Design artwork based on a single off the album of one of the following artists/bands: Ben Howard, Bombay Bicycle Club, DJ Shadow, The Cure, Noah and the Whale, CSS, and Florence + the Machine. The designs chosen by the band, or voted amongst the 5 highest by the general public, will be printed on an 7" album sleeve, displayed in a record shop in London, and sold...with all of the proceeds going to the Teenage Cancer Trust. There's no monetary compensation for the designers, just exposure and the feeling that you've helped an awesome cause.
The second I saw the words 'create artwork' and 'Florence + the Machine', I was sold. The fact that is was for a charity that helps teenage cancer patients only sweetened the deal. Florence's song "Only If For a Night" is the single they selected as the basis for the design.
The sketch in the upper left-hand corner was the first idea I came up with: a central image of Florence in front of delicately patterned framework -- some manner of portal between real life and the dreamy milieu of her music. The thumbnail included the phases of the moon going around the center circle, but I left those out of the final piece due to time constraints. I also changed the color scheme and pose of Florence for the finished piece in order to match the more somber and reverent tone of the song.
The second I saw the words 'create artwork' and 'Florence + the Machine', I was sold. The fact that is was for a charity that helps teenage cancer patients only sweetened the deal. Florence's song "Only If For a Night" is the single they selected as the basis for the design.
One of the most appealing factors of Florence Welch's music is that it has such an elegant and ethereal feel to it. As lame as it sounds, one of the best representations of the visual imagery I get from her music is the design of Lady Galadriel and her city of Lothlorien from the Lord of the Rings movies. To me, the mixture of unearthly mysticism and the heavily Art Nouveau-inspired sensibilities -- in both dress and architecture -- are an apt summation of the image and sound Florence exudes. When creating my design, I knew that these were things that I definitely wanted to work into my piece.
The sketch in the upper left-hand corner was the first idea I came up with: a central image of Florence in front of delicately patterned framework -- some manner of portal between real life and the dreamy milieu of her music. The thumbnail included the phases of the moon going around the center circle, but I left those out of the final piece due to time constraints. I also changed the color scheme and pose of Florence for the finished piece in order to match the more somber and reverent tone of the song.
The head on the right is a failed attempt at my second idea: doing a straight portrait. I didn't really consult my reference image while rendering, so whatever likeness the base drawing had to Florence was lost. This influenced my decision to make it a more stylized likeness, that way I could spend less time on worrying how 100% accurate it was and spend more time on the drawing as a whole.
Anyway, this is the finished piece. I do wish I had a little more time (since I was working on it up till 20 minutes before it was due), but I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Voting on the artwork doesn't end until noon to 1ish on January 26th (this Thursday!), so if you haven't voted and want to, then click right here. As Christina discovered, if you have a Facebook and a Twitter, you can vote using both a.k.a. vote twice because you love me. :D
Chad, love this. Can we get an update on results on the contest?
ReplyDeleteYou def nailed the LOTResque Art Nouveau atmosphere. Digging the detail in the lace motif and headpiece. You are the master of detail. Can I crit? We still crit right? I think either the color or the line work should take the lead in this piece, but neither does. The line work is very uniform, which would work better if the color took more responsibility for defining form. Conversely, the flattish coloring would work better if the line work had more variation. These are my thoughts. I'm glad you included the process work. Love looking in your brain my friend.
Thanks!! Critiques are always welcome and much appreciated. And I agree 100% with everything you said. I literally ran out of time since I was working on other things of greater importance (i.e. things I was getting paid to do) and decided I was going to participate so late in the game. I intended to define the form more through more extreme highlights and shadows, and probably will do just that once I have some free time.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this was a challenge for myself to find a comfortable way to color digitally, so I was a lot less daring than I would be with traditional media. Probably an undertaking I shouldn't have attempted on a tight deadline, but c'est la vie.