The Animated Update

I had some fun brining new life to this illustration with a little bit of animation, and Marian Anderson’s actual singing voice.

While the original design didn’t include audience members, they were added to the animated version. This helped to highlight the enthusiastic applause Anderson received before she had even begun to sing. The vocals that play under the animation are from her performance of “My Soul’s Been Anchored In The Lord,” which she sang at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939.

The Original Design

The original goal for the collaborative project with the Blacksmiths community was to not only showcase historic legends for Black History Month, but also highlight their human side.

During the performance of Un Ballo in Maschera, Anderson appeared in costume as the sorceress character, Ulrica. In the illustration, however, I opted to depict her in clothing that was representative of how she was generally styled when performing.

While working on this design, I learned that at 58 years old, Anderson was already an incredibly accomplished singer by the time she performed at the Metropolitan Opera House. Despite this success and receiving applause from the audience before she’d started singing, Anderson still felt nervous during her performance, saying:

The curtain rose on the second scene and I was there on stage, mixing the witch’s brew. I trembled, and when the audience applauded and applauded before I could sing a note, I felt myself tightening into a knot.