Don't You
Want Me?
Two men, after falling out into rival gangs, encounter each other in a convenience store. Warning: blood and fictitious drug usage is shown/discussed in these illustrations. (Created in Procreate for Digital Imaging class. Completed in two-week timeframe in October 2021.)
Project Brief
For this assignment, we were prompted to illustrate a song in two or three panels. I chose "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League.
What I Created
In a grungy near future, two men, Rob (wearing the orange jacket) and Cupido (wearing the horse head mask) have been longstanding friends with budding feelings for each other as they've become adults, but have fallen out as they have each sunk into selling and using an intravenous amphetamine that has become ubiquitous. Tensions build until they run into each other in an urban convenience store, and as "Don't You Want Me", by The Human League, plays over the low-quality speakers, they pound each other to a pulp, tearing the convenience store apart. Cupido ultimately wins the fight with the assistance of two associates, and while Rob lies on the floor, Cupido looks on with his thoughts unclear before leaving the scene. As the convenience store door closes behind them, a poster advertising a high-end version of the amphetamine clings to the dirty glass.
Takeaways
This project ended up being quite valuable practice in generating a story. We had to turn any song of our choosing into enough of a narrative to create illustrations, so I used this project as an opportunity to practice worldbuilding, generating characters, and creating a simple narrative. It was more challenging than I'd anticipated, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, particularly in doing basic research and bouncing ideas off of my classmates and incorporating feedback to create a world that was as compelling as possible, benefitting from multiple people's experiences.
From a technical standpoint, this was one of my first illustration series completed on an iPad, so it gave me the chance to better learn the Procreate interface and understand where and how digital drawing departs from my traditional experience. In doing so, I experimented with loosening my linework and using an RGB color palette.
Process work
Inspiration from the Lyrics
Besides the sound and energy of the song, I was inspired by the lyrics, "Don't, don't you want me? / You know I can't believe it when I hear that you won't see me / Don't, don't you want me? / You know I don't believe you when you say that you don't need me", and "You think you've changed your mind / You'd better change it back, or we will both be sorry". Such is the relationship both between the two men and between the amphetamine and each man. Rob and Cupido remain desperate for each other's attention but, struggling with emotional intelligence through their addictions, are livid at the other and themselves for abandoning the relationship and can't express anything but rage. Similarly, their addictions persistently haunt them, with any attempt to quit squashed with the nagging control of their addiction.
Color and Composition
I wanted to create something cartoonish and surreal yet tangibly icky. So, for the colors, I went with a palette that felt psychedelic and overwhelming while still feeling uncomfortable and unclean. I used primarily secondary colors, with lots of purple, pops of an inorganically bright shade of orange-red, and brownish green. I chose to make the lighting green in part because it calls back to the sickly green color you'll often get from fluorescent lights, especially when they're filthy. However, I also used green lighting based on the filmmaking color theory that when used in an appropriate context, green lighting inspires a sense of unease.
I used the framing and blocking as a means of communicating the narrative and making the viewing experience feel more visceral, putting the viewer in the scene. For the first frame, I focused on an overhead shot that would maximize how much of the convenience store destruction I could show and show the men in a spiral composition, reminiscent of a plane's death spiral as it hurtles towards the ground. For the second panel, I wanted to show Rob's perspective, leaving some questions unanswered for the viewer to engage with (Does he survive the attack? Does he know these people? What does what they're wearing mean?) and allowing an imposing perspective of our strange and violent cast of characters.