Before we begin, we’d like to express our deepest thanks to Riccardo for accepting our invitation and taking the time to answer our many questions! His insight & passion truly mean the world to us and to all Ghost fans. We hope you’ll like our interview!

1. How did you first get involved with Ghost and the Skeletour?

I’ve been told Tobias discovered me on Instagram (@muff_is_hot) and then contacted me by email. He really liked my work and wanted something similar for the tour.

2. Can you describe your creative process when working on illustrations for the tour?

Sure, I guess it depends on which part of the tour I was working on. For the church windows I tried to recreate the original style of all those great artists that came before me, they knew already what they wanted so in that case I had to adapt and repurpose my work to make it happen. As for the second part of the show I could experiment more with my own style and typical workflow while following Tobias’ directions and ideas. It was a series of more collage-driven designs where I tried to mix various contrasting elements connected by a core thread representing Tobias’ vision. I also had the pleasure to work with the incredibly talented guys at Greenwall Design to animate my work, so I also had to make everything with the final animation in mind, kind of like building a scene.

3. Were there any moments or artworks during the tour that were especially challenging or memorable for you?

The windows part was pretty challenging considering the amount of details, complexity of the pieces and the fact that it was a new kind of project for me. The rest was still challenging but not as much in my opinion as it was more akin to my usual work.

4. How do you approach capturing the energy and aesthetic of Ghost in your work?

I started listening to a lot of their songs and gathering all kinds of information about the band and their visual inspirations and lore. It’s what I do whenever I need to work with a band that has a well established history.

5. Looking back at the Skeletour, is there a particular piece or moment that you’re most proud of?

I was proud of each moment of it. Seeing how my art was an important part of the performance and the general atmosphere of the concert was truly mesmerising, safe to say it was an unforgettable experience.

6. How much freedom do you actually have when working on a project like this?

More than I initially thought. I was of course following the directions from Tobias and the crew but they left me ample margin to express my creativity and give my spin to all the pieces.

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7. The Skeletour has a very strong aesthetic across the set design, costuming, merchandising, etc. What are the connecting strings between all of these different elements?

As I saw it, I think that everything was tied together by Ghost’s established aesthetic and lore. I was truly fascinated in discovering all the work that was already there in creating a cohesive direction to the show.

8. How do you balance your personal artistic style with Ghost’s very defined universe?

I think that my art style was already compatible with the Ghost universe and that’s probably why I was chosen by Tobias to do the job in the first place. My work features various religious symbolisms and complex aesthetics that they thought really worked well with Ghost’s already established yet always evolving world building.

9. Did working on the Skeletour change the way you approach your art in general, and has working on the tour given you ideas you’re excited to explore in future projects?

It surely was a priceless learning experience, especially on how to curate such a monumental project in all of its details and complexities with all the people and challenges involved. Everyone did an incredible job and I was really inspired by the direction of Amir Chamdin and of course Tobias on every artistic detail of the project. Considering that my dream is also to be a creative director, I tried to assimilate every piece of information I could for my future self.

10. What’s your tip for budding artists who are looking to improve their art skills?

I think that personally my advice is always the same: do what’s fun for you, never stop creating and improving your craft, and never sell yourself short.

11. Was there an idea you loved that didn’t make it to the final version?

Yeah actually, my version of Mary for Mary on a Cross, which is the song that mostly inspired me during my work with Ghost. They were looking for a big Mary statue where they could animate some stone statues around, but in the end they opted for a 3D render of Mary to make her dance, so my version was scrapped. If someone is curious to see it, you can find it somewhere on my Instagram page.

12. Outside of Ghost, are there any artists, projects, or mediums that inspire your work currently?

If I had to make a list of all the artists and movements that inspired me we could be here for a while. If I had to choose some of the inspirations that mainly influenced me through the years it would probably be the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, the art of Junji Ito, Kentaro Miura with Berserk and the art of horror and seinen manga in general, Gustave Doré, Hieronymus Bosch, and the surrealist and symbolist movements as a whole. I’m also a big fan of ancient alchemical and esoteric manuscripts, I particularly enjoy going through them in my free time and I get a lot of design ideas from them. I love how eccentric and out of the box those artists were with their illustrations while retaining some kind of hidden knowledge only known to the disciples of the work.

13. If you could collaborate on any type of project in the future, what would it be?

If I could choose I would absolutely collaborate again with Ghost and Tobias in the future (I have a good feeling about it) and of course a bunch of other artists that I like. I’m a big hip hop fan so I would love to be part of that world as well, and it could very well be a reality pretty soon. 🙂

14. Do you listen to Ghost? If yes, what is your favorite song and album?

I do! I absolutely love Mary on a Cross and The Future Is a Foreign Land, and I’ve listened to those non-stop while I was working on the tour art. But if I have to choose an album, I’d say Meliora takes the number one spot for me.

15. Finally, if the Skeletour had a color palette or mood in one word, what would it be?

Well, as a palette, probably a scale of grey culminating in black and a deep red and purple and the word: “devotion”.

A huge thank you for taking the time to answer our questions: it was a real pleasure to get a glimpse into your creative world.

Make sure to follow the artist on Instagram at @muff_is_hot to discover more of his incredible work and show him some support!

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