140 CHARACTERS is a small sketchbook of some of the drawings I‘ve posted on Twitter. In the previous post I talked about the images from 2008 which make up the first chapter of the book. Here are the drawings from 2009.
Postlethwaite
Brush & marker pen on paper
Sketchbook drawing of Pete Postlethwaite, done for my own enjoyment.
140 CHARACTERS is a small sketchbook of some of the drawings I ‘ve posted on Twitter. This is the first of a series of posts showing what’s in the book and giving some extra information about each drawing.
When I joined Twitter in 2008 I was doing a lot of comic workshops in schools around Bristol, following the publication earlier in the year of The Bristol Story, a 200-page comic book history of the city written by Eugene Byrne and drawn and lettered by me. It was also the year of a couple of Italian-set comics, Caravaggio and Romeo & Juliet.
The Sphinx
Pencil on paper, digitally coloured.
This drawing started life in 2006 as one of a set of illustrations for a book of short stories about Isambard Kingdom Brunel. My favourite in the series, I came back to it and altered it to make a limited edition giclée print.
Although little-known in the UK, Léo Ferré was a hugely influential musician in the world of French chanson. Unlike his contemporaries Jacques Brel and George Brassens, Ferré’s songs were rarely translated into English. However a new album, Love and Anarchy: The Songs of Léo Ferré by Peter Hawkins features 19 English translations which faithfully preserve the meaning of Ferré’s original lyrics. (If you want a rare chance to hear these songs live, Peter is performing at Colston Hall 2, Bristol, on Thursday, London and Sheffield soon after.)
Considering that chanson typically follows the rhythms of French language, a good English translation can be difficult (as demonstrated by Seasons In The Sun, a bathetic adaptation of Brel’s Le Moribond which was a hit for Westlife). Fortunately, Peter is well-equipped for the task, having recorded his own songs in French in 1960s Paris and published the first academic study of chanson. I worked with Peter on the CD artwork for (on and off) one year, but he has been perfecting these translated songs for 40.
The artwork drew on two main sources; the cover designs of Ferré’s back catalogue and poster art from the May 1968 protests.
We looked at several key Ferré albums, but by far the strongest influence was the simple red and black cover of 1970 double album Amour Anarchie.
The hand-drawn text on Peter’s record comes directly from studying an amazing book in his collection, Mai 68, which reproduces the simple and powerful posters made by the protesting students and workers who brought de Gaulle to his knees. Ferré was a dedicated anarchist and this side of him needed to be represented in the cover design.
These posters also informed the hand-printed feel I wanted for the artwork.
I don’t often have the opportunity to work with a musician so closely and this experience has been a lot of fun. Getting early access to the music was – of course – exciting, and listening to it while working on the design was very helpful. But it was also fascinating to watch the project develop. I have seen how important the contributions of Peter’s collaborators have been, especially co-producer/mixer/arranger Jez Butler‘s. I have also been appalled by the number of hoops a musician must jump through to publish their own work! The concert on Thursday will be the crescendo at the end of all their hard work, as well as being the first opportunity to buy the CD. (I’ll add online shop details here when I know them)
POSTSCRIPT: I should add that Ferre is not the first chanson hero I’ve drawn. Serge prints are still available in my shop!
Gurr Illustration 