This is my entry for the Adobe Contest "The 5th Scream - Hidden Treasures of Creativity", using Munch's original brushes, namely, the Photoshop version of his tools created/adapted by Kyle T. Webster for Adobe. This contest is also sponsored by the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, and I sincerely hope it will be the first of many yet to come.
I have worked with a mirrored image of The Scream background that I just doodled on a piece of paper with a pencil, to have an idea of what would happen there. Thus, this background was my main reference. It helped reading about it too, and I changed the path on Ekeberg Hill into a bridge, running over an abyss, or the depths of an imaginary fjord. Bridges seem to be an important element on Munch's work, bringing back memories of joy and sunny days in Asgardstrand. So many times he painted ladies and girls walking over it or watching the waters running down. In the background, I have placed little houses and woods, with pale reflections and semi-transparent shapes, recalling those sites of yore as out of a dream. And the Sun, setting over the mountains, was made to look a bit like he used to paint, a large bright dot on an "I" of light.
About this painting, he said in his diaries once:
About this painting, he said in his diaries once:
"I was walking along a path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red - I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence - there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and he city - my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety - and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature." **
I used Kyle's brushes for the background: the sky, mountains and the abyss and the Sunset shades, bloody and fiery as I imagine how these times of day look like in the North. The brushes are a delight to use. I also used it on the characters (Munch and "Screamer"), along with some of the regular PS brushes.
As for the characters, I made a small figure of Munch himself based on his self-portrait "Night Wanderer", which is public domain. I love his face there because it looks tormented and assertive at the same time, as if he were waking up in the middle of the night to check around. I know he had light eyes, not sure if blue or green (all we have is black and white pictures and portraits where it is hard to distinguish), and I opted for blue because it reminds me of my own Father, who was physically a bit similar to Munch (and who, in his old age, would get up in the middle of the night just to check if everything was "in order"). It is a quite hard to reproduce shade of blue/aqua, but this here was the best I could do so far.
Still for Munch's figure , I used a mix of Kyle's and PS brushes, painting on different layers over the original "Night Wanderer", and adding a top hat and more complementary shades to reflect the multicoloured sky and those imaginary Northern lights. As for the "Screamer" (or Spectre) he seems to be disappearing near Munch's presence, right beside him, like an elusive troll. It seems they both are indeed the one and same figure, but now Munch has a cordial relationship with his "nemesis": his anxieties, panic attacks, depressions and fears. So, after that loud, painful Scream, it comes some peace, old age and grey hair, and a deep, profound Silence. From his strives with depression and mental illness, I wanted to show Munch victorious, as he definitely was, throughout his works and life that are now part of our History - and our own lives. This is what I learned from him, but everyone has their own experience, their own lesson.
The original picture file is 300dpi in A3 format, as requested, and will also be provided if needs be.
The original picture file is 300dpi in A3 format, as requested, and will also be provided if needs be.
I have read some books about Munch's life while working on this project and they provided a fascinating look on the artist's experiences and insights, as well as a great entertainment:
- "The Private Journals of Edvard Munch", edited & translated by J. Gill Holland, Terrace Books **.
- "Munch (Art Masters)", Kindle Edition, by Steffen Kverneland (Author), Francesca Nichols (Translator).
Finally, for the little museum shot, I have used Adobe Stock images, as suggested by Kyle in his video. However I skipped the craquelure because it was interfering with the sky colour somehow. And here it is, just for the fun of it:
