Lady Sings The Blues

A personal project, I was inspired to work on this image after seeing an issue of Rolling Stone that featured an article on Billie Holiday. While I never actually read the article in question, I remember how dumbfounded I was that a publication like Rolling Stone would invest in such horrible art work. It was my goal at that point to create a portfolio piece that could easily wash away the specter of that published illustration.

I wanted to stay true the drama of the character in question, relaying the somber melodic tones of her music visually, while still presenting a youth & trendy outlook that reflected the magazines primary audience. The grittiness of the stenciled image in combination with the reality of the trash it was drawn on accomplishes this juxtaposition with ease, allowing the blue note nature of the subject to shine through.