Opera Synopsis
The opera I chose was Le Grand Macabre by Gyorgy Ligeti Stockholm. It is about this death-like figure who travels around warning people that the world will end at midnight. When midnight comes around, everyone decides to continue partying. They would rather enjoy themselves and each other's company. The opera ends with a comet hitting the earth and everyone dies. They rise as ghosts and reflect on their life together. There is an overall theme of love in destruction.
Approach & Sketches
My goal for this assignment was to portray both life and death. I created a mood board, and mindmap, and drew many sketches. I wanted my final piece to be very dark with added noise and texture. I also wanted to include the color red in some fashion whether it was blood or on clothing.
Roughs
I chose 3 sketches to move forward with. I created a graphic, collage, and illustration for the opera. I wanted each design to be relatively cohesive regardless of the style I chose for my final.
Final
I chose to move forward with my illustration. Going from roughs to final, I wanted to lighten the background for a little more contrast. I also wanted to make my linework more gestural and add highlights to the dress. The use of texture on the background could be pushed further, so I added more grit in different colors like grey and red for blood. Lastly, I shortened the arm of the woman to be more accurate.
