drawing The Art of Dying | the Gojira project

basic shapes of the outro to The Art of Dying

Over the past few weeks, I've been working on drawing the background shapes for the outro section of "The Art of Dying".

I like to call that section "segment 11". It begins at about 5:55 and consists of several bars that are repeated for nearly 4 minutes.

drawing Gojira's "The Art of Dying": designing the paper sculpture from Rebekah Paulovich-Boucly on Vimeo.

This segment of the drawing is almost 3 meters long. I'm working on a set of shapes that repeat themselves down this full length. Once the loops weave together in just the right way, I'll start filling them in with detailed line work and shading (similar to what I did here).

further color tests

The technical challenges with the Gojira project have been quite incredible!

I've had to prepare a new set of color tests, because the first few didn't fully address some of the technical difficulties (length of the segments, depth of the black lines, superposition,).

To get rich black lines, the drawings have to be prepared in a more traditional style. This means the black inked outlines will be scanned separately from the shading. Then the 2 scans will be superimposed in photoshop.

Having the outline on a separate layer will also allow for a possible spot varnish. I'd really like this effect, but I'm not sure yet if it's technically viable!

This segment is approximately 80 cm wide, which is another challenge: it's not easy to find a place that scan such large sheets of paper.

I'm hoping these new tests will be more conclusive!

color proofs

The biggest challenges with the Gojira project have been technical issues, mainly dealing with scanning and printing the illustrations. I am planning to have 10 copies of the project printed and bound, as limited-edition artist books. The books are approx 90mm X 140mm, and contain 31 pages in an accordion-fold.

After quite a bit of searching, I was able to find a printer willing to take on this project, Les Arts Graphiques here in Nice. Megapom', a local photoengraver, will be scanning and treating the drawings. And finally, a local artist has agreed to hand-bind the books once they are printed and assembled. 

We did 6 tests, in quadrichromie and in bichromie. The best process appears to be quadrichromie with a layer of Pantone process black. This makes the outlines denser. Using quadri (instead of bichromie) also helps bring out the depth of the illustrations, by capturing the fine naunces of grey in the coloring.

What makes this project complicated is that the accordion-fold is very long (about 2.7 m). The accordion-fold will have to be printed out in 4 separate pieces, which I will then fold and assemble together. So we will really have to make sure the printing is even, and that there are no strong color variations between the different segments. 

The scanning process will take place in 2 steps: first, we'll scan the outlines, and then, after shading and texturing those outlines, I will have the full illustrations scanned a second time.

Then the 2 scans will be superimposed in Photoshop, which will help make the outlines very dense.

So I have quite a bit of work set out for me! I aim to have completed the outlines by the beginning of August, and begin working on the colors later during that month. Sometimes I wonder how many sets of copic liners and Tria markers I will need to finish this all!  

Gojira in the studio

I'm really loving the videos that Gojira have been posting of their work in the studio - especially the one of Mario drumming on the door. I'm really interested to hear what this experimental work will bring in the next album.

When I first heard Gojira signed to Roadrunner, I wasn't sure what to think - I had really liked the fact that they were really underground. But since their move, we've been getting a lot more interviews and communication from the band. I'm not yet used to seeing them marketed so much, but it's been interesting hear what they've got to say. I'm hoping this move will prove to be really positive for them.

The art of dying > i won't bring no...

Over the past few weeks, I've drawing the first chorus sequence in the Art of Dying. This is one of the central sequence within the song, it's quite heavily textured and absolutely mind-blowing.

 

Here's my original outline of the sequence:

 

The next step was filling in the forground and background, giving texture to the outline.

 

And then I began shading, using Tria markers in 12 shades of gray, to bring out the depth. 

I realized that the lettering has to been done separately and then added in with Photoshop, because the letters are quite fine and really interfer with drawing the hairline textures in the loops - the letters make it difficult to draw the textures in one continuous movement.

You can hear this sequence - which I've labelled sequence #7 - from 4:16 - 4:45 in the video below. 

Mechanical heartbeat

The Gojira project is moving right along - I feel like the past few weeks have been a bit more productive! In any case, it sure is difficult to balance a huge personal project like this one with my full-time day job doing graphic design.

I've been working a lot lately on the 1st verse of The Art of Dying. I've been refering to this section as "sequence 4," which you can hear from 2:17 in the video at the end of this post.

It's been a challenge, especially developing the background loops.

For this sequence, I wanted the foreground loops to be a little less present, and make the background loops a more important part of the composition - reflecting the balance between vocals and accompaniment.

The condensed, sans serif is to emphasize the linearity of the vocals, not to directly spell out the vocal line. I used some overlapping in the composition along with some extended ascenders and descenders to suggest the vocal texture and rhythmn.

Gojira in the studio

The guys from Gojira recently posted a lovely little photo and an update on their facebook page.

It's great to hear the new album is coming along, but I was especially happy to see the photo. Very cool to see the charts and how they work on their songs.

Photo Credit: Gabrielle Duplantier

A lot happened since our last message so we wanted to give you some news today and let you know we are still alive! We know you are all eagerly awaiting the Sea Sheperd EP release. We are sorry for the delay. Some of the material was on a hard drive that crashed but we are nearing the end of a long and difficult recovery process. Now the Good news: the new Album is ready! All the music and lyrics are waiting to be recorded. Joe is already in NY to check out the Studio and make sure everything is sorted so we can begin to record next month. A new website is being built and we are working on ways to improve the communication between the band and our fans. You guys fucking rule! Thanks!

the Gojira project > the process

Process has been an extremely important part of executing the Gojira / Art of Dying project. Since the project is so huge, I've tried to be a methodological as possible - asking myself, what is the best way to get the right type of results.

After working out the general structure and contour for the entire piece, I worked on finding the best techniques and materials to render the texture. This involved testing dozens of different pens, pencils, inks, markers and paper. 

These trial-and-error sessions helped me determine the right materials: tria markers in 12 shades of gray, and Copic multiliner pens in about 10 different thicknesses, on Inuit Ultra paper in blanc glacier.

I initially began the project by simply drawing in the Moleskine japanese-fold album. But this ended up being a problem: the tria markers and copic liners bleed through, making it impossible to work directly on both sides of the pages.

I then began working on separate sheets, which will be scanned and printed out in the same format as the japanese fold album. 

This has required a lot of tracing, and I had to adapt my working surfaces accordingly. I first was working on an Ikea table with a small lightboard... and the project quickly outgrew the table. I recently got a new table with a full glass top - which has become a huge lightboard, basically. It's a lot less cramped and I can get much smoother curves.

I'm wondering how many meters long the project will end up being... and sometimes I wonder what I've got myself into! :)

Gojira - The Art of Dying project: how a loop takes shape

When I'm drawing the different sequences in the the Gojira / The Art of Dying project, I use a lot of loops. I see the sound construction of the song as very circular.

During the drawing process, these loops go through many steps. The loop I've drawn here is a very small fill from the last sequence of the Art of Dying (minute 6:05).

Step 1: a basic, short-hand version of the loop.

Step 2: fleshing out the basic shapes of the loop and the thick thin contrast.  

Step 3: correcting the loop dynamics for rhythmn and movement.

 

And here is the finished loop-shape placed within the composition. 

Once I've finished drawing all the loops, I'll begin the coloring process. The entire composition will be against a black background, and the loops filled in with textured linework in blacks and greys, as in this example: 

 

Gojira - The Art of Dying project: how the paper sculpture works

Yesterday I posted several photos of the protoype paper sculpture structure for the Gojira-Art of Dying project. I put together this video to better explain how the paper sculpture works. It's a bit long (because the song is so long!). As the song plays, each corresponding loop of the paper sculpture is highlighted.

Gojira - The Art of Dying, paper sculpture from RPB on Vimeo.

First of all, I divided the song up into sequences according to how I visualize it. Each of these sequences works like a loop that circles around and around on itself, until you move onto the next loop. 

Now these sequences don't necessarily correspond to a proper musicological analysis of the song or even to the sections indicated in the sheet music. But that wasn't my intention either: I wanted to break the song down into the different sequences that I see synesthetically. 

One of the difficulties was working within the constraint of the 50-page moleskine format. This meant dividing up the sequences in a way that made sense, and also that worked out mathematically. 

The other constraint was developing a looping structure that functioned and that respected the layout of the different sequences. 

One of the really important points for me was to give enough importance to the chorus. These sequences are so powerful, and are really the central pivot within the song. 

I also decided to fill the entire reverse side of the japanese-fold album with one short sequence (sequence 11) that repeats itself over and over, in order to really emphasize the hypnotic quality of this passage. 

So once you've gone all the way to the end of the 50-page accordion fold, turned it over and came all the way back, you end up back at the beginning again. The entire project consists of loops, from its initial form, to the breakdown in sequences, to the drawing of each sequence - in which the sound itself is in loops... it all breaks down to the cycle of life and death.