Art Gallery Song: Process of Drawing Them

This is the post of all my art this summer. At the very beginning of summer I asked around for song suggestions. After I had a few, I asked them to vote on their favorite song out of the selection. The winner was BY YOUR SIDE by TENTH AVENUE NORTH. That began the process for me, along with a little extra debating whether or not I really wanted to draw this song.

Now, I don't think that I have explained the process of "drawing songs". When ever I have asked people in the past they have asked me, "how do you draw a song?!" I just smile. Now I will reveal my process.

It all starts with researching songs. unless its requested by someone you have to have some options open. The songs have to be ones that you like and can listen to over and over and over again. It also helps if the songs have a story behind them, a deeper meaning to you than it may to another person. This helps motivate you through all of the pictures. Some songs, (as seen in Radioactive) have very few pictures in them. This is the start of the concept.

For me when I listen to songs, I visualize images to go along with the song. Interestingly enough its different everytime. This is why I enjoy listening to it a lot. For Radioactive it took me about a week to develop a concept. Concepts are sometimes hard to gain. Especcially if you have never heard the song bfore, or are unfamiliar with it. For me I have had the Lightbulb! epiphenies, and the long thought about hard earned concepts. Once I have a concept its onto getting the lyrics.

I have used many websites for lyrics, but the one I found that has the most accurate lyrics is azlyrics.com . This website has older songs others may not have. I search for my song, and once it comes up I open a blank document. I then copy and paste the lyrics into the document and if the chorus isnt posted after each verse I insert it. I do this because i dont want to use the same picture for every chorus. Its too repetitive for me. After I insert the chorus I print out this sheet.

This is where I grab three pens. All different colors. If you have a pencil, thats also benificial to this part. With the fist color (I prefer red) I go through the lyrics, and break it into sections. With the second color, I pick a word that summarizes the section of lyrics, AND goes along with my theme. (For Radioactive my theme was storybook, so I chose words like Brave, War, Confidance, etc) With the third color I draw a thumbnail sketch of what I want the picture to look like, and where I want the word. I dont do detail, just little stick figures. this helps me later when I actually draw the picture to see the idea, and use it as a guideline for the final piece.

Once the thumbnails are done (reference pictures are convienient when planning a picture) I get a paper for each section, one for the title page, and one for the end, it will remain blank. I do this because when I pull it out to show people what I can do when commission requests come in it looks more professional. It also hides any bled through papers. I just like that plain piece; to me thats what makes it complete.

After the papers are retrieved I sketch!! And I sketch !!! and I sketch!! until I get a picture I like. At first keep the lines light and soft, it erases easier. once you have what you want, darken the lines. In my songs, I like to keep the pictures in black and white instead of color because 1) i do my words in color, and the b&w background makes it stand out more 2) I am better at shading than coloring.

I try to choose colors that compliment the words. (for example with War I used red and black; suggesting the darkness of war, and the bloodshed. with confidance I used yellow; suggesting a lighted path)

Here is where it gets tricky. I put it all together in a paperclip and tada!!!! I have a song. Some take longer than others depending on how you split it. but that is my process to draw songs.

This post turned out longer than I thought it would be, so the next post will be all my art this summer in one song! I am just happy I finally finished it :)