New Angel
album art
The Brief
Create artwork that brings to life one of the songs from Niall Horan’s album, Heartbreak Weather, for a TalentHouse creative brief.
Design Challenge
Bringing to life the narrative and feelings of a song is highly subjective and can be interpreted in many ways. Moreover, since this was a global contest with thousands of participants sending in entries, I had to make sure my work was distinct.
The Outcome
Vibrant artwork for the song, New Angel, that draws the viewer's attention. The song is about finding a distraction (a new angel) to get over someone. In this minimal piece, we see a person plunging straight into a pool of water, metaphorically signifying 'getting back out there'. The concentric curves seen in the water emulate the shape of angel wings. Using paper marbling with acrylic and digital illustration, the brilliancy of the greens and blues make the piece stand out whilst inducing a calming, approachable effect.
Solo project
Project Duration: 2 weeks (June 2020)
Recognition: Awarded 'Popular Choice' by TalentHouse
The Idea
While listening to the song, I carefully went through the lyrics and made notes / highlighted keywords. I tried imagining the narrative and picking up different interpretations of the lyrics. This helped me build visuals through rough sketches.
The Technique
I wanted this to be a simple yet powerful piece and I knew the medium or technique of execution would be critical. Instead of taking a picture or illustrating water, I wanted to use a more fluid medium that was difficult to control. This could add to the meaning that we have no control over the future. All we can do is our best.
I decided to use paper marbling so I experimented with oil and paint drops in a water bath, paint on shaving foam and acrylic on water. While using oil, I was getting spotty textures and with shaving foam, the patterns looked very opaque. With acrylic I could manipulate the intensity of pigment. I used the Japanese technique of Suminagashi to get the final result. I could build concentric layers while retaining a certain amount of transparency I desired.
The Final
I could see multiple forms in the effect I achieved. There was enough light and depth and it looked like an aerial image of water. The gold paint I used made it look like sun glitter. The untainted paper resembled a diving board or a shooting star. Moreover, the curves reminded me of outlines of angel wings. After photographing the paper, I drew a vector silhouette of a person diving.
