Ishq Kinara by Zoe Viccaji - Matchbox Set.
Inspiration:
The inspiration for this project came to me as I was listening to Zoe Viccaji's song 'Ishq Kinara.' The energetic beat coupled with an interestingly shot music video motivated me to do something out of the box. The concept of the video is centered on a theatrical performance but goes beyond the parameters of a stage and takes the audience through all the gritty backstage chaos to the reaction of the audience. Viccaji essays multiple characters in the video, all pertinent to a performance. She perpetuates the concept of self sufficiency as she goes on to perform on stage despite the absence of her male co-star, and also appears again as a member of the audience.
The idea behind this series is to capture the various reactions of key characters that we come across in the music video, with a vintage feel to it as is shown in the actual video of the song.
Work Process:
The work process required me to watch the video multiple times, helping me decide exactly which moment I wanted to capture in my work. I made use of my Wacom Intous with Adobe Photoshop to illustrate my favorite characters and moments from the video and get the details right. I decided the methods of creating contrast during my initial research and then used two colours to do so. Once I got the contrast right between the hair, clothing, skin colour and facial features, the next step was to reduce the size of all illustrations to that of a standard matchbox and get them printed.
Key features of the illustration:
The word 'maachis' which translates to matchstick in the Urdu language can be seen on the bottom left corner of the box. The text is not a distorted typeface but something that I managed to do after a tiring trial and error process using my Wacom Intous. I believe that the lines on the character's face give them a depth and without them the element of surprise couldn't have been portrayed as effectively. I made use of green dots to add an interesting element to an otherwise plain orange background. The borders, typography and illustrations were all digitally illustrated using a graphic tablet.
Constraints and Difficulties:
One major difficulty I faces was deciding which moment from the music video I wanted to use, getting the perfect screen grab took more time than I had expected as there is a constant sense of movement in the music video. Creating slight differences between the smaller elements such as the hat and the ear, the suit and bow was exceedingly difficult and was achieved by placing the right colour at the right place. I was at a crossroads when deciding if I wanted the final product to have any negative spaces but I ended up deciding against it as I felt like it made the matchbox look empty as opposed to aesthetic.
Illustrating the same expression as that in the music video turned out to be a mammoth task and required me to pay special attention to every facial features and all small details like the eye movement, eyebrows, teeth and nose. Each element was illustrated on a different layer so as to get the detail right.
Lastly, my work got recognized by Viccaji herself who is now using these matchboxes as 'Ishq Kinara' merchandise and absolutely adores them.
