About



     This is my process page, it's divided into three sections: visual art, music, and writing. It's a bit pretentious, and there is very likely something missing. If you know what that something is, you should email me so that I can put it in here!

     The processes each show similar steps, and many parallels can be drawn. This is often what drives me from one piece of art to another, and it shows that there are such things as universal laws of aesthetics.

Visual Art

     The visual design process is easiest looked at in terms of discreet steps, but it's important to keep in mind that revisiting any of these steps after progressing further down the line is not only common, but a good idea.

  • Research

         Research is an incredibly important step, and one that I've seen overlooked far too often in the art world. The truth about research, is that the final product is only as good as the intial body of knowledge about the task at hand.

         When there's a deadline that's looming, my typical research is Google image search, which is an excellent source of quick and dirty photo and art reference. When I have a project that's really important, and there is time to make it right, Google doesn't cut it. In fact, the entire internet is far too limited to provide the kind of information I need.

         Libraries, personal photo collections (or just looking at the thing or person in real life), and interviews are the way to go. I don't like to stop learning about the subject I'm going to be recreating until I have to. I try to create art for the people who know about the subject of the piece.

  • Thumbnails

         I sometimes work small, but often find my thumbnails becoming large, wild gestures. This is rarely bad.

         At the early stage of thumbnailing, the most important part is to get good shapes and general ideas. Appeal is incredibly important. Most people make lots of small thumbnails, but I've found that while it's okay to start small, it's always best to ramp up the size of what's being worked on very quickly.

         I've always made it a point to get feedback from my employers, coworkers, or supervisors several times during this stage. Outside feedback is essential for the process, and no one works well in a vacuum.

  • Comps

         Comps are interesting, because there's this idea floating around that they're different from thumbnails. I've had art instructors that have talked about an intermediary step of creating "super thumbs", but the truth is that there is often a smooth gradient from loose thumbnail-type drawings to cleaned-up renderings.

         I've found it very useful to continue to get lots of feedback up through the comps stage, as well

  • Hard Work

         I've usually gathered all the necessary data by now, and it's time to hunker down. This is the part where lots of time is spent on polish. I always roughly double how much time I think this stage is going to take, and that's usually a fairly accurate estimate.

  • Final Product

         This isn't really a stage in my visual design process. Nothing is ever really finished, but it can be game ready, or client ready, or production ready, or what have you. Another thing I try to keep in mind, is that there is always the possibility of the 'Final Product 2' stage, which is essentially just bumping back a bit into the realm of hard work and redoing a lot of work.

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Music

     The process for building a piece of electronic music is usually kind of a messy back and forth between my piano, my synthesizer, and my computer. I usually start, though, by listening to some music that I like. Usually this is Aphex Twin, Luke Vibert, Boards of Canada, or something more old school like Beethoven, Rachmaninov, or Ligetti.

     Before I ever touch anything technological, I'm usually at the piano for a good couple of hours, just trying to conjure up the mood that I'm looking to create. I think of it in the same way as a visual piece, start with something more formal, and then work it into its final format.

     A lot of times, I'm just after a mood, or a texture, but that doesn't mean that melody isn't incredibly important to me. Melody is one of those things that one doesn't notice, unless it's really bad, whereas poor rhythms and textures can be easily overlooked when the melody is good. Sure, chiptunes evokes memories of days past when the Nintendo was the coolest game system, but also it foregoes the nitty gritty details of modern electronic music, and forces the listener to focus on the melody.

     Once I've got my melody and mood set in my head (or maybe even written down, if I'm feeling saucy), I start messing around in FL Studio. I don't know if it's the best program (I've had many friends scoff when I tell them what software I use), but it is my preferred tool, and I think that it's not so much the tools that should count, but the artist. I also have to contradict myself a little, here, to say that if an artist wants to be taken seriously, they have to take themself seriously and use the best tools available.

     I usually spend a long time making my lead synth sound just right, and making sure there are at least three distinct voices in the track. I typically assemble huge loops (huge in the sense that there can be 60 or 70 voices or variants), and then render each instrument into it's own wav file.

     It get's a bit nitty gritty, but I then bring each individual rendered loop into Acid Pro, and proceed to do all of my arranging in that software. I like to use it, primarily because it is streamlined for arranging, and arranging only. This is also where a lot of Sound Forge, Audacity, and other sound editing programs come into play.

     I spend long periods of time in Acid just getting the levels right. I've found that it's often a huge newbie mistake to try to use compressors to get the mix correct. It's much better to make sure everything isn't causing audio clipping manually, to get the exact intended sound.

     My goal in the arranging process, after getting good levels, is to create a sense of environment. This can be achieved through EQing, panning, and just generally thinking about how to make this instrument connect with that instrument without losing a sense of lead, bass, and drums.

     Unless that's what you're after. Everything is okay in the realm of electronic music, as long as it sounds intentional.

     More to come in this section regarding a bit of music theory.
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Writing

     I love writing, and have had little formal training beyond the pathetic education I recieved in my public schools education. In my experience, the most important thing to do when writing, is to write what I am thinking. I've heard this referred to as freewriting, and it's absolutely essential to the process of making a written piece.

     My trick is to just write/type/dictate/what-have-you until I've spent several minutes doing so. The fewer times I pause during this process, the better. It's sort of like a gestural drawing, it's important to just whip the gist of the thing together as quickly as possible, and instill as much structure and initial spark as possible.

     Then, of course editing can be done. This process is unpleasant, and it's really best to ask as many people to tear apart the work as possible. It's not good to expect any sort of joy in the editing process, at least no in the early stages.

     The thing about creative processes, is that there is no wrong style, but there is such a thing as bad art. In my opinion, this is the most apparent in writing. It is incredibly important that to have a clear voice, one that reads (or sounds) like an individual.

     This is an incredibly important idea to take into the editing phase, since my version of correct grammar will not be the same as someone else's. Clear delineation of rules that work will follow is essential, and if these rules are broken, it must appear intentional.
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