Project Flashback: Secret 7

As things have been a little busy lately with client work and getting my new website prepped, I don’t have much in the way of new illustration work to share. So, I thought I’d revisit an old fave for this post! This is the piece I created for 2016’s ‘Secret 7’. The project invited creatives from all over the world to take part by designing a custom 7″ record sleeve. The sleeve design had to be inspired by one of seven songs chosen by the organisers and the only restriction was that it couldn’t feature the musicians name or the track title (hence the secret bit!). Successful entries were then printed along with the vinyl record and auctioned off for charity at the London exhibition.

I chose the Tame Impala track ‘The Less I know The Better’ for my piece. Though I wasn’t selected to be included in the show, I really enjoyed getting lost listening to the track and delving into my underwater theme! The song is pretty melancholy and dripping with rejection, so I liked the idea that this spurned lover was perhaps a water demon that had been banished to the watery depths, waiting ’10 years’ until they can return to their sweetheart and carving off each year on the rock as it passes. I used oil pastels, watercolour and pencil for this piece.

Secret 7

I took part in this year’s Secret 7. A nice, inspiring project which invites creatives from all over the world to interpret designs for 7” record sleeves based on one of 7 songs chosen each year. The designs are not allowed to feature the artist name or track title (hence the secret bit!). Whilst my entry wasn’t selected for the charity exhibition I was really glad I took part. I chose to create a piece for the Tame Impala track ‘The Less I know The Better’ a melancholy song with hints of unrequited love, lust and longing.

I wanted to push my conceptual thinking but found it tricky to choose an idea. Finding a way to reflect the themes of the song without feeling too obvious or being influenced by existing media attached to it. Eventually it was the electronic sounds that inspired me the most. I felt they had an underwater-like quality to them conjuring imagery of ripples and watery light. I also enjoyed the lyric ‘Wait ten years we’ll be together’.

I imagined that the lover in the song was banished to an isolated underwater lair and forced to wait, striking off each year on a seaweed covered rock until they could return to their love. Something like that. I’m pretty pleased how the final piece turned out. It uses a mixture of watercolour, oil pastel and pencil. It helped me to explore use of composition and layers texture.