Feeling artsy recently during some annual leave, I decided to sign up to an online art journal course – ‘Lyrical’ by artist and illustrator, Roxanne Coble.
The class is aptly named, as the course focuses on making art from music. Taking inspiration from lyrics, the aim is to layer scraps from magazines, building up tiers of paint, gloss and pen on top until you get a piece of art that ‘sings’ your lyrics.
Being a huge fan of the latest Ice Nine Kills album, I decided to take lyrics inspired by their song, Funeral Derangements. The song is inspired by Stephen King’s Pet Semetary:
I’ll dig through sorrow and disgust
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
Don’t give up, don’t let go
I’ll make this right
Sometimes
Sometimes dead is better
They say that time heals all
But I won’t heed the call
Buried in misery
Spare me the eulogy
Still, I can’t escape the struggle
Driven when push comes to shovel
Whether God’s hand or my own
Nothing here is set in stone
Yes, I know, super dark. But the album is called Welcome to Horrorwood and takes you on a journey through the band’s favourite horror films. I’ve always loved very dark and gothic art, so using this as inspiration was a fun opportunity!
The course comes in the form of a PDF file and accompanying videos, where Roxanne Coble makes her own piece of work from scratch. I liked watching her build on the same design each video (none of this ‘here’s one I made earlier’ business!).
I learnt so much about enjoying the journey of an art piece. I’m usually quite a rigid creator, and don’t like to colour outside of the lines, but this course is all about feeling the theme and giving yourself permission to make mess.
I started my piece with a clear vision, and I can safely say I didn’t achieve that vision (haha), but I still ended up with a piece that I think reflects the terror and manical nature of the Funeral Derangements song.
I feel the course is worth every penny (I paid around £16 in a sale, I believe); it is fun, pushed me out of my creative comfort zone, and you get a lot of tutorial and guidance for your money. It also gave me a huge nostalgia kick; I used to keep art journals with my friends in my teens, so this took me back to some really lovely memories.
For my next piece, I would definitely invest in a lot more gloss gel paint (woah, that stuff is incredible), and would buy some more reliable white gel pens (I managed to break the nib of my pen within the first three seconds). I would also explore using more tools – perhaps sponges, the ‘o’ of a pen lid, and maybe even some good old finger painting? Now, I never thought I’d hear myself say that!
You can still purchase the course on Etsy right here.
Enjoy!
