A - Z: B is for...

Following on from Aretha Franklin at the starting line, here's Black Sabbath...

Have really got in to 70's era Black Sabbath in the last few years. Really appreciate the really heavy unique sound they created, all done with real conviction and relish. More than that though, really appreciate the songcraft, melodies, light and shade that they offer, it's not just all one gear turgid heavy (something that I've got problems with with a lot of the sounds that stemmed from them). It sounds obvious to me that they really learnt from the songcraft of The Beatles before them, they just dragged it down in to a damp open grave.

 

This started off as an ink drawing with ink washes applied. It's been some time since I applied ink washes, happy with the noise and dirt they subtlely added to the mix, a sidestep from the usual combo of clean ink work then Photoshop colouring. Will definitely be utilising it more often, hopefully with more confidence, in the future. 

 

 

 

Not 100% happy with how Tony Iommi turned out, he looks like a random footballer from the 70's. I am happy though, with the background tower/bell, I like the hazy look of the ink wash without being supported by any heavy ink linework.

A - Z: A is for...

 

I've had the idea floating about my head for some time to alphabetically create a series of illustrations of musical acts. Hopefully, utilise styles/techniques that are sympathetic to the subject matter in each case, but maybe more importantly, utilise differing working methods for the sheer sake of shaking things up for myself.

 

Lately I've got into a bit of a rut of doing comic-booky working method of creating clean inks, scan them in, clean them up, then flat colouring in Photoshop so it seemed that now was a perfect time to give this a go. There's no defined schedule on this or anything else imposed, so hopefully I put this to positive, fruitful use going forward.

 

With this series I want to be able to break a few eggs along the way, not be too precious and use whatever gets the job done, pencil, ink, watercolour, paint, vector, texture scans, maybe try out new techniques and materials. Basically rip it up and have fun. Regarding creating fresh work lately, have been a bit zapped with usual life and 9 to 5, so hopefully this project on the side gives me a bit of fire and incentive to attack the drawing board with a bit more relish.

 

Have been listening to a bit of old soul this weather, Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, so there was little doubt in my mind to kick things off with the Queen of Soul. In a weird way, due to the recognition she's received and lack of obscurity think it's easy to be a bit dismissive of Aretha. Stuck on 'I Never Loved A Man' album while working on this, it's the definition of class with a side order of 'oomph'. Hopefully there's a little drop of that oomph that she delivers in this...