What do you do while you work?
-
I always have a youtube window open up in the corner of my screen. I'll put on something talky without a lot of visuals, or a music channel. I like to feel a bit creeped out when making comics so I listen to Iron Cthulu Apocolypse and Cryo Chamber a lot (dark atmospheres and music). It's no mystery why the youtube algorithm favors longer videos these days...
-
I usually draw/paint in silence. It's easier for me to focus and concentrate that way. I find having anything on in the background to be way too much of a distraction for me.
-
I need to have something going on in the background most of the time, mostly because I don't like my thoughts wandering, haha.
I flutter between binge watching something, listening to podcasts (Critical Role, Sneak Attack, You Must Remember This, and of course Three Point Perspective), listening to music, and recently I've been enjoying listening to Ambient sounds (the closest I think I'll get to actual silence, haha).
Sometimes I'll try to listen to something on theme with what I'm working on. A few weeks ago when I did this, I was listening to the soundtrack from The Witcher tv series. It made it more fun and actually helped me focus more
-
@Gary-Wilkinson Usually classical covers by 2cellos/ Brooklyn duo. However when I paint custom shoes, then only hip hop
Apart from that svs podcast and courses from masterclass. Sometimes I just want silence... -
I watch old wrestling shows. I know it’s 2-5 hours of stuff I’ve already seen and don’t need to mess with the remote to find something else. It also comes with built in break times.
-
It's fun to see what everyone does
I'm kind of all over the place. I probably spend about 25% of the time with nothing at all. That probably has more to do with having 3 young kids and being constantly assaulted with noise. I think the rest is an equal split of audio books, movies, anime and podcasts. I don't like listening to music with lyrics though when I'm working, so it's always ambient stuff or jazz beats or something like that.
-
I listen to podcasts or music on pandora/Spotify. I would like just the outdoor noises but the studio I’m currently in doesn’t have much in the way of windows sigh....Sometimes I listen to pop music, but I find that moody soundtracks get me more in the mood to make the kind of art that I want to so I’ve been listening to a lot of Miyazaki soundtracks and similar ones ( I love the Ponyo soundtrack so much..and the movie too
-
I have various backgrounds or none at all but it doesn't really matter. When I start drawing I enter a weird state in which you could set me on fire and I probably won't notice. Same thing happens when I read. Drives my wife crazy.
-
I have a wide variety of taste in music from scratchy jazz to classical to electronic music to French Canadian folk music (somehow that seems to always puts me in a creative mood) so whatever happens to tickle my fancy at the moment is what I’ll listen to while I work.
-
If I'm planning or constructing the skeleton of the piece, I don't really listen to anything. Once I get into a more refined sketch and rendering I switch between mukbangs with Stephanie Soo, fiction and self help audio books, or a limited selection of bands/soundtracks I'm into at the moment. I usually listen to the same shuffle of songs over and over and over again for a few weeks, until I move onto something else. Right now I'm listening to Alt J, Cororosie, Fleetwood Foxes, First Aid Kit, and a little bit of Sevdaliza. I also really like Tiny Desk Concerts.
Website: www.tessawrathall.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/tessawrathall_art/
-
What a great question/ responses.
Concepting & writing (heavy brain work): light white noise like rain sounds on YouTube, Emancipator or Vivaldi
Painting & Post production tedium (after color sketches are done/ light brain work): long podcasts and fiction audiobooks like Philip Pullman, Neil Gaiman, etc.
Multiple beverages always close at hand, clearly set apart on my desk from painting water. The latter tastes quite disgusting and I always regret the mix up.
Emma T.
-
@TessaW Love First aid Kit!
-
@Emma-T I'm very much the same. White noise is a great background sound for initial sketching.
Speaking of Neil Gaiman did you listen to Sandman yet? I just finished my recent painting along with that
-
Ooh fun reading what everyone does. Let’s see- when I’m concepting/writing I can’t have another dialogue going on (my head is riddled with it!) so usually it’s silence, ambience/rain, classical, lofi/bossanova, or movie/game scores that fit with the theme I am writing.
I’ll list the last media’s I listened to-
Classical: Gustav Holst’s The Planets (inspired John Williams!)
Lofi: YouTube video Nintendo and Lofi III by Nintendo and chill
Game soundtrack: Ori and the Blind Forest (listened to as I did the dragonfly prompt)When I’m doing the rendering and my brain wants to hear other things I switch to musicals, 2d animated films, podcasts, and old movies.
Last ones I watched/listened:
Fiddler on the Roof
Howls Moving Castle
Critical Role (YouTube channel)
Imaginary Worlds Podcast
The Apartment -
I listen to music, audiobooks, podcasts or videos on you tube. When I am doing something that requires more thinking I usually listen to music since audiobooks require too much attention. I also use music to get in the correct mood for example if I am drawing a space themed illustration I listened to music from scifi movies or electric music, something to get me in the mood.
-
@Gary-Wilkinson is sandman comes with audio book? I have to check it out.
-
@xin-li the website "audible" did a special version of it with some great actors. Neil Gaiman even narrates it
-
I like to listen to music while thumbnailing and doing the earlier stages of a piece that are more about being creative. Once I get to technical stuff like line work where I don’t have to think up ideas or anything I switch to podcasts.
-
Most days while working, I cycle through, and in no particular order:
- Sports talk radio
- Illustration podcasts (usually 3 Point Perspective or The Illustration Department)
- All types of books on tape
- YouTube art demos
- Alternative and indie rock (sometimes chill, sometimes hard and heavy, depending on how fast I need to work)
- Jazz and animated film soundtracks (when I need to focus on anything that I have to write)
-
I listened to creepy pastas for a while, but I had to stop, because I would lay awake at night thinking about all those monsters that were most definitely right next to or under my bed waiting for me. So now I am back to podcasts, movies/series, music or "draw with me" YouTube videos. But if I am really into my work, I work in silence.
