It’s Music to my Eyes
When working on any project, I find it very easy for my brain to begin down a one-track-minded path when considering the look and feel of a visual. Often it’s so easy to build up an idea in your head without fully fleshing it out on paper to see what works and what doesn’t. After many years of making medical graphics, I try to keep fresh and incorporate new aesthetics into my work, mainly from areas outside the sciences. Motion graphics for Hollywood films, eye-catching marketing commercials, and even recent music videos can be great places to find inspiration (since these sources are, quite literally, MADE to keep your attention). So, I challenged myself to create aesthetic and abstract animations from a few of my favorite songs. I am discovering how these specific sound waves might manifest mood, color, objects, and movement.
The audio found on this website has been linked from Youtube.com.
Song 1: “Taurus” by Glass Beams
“Glass Beams” creates psychedelic rock songs that tie in their Indian heritage. I pulled on images of the desert, shapes such as circles and pillars, warm tones and materials like rubies, gold and porcelain. To me, the song has very dramatic falls similar to a bull preparing to charge, which led me to time scene changes with the music. I used AI to generate images of the song’s title as well, which brought up ideas of mirages and mandalas.
Song 2: “Little Dark Age” by MGMT
For me, “Little Dark Age” creates very strong 80’s synth-pop and new wave sounds, reminiscent of something out of a futuristic horror film. Bringing in retro imagery from 2-bit video games, pinball machines, and the classic wireframe grid, I attempted to pair these tech visuals with something medieval. Hence the song title, I kept the colors dark and my graphics Gothic and macabre. I hand-painted in Illustrator all of the pixel assets in this animation.
Song 3: “Ferris Wheel” by Sylvan Esso
To me, the lyrics of “Ferris Wheel” create a vivid image of something lighthearted and bright. Since the song references amusement park rides, I thought of carnivals near the beach. I have vibrant pastels coloring summer imagery such as umbrellas, sunglasses and the ocean. The bubbliness of the song reminded me of more childlike wonders such as balloons, ice cream and confetti -creating a warm, sunlit and carefree summer party.
Song 4: “Spanish Moss” by Of the Trees
When I happened upon this song, I was immediately transported into an urban apocalyptic world filled with mechanical objects taken over by botanical growth. I imagined plants with sickly neon green and blue colors on a dark background. Movies like Fern Gully and mythical locations like Star Wars’ Endor came to mind, where bright foliage coincides with man-made objects.
