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“What The Snowman Learned About Love” is a lyric book that I illustrated for a song of the same title by the band Stars. It’s a very short but beautiful song about how a snowman falls in love with the sun, but due to the sun’s heat begins to melt and eventually dies. While the story is quite dark, the song is written in a really sweet and almost lighthearted way. It is sad but beautiful. Since the song is so short and simple, I decided to build and illustrate it in a similar way.
The book itself is super small, at three by three inches. The book is illustrated using simple black line work, which is representative of the simplistic language and the sweet and light musical flow of the song. Each spread has a single line of the song, which makes the viewer focus on the few words that there are. It also helps to highlight the actual story of the song, fleshing out and giving importance to it. The colors of the paper used is in reference to the heat the snowman is feeling over the course of the song. It begins in blue, where the snowman is still at a comfortable temperature. As the sun rises and the snowman begins to melt, the paper turns to yellow. At the peak of the song, the book is momentarily pinky-red, where the snowman is feeling the brunt of the heat. The book then moves back to yellow and then to blue and the sun sets and the snowman is nothing but a puddle.
The book sits in this clear acrylic box which is designed to be reminiscent of an ice cube, which is a nod to the icey nature of the snowman. It also represents keeping the snowman frozen; when the book is closed and in the case, the snowman is safe and untouched. When opened, one begins the chain of events that lead to hit eventual death, away from the frozen safety of the ice cube.
Tyler School of Art
Art Direction: Dermot Mac Cormack