The figure itself is taken from this photograph which was drawn and coloured in photoshop. The lettering (all Gainsbourg compositions) is all hand-drawn. I thought that it would be interesting to show the various stages behind the creation of the text jacket.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZX8L7y4ZRmi41XUkxbJwMGur_gTWzC3qV64BuIgbn_wD2PgZKA2oau-llVXYf4TdlT74VkR1LIyymfigmKSz4aFCXt7v3GOsH5BW2k1cszdfwRGgzfhCdd8LOMrMmwSk41JOQpO8Moo/s400/sergesuit.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZX8L7y4ZRmi41XUkxbJwMGur_gTWzC3qV64BuIgbn_wD2PgZKA2oau-llVXYf4TdlT74VkR1LIyymfigmKSz4aFCXt7v3GOsH5BW2k1cszdfwRGgzfhCdd8LOMrMmwSk41JOQpO8Moo/s400/sergesuit.jpg)
I decided that it would be too labour intensive to use my Bamboo tablet to draw the text. So I printed the basic shape of the jacket onto A4 and the traced the outline on to layout paper. I added the lettering quite loosely and then began to ink.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifvAoTWVBfznQ7Ihx6Qsh26RwaKCn4yLcv2x9FNx2p421eD0ARKkdkSHN43wBpCbLSR20E62IkHgbu-04dlNaxJoE32Uen2xIWqK2ADX8jbZetVugk-95pCMdU6rDDbZQtLUSQQZHIMJ8/s400/sergesuit2.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifvAoTWVBfznQ7Ihx6Qsh26RwaKCn4yLcv2x9FNx2p421eD0ARKkdkSHN43wBpCbLSR20E62IkHgbu-04dlNaxJoE32Uen2xIWqK2ADX8jbZetVugk-95pCMdU6rDDbZQtLUSQQZHIMJ8/s400/sergesuit2.jpg)
It quickly became apparent that working at A4 was very restrictive, even with a 0.25 pen and my choice of using layout paper was a mistake as it soaked up the ink. You can see, in the bottom left hand corner, an ever growing list of song titles that I was dissatisfied with and had noted for later retouching. Despite these problems I soldiered on as I wanted to take a break from the computer and try and tackle a project with pen & paper.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij3AkUOhwu5qrEVyn0DypevKbLyaegCGLFv6l3CQ4NPfTQ-oeGbDoJ2cb_pAnhNYGBNpXktmCqvJ-CHbqlzwCaauZlqM_rg2se4Y0tU5Wym2jKYlfYvdTrfbPark0C8lOJAqL5wzla3Cw/s400/Serge+suit+3.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij3AkUOhwu5qrEVyn0DypevKbLyaegCGLFv6l3CQ4NPfTQ-oeGbDoJ2cb_pAnhNYGBNpXktmCqvJ-CHbqlzwCaauZlqM_rg2se4Y0tU5Wym2jKYlfYvdTrfbPark0C8lOJAqL5wzla3Cw/s400/Serge+suit+3.jpg)
My eagerness to include all of my favorite songs led to the very squashed text on the shoulders of the jacket, making the whole thing look uneven. To eliminate this I would have to go into photoshop and reconstruct the layout. This turned out to be immensely liberating and the final jacket, after intensive copying, pasting, re-sizing and re-touching and a lot of re-drawn text, is very different to the pen version above.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExUl5ltfFoT_XMkftdUSbBX5qOTEF7GZLh-EuI2ZfPCFx9mZxQg44CWtw6_7tNXG1UCtxJ52BNpLd-eKAKh0TNerj5WlrNCHtOGBH5n3ZLxMdILJbtuoBKONrfGOhO6fFfEKodDBzjso/s400/French-Letters-jacket.jpg)
Overall a very enjoyable project with some important lessons to be learnt along the way. Add to that the fact that I worked exclusively to a Gainsbourg soundtrack I'm already hatching ideas for my next Draw Serge submission.
No comments:
Post a Comment