Music? Podcasts? Silence?
Does it help you concentrate or inspire you? Get you pumped up or help you relax? Any thoughts, opinions, or recommendations?
I personally enjoy Rainy Mood21.
What about you?
Sep '16
Jan '20
There are 62 replies with an estimated read time of 6 minutes.
Music usually. I'm all about folk rock and folkpunk. So, The Mountain Goats, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Tallest Man on Earth, Bombadil, Defiance Ohio, Days N' Daze, Not Half Bad, that kind of thing.
Alternatively, I've got a big roll of youtube channels I follow. Usually comedy LP channels so I don't really have to watch what they're doing, just listen to the banter.
A combination of let's plays, old cartoons I've already watched, and music (pretty much any music except modern country). I don't listen to anything to get pumped, but I can't stand dead silence, there has to be some kind of background noise when I'm doing something that requires concentration.
Ambient noise, like the rain track you linked, is also nice. I used to have an alarm clock which had different sounds, like rain forest noises, crickets chirping, rain. Used to set it off just to listen to the different tracks.
That alarm clock didn't do it's job very well.
I have my vast iTunes collection, but I also have this youtube playlist28 that I play quite frequently. It's for music that I'm on the fence about buying or can't find a place to buy, I add to it every now and then.
I play full length vinesauce videos in the background because theyre usually over an hour long and I don't have to switch tabs to change it that often. (Right now I'm listening to one of a bootleg mario maker8)
Depending on my mood... quite varied actually...
Cafe Del Mar or Bossanova if I'm feeling chill
Chillstep if I'm feeling very chill
Linkin Park or Garbage if I'm feeling angsty
Pentatonix or Disney or other Youtubers if I'm feeling pop
Some Nicki Minaj even once in a while.
Really eats away my bandwidth though :/
Pretty much right now since it's football season I listen and watch games while doing my artwork. I also do the same with TV shows. I havent listened to much music in a while as my computer acts wonky when I try to listen to music while working in Photoshop(not so much when workling in Clip Studio; I guess my PS eats up a LOT of memory- funny coz it didnt use to be like this. I think Win 10 has made things worse).
Scripting, thumbnails, roughs: lyricless music, non-distracting video game music or remixes -- esp. long musical overtures like Time's End1 or the Journey1 soundtrack
Pencilling -- if I'm having a hard time and need to focus, lyricless music, sometimes hanging out in the main room with my grandmother's TV (NHK or PBS) in the background; if it's going well, music with lyrics, sometimes let's plays
Inking and Colouring -- whatever song I'm currently obsessed with, let's plays (Game Grumps2 especially), cracked.com shows I like that have a lot of episodes (After Hours1, OPCD1, I have listened to these so many times it's silly), specifically The Beginner's Guide2 Let's Plays for some reason right now???
I have a tendency to find specific long things I enjoy and just watch that one thing over and over, because if it's a new thing, it's too distracting. For colouring especially, my brain needs something else to focus on because ugghhhhhh colouring, but not something so engaging that I get distracted from colouring. xD
Cafe Del Mar! Man alive, I've been listening to that label since middle school, they put out some stellar, stellar tunes.
As for me, most of the time when I'm drawing, I listen to old video game soundtracks (lately, c/o Nesguide's streaming radio). I've said it before but man, video game music is awesome for getting you focused on problem solving since that's the main goal of the composition. I really like listening to Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge, chill, non-invasive, and it has some amazing tracks.
When I'm thumbnailing, I tend to put some wordless videogame soundtrack on repeat - lately, I've been favouring the Child of Light OST - but when I do the actual drawing, I listen to a metric ton of podcast and podcast-y streams.
Lately, I've been plowing my way through the archives Critical Role6, and am very nearly caught up. It's a bunch of professional voice actors who play Dungeons and Dragons in front of cameras, and it is so, so, SO good. Like, pause-the-episode-to-applaud-and/or-cry kind of good.
... It's also a solid 210 hours of entertainment, if you want something that going to keep you going for a while.
In a similar tabletop-y way, I am also a huge fan of Friends at the Table1 and The Adventure Zone. FatT is currently in the middle of an introduction/jumping-on-point season, so I highly recommend listening through the Marielda-episodes before you go back and listen to the previous seasons. They play a wide variety of rpg-systems, but tend to tell one story with one set of characters per season. The Adventure Zone is straight up D&D, but with a whole bag of comedy on top - it's being played by the My Brother, My Brother and Me-brothers, and their dad.
I've got a whole host of other podcasts, all of which I'm sorely behind on because I've been obsessing over Critical Role, but those three should keep you going for a while.
I like podcasts, because they're usually longer episodes, and thus keep me focused for longer chunks of time. When I listen to a playlist of songs, there's always those gaps of silence between songs - and my brain tends to wander in those gaps. Leads to less focus while drawing.
I one of those people who sometimes just prefers dead silence.
But when I am doing color editing at work, I listen to 60s folk music. (My mom says I'm groovy but for my generation groovy â cool.)
I mostly have Youtube running when I draw (when I don't want just silence). I mostly watch goofy movie and video game reviewers or LPs. Sometimes an animated show.
I like listening to streams and narrated tutorials cause its like drawing with friends, really nice and really cozy :^)
When I'm drawing my brain's not clogged with words, so I tend to take that time to listen to new music or to go over playlists I'm making, so I can give more attention to the music without sacrificing what I'm doing. Currently, the new music's fallen to the wayside a little, and I've been listening to Frank Ocean's 'Blond' a lot, and also going through my playlists for characters from The Get Down.
