AFI - Sing the Sorrow Collage
AFI - Sing the Sorrow Inspired Collage
The booklet in Sing the Sorrow remains one my favorite CD booklets of all time. It contains photos, illustrations, and lyrics on grayscale pages, housed by the iconic black and red cover. The lyrics are printed in different typefaces which almost makes them look handwritten. I even love the way the paper feels. It’s not your average stock.
After hearing Girl’s Not Grey played endlessly on the radio, back when 89X was the alternative rock station, I knew I wanted the album. This Celluloid Dream, Dancing Through Sunday, and The Leaving Song became quick favorites.
Most of the illustrations in the Sing the Sorrow CD booklet were created by Alan Forbes, a talented artist who has also created art for other A Fire Inside releases, including The Art of Drowning and Black Sails in the Sunset. While conducting some research, I came across a note that mentioned that some of the booklet illustrations were from a royalty-free book of animal illustrations. This book is not mentioned in the liner notes, so out of curiosity I purchased the book. While waiting for its arrival, Forbes kindly confirmed that the illustrations in question were indeed his work.
When the book (Animals: 1419 Royalty-Free Illustrations of Mammals, Birds, Fish, Insects etc.: A Pictorial Archive from Nineteenth-Century Sources, Selected by Jim Harter) arrived I quickly matched the Sing the Sorrow animals to the book versions. I feel that the book is a great reference for collage art, and I plan to utilize it for future projects.
For my Sing the Sorrow-inspired collage, I took inspiration from the colors, Forbes’ illustrations, and the animals that appear throughout the booklet. It took many tries to cut everything to my liking, and I went back and forth on what to do with the background, eventually opting to paint red on black paper. The final image was edited in Photoshop to enhance the colors.
Materials used: Construction paper, acrylic paint, Mod Podge, paintbrushes, scissors.
Worth noting: Though the album was released in March of 2003, I didn’t hear the entirety of This Time Imperfect until August of the following year. I discovered it while trying to sleep at band camp, attempting to drown out the snores of 12 other girls and a choir of insects. I remember being startled when Davey’s voice came on; it gave me shivers. I listened to it every night that week.