Art has always been the medium of expression of human sentiments and psyche whether it was back in the times of civilization or the present digital times of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The props of arts like caves, stones, canvases, etc. have witnessed a historical journey before giving way to the digital stylus, graphic tablets but what pervades the eternity of expression is the ‘expression’ itself.
And one such instance of artworks that have gone beyond the strict categories of traditional, modern, digital is Billelis’s body of works. His work, or rather ‘an anthology of extraordinary visual poetry’ provides a glimpse of his Greek heritage, spirit of baroque on a digital canvas. In his trademark style, he has successfully appealed to masses with his romantic strokes on even morbid themes of death and evil.
About Artist
BillElis is a Digital Artist, Illustrator, and Art Director currently residing in the city of Edinburgh, UK.
His personal style reflects this embracing attitude towards ‘death’. He believes his works draw inspiration from Religious artworks, Tarot cards, Sci-fi, Demons, Renaissance, Illustrations of Anatomy, Davinci, Greek, Roman Sculptures, Baroque, Tattoo, Decorated Saints.
One of his most renowned NFT works, ‘You inspired me’ was sold for a whopping $111,111.00 (45.752 ETH). His varied artistic portfolio includes fantasy book covers for U.S. publishers, key visuals for TV shows, and other types of projects.
His unique style has caught attention worldwide and he’s collaborated with Nike, Warner Music, Netflix, Red Bull, Sony, Apple, to name a few.
Childhood
Born and brought up in the ‘rich architectural Mecca’ of Corinth in Greece, Billelis spent a lot of his growing years in ‘gaming’. Just like every millennial who was waking up to the popularity of computers, he too was fascinated with early time PC’s(MS-DOS and floppy disk games).
He was also involved in creating fan art of comics, especially Spiderman which eventually blossomed into an addiction for ‘Graffiti’. In truth, it was Graffiti that gave a young teen like him a sense of ‘creative belongingness’. In fact, our favorite ‘nonconformist’ artist was also arrested for some of his works!!
At the young age of 10, he started helping his father in his coffee shop during summers and finally ended up working in factories for extra funds. From a very young age, he learned the beauty of working hard and setting goals. One fine day, he decided to use the hard-earned extra bucks to fund his dreams of a university in the UK.
Right from his childhood, he had a calling to the arts but the thought of taking it up as a career never crossed his mind. Only around the age of 16-18, the artist felt that he truly couldn’t let go of his creativity and wanted ‘arts’ to become his life. However, it wasn’t until his mid-20s that the love for art was solidified (and, we are glad it is so!!).
Speaking of his childhood, the ace artist says that even though he was surrounded by such historic sculpture, architecture, and even Christian Orthodox iconography in his homeland, he became numb to it. The extraordinary heritage felt ‘ubiquitous’ to him. It was only later that he returned to his heritage with respect and timeless love.
Early Days
Billelis’s journey has been an inspirational one. The ups and downs of his 14-year long course as an artist gave him many life lessons and is also a testimony to him being an absolute ‘go-getter’ who went against the odds of ‘conventional thoughts about digital art’ and ‘working for the sake of exposure’.
The year was 2008, and BillElis was studying a Digital Art and Technology course at the University of Plymouth and found himself being useless at coding. However, it is also around this time that he got to know some amazing artists in a closed forum called Depthcore.
Then, a newbie, Billelis was astonished to see various styles and influences merge together while using new technologies and aesthetics to create art. All the artists would support each other and produce online shows together.
He witnessed the artistic process of artists giving their creative voice on multiple subjects and finally, producing phenomenal results.
Speaking on this phase of his life, Billelis said, “I was useless at the time but seeing these legends inspired me”. It is also around this time that ‘Vlad’, a tutor from Russia introduced Blender 3D to him and he started playing around with the application.
Thus, he spent the last 2 years at the University discovering and experimenting with photoshop and 3D, in ways that were different from ‘textbooks’.
Keeping a vision in his mind, he set himself ‘key idols’ and ‘goals’ for the future and ventured on the path of wanting to be like them. He recalls ‘Deviant art and Behance’ playing a key role in his quest. Around this time, many communities were emerging however, he wasn’t accepted into Depthcore.
Communities like EvokeOne, Slashthree, and others turned out to be havens for Billelis’s dreams. He felt a sense of belonging there, a place where he could make friends and experiment with the shared love for digital art.
Billelis started off by working on bar flyers, corporate banner designs, web design and even tried font design in his pursuit to find his real love which was digital art. As a matter of fact, he even made an American football poster for the University team and hoped to sell them for 15$ each.
Unfortunately, he could only sell 2 of these posters until a good friend came to his rescue and bought some more so that he wouldn’t be at a loss. Although it was a disaster to him, he kept on going resiliently.
Billelis confessed, “Online I was loved and respected by my peers even though I was just starting out. But in reality I was working bars and cafes to afford rent”.
As they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going!!
As the years passed, Billelis was fortunate enough to bag a 3D designer role in a TV commercial agency. Following this, he moved from city to city which provided him with a great learning curve. He learned a great deal about marketing, animation, storytelling, finance, and pitching.
Having said that, he knew he was working for “someone else”.
Reflecting on this, he realized that his style of art never came into play at work. Thankfully, his creative power found a home ‘online’, a place where he could experiment, a place to join forces with artists he looked up to, and a place to sell his art.
And this process was too time-consuming. The artists back then used to sell open edition prints and would accept every merch collaboration possible even if they could scarcely make anything out of it. Billelis confessed that they even sold wallpapers and screensavers for 1$ and made assets.
Around this time, many artists were creating tutorials and courses to not just support the growth of this space but also to make some kind of income from their art. For the plain reason that digital art wasn’t valued.
In fact, Billelis was once accepted into a gallery only to hear that digital has no value.
He was also asked to hand finish prints, use very costly printers and screen prints and hide his digital art nature. Finally, he left the gallery. And he kept building on his passion.
As a result, advertising started to get tiring. Overwhelmed by this, he felt lost, he felt like his style, input, views didn’t matter as it wasn’t commercial enough, meanwhile, he was having the best time online sharing his art.
He continued working on it. His day job was working for others and his nights were occupied by working for his dreams.
The artist knew his art deserved more. He realized that although social media provided a great platform to grow, followers alone don’t convert to income.
In his early days, he was even asked to work for exposure. He had experiences wherein some musicians reached out and asked him to work for tiny budgets but continued to stay in the same position most of the time.
This went on for some time, and all this while his personal art was getting noticed slowly by more people in the space.
After a spell, his last straw was that he was approached by a huge sports company and asked to create a key art piece for their ace player. His day job wouldn’t allow him to do that solo.
Even though the offer came through social media, the clients did not pay him well enough. Disappointed, he did some self-introspection, and quit after 3 months.
One day, the dusk before the dawn broke and opportunities came knocking on the artist’s door. Finally, people were coming to him because of his personal art and so he worked as a book cover illustrator for a few years as they were coming to him more because of his art.
As years passed by, he kept developing his art into what he loved creating. He said, “I will always be grateful for some of the amazing clients I have the fortune of working with but something was always missing. I wanted to he [sic] 100% me”.
After a brief period of time, he heard about NFT through his friends FVCKRender, Aeforia, Maalavida, Jason Ebeyer, and Blake Kathryn. Like everyone, he too was completely new to the NFT space! But keep learning and asking. And says is “grateful to be in this amazing space”.
Professional milestones and individual awakenings
There’s nothing better than personal experiences that can motivate an artist to go along with their calling. Sometimes, these personal experiences shape up what is deemed as ‘milestones’ and ‘masterpieces’ in the future. This suits well at least in Billelis’ case.
If one is to describe his professional hurdles as the dark canvas of his art, his awakening from those obstacles is definitely the ‘ormolu’ of his greatest artwork, dripping lessons in pure gold for young fans!
Listed below are the ‘major events’ that have moulded his fantastic journey.
- At the age of 20, he bagged his first professional assignment with Formula one and Red bull which fetched him good money. However, having spent it recklessly, he went back to working for bars.
- The skullscritption that is now the USP of the ‘gothic wizard’ that Billelis is , was a result of his ‘fleeting kiss’ with skulls that happened in his early years. So, after he went back to working for bars, he created ‘50 individual human skulls’ with a variety of decorative patterns throughout the history of humanity and races, ages, cultures and religions. And the rest is history!
- His artwork for John Wick3 was a real game changer for his career. The project started off as a commision for the premiere but ended up becoming the official key visual for Imax, Netflix and Collector’s Edition hard copy.It helped him manifest his big break, and then there was no looking back for him!
- The gamer in him ultimately rejoiced when he created 4 key visuals for the remastered Diablo game by Blizzard. Indeed a gamer’s childhood dream come true!!
- Another mile post moment in Billelis’ journey was when he broke ties with an agency.(well, for good!) The project was huge, a Nike LeBron James campaign for a massive $65K job but when he was paid $400 for working days and nights, he showed this particular agency the door. Subsequently, focusing on freelance clients. A perfect ‘when life gives you lemon, you make a lemonade’ (or perhaps squeeze it into your single malt;)) moment!
BillElis’s Art: In Genre and Style
Billelis aims to bring about a philosophical change in the perspective of religion and death through his works. He chooses to see beauty in the tales of many religions without excluding others. But feels a mutual relationship of compassion to fellow humans is key to progress.
During his university days, he got exposed to 3D, Photoshop, After Effects, etc., he ‘messed around with them but later discovered ‘love’ for this process and thus, ventured on a ‘self-learning’ journey.
Billelis now uses software like Cinema 4D, Octane Render, Zbrush, Adobe Camera Raw, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom for his work.
Explaining his design process, BillElis says that he plays around in Cinema 4D for composition, thanks to its easy user interface, plugin integration. He also uses Zbrush for detailing before bringing it back to the cinema. He uses the base of a previous illustration and starts developing from there. Lastly, for setting the mood and going about finer grade adjustments, he uses Lightroom or Camera Raw.
Speaking on the ‘Daily Art trends’, Billelis said that although he loves them, he is not totally into it as he feels the need to do longer projects too. The magic of daily stuff helps in a gradual development of an artist and also to learn how to work faster.
Adding on this line of thought, he said he does not like the pressure to perform that comes along with the Daily Art Project. However, he also admits to using this method because of the legend Beeple.
BillElis approves the method of kitbashing and photo-bashing saying that these methods help to speed up the process. He believes that in contrast to what is thought of these methods, they do give very different results.
He believes that two different artists can make use of these techniques using the same assets and still can attain different results and thus, create magic.
His mantra to grow his audience is ‘collaboration, consistency and creativity. His art embodies a blend of baroque drama, renaissance ethos with core macabre anatomies.
For an artist, dark themes and transitioning in dark themes can be one difficult task but toning down his methods to be a part of the ‘herd’ has never been in Billelis’ rule book. As he doesn’t believe in a watered-down version of himself or his arts.
Notable Non NFT Artworks OF BillElis
Books:
Billelis has designed covers for books: These Violent Delights, The Winter Duke, The warrior’s curse, Belle Revolte, Brightly Burning, Sabbath, King of Scars, Everless, Evermore, Mirage, The Lantern’s Ember, Dark Shores, We rule the night, Seafires, Once & future, Pride, Bloodleaf, The Deceiver’s Heart, Lady Smoke, Dark Triumph, Sky without Stars, Courting Darkness, Ash Princess, Mortal Heart, The Traitor’s Game, The Cursed Sea, Grave Mercy.
Other works:
- John Wick 3
This work of art can be dubbed as a manifestation of a big break. Billelis was approached by Lionsgate, LA Associates, and the creative team of John Wick 3 to create official key artwork for the launch of the latest blockbuster installment in the John Wick Franchise- John Wick 3 Parabellum.
- XBox Gear Tactics
Billelis was approached by XBOX and the creative team behind Gears Tactics to create key art for the launch of Gears Tactics.
- Total War-Troy
Billelis was approached by Creative Assembly and the creative team behind Total War to create key visuals and branding for the next installment in the Total War Saga titled Troy.
- Ozzy Osbourne
Calling it as his favourite project, Billelis created key visuals which were used for the front cover of the magazine Planet Rock, portraying the Prince of Darkness as a suspicious skeleton with bats, “often synonymous with Ozzy, swooping around”.
His other projects include Doom Eternal, Diablo II Resurrected, Valorant-Viper, Deadlife, Gotham Knights, Magic The Gathering, Mortal Kombat II, Stranger Things 4, Xbox Gears Ink, Apashe Renaissance, We are Royale, Bliss N Eso, Flor De Toloache, Apashe X Nina Simone, The Glitch Mob, Apashe GBF, Nike Le Bron XI, Apashe DO IT, Primitive Skate, World Cup 2018, Nike Air Max Day, Bury Tomorrow, Robo Beetle, Dynaudio, Apashe EP Covers.
NFT Artworks
Like everyone, the word ‘crypto’, ‘NFT’, was a subject of apprehension to Billelis too, who had refused to believe anything of that space, thanks to the brainwashing by the traditional art that expected digital art to be made physical to match the needs of the traditional art world.
He had bitter past experiences with people telling him that digital is not worthy hence, must be turned ‘physical’. So at one point, when IV gallery approached him together with Nifty, he paid no heed to the prospects of NFT space.
It was only after Vincent from IV Gallery approached him for the second time, he realized that he can retain the digital medium of digital art and also have them in a more tangible form as a physical display in galleries.
He was introduced to the NFT space by his friends FVCKRender, Aeforia, Maalavida, Jason Ebeyer, and Blake Kathryn.
Also, during this time, Nifty was linking crypto and fiat which also brought Billelis closer to the understanding of NFT space. Gradually, it occurred to him that crypto makes more sense than copper coins as everything traded is either data or digital.
He now feels NFTs provide an incredible space for opportunity, connection, and inspiration. He believes this space is a window of possibilities that gives digital artists and creators the empowerment to release their art digitally.
His favorite NFT artists include Raf Grassetti, Maalavidaaa, Dom Qwek, Victor Mosquera, Jason Ebeyer, MadMaraca. He also says he would love to collaborate with Pak, Raf Grassetti, Dom Qwek, Refik Anadol, and Daniel Arsham, one fine day!
While his talent resides well cushioned on cloud nine, he himself has a very grounded attitude towards life and especially fellow artists. And his attitude is exhibited in the ways he tries to bring the community members together with his contests and rewards the winners with his artworks….
Throughout his NFT journey, he has created to question people’s beliefs by weaving “stories” and emotions.
He wants to challenge the canons of traditional arts by making people re-question, rethink and reevaluate their experiences when they see digital art. Through his art, he intends to bring a philosophical revolution to ‘mortal’ views related to death and darkness. His NFTs best echoes the famous Edward Munich’s quote: “From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them, and that is eternity”.
Let’s have a look at NFTs that conjures up the evil, the elegant, the dark, and beautiful art that represents a pictorial motif Memento Mori, Carpe Noctem.
Transcendence
Billelis’s most expensive NFT(and also one of his personal favorites), ‘Transcendence’ was sold for a massive 45.69 ETH (~$189,000 at the time of the auction). Transcendence is an artistic manifestation of a journey of spiritual transcendence; budding from physical existence flourishing through life and death alike, slowly progressing through eternity in a way that mortality experiences a higher sense of spirituality which leads to acceptance into the divine afterlife.
The NFT depicts his inspiration drawn from Greek-Roman statues and thus shows the backdrop of baroque statues representing humans, angels, forming a physical framework for ‘the manifestation of spiritual transcendence’ that stands as a central piece.
Thus, the striking heart of this artwork lies in the golden embossed skulls(his artistic trademark) portraying the divine journey itself and of course, the mortal being attaining it.
The NFT is described as, “The finite journey of mortality evolves into an eternal being of consciousness and becomes an inseparable existence in the divine afterlife”.
You Inspired Me
You inspired me is one of his most famous NFT from the collection ‘In Memoriam’. In Memoriam is a tribute to the memory of everyone who is no longer with us.
The heavily gold ornate work resembles the hyperreal skullspiration. As described by the artist, this artwork is just one illustration of what he creates with the coupling of gothic and beauty, thus, amplifying the paradoxical harmony of ‘life’ and ‘death’ with the ‘dark-gold effect’. For the artist himself, this artwork is a tribute to his grandfather.
This artwork resounds with his notion of ‘From death, life blooms’.
Mother
Another of his famous NFT, Mother is a digital artwork portraying the religious iconography of Mother Mary. The art depicts the Mother of Jesus in divine sorrow; the triumph of darkness and sins of this earthly being is reflected by the use of blooming flowers in the erstwhile gap in the physical body. The golden flowers evoke her memory and sacrifice and her golden aureole personifies her ascendence to heaven.
Absolution
The artwork, ‘Absolution’ depicts the journey of self-healing which comes only after retrospection and asking for forgiveness. Remember that in this mortal journey; for every good deed, there is a bad deed too.
Self-searching is one way to heal the wrongs we have done to attain absolution in the realms of sin, fear & forgiveness before higher power brings judgment upon us after death.
Your Majesty
Your Majesty, the artwork captures the human tendency to worship something of the ‘higher power’ as Gods. This tendency was taken advantage of by ‘monarchical absolutism’; thus, royalty became a bulwark into the early 20th century.
Later on, with the advent of ‘celebrity worshipping,’ new gods were introduced with manipulated personas and complete inaccessibility. The essence of this human trait lies with the replacement of one God with another and this ‘narrative’ is certainly what BillElis intends to question as well as cure.
Other Notable NFT Works
- ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΑ
- ΥΠΟΛΗΨΗ Marble Smoke (BillElis X Greg Mike Collab)
- You supported me
- BillElis x Rtfkt studios hoverboard.
- Medusa’s Forgiveness (A single NFT).
NFT collection
The 6 Brides of Lucifer
Lucifer’s Brides was the first collection released by legendary digital artist Bill Elis. The NFTs are named Pandora, Lamashtu, Lilith, Jezebel, Eve, Astarte and also have an NFT of Lucifer too. Bill’s style deflects the conventional norm of dark themes as evil, instead, he portrays them as symbols of freedom and beauty.
In Memoriam
‘In Memoriam’ is a tribute to the memory of everyone who is no longer with us. To the ones who created us, held us, challenged us, helped, inspired, loved, respected, supported, and pushed us. This collection is for them.
‘In Memoriam’ inspires one to take a moment to sit in the discomfort of loss and grief, to embrace the burden and heaviness of the void they left in our lives. Because sitting in this pain enables us to accept and acknowledge their importance in our lives and to pay respect to all the lessons, love, and guidance they have provided to us in one’s journey.
Death is part of a cycle that every living being experiences, and although it is tragic, harrowing and tormenting on the other side, life begins afresh. This collection reaffirms the artist’s notion on death: ‘From death, life blooms’. It is through death that one passes on the memories and lessons of those who have left us and learns about their teachings through our own selves and our own actions every day.
Death allows the memory of those who are lost to become immortal as they continue to live through us and thus, leave their impression upon the world.
This collection aims to interpret the heaviness of loss to give it meaning and leave behind a legacy for all they impressed upon us.
This collection, Billelis says, is dedicated to both the loved ones in people’s lives who have passed, and his own life too who have had a profound and everlasting impact on the man that he is today.
Thus, the NFT collection includes You respected me(100 editions), You created me(100 editions), You helped me(100 editions), You challenged me(100 editions), You pushed me(100 editions), You held me(100 editions), You supported me(100 editions), You loved me(100 editions), You inspired me(1 edition).
A reward NFT is reserved for the collector who manages to get all 8 of the works featured in the limited edition drawings and the 1/1 auction work, ‘You Inspired Me’.
Relics of a mortal past
Inspired by Billelis’ Greek heritage, the concept of this collection is a juxtaposition of Greek sculpture and vandalism. Thus, ironically, keeping one of the ancient art forms, and the idea of vandalism in the contemporary digital art scene.
One is forced to question what is pure and place it with the legacy of one’s creative past. As art fades into the fleeting days and turns into a relic, thus, it’s own life form tends to fade too.
Relics of a Mortal Past Includes
- ΙΣΧΥΣ
- ΑΜΑΘΕΙΑ
- ΚΑΘΑΡΣΙΣ
- ΓΕΝΝΗΣΗ
- ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ
- ΕΥΝΟΙΑ
- ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΑ
Except for the NFT ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΑ which is available only as a single edition, rest every other NFT has 10 editions each. Each animation is 4K with a unique soundbyte.
Interestingly, there is another NFT collection Relics of a mortal past Open Edition consisting of two NFTs- ΥΠΟΛΗΨΗ (179 editions sold) and ΠΑΘΟΣ (223 editions sold).
Balance
‘Balance’ is an artistic pronunciation of equilibrium and gratitude to his collectors. This collection employs aesthetics, darkness and also geometric balance. It is heavily influenced by the artist’s obsession with aesthetics and geometric balance, collocated with forms and light.
The ‘Balance’ collection consists of Balance I, Balance II, Balance III, Balance IV, Balance V, Balance VI with each one having 9 editions.
Through these pieces, Billelis plans to reward his collectors and merge the digital with the physical in a perfect balance.
His most anticipated NFT is ‘Graveyard’ and we can’t be more excited about it!
Recurring Themes
The recurring motif in BillElis captures the raw and an inhibitionless form of mortality. It is no wonder when, in an effort to do so, he uses anatomical devices like skulls and skeletons to portray the ‘void’ of death and also the ‘full’ of life.
Strikingly, what makes his dark work stand out is the tender graceful light of beauty. Even when he uses dark elements, his works are far from being a Nihilistic illumination. Thanks to the gold-toned Corinthian inspired intricate details that adds drama to his genius. Gold to him is ‘a sense of royalty, divine adornment, removal from fear or decay’.
He creates to beautify death as he sees death, a part of one’s life. The ‘dark-gold’ contrast conveys a paradox: death being a thriving ground for the transcendental journey, which although blossoms from a physical entity, soon evanesces beyond forms to become one with the sublime entity.
His NFT creations, particularly, give off a modern Biblical vibe. Inspired by religious iconography that comes from him growing up in an orthodox Christian state, his religious ethos finds expression through his work.
Conclusion
From manifesting a huge break with John Wick to his beef with agencies to being one of the most sought artists, Billelis has redefined paths with a rebellious attitude and perseverance and standing to his innate confidence. He has consistently been a norm breaker whose visionary motive to blur the lines between different traditional and digital art is setting a precedent for young artists to follow.
..
While fans can’t get enough of Billelis’ dope works, he says his long-term goal is to live comfortably from all his artworks and also travel the world. His idea of life is a simple one, a cozy log cabin in the Scottish Highlands in winter, mood candlelight, nature, and skull art.
His creative genius is not just confined to arts but of late he has been pouring his creative juices through his photography skills too. Calling Photography an escape, the artist says it helps him connect with nature.
Like every artist, Billelis too gets trapped into ‘artist’s block’. Nevertheless, he knows how to get over it and it might be helpful to our readers too. He explains, “Creativity flows without the constraints of what we do on a day to day basis as artists. So my advice is, when you are stuck, pick a new creative hobby, learn to fall in love with creativity again from a new perspective, and return when you are ready.”
The Man, The Magical Artist, The Gothic God, that’s Billelis for you!
“
from the gallows of death,
the pits of dark,
burning fire of hell;
rose a phoenix
with a divine wing,
dripping golden dews
on the carcasses of
démodé letters;
in still marshy waters..
and then
bloomed a renegade
with golden arms,
welcomed by the roaring thunders,
the shooting meteors,
in the twilight skies…
”
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