HOME | DD

Description
Day 28: Listening to music

Unlike Tetsuko, who doesn't sit and listen to music but rather uses music as an accompaniment to whatever else she might be doing, Sonya does enjoy sitting down and paying attention to the music to which she's listening.

As with other favorite activities (like Day 26's "Reading"), it's something Sonya doesn't often have time to do. Her favorite genre is classical music, with a further preference for symphonies and other orchestral works.

This is a theme that presents challenges to illustrate, precisely because of how everyday it is, and how little actual movement is involved. I avoided the problem with Tetsuko because of how she's always doing something else (like dancing) while she's listening. But face it: it's not really interesting looking at someone sitting and listening to music.*

The second challenge: how to portray music itself in a silent medium. I was considering the usual (cliché) visual metaphor of ribbon-like music staves swirling through the picture, when the idea hit me: why not incorporate actual sheet music into the drawing? The choice of what music was relatively simple: there's a certain piece of orchestral music I'm fond of, so I decided to use that piece as the backgound.

And now, a challenge for you, if you can read music: what is Sonya listening to? (Hint: it's the beginning of a movement from a well-known orchestral piece.) UPDATE: phraught correctly guessed "Venus, the Bringer of Peace" from The Planets, Op. 32 by Gustav Holst.

*it's a problem I run into in my job. As a caricature artist, I try to incorporate a gag based on the subject's favorite activity. Sports make the best gag material, because there's movement and/or an interesting pose involved. But more and more (and anyone who argues that mankind has already reached the pinnacle of its development and is slowing devolving will find support for their theory here) inquiries into favorite activities result in either blank stares and "uhhh… I don't know", or "activities" such as playing video games, watching TV, watching movies, watching baseball/football games… in other words, sitting in a chair and watching someone else doing something interesting.

Description
Day 28: Listening to music

Unlike Tetsuko, who doesn't sit and listen to music but rather uses music as an accompaniment to whatever else she might be doing, Sonya does enjoy sitting down and paying attention to the music to which she's listening.

As with other favorite activities (like Day 26's "Reading"), it's something Sonya doesn't often have time to do. Her favorite genre is classical music, with a further preference for symphonies and other orchestral works.

This is a theme that presents challenges to illustrate, precisely because of how everyday it is, and how little actual movement is involved. I avoided the problem with Tetsuko because of how she's always doing something else (like dancing) while she's listening. But face it: it's not really interesting looking at someone sitting and listening to music.*

The second challenge: how to portray music itself in a silent medium. I was considering the usual (cliché) visual metaphor of ribbon-like music staves swirling through the picture, when the idea hit me: why not incorporate actual sheet music into the drawing? The choice of what music was relatively simple: there's a certain piece of orchestral music I'm fond of, so I decided to use that piece as the backgound.

And now, a challenge for you, if you can read music: what is Sonya listening to? (Hint: it's the beginning of a movement from a well-known orchestral piece.) UPDATE: phraught correctly guessed "Venus, the Bringer of Peace" from The Planets, Op. 32 by Gustav Holst.

*it's a problem I run into in my job. As a caricature artist, I try to incorporate a gag based on the subject's favorite activity. Sports make the best gag material, because there's movement and/or an interesting pose involved. But more and more (and anyone who argues that mankind has already reached the pinnacle of its development and is slowing devolving will find support for their theory here) inquiries into favorite activities result in either blank stares and "uhhh… I don't know", or "activities" such as playing video games, watching TV, watching movies, watching baseball/football games… in other words, sitting in a chair and watching someone else doing something interesting.