Music playlists as you work to get into the mood (or for your characters)?

efdvorsky 2015-11-26 05:01:09 UTC #1

Does your comic have a specific playlist, or maybe is there's a specific genre that helps you get into the mood of the work?

Or are you more on the Richard Williams' side of

And work in absolute silence?

If not for when you work if you just listen to your music uninterrupted, next question...do your characters or comic have a playlist/musician you think would work as a soundtrack for them even if unrelated? Maybe it just fits their personality. Would it be something you'd listen to frequently?

Would you be willing to share the musical list?

I'm real curious of the thought process from other artists, especially between artist and music since the site in general has the option to upload music from soundcloud. (Also, I'm a sucker for music, so I'm curious what other people listen to and explore that bit too, ngl)

mac 2015-11-26 05:04:10 UTC #2

when i was working on the cover for another webcomic im abt 2 start i listened 2 a lot of halsey and melanie martinez, but that was more personal preference than webcomic themed or character related,,

Aetherwing 2015-11-26 05:07:34 UTC #3

I make all sorts of playlists for my stories and characters! And all of the music is stuff that I personally like and frequently listen to. (I like what inspires me to draw.) As far as genre it really depends on the story in question. For my comic, Aetherwing, I listen to a lot of folksy/indie/pop stuff (like Of Monsters and Men.)

I actually DID make a youtube playlist for Aetherwing. It can be found here. Eventually I'll add more to it =D

heterodont 2015-11-26 05:30:16 UTC #4

My 8tracks account is dedicated to Just playlists of my characters, exhibit a:

I've also got a variety of other songs I feel relate to my comic and what not but I forget them most of the time until I hear them again.

As for music when I draw, I just leave spotify on with my mountain of accumulated music that I like.

SpavVy 2015-11-26 05:40:12 UTC #5

For a specific character there is this one song I listen to over and over again while drawing her or writing for her and never get sick of it.
The song is called Spieler by Oomph! (German band)
The song means player and basically it's about pulling another person's strings which is what this character I draw and write for enjoys doing.

I have a small playlist of German music that I add videos to every now and then...
Playlist

AnnaLandin 2015-11-26 07:17:52 UTC #6

I don't have a specific playlist or anything for Grassblades, mostly because I think about the comic pretty much all the time, so I've gotten used to working on it regardless of what I'm listening to, but I do need to fill my ears with something while I work.

The only thing I do mostly in silence is storyboarding. I can't listen to anything with actual lyrics while storyboarding, since any words I hear would interfere with my writing process (I write and storyboard at the same time). After that, though, it's pretty much anything goes.

I listen to a lot of podcasts while I draw (you can see a list of those here in this other thread), but I also listen to a whole bunch of videogame OSTs. Right now, I can't seem to stop listening to the full Tales of Symphonia OST.

Damatris 2015-11-26 08:14:22 UTC #7

I have specific playlist for Fallacy which is mostly Nordic folk music.
I do have private playlists for characters too but those are still under construction...

igneriss 2015-11-26 11:41:51 UTC #8

I listen to my 'all-the-okay-music' playlist while I draw. It's a mix of sad, happy and calm songs; gothic, kpop and creepy and other songs, really, everything at random. So I don't get bored too quickly CX I don't need to put myself in a mood to draw, I just need to have something in the background to sing along to, haha~

As for characters, some of them have theme songs or soundtracks, but I don't have a specific playlist for that. For example, this would be one of the songs for my main character ( :

purrlpankras 2015-11-26 11:47:33 UTC #9

For Two Faced its the Pearl Jam -Ten album

getsuart 2015-11-26 14:46:47 UTC #10

I listen to various things while working. It keeps me focused on my tasks (usually). But I don't always listen to smart things. Like... Moskau, I need a hero, or the axolotl song.
For more "seirous" musics, I love lsitening to Queen and video games OSTs, such as Zelda or Okami. Or Carmina Burana, Mozart's requiem, the Blue Danube or Vivaldi's Summer. they can do pretty good two step from hell songs.

I did a playlist with the characters themes one day, but I don't find it anymore. Sadness

efdvorsky 2015-11-26 16:56:07 UTC #11

-writing all these down- yes, yes, these are all very good playlists.

@Aetherwing: This is a great playlist, it's really nice!

@heterodont: Damn, damn that is so cool! I get leaving spotify on, I do that in Pandora for when I work and only want to listen to familiar music to just help me get in the zone.

@Savannah: Oh, I liked the song! (I found a video with Spanish subtitles, so that was very helpful haha) I'll check the playlist later.

@AnnaLandin: Yep yep, I can understand that. I'm actually on the same boat, once the process of the thumbnails or boards are done I can listen to anything, but during the writing process...yeah no, I need my silence or at least as less distractions as possible. Do Podcasts help actually? I have a friend who does the same, but I usually can't pay attention to what they're saying and end up getting distracted...guess it works for some I guess |"D

@Damatris: oh oh my gosh yes.

@igneriss: Huh! This is a really interesting playlist! When I read you said creepy I thought it'd have a bit more of Dark Cabaret, but this is really great too. But I get you. The song for your character's really nice too!

@purrlpankras: Ooh oh yeah that's really fitting!

@getsuart: ACK! I'm so sorry you lost the playlist :[ But yess on listening to Queen and Okami, I do that too sometimes, the other bands sound really great!

Also I realized I didn't even mention how I work, (that was so rude, I'm sorry) I sometimes associate a band with a character and pick the best songs from the band and throw it all into a messy playlist, I enjoy variety as long as it doesn't suddenly distract me when I'm in the zone. usually I have pandora playing but i think I should move on to something I can make playlists with.

For Cosmic Fish I think it's where the most variety can be seen? I have a new laptop so I only have about....1/10 of the original music I had lost in my old macbook, which has been tough. The playlist i had for it was about 600 songs and now I only have 20-something? But it's been accumulating through the years since the comic has been tested a few times (couple of years ago someone drew the characters like the cover of Gorillaz' Demon Days so I associate the album with it a lot) and sometimes for action scenes later, I listen to rock or even the Pillows (the Japanese rock band that made some of the music for FLCL) and I think you could notice it sometimes....hahaha...and like i said, sometimes I listen to Dark Cabaret for being cynically entertaining like Vermillion Lies, Voltaire, or Circus Contraption, though there's plenty more. And if in a perky mood, Electric Light Orchestra or Queen (yes), maybe even the Doors but they're not particularly perky.

Actually here's the last playlist i made for this week's work

Lackadaisical 2015-11-26 17:25:35 UTC #12

Usually when im drawing i like listening to Deemo and maybe mix in a few songs from cytus. I find Deemo's stuff pretty calming paino with a twist of other a variety of other genres. Also it's mostly just music without singing or if there is, I can't understand it. which helps me focus more on Art I guess, maybe... probably so I can't sing-along.

AnnaLandin 2015-11-26 17:33:19 UTC #13

They do for me! That list I linked to is mostly history podcasts - non-fiction, that is - so I'm learning stuff while I'm drawing, and once I'm past the storyboarding/dialogue stage, I don't have to be as closely focused. I can draw and listen at the same time - it's a learned skill, I guess? It's how I got through school; I'd doodle in the margins during lectures. It helped me remember stuff better; I'd look at the doodles later and remember what I was listening to at the time. It used to annoy my teachers, but I got pretty much straight A's, so they couldn't complain too much. XD

shazzbaa 2015-11-26 18:09:20 UTC #14

Podcasts work for me when I'm colouring, but that's about the only step I can be distracted by talking, otherwise any music I listen to has to be lyricless background stuff (think stuff like the Minecraft soundtrack). I actually also really like having Let's Plays on in the background while I'm colouring -- something like Game Grumps that's just the two guys chatting and joking about whatever while they play video games, and I barely have to pay attention to the actual video. I spent a lot of time in my childhood and teens drawing while my bro or my friends played video games, so it's a kinda a comforting/nostalgic thing for me. ;u;

I LOVE finding songs that remind me of my characters! On my website's cast page, each character is listed with a song that represents them. I do have a bigger playlist of songs I associate with the Runewriters crew and story, though I haven't shared it, since a lot of the songs could spoil things if you thought about why I chose them. xD

igneriss 2015-11-26 19:02:00 UTC #15

"interesting" might be a good word here, haha~ Well, there might be C8 recommend me some Dark Cabaret songs?

KSlinger 2015-11-26 19:49:17 UTC #16

Yup, here's mine.

It's pretty varied, and some songs are looped if I'm drawing certain characters. My pets hate me.

efdvorsky 2015-11-27 05:41:35 UTC #17

@AnnaLandin: Yeah I can understand that! I listen in class while I work but I guess for podcasts in comes with practice. Awesome though!

@shazzbaa: Whoa that page is really awesome. '/)(\' you're all pros I swear hahahah

@igneriss: It depends what you're into? Because there's the classic Dresden Dolls or Amanda Palmer on her own, Voltaire or Jill Tracy. There's also Vermillion Lies and Circus Contraption (head's up, they are a crazy circus so the music can be very performance, but I enjoy them enough) and something more lighthearted than Circus Contraption but still equally festive there's Vagabond Opera. If you'd like anything else lemme know!

@ScampiCub: oh oops I need to register BUT I SHALL!

Kayke 2015-11-27 15:47:27 UTC #18

I do have two Spotify playlist for characters in my comic Creep.

Creep's playlist is Fruit Punch and Sam's is Hoot.

A lot of times when I'm drawing Creep I'll watch TV or listen to podcasts though.

igneriss 2015-11-27 16:38:06 UTC #19

Ohh thanks! I think I like Voltaire and Circus Contraption the most c: added them to my 'to-listen-later' list to find more songs from them CX

Tindabox 2015-11-27 20:26:38 UTC #20

When I work on my comics, I have a playlist of popular 80s music ready to go.