I went for nostalgia and chose my favorite song from the soundtrack of my early childhood: Dreams by The Cranberries, released in 1993. I drew much of my inspiration from David Carson’s grungy and experimental design work that defined the alternative music scene of the 90s. It’s a love song, so that’s my rationale for the imagery. I sourced and scanned the photograph from a stock photo book that was appropriately published in the 90s. I tried to keep it relatively authentic to the time period. I altered it in photoshop by converting it to a texturized bitmap, then went for a color palette that looks like something out of a dELiA*s clothing catalog. I used this exercise as an opportunity to experiment with incorporating traditional media digitally. I got messy with charcoal, and the result is very maximalist. It’s layered, heavy, and light all at the same time — just like the song.

I went for nostalgia and chose my favorite song from the soundtrack of my early childhood: Dreams by The Cranberries, released in 1993. I drew much of my inspiration from David Carson’s grungy and experimental design work that defined the alternative music scene of the 90s. It’s a love song, so that’s my rationale for the imagery. I sourced and scanned the photograph from a stock photo book that was appropriately published in the 90s. I tried to keep it relatively authentic to the time period. I altered it in photoshop by converting it to a texturized bitmap, then went for a color palette that looks like something out of a dELiA*s clothing catalog. I used this exercise as an opportunity to experiment with incorporating traditional media digitally. I got messy with charcoal, and the result is very maximalist. It’s layered, heavy, and light all at the same time — just like the song.

I went for nostalgia and chose my favorite song from the soundtrack of my early childhood: Dreams by The Cranberries, released in 1993. I drew much of my inspiration from David Carson’s grungy and experimental design work that defined the alternative music scene of the 90s. It’s a love song, so that’s my rationale for the imagery. I sourced and scanned the photograph from a stock photo book that was appropriately published in the 90s. I tried to keep it relatively authentic to the time period. I altered it in photoshop by converting it to a texturized bitmap, then went for a color palette that looks like something out of a dELiA*s clothing catalog. I used this exercise as an opportunity to experiment with incorporating traditional media digitally. I got messy with charcoal, and the result is very maximalist. It’s layered, heavy, and light all at the same time — just like the song.