Set Project: First Page - A Day In The Life

Today, I finished sketching and outlining the first page of the song A Day in the Life. I decided to start with this song first of all because it has an engagement lyric with a lot of inspiration that came from the daily plots. I thought that I can enlarge some facts in a continuously illustrative story. My inspirations when I was creating this page: Monthy Python and Panton and motif from psychedelic lava lamp. 

I expected to do the whole lyric not exceeding one page. However, I have one issue. I did not specify hierarchy and leadings with the lyrics. Surely, they will be beneath the drawings. Although, I did not expect that some of the lyrics are a bit longer, therefore I extend the spectrum of pages per song. Each one should take one page, but there is an exception with A day in the life, there it took whole 2 pages. Therefore, I do not know how to count the number of outcomes for the project. I can count them as two outcomes, virtually the song splits into two parts. It starts with John reading news which lasts for two verses, then after combination with classic intermedium comes Paul with ''wake up''. I can assume it as two separate contributions mixed with the psychedelic background. 

The Beatles, A Day In The Life, 1967

Here I paste the lyric to explain step by step what I done:

I read the news today, oh boy

About a lucky man who made the grade

And though the news was rather sad

Well, I just had to laugh

I saw the photograph

He blew his mind out in a car

He didn't notice that the lights had changed

A crowd of people stood and stared

They'd seen his face before

Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords

I saw a film today, oh boy

The English Army had just won the war

A crowd of people turned away

But I just had to look

Having read the book

I'd love to turn you on

Woke up, fell out of bed

Dragged a comb across my head

Found my way downstairs and drank a cup

And looking up, I noticed I was late

Found my coat and grabbed my hat

Made the bus in seconds flat

Found my way upstairs and had a smoke

And somebody spoke and I went into a dream

I read the news today, oh boy

Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire

And though the holes were rather small

They had to count them all

Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall

I'd love to turn you on

(I apologise for the bad light) The first strip begins with the scene when John was reading a newspaper. For a continuation of the story of ''lucky man who made a grade'' I drew the clovers and the transition between the scenes in form of photograph. Furthermore, I needed to depict the social status of the driver. I was searching for attributes of the House of Lords, it was not easy to find something particular. I came up with the wig, which I reckon, is a traditional accent.

The verse with ''he blew his mind'' I took a bit of fantasy by drawing the ''frozen'' scene with a flowing body, crashed head in front of the street lights. By remaining his attitude of stopping the car, I drew the black puddle ''the break'' and his hand with the gesture. At the end of the strip, I placed the group of people starring at the scene. In the background, I left the space for wavy colourful objects, in order to exaggerated the influences and introduce the next verses of the song.  

The next box I left for the lyric.

 And as the next part of the song starts with ''I saw a film today'', I took an opportunity to repeat the drawing with my head, but this time I indicated the TV screen with crushing glass. The glass supposes to reminds the war movie that he had watching. To show the won war, I placed a stick of the flag and a victory sign. Virtually, the last two verses are confusing. Something starts and being interrupted by another case. This time it was with a verse about reading a book which finished the strip.

After experimenting with classic interlude comes Paul. The rhythm is changing, more refreshing, like following heart's beats. He captured the morning routine. It starts with ''woke up,.. dragged a comb across my heart.'' Therefore, simultaneously listening to the song I drew the ringing clock as well (according to the sound). Moreover, the hair is mostly emphasised on this side. By words ''my way downstairs and drank a cup'' Following these words, I simply exaggerated the cup in a first-person sight. Thereafter, I was having fun with implementing the clock with the bus sign. To make an extraordinary transition within upstairs and smoke, I recollected a dream by Panton's shapes and psychedelic basis.

On the second strip, the song continues with John's state of mind. The lyric starts with ''I read the news today'' Which, in order to keep an ongoing connection, I applied the same motif with his head and newspaper. Nevertheless, 4000 holes in Blackburn would be impossible to picture. In this case, I made an impression as the dots slowly drifting away from the paper. I left the impression of spreading in various size dots. When it comes to ''they have to count them all'', I had a problem. To keep the last decade aesthetic, I needed to reflect in as many ways as possible. Therefore, a calculator would not be a good solution. I came up with an abacus. Which is enough recognizable enough. At the end of the song, his thoughts from the last verses come through fit all the holes in the Albert Hall. I found how this building looks like, and in order to fit it into an inscription, I have rotated it in a diagonal direction. When the track slowly comes to the end and the harder classical part recalls, I capture it by whirled line.

For the background and empty spaces, I used Panton's inspired shapes within the vivid colours, which I will paint later on. 

There I took a picture of the part with overlapping the sketch with a blank sheet. Then I redrew the page.

The finished sheet I used for drawing out the sketch with fine line pens. 

There is a shoot taken for comparishment of both sheets.

Before I started to redrawing first strip, I had to made a samples of thickness of each of fine line pencil.

From Python, I took the shadings and shapes. It was not that easy as it seems to be. I needed to draw a lot of dots, still, I am not sure whether I reached that effect. I found it quite satisfying work. Building the shapes through ink pens in various thickness giving more depth to the drawing.

However, I have an impression that I should let myself deeper into the structure. I was drawing it much later after I finished the sketch. Therefore, sometimes I tried to recollect what the particular line meant. The graphite is usually prone to abrasion and some of the important silhouettes blurred. It is a shame, anyway, I can't change it. I needed to recall the memories and my feelings from the day when I sketched this. In order to complete this, I (re)played the song and then as if by magic I could fill the blank spaces.

I started with a thinner one, I had established that the background will be less visible in contrary to foreground elements.

However, it was not that easy as it seemed to be. I needed to consider the additional coloured layer. By looking at it now, I can consider this attempt as the very first try into distinguishing each ground only by using a pencil.

Moreover, for the next drawings, I will change the approach. Because I was not sure how to specify the thickness of the tip. Now I know, in order to diversion the distance between objects, I need to first amplify the smallest lines in the furthest back, and gradually adding the thicker ones. 

By the words of conclusion, after this page, I am only worried about the painting. I always leave the black&white versions because I think that colour would destroy the impression of some of the fragments in the drawing.

References:

The Beatles (1967) A Day In The Life. London: George Martin.