“Lightning Inside you”
Lightning Inside You is my brother's band, which he sings and plays with when he is not teaching. I can best describe their music as soft folk that is very calm and soothing. You can listen for yourself at their website: www.lightninginsideyou.com.
“The Beast”
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It all starts with a concept; or, in this case, a nude model named Charles.
“Lightning Inside You”
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This first treatment is the main image that I came up with after listening to many band practice sessions. I had painted the iconic figure earlier in a life drawing class I took while attending CSUCI; I chose to use it because it fit well with the style of music the group plays. It has become their defining image and can be seen on just about every piece I create for them.
The central themes of "leaving," "staying," and "giving" are used throughout the entire project. I see these themes as a study of how music can be a venue for teaching and learning from one another. In this particular image, the man can be seen as either leaving or staying. Birds are a classic image that represent all of the incorporated themes, for they can be seen leaving as they take flight, staying as they gather food or build a nest, and giving when they die or as they feed their young. The planes have similar connotations, as do the flowers, which are scanned images of the same set of roses as they changed over a month's time. This was done to show slow but inevitable decay.
“Lightning Inside You” CD Booklet
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This is the front and back of the CD. Based on my small discussion regarding the previous images, I will let the viewer interpret the use of June Bugs.
“Lightning Inside You” CD Booklet
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This is the inside spread of the CD. There are images of buildings, soldiers, and planes with a Monarch Butterfly wing cascading over the image.
“Lightning Inside You” CD
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This is the CD in print form. The actual CD has a reflective silver surface with the images screened on top.
“Lightning Inside You” CD
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“Lightning Inside You”
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This poster celebrates the release of the band’s first EP.
“Lightning Inside You” Concert Poster
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“Lightning Inside You” Inside CD Booklet
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“3”
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This is the completed hoodie graphic. I illustrated all three sketched images and placed them together to form a highly conceptual and detailed piece. The original sketches for the design can be seen in the Fine Art gallery under “Sketch This”. This image represents the next stage of conceptual themes that represent Lightning Inside You. Previous to this I displayed the concepts of “1” and “2” next to images that represented those numbers. This can be seen on the EP case art. “3” is on the next higher level of conceptual thinking. I placed it at the base of the tree, as if it were the root system. The “3” is also the center of focus to draw the viewers attention to the most important message of the piece. The tree encompasses all the major themes of the EP (giving, leaving and staying). It gives oxygen, its seeds leave and grows in another place and it achieves all this without ever moving; staying behind until it returns to the earth.
“3” detail
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“3” detail
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This is the promotional ad for the new Lightning Inside You hoodie.
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Lightning Inside You new hoodies.
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These new hoodies for Lightning Inside You came out fantastic. Sublimation was used to get the graphic onto the hoodie. Lightning Inside You currently sells them on their website.