’m now on the hunt for a vintage frame for his lino-cut print. If you’d like to see some more of his intricate-designs, his contribution to Alex Konstad’s Artbook, Obliskura is a good place to start  ̶  link here (you’re welcome…it’s mind-blowing).

If you missed out on the original Kickstarter campaign, I believe there are a few copies of just the artbook itself out there for purchase from Liber Distri.

NightStar | Graphite Drawing

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NightStar, graphite & colour pencil, 10×13″ (11×14″ paper), 2022.

PRELIM

Starting with some brief thumbnails in the sketchbook. Going through Nalini Singh’s second installment in the Psy-Changeling series for some inspiration. Admittedly these tiny drawings look like a bunch of chicken-scratch, but the ideas are there I promise.

(below)

Starting the preliminary drawing on a sheet of vellum/drafting paper.

Taking the finished line drawing and creating a simple lighting/value study on Paintshop Pro.

Drawing in Progress

Line drawing transferred onto a sheet of Strathmore Bristol paper, followed by light applications of graphite; slowly building up to the darker values.

Reacher | June 2022

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For this drawing I wanted to incorporate little things here and there from the show. I’ll avoid listing them all out, so as to not put out spoilers for those who have yet to watch the series or read the books. A side note ─ drawing skulls, bones, and such don’t bother me. I’ve got so say however, that I’ve never been more troubled by nature than while studying Snapdragon seed pods.

Killing Floor, graphite & white colour-pencil on paper.

The Woven Path | November Auction

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Auction Begins Monday

This Monday The Changeling Artists Collective on Facebook will be hosting the auction for original artwork, prints, and drawings from the Woven Path Tarot Project. My watercolour painting will be part of the auction, as well as many other wonderful pieces from this Tarot project. XII. Death is my contribution to the deck; the original painting (without digital edits) varies a slightly to what will be seen in the finished product. So if you’re looking to get your hands on the original piece, please head over the link below to participate in the bids or BIN (buy it now) option. *Please note that the BIN option is only available for a limited time before the auction begins.

The Faery Ring

changeling artists collective

Nov. 22, 12:00 EST – Nov. 26, 12:00 EST

Auction here on Facebook | Info. & Bids

CODEX Obscurus | 2021

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The Ritual, graphite, 12×16″ (on 14×17″ paper), 2021
Strathmore 100lb. 270 g/m2

I shared a little peek into this piece sometime earlier this year, but with the project now on full swing on Kickstarter I can announce that this drawing will be part of the CODEX Obscurus Artbook. This is a project by Spiridon Giannakis with cover and Tarot deck design by Viktor Pushkarev, and is a collaboration with an incredibly talented lineup of 145 artists and their unique take on witches & warlocks, witchcraft, the occult and various folklore. As a bonus, I along with several others will be putting forth our original artwork (The Ritual in my case) for purchase in this campaign. If you are interested acquiring an artwork please head over to the Kickstarter page for all the info.

Now Live on Kickstarter

kickstarter.com/projects/spiridon/codexobscurus

The campaign runs until the end of the month & there are just a few more stretch goals to go! If you would like to back this project please head over to pledge.

Limited Edition Prints & Campaign Bundles

There will also be a limited edition run of these amazing hand-made prints by Viktor. Here’s just a little peek at his process, but you can find more behind-the-scenes on the Codex Kickstarter page as well as on Viktor’s Instagram. Depending on the pledge, there will also be different extras from other artists in this campaign from high quality Prints, Postcards, Posters & Bookmarks; with the potential of even more bonuses with the unlocking of stretch goals.

Images Courtesy of Spiridon Giannakis & Viktor Pushkarev | CODEX Obscurus

The Ritual: a look into the process

For this project I decided to go with a full graphite piece. I wanted a break from painting with watercolour last year and although I hadn’t touched graphite in while, I felt confident again after laying down the foundation and just having at it. It also helped that I was excited to create something that was very much in line, thematically, to my own work.

I knew I’d be working with a lot of blending and powdered graphite ‘washes’, so I started by taping off the borders for a clean look for the finished product. Once the prelim sketch had been transferred onto the paper, I worked in layers from 2B pencils all the way to 6B & 7B for the darkest as I could go. To achieve softer tones in contrast to the more defined Celtic designs, I went to my trusty blending stumps as well as regular tissue paper. This project was also an attempt to improve on metallic elements (or in this case jewellery); working in grayscale and then using an eraser to create effects for a more realistic rendering.

I hope you enjoyed a look into this project and hope you will support our work through this artbook. Take care everyone!