Person of Note

Gil Scott-Heron (spoken word, poet, soul, funk)

On this unit I had to pick a person and tell a storey about them.  I had to pick From Gil Scott-heron, Titus Salt. I pick Gil Scott-heron as i don't know anything about him. I live very close to Saltaire and have heard lots about Titus Salt and wanted to learn about someone different.

Gil Scott-Heron

I had never heard of Gil before and was pleasantly surprised when I first put his Album on it was fantastic full of so much energy, feeling and anger at the world he lived in. He lived in America in the 1950s, 60s and 70s and thats what his work is about. After hearing his poems Whitey on the Moon, No Knock and The Revolution will not be Televised I was hooked you can heard the angry he had faced and heard  all his life coming through in those track and rightly so living in the land of the free but only if you are white and conformed must of been awful.

So i chose to try make images that reflected the times he had to live in and them three poems.
The image of him above is the one i felt showed how disappointed with what was happening in and around his country, he looks past caring and wanted change. He is also still young in it as a lot of images fond of him show him older.

Image of him, Tools of his trade, times he lived in, USA, Newyork


Here are some of the roughs and ideas i have done in my sketchbook.

Portraites with pencil crayon

Tried to make the smoke look all fancy and jazzed up with loads of colour pencil crayons 

Added hair to things to try imitate his afro hair do

Paint pens with select words but decided to stay clear of words on this project as i felt i could do it without. 

New york cop from the 70s  white and brutal looking 

Added Gil to the top of i mic but felt the mic looked too modern for what i was trying to do. 

Small smap ideas as with limited space only so much could be added to keep them clear and visible, too much detail would be lost

TRied to draw smoke but was not feeling the end results and it could get very complicated when trying to add to different elements.

colourful smoke

 

 

These images where for my stamps but i drew them all alot larger them the 50mm x 35mm, So after all the time i spent perfecting the afro getting to look right and with the right level of detail it was wasted as it turn out poor quality. I used a mic to represent his tools of the trade. A peace symbol as this was the 70s and peace was in the air and the fist that represents what Gil stood for and he also classed himself as a black militant activist i just need to fill it black .

Added a half tone effect to replicate the casing on the mic not sure about it, feel like they is too much black in the image. 

 

 When I resized these to the size they needed to be it look far too cluttered and unclear what the where all the detail was lost and i need to rethink how i wa going to redo them.

 

Rought for the post cards these are the 3 poems i had chosen. 

A smashed up tv shop during the rots but not one channel that is still on is showing any of the revolution, too much detail agin for the size of the postcards.



 

 

New stamp ideas keep it clean simple and on point.