There are just a few hours left in the Kickstarter for my board game Four Humours, being published by Adam's Apple Games. One of the biggest treats of the entire process was working with the incredibly talented illustrator Shirley Gong to make these jumbo-sized location cards. I wanted to share an insider look at the progression of the game art, plus a list of my 10 favorite cards.
I've been working on my digital painting skills over the last few weeks, trying to make something as photorealistic as possible. I was inspired by two reference photos, one from a friend of her cat, Remus, and one from my old dog, Dylan.
I've always been attracted to Salvador Dalí's style, but this week I got a book of his paintings (thanks Mom and Dad!) and was completely enthralled by his craziness and creativity. I wanted to try something surreal and dense with imagery and tiny secrets.
Cyriak Harris has wowed the internet with his weird YouTube animations, which often feature dancing, mutating animals, like his 34-million-views video "cows & cows & cows." But he's rarely asked about his soundtracks, which are equally intricate and wild. In this episode of Composer Quest, I interview Cyriak about his composing methods and creativity tips.
Composer Richard Russell is a philosopher at heart. In his mission to become a better composer, he went back to school to study the big questions surrounding aesthetics, music, and beauty. He has dug into both existential and practical composing topics in his podcast Creativity and Composition (one of my favorites). I'm pleased to bring you this Composer Quest podcast interview with Richard, in which we discuss everything from feminist musicology to Plato to getting performance royalties from ASCAP.
I'm thrilled to bring you this incredibly comprehensive flow chart of my advice on making a living with your art.
Matt Schubbe, the graphic designer behind our 8-bit Composer Quest art, is also a songwriter himself! In this episode, we talk about how he writes songs for (and with) his wife, Donna. Matt tends to choose strange lyrical topics, like a kid getting his head stuck in the banister, or the 1739 invention of a pooping duck automaton.
I talked with my cousin, Nathan Graves, who fronts the band With a Gun for a Face and writes solo music under the name Kurtz. Nate's music is usually pretty dark and dissonant, but strangely catchy. The more I listen, the more I like it.
My friends and I just finished an elaborate video using a technique called light painting. In ultra-slow motion (4 hours!), Maia Hamann played Bach's Fugue No. 2 in C minor, while I took long exposure pictures of our friends Oanh, Peter, and Pat "painting" with colored LED lights. I took one photo for Continue reading...