What do you listen to while you draw/write?

[pleasedonthost]

Personally I prefer to listen to music without lyrics while I make comics. I either listen to Chopin or ambient soundtracks. Lately I've been listening to the soundtrack of Civilization Beyond Earth and its expansion. On rare occasion I listen to something emotionally charged if I need inspiration. -Vivian

[hushicho]

I totally love making playlists for listening, based on a certain frame of mind I want to be in. Oftentimes these are songs with vocals, but not always. I have in past really enjoyed listening to video game soundtracks for a certain feel; I've really enjoyed Yamaoka Akira's work on Silent Hill and of course a good bit of the music from the various Final Fantasy titles. Someone had commented that since video game soundtracks tend to be designed to add to a person's focus on the game, they're usually good choices for focusing on a project.

Usually I just take whatever songs I feel contribute to the mindset I need and make a playlist, though. That seems to work nicely! Although I love it when friends and others I know will make me playlists to listen to. I recently did a contest that I'm still listening through, to make playlists for a project, and they were all so amazing! I fell in love with all of the playlists. It's so wonderful to be able to feel the music and let it contribute to a creative project.

I also have a bit of synesthesia, so it can be a really special experience to get it just right!

[pleasedonthost]

As a soundtrack collector I LOVE Akira Yamaoka's and Nobou Uematsu's work. They have to be some of my favorite composers, though I have a myriad of favorites. Silent hill is a bit spooky for working on comics though, but I own the OSTs for SH 1-3 and they're on my iPod. Personally I'm not a playlist person though. I listen to albums start to finish because I'm a weirdo. -Vivian

[AnnaLandin]

A buuuuuunch of podcasts, mostly!

When thumbnailing and lettering, I listen to OSTs with no lyrics - the Child of Light OST has gotten me through a LOT of thumbnailing - but as soon as I'm at the inking/colouring stage of drawing, I switch over to the metric TON of podcasts I listen to.

Here's a handy list of what I currently fill my ears with:

Know any good podcasts?

(missing from that list is Rusty Quill Gaming and The Magnus Archives)

I prefer podcasts because they're usually 20 minutes or longer, which means that I focus for that long. With songs, you get 3-4 minutes, and then there's a tiny pause, and then another song, and another pause, etc. In that tiny pause between songs, my brain starts wandering.

[pleasedonthost]

I do love podcasts but I save them for long trips or for when I'm lulling myself to sleep. I get too distracted by the words, especially since I listen to a lot of informational podcasts. -Vivian

[shaneoid77]

Oh I'm screaming Iron Maiden at the top of my lungs while I work \m\ /m/
I've also found some fun Live RPG sessions on Youtube like the Bacon Battalion
And I've got through lots of Doctor Who audio plays from Big Finish

[pleasedonthost]

That reminds me, I need to get a D&D group together again. I haven't played in ages... -Vivian

[niinasalmelin]

I just bought these HUUUUGE collections of composition and Big band music. Now I have over 20 CDs of this goodness to listen while drawing ;___;

[pleasedonthost]

I think I knew someone who had that same collection. I used to have it ripped on my PC but it was and old computer and I lost the files. -Vivian

[hushicho]

I'm a bit of a weirdo myself; sometimes spooky and weird is just the thing I need for a piece or page! Silent Hill 1-3 were my favorites of the series. I do love to listen to concept albums in sequence, although I'm a bit too chaotic to listen to them exclusively. But something like Kate Bush's Ninth Wave on her album Hounds of Love often tempts me to listen to the whole thing in the proper order.

[ChipGod]

My favorite songs, a podcast, or a YouTube video.

[akkoneko]

If I can't go online, I would usually go for the music I have on the computer. I work rather slowly on things, so I usually go for the longer playlists. Hearing a song again because the playlist was all used up gets to me and makes me distracted.

If I can go online, I would usually go to YouTube and listen to playlists by R3 Music Box or SuperRedGames. Either those or a long Vocaloid off vocal playlist. I don't like the ads that pop up every so often, though, especially the YouTube wrap up thing.

[Kayke]

When I draw I listen to whatever I'm in the mood for. Either music, podcasts, TV shows... basically whatever I was listening to before I started drawing. Lately it's been 'As Told by Ginger' or the 'MBMBAM' podcast.

When I write I'm more particular though, because I need something that's not distracting. I usually listen to something from the "Focus" section of Spotify.

[Mocha]

When drawing I usually listen to Bo En, Mili, or video game soundtracks like Hyper Light Drifter, Mother 3, Touhou, .flow, etc...

Also I'm not sure if anyone else does this, but I have this weird habit of listening to really cutesy happy music whenever I'm drawing a scene that's really dark and violent or depressing, and also the same situation inversed. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this! O v O;

[akkoneko]

Hmm, I don't quite have that habit, but I'm the type who doesn't mind what the mood of the song is, as long as I can get something done. Sometimes, I end up listening to something like Linkin Park while writing something positive, and then something like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu for something darker because of that.

[Mocha]

(Well well well, we meet again!)
Rocking out to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu while drawing is the best = v =b

[candaceandco]

Often I skip the tunes altogether while drawing, but when I don't, I go with a lot of different music groups. One of my favorites is Shadowfax!

[Kirstin]

Omg haha not gonna lie I've watched a LOT of reality TV when working on my comic! I especially love art shows like Faceoff (this show does EXCELLENT character creation, and is just really inspirational in general!), skin wars (body painting), and of course the more trashy shows lol. Idk, as much as I love my OST playlist for writing it just gets kinda boring when your doing something mindless like inking

[dojo]

I mostly listen to gaming LPs, but there is the occasional TV show and Podcast that slip in, especially when I'm caught up on my lp backlog (I follow a ton of channels though so it's pretty rare I run out)

When I'm not listening to people talk, I do sometimes listen to music but I have been known to just sit in silence when I just plain don't want music going at all. Like right now, I have nothing running.

[poleronepeix]

yeah, kind of the same, no lyrics and classical music or film soundtracks. Anything that relaxes me.