I've never been a music guy. I can probably count on one hand the number of albums I've actually bought in my life. I read books as a kid, comics and otherwise. I guess you could say that in some ways I'm very literally minded. So I didn't really like the assignment at first. I'm not into analyzing music so I wasn't sure what I'd come up when I found song to go with.
I started out looking for a blues song done with some interesting instrumentals. Some thing with a nice rhythm and some depth. I've always liked Jethro Tull it's one of the few groups I've really listened a lot to in my life. They had a few good blues songs but most of them had some lyrics in them. So I switched gears and just started looking for a general Tull instrumental piece. Youtube led me to their version of Greensleeves and I knew I had my song.
My first thought when I Jethro Tull's Greensleeves was, Wow I really like Greensleeves better then I remember. This was a light and airy take on the traditional folk tune. It had just enough rock and roll to feel modern but Ian Anderson's flute work also kept it close to it's roots. Checking out some other versions of the song I realized that my attraction to the piece was almost entirely in this groups version. I was reminded the song has words but chose to ignore that fact for two reasons. First I didn't really remember them and I didn't want to have them on inform my work at all. Second, with lyrics and performed in the traditional manner Greensleeves can be one of the most boring songs in the world.
Choosing to focus primarily on how Tull's version of Greensleeves differs from other versions of the song was a boon for me however. There is a light airy playfulness to their version of the song. The performers repeat the melody over and over again with instruments dancing within the piece in solos duets and ensemble. These would be the elements of the song I would riff on for my piece.
I guess I had decided to do something like a graphic novel even before I knew the assignment. Music has such a strong dimension of time in it that sequential art seemed like a natural fit so I started trying to form a story from the elements of the song. Greensleeves as a song has a lot of themes tied to it already. It's fairly old as songs go and has a lot of tradition to it. The music in all it's versions always seems to have a pastoral feel to it. With the lighter qualities of this rendition I saw flowers. Combined with the tradition this tune brings with it I felt and classic English flower garden would be the perfect setting for my story. A traditional natural feeling but not quite natural place.
My ideas starting to gel I focused on the theme of my two works. I wanted to highlight the playfulness I felt in the song as well as the “variation on a theme” I felt the musicians put in the song. For the playfulness I imagined fairies dancing and playing amongst the garden. Starting out as individuals and eventually dancing together and combining. That would be the majority of the work done in black and white panels I estimated about 4-5 pages.
For my color piece I was going to do the cover in color. Focusing on the garden in general. I planed to take the garden in general create an outline drawing of it, divide it up into radial sections and color each section with a different color scheme. Using the color variations to hearken to the variation on theme expressed in the song.
My drawing skills aren't that great so my plane was to find a well photographed garden on-line. Use GIMP and the photographs to generate cutouts and line drawings of the images in the garden. Then trace my backgrounds onto my work. The characters would be cartoon sketched. This seemed to be working in the conception stage. But as I started to work on my character sketches I realized I had to rethink my BW composition.
Back to the drawing board. My new thoughts where simplify simplify simplify. I reliably draw the same image twice to my satisfaction then I'll go with very basic shapes. I would turn the fairies into just two shapes moving through my BW piece. The garden no longer fit so I would go with a very simple background that represented the music it's self. I would go abstract with the story.
I decided rather then drawing my black and white piece I'd do it collage style. Four individually framed panels implying times and motion. Cut the shapes I wanted from bristol board and use paint, ink, and magic marker to provide the shades I need. It will be all lines and solid shape. Furthermore I'll really be able to focuses on the layout that way.
My color piece will still be along the same lines as I had thought. I'm sticking with the garden theme. Hopefully Butchart Gardens in British Colombia. I'm going to be using colored art markers for my piece. Playing with the line weight and color combo.
All together I've been trying to focus on the process as much as the out come. Really trying to focus on the design elements I've learned from class. As well as some of the techniques Scott Mccloud highlighted in the text. Pulling what I want into the piece as much with specific elements as well as the gestalt.
