Complete Illustrations Amara Reed
Complete Illustrations The Process Using the plans created previously and the lyrics that I selected as my favourites I have successfully created these illustrations, one per track, in which the imagery mirrors my own interpretation of the song. I created this flipping book in order to explain the imagery behind each of the illustrations.
Above: Illustrations Compilation All of these images were created in the same way as the experiment that I created in order to decide whether or not I was going to be able to create an illustrative DigiPak, although much more thought and care went into them. Once I had come up with an idea for an illustration, I simply used pencil and eraser on white, plain paper and sketched out my idea, making alterations as I went until I was content that the illustrations appeared as I envisioned, complemented the song and created
the appropriate atmosphere to represent that track and the overall album ‘Shrines.’ With a final pencil illustration complete, I would take a fine liner and outline the sketch as carefully as possible, before erasing the pencil lines. I completed the sketches this way to ensure that the aesthetics of the illustrations were perfect before I committed to them by lining them in pen.
Making Basic, Original Illustration Images (Pre-Colouring) Once I had drawn the original illustrations, I used Photoshop in order to create basic, original illustrations that are the correct size and have completed white background in preparation for the colouring-in stage. I created these images, such as the image below, for ease of later editing. The first thing I did was scan each of the original illustrations and email them to myself. I scanned each illustration in 600x600ppi to ensure that they were in the best quality, because each drawing was drawn on A5 paper and thus is relatively small. The images were scanned as JPEG files. Secondly, I opened and downloaded all of the files. Then, one by one, I applied the same process to each of the images, resulting in a collection of 11 illustrations, all cropped to the same, appropriate size, all with corrected pen lines in order to whiten the background and darken the lines, giving each image a professional aesthetic while ensuring that they are all ready to be experimented upon regarding colouring. What I did 1. I opened a scan of an illustration onto Photoshop, naming the Photoshop file the name of the song to ensure that all my experiments were ordered. 2. I then selected the ‘crop’tool and changed the ratio settings from ‘normal’ to ‘fixed size.’ I found that the size of each panel in a DigiPak is 12.5 cm (height) x 13.8 cm (width) and thus changed the size settings on the ‘crop’ tool to these.
3. I cropped the image to the correct size. As many of the illustrations were not centred, this meant that the cropping tool often had to exceed the actual boarders of the original scanned document. When this is the case, it means that when the image is cropped there is an area of space, where the cropping tool overstepped the canvas, where there are no layers and thus the background or any underlying layers are visible. 4. Next, I created a new layer and selected the paintbrush tool. With a large, unfeathered paint brush and the foreground colour set to white, I coloured this layer completely white. I then selected the layer and dragged it to be underneat the illustration layer. 5. The penultimate step in this process involves the use of the eraser tool. With the illustration layer selected, I used the eraser tool to remove imperfections (including margains, smudges and pencil lines) from the illustration layer, revealing the white background layer created previously. This essentially ‘cleans’ the scanned image and makes it appear professional with an untextured, completely white background.I changed the brush size and amount of feathering according o what I was erasing, but was very careful to ensure that I did not ‘ruin’ the aesthetic of the Illustration while cleaning it up. Once I was happy, I flattened the image. 6. Finally, to ensure that the pen lines are as professional-looking, aesthetic and stand-out as possible, I used the ‘curves’ tool, pictured below, to increase the contrast of the image. Iwas very careful to ensure I did not damaged the aesthetic quality of the illustrations while doing this
Above: ‘Curves’ on Photoshop Overall I am very happy with the illustrations, and feel as though they accurately represent the feelings, meanings and atmosphere within Purity Ring’s album ‘Shrines.’ Following is an explanation of the imagery within each of the 11 illustrations.
1. Crawlersout Crawlersout is the first track on the album ‘Shrines.’ When listening to it, I felt as though the song is heavily focused on animalistic and ritualistic themes and that the song is a particularly dark song regarding the lyrics and the otherworldly, ethereal soundscapes. The song is particularly hard to identify with, featuring dark and sometimes grotesque imagery that is provoking and lyrically distressing. The lyrics to ‘Crawlersout’ can be found here, but the lyrics that I selected as the most visually stimulating and thought provoking lyric within the song was the line: ‘wild buffalo are dancing on clifftops in the sky.’ I felt as though this lyric conjured up the most images and thus would be best for creating an illustration.
Above: ‘Crawlersout’ Illustration Above is the illustration that I completed for the song ‘Crawlersout.’ Rather than literally illustrate the lyric that I chose, I decided to pick out elements in order to maintain minimalism. One thing that I felt was important regarding the aesthetic of these illustrations is that they are central and do not ‘run’ off the page, like a landscape might; I felt as though they must feature one subject or character and be
‘contained’ in surrounding negative space. Thus, I decided to only draw a buffalo’s head, cropping the scanned image in Photoshop later so that it was perfectly central. Between the buffalo’s eyes is a small symbol of a mountain, taking surreal, ritualistic imagery from the concept of ‘mountains in the sky.’
2. Fineshrine Fineshrine is the second song on the album ‘Shrines,’ and is a much more positive song than ‘Crawlersout’ regarding the music, but the lyrics continue the dark themes. Less animalistic and ritualistic, the lyrics within the song Fineshrine focus on human body parts, creating an overall dark and almost ‘clammy’ atmosphere. I selected the line ‘get a little closer let fold, cut open my sternum and pull my little ribs around you.’ The full lyrics can be found here.
Above: ‘Fineshrine’ Illustration' With this illustration, I wanted to be careful to avoid replicating the illustration on the actual ‘Shrines’ cover that features lungs, illustrating this song. Instead, I took the concepts of cutting open a person’s sternum and thus decided to draw a human
heart. I felt as though the drawing of a heart accurately represents the bodily and very human aspect of the song, but the fact that the heart is not a traditional, ‘heart shape’ rather a line drawing of an actual heart, introduces darker elements that are present within the lyrics. The decision to draw tree branches growing around the heart came from my own opinion that the song, and particularly the song’s lyrics, juxtaposes two elements; the dark, bodily and human side and the organic, powerful and natural side. I felt as though overall the result is aesthetic, surreal and continues the focus on body parts present within the lyrics.
3. Ungirthed The third song on the ‘Shrines’ Album is a song called ‘Ungirthed.’ I took inspiration from the line, ‘the dust of my knuckles familiar to culminated piles of bones,’ and created an illustration focusing loosely on the subjects of the lyric; I did not want to create something that was too restricted and controlled by the lyrics that I chose. The lyrics for the full song can be found here.
Opposite: ‘Ungirthed’ Illustration.
For Ungirthed, I chose this lyric because I felt as though it was ambiguous while still offering starting points for an illustration. I took the concept of a pile of bones and though about the connotations that it promotes; the main connotation I felt the line had was death. Taking elements from the animalistic nature of Purity Ring’s lyrics within many of their songs, I decided that the best animal to represent death was a vulture, known for scavenging on rotting flesh. I thus, through experimentation, was able to create the image opposite, featuring a skull to represent the ‘pile of bones’ with a vulture, whose claws have fused to the cranium. I felt this image infers the focus on death and darkness within the song ‘Ungirthed.’ The illustration is overall surreal and minimal meaning that it correlates with the two illustrations that I created previously. I felt overall that at this point a minimal, surreal yet clean aesthetic had been applied to all of my images. This was something I was eager to maintain across the 8 illustrations I had yet to complete, to ensure that all of the illustrations were consistent and aesthetic, appearing to be a set.
4. Amenamy Amenamy is the fourth song on the album ‘Shrines,’ and is the song that Julia and I used in the creation of our music video. The lyric that I selected amongst the full lyrics (seen here) was the line ‘breathe fruitfully at the gardendom that grew masterfully over your withering son.’ For this image, I decided to portray my own interpretation of the lyrics, sticking to the imagery created in the line I chose a large amount; thus I drew vines growing from the ground, up and around a human face, illustrating the ‘gardendom’ growing masterfully over [your] withering son. This image is surreal and unique and I feel as though it captures the lyrics successfully and aestheticsally. Above: ‘Amenamy’ Illustration
5. Grandloves
The fifth song on the album ‘Shrines,’ sounds like one of the most surreal, dark although calming songs on the album. However the experimental lyrics actually tell the story of a relationship, meaning that the themes are actually relatively mainstream when compared to other songs on the album. The song does still feature experimental lyrics, despite the fact that the story behind them is much more general and relatable than other songs. The line I chose was the line: ‘take all the little things away, seek all the dimensions that stray from my eyes.’ These are the full lyrics for ‘Grandloves.’
Above: ‘Grandloves’ Illustrations Taking the lyrics almost literally, I decided to draw a human eye with a ‘melting’ pupil, illustrating the staying dimensions from the characters eyes. I did consider drawing a tesseract, a 4 dimensional cube or ‘hyper’ cube, within the pupil, but found it too challenging. I feel the image is appropriately minimalistic. At this point, I had been able to create a series of successful illustrations that all convey the emotions and lyrics within each of their songs well while also using minimal, surreal
imagery consistently in order to maintain the concept that all of the illustrations and songs are part of the same product.
6. Cartographist The seventh song on the ‘Shrines’ album is a song entitled ‘Cartographist. The song overall has obscure meanings behind the lyrics, but a slow, dark and menacing atmosphere within the music. The full lyrics can be found here. The line that I felt was the most representative of the song was the line: ‘as I laughed in the light of the moon, was so close to the stem of the bloom.’
Above: ‘Cartographist’ Illustration I liked the eerie and mysterious connotations attached to the ‘light of the moon.’ It made me think of spiritualistic believes and culture, as well as the night and mysterious creatures. Thus, drawing loosely on the lyrics, I decided to illustrate a female – potentially the same character as seen in the ‘Amenamy’ illustration, with her hair blowing in the wind. Behind the character is a simple circle, illustrating the moon, creating the connotations that the woman is otherworldly and thus correlates
with the lyrics and the soundscapes within the song. I feel as though this image is particularly successful as it is simplistic, yet carries with it a great amount of appropriate and strange connotations, perfectly illustrating the song ‘Cartographist’ in my opinion.
7. Belispeak Belispeak is a song that I find particularly interesting regarding the meanings and connotations of the song; it speak of a guiding and motherly figure, while maintaining Purity Ring’s elusive, obscure and ambiguous style. The song appears to be sung from a child’s perspective, although the actual story or specific meaning behind the lyrics is shrouded in metaphors. The full lyrics to the song ‘Belispeak, overall a song which conveys fearful emotions, can be found here. The line I chose from this song was the line: ‘grandma the water is rising, my boundless hair has gotten green,’ a line which I feel is descriptive while still open to interpretation and thus a good line to use as the basis for an illustration.
Above: ’Belispeak’ Illustration I felt as though the concept of green hair was one that would make a visually stimulating image, and thus drew the same female character as seen in two previous illustrations. However, I felt as though the image needed more to it in order to successfully capture the ambiguity of the song ‘Belispeak’ and to correlate on
and aesthetic and stylistic value with the previous illustrations; thus I began thinking about ways to convey the concept of rising water. I was preoccupied with maintaining some of the animalistic themes seen within other illustrations and other lyrics and thus felt as though it would be appropriate to turn the hair of the character into a shark, which appears aesthetic and surreal. I order to convey a more feminine tone, while still keeping the image surreal, I decided to turn the tail of the shark – which would otherwise not be present, with the shark’s body melding into the characters hair – into a crown. I am very pleased with the resulting image and feel as though this illustration is particularly successful and expressive.
8. Saltkin Saltkin is, to me, another example of a song from Purity Ring’s ‘Shrines’ that conveys particularly bodily, human and animalistic tones. The line I chose does not necessarily convey accurately the rest of the song, conveying an almost sexual set of connotations while maintaining the dark themes, as opposed to the connotations listed above. I chose the lyrics for its uniqueness as opposed to its draw-ability; ‘still my sweating lips, wield my starving hips.’ The rest of the lyrics within the song ‘Saltkin’ can be found here. Below: ‘Saltkin’ illustration. The illustration for Saltkin began as more of an experiment than anything else; I was not entirely sure on what I wanted to create and thus decided to take the concept of ‘starving’ and draw a rib cage. Once I had begun drawing the rib cage I felt as though the bones actually looked like some kind of obscure insect. I decided to draw simplistic, minimal dragonfly wings protruding from the rib cage and later felt as though the illustrations was both visually stimulating and appropriate for reflecting the sound and themes within the song ‘Saltkin,’ reflecting concepts and imagery within the song that are not present within my chosen lyric, such as ‘the crawling animals’ and ‘the creepers blood.’
9. Obedear
The illustration that I created for the 9th song on ‘Shrines,’ entitled ‘Obedear’ is a personal favourite from the 11 illustrations that I completed. The song ‘Obedear’ is especially dark, with ambiguous meanings and particularly experimental, ethereal lyrics, which can be found here. The meaning behind this song is, once again, completely unclear, and here is a great amount of debate online regarding the actual lyrics to ‘Obedear,’ but the line that I selected as being the most unique, descriptive and representative of the song was the line ‘I came down over the sleeping mountains where are white tones plunged into the weeping shelter.’ However, while I was brainstorming this lyric, I found it particularly hard to come up with an idea for an illustration that would a, not rub off the page and b, be consistent with the minimalistic style of all of the previous illustrations. As a consequence of this, I revised the lyrics and selected a more simplistic, appropriate line: ‘grace it with their wind arrows.’
Above: ‘Obedear’ Illustration I found that drawing the female character, present in previous illustrations, was the most enjoyable; drawing people has always been one of my strongest artistic skills, especially when they are obscure and surreal looking, thus I found ways to incorporate my best skills into these illustrations, helping myself to ensure that all of
the images I drew were up to the same standard. Thus, I drew the female character – who, at this point, I see as being a representative of Megan James’, the lead singer, or a personification of the concepts within this song, and the few others that she represents – and use the concept of a ‘wind arrow,’ mentioned in the line I chose, and interpreted it into the character in order to convey cultural, otherworldly and overall strange emotions; I drew the arrow going through the characters head. The resulting image is by far one of my personal favourites; the character for ‘Obedear’ appears to be a kind of cultural, dark princess. I feel as though he quality of my ideas and illustrations definitely improved across the process of drawing the illustrations, potentially peaking at ‘Obedear.’
10. Lofticries Lofticries is a song about stoicism, life and death; even the music video to the song focuses on these concepts, showing four people a climactic moments in their lifetimes, who show no emotional reaction. The lyric that I chose as the most descriptive and illustrative within the song ‘Lofticries’ is the line: ‘let it seep through your sockets and ears into your precious ruptured skull.’ I felt as though this lyrics was particularly dark and that I was immediately able to draw up and illustration. The full lyrics to the song ‘Lofticries’ can be found here. Below: ‘Lofticries’ Illustration The lyric that I chose is quite open to interpretation, with the use of the word ‘it’ as opposed to a definitive substance or subject. Thus I decided to illustrate the lyric as though ‘it’ was a snake, as I felt as though snakes have interesting cultural connotations and that their slow, smooth motions replicate well the sound of the song ‘Lofticries.’I decided to draw a skeletal character for this illustration; she appears part alive, part dead, complementing the imagery, which features a snake quite literally seeping through [your] sockets and ears. I feel as
though this illustration is particularly grotesque, replicating the song and full album successfully. This image is amongst my favourites.
11. Shuck By far the most surreal, dark, meaningless, grotesque and yet simplistic song is the final song on the album ‘Shrines.’ Shuck is a short song featuring lyrics that are strange – even by Purity Ring’s standards – and minimal, unnerving soundscapes. The song is consequentially replicated in equally unnerving imagery. Like with the song ‘Obedear,’ I struggled to draw an appropriate illustration for the lyric that I original selected as my favourite: ‘I’ll pluck the long grass that grows from me and hide it in you.’ Consequentially, I changed the lyric that I would base my illustration around to the line: ‘I’ll pretend I’m blind in one eye and I’ll hide it in you.’ The full lyrics to Shuck can be found here.
Above: ‘Shuck ‘Illustration The shuck illustration is, again, amongst my favourites. I feel as though it is one of the darkest and most creative and aesthetically pleasing of all of the illustrations that I was able to complete. It definitely shows how my own ability improved from the first song, ‘Crawlersout,’ to the last, even within 11 drawings. I took the concept of being
blind in one eye and drew a female character with aged and gaunt aesthetic, whose hair features feathers and who wears an eye-patch. To replicate the especially dark themes I then ‘placed’ the characters missing eye on a crown that she wears, once again, like ‘Obedear,’ creating a character who is princess of her own surreal, twisted world. From here I can begin the Photoshop-based aspect of creating illustration artwork. I will be completing a great number of experiments and hosting them on a blog that I have already set-up: http://digipakdesignexperiments.tumblr.com The blog will simply show all of my experiments, though I do not have the time to explain every one. I will be creating many of these experiments as they are simple and easy to create, before I can begin choosing which illustrations will be used in the DigiPak artwork and whether or not I will feature one of every illustrations in a booklet that could potentially also feature lyrics. I am overall incredibly pleased with the illustrations that I have been able to produce; I feel as though they appear to be a successful set, maintaining the same surreal imagery across all 11 drawings, while they all replicate the themes on ‘Shrines’ and their individual songs. I am incredibly proud of this work.