Sonny Clark
Day 16
#78 – Conrad Yeatis ‘Sonny’ Clark (1931–1963). American ‘hard bop’ jazz pianist. Albums include: Sonny Clark Trio (1957), Cool Struttin’ (1958) and Leapin’ and Lopin’ (1961).
I started by writing his name out. With the same letters this provided opportunities to play with the positioning of the letters and I experimented with different typefaces and colours – the bright yellow and orange worked well. But after reading about him more I discovered he had died at 31. Someone with a bright future cut down in their prime by a heart attack. I looked at different ways of getting this across and started with burn marks, but it wasn’t dramatic enough. As I was experimenting with trying to split the words to express ‘cut down’, I accidently coloured the shape black and this reminded me of a guillotine. Far more powerful.
1.5 hours
One of the early tests
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Listen...
to excerpts from ‘Cool Struttin’.