TEEN EMOTIONS | 2007-09 DIARY
Since this is a 'travel type' blog, I thought it would be fun to ~travel back in time~ and look at some of my first lyric sketch books. I had kept sketchbooks before this, but sometime during my Sophomore year I started just drawing lyrics that described my days. This was probably my first exploration in typography and composition. I made them for me, and wasn't try to make them look a certain way. They're really just reflections of what I was going through at the time.
I picked out some of my favorites and decided to recreate them here. I'm a little rusty on my hand-lettering skills, and I don't have one of those fancy iPad Pros + Pencil (yet), so don't judge too harshly. These are all done in watercolor, microns, and Faber-Castell soft brush pens.
If you really want to get into the spirit of reading this post, go ahead and crank up this Youtube Playlist that I listen to way more than I would like to admit: Having a lot of emotions from 2004-2010
Summer Girls | LFO
"You look like a girl from Abercrombie and Fitch"
Fun Fact: My friend Shelby burned me this song on a CD, but it was the KidzBop version. Therefore I thought the KidzBop version was the real song for about 6 years until I was told otherwise.
For the original drawing, I remember doing a lot of pointillism in art class. I still really love the detail of micron dots and gradients, as you can see in a lot of my illustrated ink flower pieces. This time, I decided to pair these lyrics with a circular watercolor piece. I was going to turn it into some kind of eye, but I went with what I know and drew some flowers around it. What I should have done is draw the words first, but I still love it how it is.
Honestly | Cartel
"So I guess I'll see you, I'll see you around"
SO I know I spelled "losing" wrong in the first one -- I never really planned on ever sharing these on the internet. This has always been one of my favorite pages! Something about the layout and my use of the phone chord? This time around I drew an iPhone and it just doesn't have the same sense of nostalgia for me. I really like the colors in my second one, but I think my creativity on the first one is better.
I drew this in a time before texting and I actually did lose a lot of sleep talking on the phone. Now, I can barely talk to my closest friends on the phone more than once a month. Isn't it crazy how something that was so normal is now a hassle? Look out friends.. about to call you all the time now.
Pig | Dave Matthews Band
"From the dark side we can see the glow of something bright"
I think I drew this after the first Dave Matthews Concert I went to and was playing all my CDs on repeat. The lyrics are really "Don't burn the day away", but I went with my original page and cut the lyrics short. I tried to find some flowers that could sort of look like fire? Going back, I would make this page with some deeper purple watercolors to make it more ~smokey~.
I still love this song and the lyrics that go along with it. Even more recently, I've become more aware of how I use my time. For the first time, I'm writing down yearly, monthly, and weekly goals, and trying to focus on those -- instead of the next show I want to finish on Netflix. There's so much to do, so why burn the day (away)?
Closing Time | Semisonic
"Let you out into the world"
Y'all I'm so embarrassed that I mis-credited this twice, but here we are. This page was drawn a little over 8 years ago, and I know I was going through that weird time where you're making decisions about your adult life, without having any idea what you want or who you are. I still feel like that sometimes, but being 17 was both amazing and tumultuous for that reason.
I like the simplicity of my first piece. I can't imagine it took me more than a few minutes to make, but I think the rawness of my feelings is still apparent. For my second one, I was drawn to how delicate the watercolors and flowers were, and didn't want to dis