Creating the 5 Minutes of Silence Artwork

It took me several attempts to create the “5 Minutes of Silence” artwork. The main challenge was to find a good balance between the serenity and the “danger” that one associates with silence.

Here is the summary on how I progressed to the final product.

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Version 1

For the first iteration I experimented with a graphic design approach. I had the idea of showing silence in a more technical way as loud sound wave approaching silence.

For the sound wave I actually used a seismogram from an earthquake which I smoothed out by converting it into a vector shape, and dragged it out a bit more on the right side.

The texture of the soundwave I borrowed from Edouard Manet’s “Boating”. I chose the part of the seascape above the lady’s hat for the texture.

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This idea of using small textures from larger paintings to give structure to “flatter” objects is one I use quite often. I like the idea of using parts or details from a painting by some great artist in a very obscure way.

However the final result of Version 1 didn’t convey enough serenity and “silence” to me. It seemed a bit too cold and abstract. Almost like the cover of a True Crime Podcast. Maybe I’ll use it for a Halloween episode in the future…

Version 2

For the second iteration I tried to focus on Chinese landscape art as the focal point. Chinese landscape paintings follow a long tradition of conveying serenity, harmony and silence. These works of arts tend to show man as just a small element of nature and they are filled with lovely details.

For my sources I browsed the public domain libraries of the Met Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I was mainly looking for fishing scenes, huts, and maybe a nice mountain to use.

Among the Met collection I found these two stunning pieces of Art:

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I loved the fuzziness of Yun Xiang’s mountain and the simplicity of Shitao’s birds, hut and tree.

This composition I believe successfully manages to convey the serenity and stillness I was looking for in my artwork. Overall I’m rather proud of it. I love the paper-y feeling that I’ve achieved and I might just create my own little picture from it. But it didn’t really feel “podcasty” enough yet.

Final Version

The final composition, to me, balances the best of both worlds from these two sketches. It combines the “dangers of silence” and the graphic simplicity one is used to from podcast art, with the colour palette and stillness of chinese landscape art. In my podcast I strive to invite my listeners on an adventure, and I believe that this artwork communicates that message well.

I hope you enjoy it just as much as I do.