The Story Behind Romeo & Juliet by ZeTrunk

Some artworks start with a plan. Romeo & Juliet didn’t.

The morning I created it, I was struggling to make anything. 

Then a top tune came on — Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits.

I started listening and creating at the same time. That was really it. Something unlocked and the piece started to happen.

It wasn’t about illustrating the song or trying to recreate the lyrics. It was about what the music made me feel in that moment and where that feeling took the work.

I do quite a lot of my work like that.

Music can trigger something and suddenly give a thought or feeling somewhere to go. That’s a big part of how I use visual journalling. Rather than trying to plan every element, I work through colour, imagery, lettering and instinct and see where it takes me.

With Romeo & Juliet, what came out was something I can only describe as an explosion of love.

Romantic, dramatic, consuming and probably a bit chaotic.

I wasn’t trying to tell a neat love story. I was trying to catch the rush of emotion while it was happening.

A language of symbols

Hearts turn up a lot in my work.

So do lightning bolts, lips, moons, stars and all sorts of other symbols. Some have an obvious meaning. Others just appear because they feel right at the time. 

I suppose they’ve become part of my own visual language, my own branding.

A heart can obviously be about love, but depending on the piece it could also be desire, obsession, pain, happiness or something completely different. I don’t necessarily sit down and decide what every symbol is going to mean before I draw it.

Sometimes it just needs to be there.

With Romeo & Juliet, the heart was always going to find its way in.

Creating while listening

What matters about this piece is that the song wasn’t something I attached to it afterwards to give it a story.

I was literally listening to Romeo and Juliet while I was making it.

The song was the inspiration at that time.

That relationship between music and making art happens quite a lot for me. I can start with a thought, a phrase or a feeling and get nowhere with it. Then a piece of music comes on and suddenly there’s a way in.

Romeo & Juliet was one of those moments.

That morning I couldn’t create anything.

Then the song came on.

And this is what happened.

Explore the Romeo and Juliet Digital Art Print and discover more Digital Art Prints by ZeTrunk.