The Story

Summary

The story is set in the town of Hamelin, Germany, and revolves around a rat infestation. In desperation, the townspeople hire a mysterious piper to get rid of the rats using his magical flute. The piper successfully lures the rats away, but when the townspeople refuse to pay him as promised, he uses his flute to lead the town‘s children away as well.

This version of the story spread as folklore and has appeared in the writings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Brothers Grimm, and Robert Browning, among others. The phrase „pied piper“ has become a metaphor for a person who attracts a following through charisma or false promises.

Blueprint

I started by breaking the story down into

1. Characters

• pied piper
• mayor & townspeople
• children
• rats

2. Places of interest

• city/village
• river
• mountain/cave
• church
• rat-infested streets

3. Objects & Elements

• flute / instrument :)
• red hat / feather / garments
• musical notes

Moodboard & Idea

My first idea was to alternate between goofy and creepy illustrations. I think you get a creepier overall look and experience when you do this creepy yet goofy aesthetic. I think the story lends itself to that kind of style.

In the beginning there is this threat - the rats - and then there is this goofy, mysterious pied piper who lures the rats away, thus eliminating the threat, and the mood brightens. After the betrayal of the mayor, the mood changes back to a darker setting...

Key Moments

The story broken down into key moments.

What if ...

When I started illustrating, I always thought about the end result. I needed to create a product derived from the story/illustrations. In fact, I was unhappy with the thought of some T-shirt, mug, lanyard, pen ... mockup ... you get the idea.

So I thought about the story. It is dark, scary. There is this flute player. It is about music, a performance ...

What if I changed the flute player to some kind of metal guitarist and branded the whole thing as a marketing campaign for a fictional death metal band?

I had a lot of fun with that idea, so I stuck with it, and then I actually started illustrating it.

Illustrations

[Work in progress. Hi Mauro, I have not been very productive, but no excuses. I like my concept and will still try to update the project in the coming weeks].

Unused illustrations of the city and houses.

Ratmageddon

The fictional death metal band is called Ratmageddon. I have no idea if death metal is appropriate, as I never really listened to rock music or its subgenres. But „death“ and rats and the plague are a good match.

Logo

Album Vynil & CD

Poster with tracklist

What now?

1. Finishing the illustrations
2. Refine the illustrations
3. make the booklet PDF [album booklet]
4. add a few more tracks

Conclusion

First of all, I enjoyed the class. Maybe Mauro remembers that in the first class I said „I have never illustrated much in my life, I have not touched a pen or a brush to draw anything (more or less) in the last 10 years and I do not know if I want to learn how to illustrate, but I will try“.

I tried, and I like it, even though it is exhausting to draw. I found it hard to illustrate analog, I prefer my iPad. But even on the iPad I have problems with Procreate and all the brushes in it. I think that skill comes with practice.

I also find it very difficult to stick to a certain style and I have problems transferring the same style to the next illustration. Sometimes I had other images in mind for a particular illustration.

I had fun twisting the story to my advantage to come up with a cool idea for the deliverables.