Rébekah Paulovich

graphic designer and colorist

Log

drawing The Art of Dying

Project in progress.

The Gojira project first began as an extension of the “Shapes for sound” theme that I’ve been exploring in my art over the past few years. Because I have strong sound→color+shape synesthesia, noise and music take on a whole different dimension that I find intensely fascinating.

Goijra is a French death metal band that has a very particular sound I enjoy because it is so thickly textured, rhythmically and melodically.

The song The Art of Dying, from Gojira’s album The Way of all Flesh, brings together an incredible combination of melody, rhythm and structure that form intensely beautiful – practically hypnotizing – colors and shapes for me.

My drawing of The Art of Dying is an interpretation of my synesthetic experience while listening to the song.

The drawing, realized with copic liners and Tria markers, will be printed as a 31-page accordion-fold notebook, 140 mm X 90 mm. This artist’s book will be an extremely limited edition, with 15 numbered, hand-bound copies.

Cuts in certain page folds will allow the book to be folded and assembled together as a paper sculpture representing the structure of the song, as I imagine it. I broke the song down into sequences, and I interpret each sequence as being a sort of loop.

This cyclical structure also represents the subject matter of the song – going from birth to death and perhaps beginning all over again. I also have felt that using synesthesia to draw the song is particularly appropriate – Maureen Seaberg’s recent book on synesthesia mentions how Tibetan monks consider the stages of death as leading towards a sort of synesthesia or union of the senses.

Preparing the final drawings is proving to be highly technical and complicated process. I’m currently closely working with a photoengraver and a printer to find the right process and inks to best print the project.

Sequence 2 (intro with guitars): textures and shading of the foreground loops.

Sequence #1 : intro drumming sequence, preparatory sketch of the foreground

Sequence #1 : intro drumming sequence, foreground and background. To be colored and textured.

Sequence #2 & 3 : initial guitar theme

Sequence 2 (intro with guitars): textures and shading of the foreground and background loops.

Sequence 2 (intro with guitars): test section. linework for the foreground and background. I first do all the linework, which is scanned separately. Then I begin the coloring process, which is then also scanned. Then the 2 scans are combined together in photoshop.

Sequence 2 (intro with guitars): test section. linework which has been colored.

Sequence 2 (intro with guitars): cromalin color proofs of a test section. I am working with a photoengraver and printer to find the right inks and the right process for printing the project.

sequence #4: the first 2 verses

Sequence 4 (beginning of first verse): textures and shading of the foreground and background loops.

Sequence 4 (beginning of first verse): textures and shading of the foreground and background loops.

Sequence 7 (chorus): preparatory sketch of the foreground.

Sequence 7 (chorus): hand-drawn type

Sequence 7 (chorus): preparatory sketch, hand-drawn type

Sequence 7 (chorus): preparatory sketch of the foreground.

Sequence 7 (chorus): preparatory sketch of the foreground.

Sequence 7 (chorus): textures and shading for foreground and background. type will be added add at later stage.

Sequence 7 (chorus): textures and shading for foreground and background. type will be added add at later stage.

Chorus (sequence #7): break in between the main sections of the chorus.

sequence #10: last 4 minutes of the song, which consist of 4 measures repeated over and over.

sequence #10: sketch of the foreground and background loops. This set of loops is repeated 12 times on the back of the accordion-fold book.

sequence #10: my graphic notation of the last half of the song. This is how I am working out the 12 sets of loops.

sequence #10: my graphic notation of the last half of the song. This is how I am working out the 12 sets of loops.

My graphic notation of the first half of the song. The song is composed of a series of sequences that are distinctly different from each other. I see each sequence functioning as a sort of loop.

I began drawing the project in a Moleskine japanese-fold 31-page notebook. Cuts in the page folds will allow the album to be folded and assembled together in a paper sculpture that represents the structure of the song.

A prototype (without cover or drawings) of the paper sculpture created by folding the book.

A prototype (without cover or drawings) of the paper sculpture created by folding the book.


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