Ideas Generation: SMART Objective for Sign-Off

Ideas generation


For this digital painting project I will be either using the concept of the "After Life" or the concept of "Music" . I will create a set of 4/5 artworks which are connected by the subject and the use of the same colours and techniques. However each one will represent a different perspective of what is the concept. For this project I attend to use professional software of illustration and digital drawing. I will be developing my drawing sAkills and I will learn how to draw digitally since it is my real first attempt doing it.


Initial Research on the After Life Concept

What Happens when we die?

Death and our purpose in the world have been a taboo for society since a long time ago. Science, art, philosophy and Religion have debated it for centuries and yet we still don't have a concrete answer.

Many artists such as Gustave Klimt, Paul Gaugin, Edvard Munch, Benji Wester, Henry Fuseli, along with others have tried to represent what they think about the subject. One of my favourite examples is the painting of Gustave Klimt entitled “Death and Life”, made between 1908 and 1915.

Death and Life by Gustav Klimt

This artwork is clearly divided in two halves. In the left side death is represented through the classical grim reaper, a grinning skull, covered in a dark robe.In the right side we see a group of young women laid in a flower bed that represents the purity and beauty of life.

However, different theories of what happens after life have been made. For example,budism believes in the cycle of death and rebirth, known commonly as reincarnation, that means for Buddhists taking on another body in their next life, since they don’t believe in the existence of souls.

On the other hand, catholic Christians believe in Purgatory, Heaven and Hell. Similarly, muslims believe that their soul will go with the Angel of Death to be judged whether it should go to Jannat, paradise, or Jahannam, Hell.

For the spiritualists, the afterlife is a realm where spirits continue to evolve and they believe that souls can interact with those who still live on earth through mediums.

All in all, every religion sees the afterlife in a different way and one of my ideas is to try to illustrate some os these in a set of drawings.

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However I had one more idea that I would like to realize for this project so I decided to do further research but this time about the Music concept in order to chose later which one I would prefer to do.

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Initial Reaserch in the concept of Music

It goes without saying that music can be divided into different genres, depending in the tiype of instruments used. For example, if the piece was being played in a certain style using orchestral instruments, then we could classify it as classical music. Similarly, if the instruments were highly distorted guitars, we would classify as rock or heavy metal. Other genres are based on instruments and timing. Blues music uses a series of patterns and is played by a traditional live band using guitars and a drum kit.

Visual art and music have always influenced each other’s mutually. From the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, however, Western artists sought something more than the usual symbiosis between art forms. They strained to evoke music’s rhythms, structures, and tones in their work

Different genres of music can transmit us different emotions so, for my project I would like to illustrate with a landscape what 5 different genres transmit me. For example, I would probably choose some of the most famous ones such as rock or heavy metal, classical, pop and techno.

Classical Music

The word "classical" is actually a period of time in Western Art Music that describes the music of Haydn, Mozart and early Beethoven, as well as other composers who lived at that time. The general time designations are Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern. However, the term "Classical Music" has come to be known as a term for a genre of music that spans the course of hundreds of years, including all the music from Palestrina to Stravinsky, to the current day. Many people are unaware that Classical music is still being composed today, although it is far different than what was created several hundred years ago.

Photo taken from Classical Fm

Rock

Driving, intense, energetic, and almost always loud, rock music was the most popular form of music for decades before hip-hop went mainstream. Dominating the airwaves for nearly 50 years, rock spawned dozens of sub-genres – everything from intricate, lyrical folk-rock to the most brutal forms of extreme death metal. It’s played in small bars and sold-out arenas, garages and concert halls, and has made its mark all over the world.

Rock Music

Techno

Techno music was created by the british engineer John Peel and the british DJ John Digweed. These two man were looking for a new musical genre to put out on the radio and created what is now known as techno. They combined progressive metal, jazz and blues to create something that is very similar to what it sounds like today. However, as the music started getting more mainstream, producers started making it more danceable and more people began to hear it. Nowadays, this genre is commonly heard in parties for example.

Pop Music

The term "Pop music" does not refer specifically to a single genre or sound, and its meaning is different depending on the time and place. Within popular music, "pop music" is often distinguished from other subgenres by stylistic traits such as a danceable rhythm or beat, simple melodies and a repeating structure which are reminiscent of the songs of vocalists such as Karen Carpenter and Roberta Flack. Pop song lyrics are often emotional, relating to love or dancing.

References:

Lowell Hohstadt, What is "classical Music"?[online], Available from: https://www.lowellhohstadt.com/what-is-classical-music

Musical dictionary, What is Rock Music? [online] Available from: https://musicaldictionary.com/what-is-rock-music/

Oneedm, What is Techno [online] Available from: https://oneedm.com/columns/automated/what-is-techno/

New York Encyclopedia, Pop music [online] availavle from: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/pop_music