The song I chose for this assignment is Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Little Wing’. It was first released in 1968. The song elicits strong impressions of the era’s popular music. In my opinion, it is psychedelic in nature with hints of blues rhythm blended throughout the piece. Aspects of the song includes guitar strums that are rich in curvature and are complemented by the dotty sound of the bell that is heard in the background. The guitar fingerpicking heard in the beginning of the song causes distortions in the mind all the while the vocals carry you up like wings of angel or bubbles rising up slowly to the surface. Both the light bell and the guitar strumming convey a contrast; providing gentle and heavy sections. I believe this clues the listener in to Hendrix’s desire to convey the range of emotions that are characteristic of love, passion and infatuation as Hendrix continuously makes reference to a woman in the song. The lyrics also speak on the woman’s erebral nature which includes thoughts on butterflies, zebras and moonbeams, which I have used as a motif in my assignment. 

Discover:  The above image is my first attempt at ideating a visual image for the song I chose. As I was drawing, I settled on the concept of using stars and dots to represent the sound of the bell playing in the background.  The song never felt sharp or abrupt to me so I tried to use lines as little as possible. It is a song that made me think in terms of curves and swirls. The swirls drawn throughout represent both the guitar strumming and the wind. I thought about the wind as a concept because of the numerous parts of the song that were light in nature and of course it goes hand in hand with the concept of wings. The lyrics in the song mention butterflies and zebras so I incorporated those elements as well.

 

Define: These are the 12 boxes that I drew that pulled inspiration from the ideation phase. I incorporated elements that I mentioned previously: curves, swirls, dots and butterflies. I did add in some flowers in the 9th and 11th box because of the cover art of the song which also had an influence in my creative process. It’s reminiscent of hindu art and the flowers are just a small call back to this.

 

Cover Art

Develop:  Above are my final 6 boxes. I narrowed it down to these patterns because I feel like cohesively they represent the song the best I could have made it to be. Each of them incorporate motifs that I kept throughout the whole design phase, from the dots that represent the bell and the swirls that represent the wind and lightness displayed throughout the song. 

Deliver:  Off the bat this project was a little difficult because I never had to visualize a song, let alone in patterns. I was a bit confused so I settled with a song that was not my favorite but allowed me to easily conceptualize something that corresponded with the assignment. In terms of completing the assignment, I feel that I hit every necessary mark. I completed each tasks with their respective deadlines so I have no qualms with that. I do not know if I could have done this project better because my main issues started and ended with my artistic abilities. Right now I feel like I need more practice in honing my art skills so I can better execute my vision. Maybe in a year from now after consistent practice I could do the assignment better. It was very interesting to work with ink. As someone who loves to erase mistakes in drawing, it really did test my comfort level and patience to work with such a permanent medium. I actually had to redo my boxes like twice because of small mistakes that could not be undone. Overall, I gained experience with working with a medium I am not familiar with and learned to test my creative mindset with this project. 

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