This month, we are fortunate enough to have euroboy stop by for a quick chat. You may know him as the creator of some of the most amazing and stunning covers around. His design style is very unique and his creativity his top notch.
iCoty: How did you discover this hobby? Do you remember your first custom cover, if so, what was it? How have you improved since then?
euroboy: My memory isn’t what it used to be (man, that makes me sound old) but I believe the first site that I stumbled upon was Generetic. Back then the retail covers here in Sweden were crappy (they still are) so I started replacing them with r1-customs just for the fun of it. My first custom cover must be either Bridget Jones or Assault on Precinct 13, made with Paint Shop Pro at 72 dpi (haha). My covers sure have changed since then, I hope. With better layout, color combinations, use of fonts, title treatment, credits/logos/legals and an all together more professional design.
iCoty: We love to learn about name origins, so, what does euroboy mean to you and why did you choose it?
euroboy: Knut Schreiner, aka Euroboy, plays lead guitar in the Norwegian “deathpunk”-band Turbonegro which I grew up listening to. Don’t know why I chose Euroboy, It’s kinda clever though. Sweden, Europe = Euro and I’m a male = Boy. I love creativity! My real name’s David by the way.
iCoty: From your personal collection of custom covers that you have created, which ones are your favorite and why?
euroboy: None of mine from the early era, that’s for sure. I like my version of Alive, perhaps because the retail version’s awful and in comparison to that anything will shine but I think it came out alright. Alive is probably the cover I’ve spent most hours on ever. I also think my recent Blu-ray version for Stranger Than Fiction and HD DVD of Brokeback Mountain came out pretty cool. Simple, but I believe they capture the feel of the movie.
iCoty What is your main reason for making custom covers?
euroboy: The main reason is to grow as a graphic designer. It’s a challenge doing something unique and yet capture the feel of a movie and keep it professional, what most retails don’t achieve. I love art/design and movies so it’s the perfect combination of two enjoyable things in life.I also replace a lot of retails with my covers in Swedish… the r1 versions I only do for the occasional ego-boost.
iCoty: Who are your Top 3 favorite custom cover artists? What are you favorite covers from each of these artists?
euroboy: Phew, this is really hard. There’s so many talented artists out there. I guess I’ll have to go with the artists that inspire me the most. In no particular order:
1. Shorn
I hope with all my heart that Shorn makes a comeback with covers for the first and last installment of Park’s brilliant and beautiful Vengeance Trilogy. Yeah, Oldboy is my favorite cover from Shorn. Mind-Blowing!
2. Irrob
Come on, look at his catalog. It’s amazing how many covers he’s done and they’re all classy! His set for Blade is brilliant to the smallest detail but I would say a similar cover of his is my absolute favorite, The Crow.
3. BunnyDojo
I simply just love everything about his covers and he’s a great source of inspiration for me. If I’m gonna name something special that attracts me to his style it would be the little unique details (you know what I’m talking about). Favorite cover? Hmm… his latest version of Children Of Men is stunning!
iCoty: If you had to choose your Top 5 favorite custom covers of all time what would they be?
euroboy: Alright, aside from the ones mentioned above my top five will be (in no particular order) with no further explanation:
1. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Powers)
2. Donnie Brasco (Gsalb)
3. Big Fish (Syxx0rz/Gsalb)
4. Blade Runner (BunnyDojo)
5. The Fifth Element, both versions (SXS)
For the rest of the euroboy interview, please visit the forums at Virtual Aftershock. He has also made the covers that he mentioned in this interview available for download in the Galleries at Virtual Aftershock. So please, check out the rest of the interview and don’t forget to leave us a note letting us know what you thought about this article!
iCoty
