Ghost‘s cover art is consistently stunning, and that trend continues with Papa and the Ghouls’ forthcoming Phantomime EP, announced on Easter, which features eye-popping artwork by Hedi Xandt. The visual artist, writer and sculptor recently pulled back the veil on the striking biomechanical reimagining of Ghost’s iconic skeleton-faced pope.
“My artwork always starts with the creation of a 3-dimensional digital model, no matter if the finished piece will be a print or a physical sculpture,” Xandt explained in a post on Ghost’s social media. “Rendering a full-fledged digital sculpture bears the opportunity to change materials, perspectives and lights at a whim – including extras like three separate face shells that can be removed to reveal the layer beneath, changing the appearance of the Phantomime — alluding to the cover songs on the EP.”
In additional posts on Xandt’s own Instagram, the artist shared some work-in-progress images and further behind-the-scenes insight behind the EP cover, which was created in 2022 “over a period of 6 weeks and … consist[s] of over 600 individual pieces,” he revealed. See below.