Music While Arting

[raerae]

TV and music are sort of 'white noise' to me. I tend to tune it out while working, but it having background noise helps me focus. Like Ran, though, it does help watching shows that don't have much substance for me.

[Hazumirein]

If I'm doing more tedious things like linework or toning comics (and sometimes even coloring), I tend to lean towards listening to podcasts or audiobooks (or podcast audiobooks), or having the TV on. It gives me something else to concentrate on while I'm drawing so my mind doesn't wander off and go "hey, I wonder what's going on on the internet" and make me waste an hour checking Deviantart, Facebook, etc.

If I'm sketching or working on something particularly...inspired, I go with whatever suits the mood, usually. My playlist contains everything from country to punk rock and just about everything in between. Hah, I actually have some lists set up with all music that fits a certain mood/situation. Like one labeled "Fight Songs" for drawing battle scenes. It's mostly fast, angry...fight-y...sounding music. Yeah. Something like that. (Actually, there's two of those. One in English and one in Japanese XD)

And sometimes I just go through phases where I'll be addicted to one type of music and it'll influence everything I draw. Like, lately, I find myself rather attached to pop rock/pop punk. Ahaha. That's producing some interesting stuff.

[Funderbunk]

It gives me something else to concentrate on while I'm drawing so my mind doesn't wander off and go "hey, I wonder what's going on on the internet" and make me waste an hour checking Deviantart, Facebook, etc.

This is a HUGE problem for me. In fact, I have no idea why I'm here right now instead of working. I get to work, get distracted for ten seconds and suddenly Firefox is open and I spend hours following link through link on TVTropes.

[raerae]

It's a problem for me too. One minute I'll be working on art and the next a windows open and I'm playing with StumbleUpon. Like right now. Oops.

[amanda]

Depends on how motivated I am at the moment to work on the page.  If I need a bit of pep, I listen to dance-able music (not club dance music, incidentally).  If I'm motivated and just need to concentrate, my Ennio Morricone station on Pandora.com is just perfect =D

[raerae]

Danceable music is a good choice. I find fast music helps me work faster, or at least it seems that way. Right now I'm listening to Caramell's speedymix(the artist responsible for the infamous Caramelldansen).

[HarringtonAW]

I like listening to music while I draw. It seems to make things go faster. I listen to a variety of things, but recently it's been stuff like Michael Schenker Group, Triumph, Savatage, Collective Soul, Red Rider and Spock's Beard.

I have a hard time concentrating on drawing while watching tv, unless it's something like a football game or a NASCAR race that I can follow by mostly listening to it without looking at the screen too much.

-S

[Gibson]

I've got a station set up on Pandora that I play a lot while working, either words or pictures. It's a pretty wide mix from Smiths and Joy Division to Johnny Cash to Tom Waits to Radiohead to G Love & Special Sauce to Ani Difranco to The Pogues and right back around to The Cure, and because Pandora is supergreen, I'm adding new stuff regularly. The station is called, cleverly enough, Pictures of You Radio. Once I've tweaked it into oblivion, I'm going to release it to the world.

[Dr. BlkKnight]

Very much into anything electronic or with a fast-paced beat. The less lyrics a song has, the better I can focus on drawing.

[Fatolbaldguy]

When I am allowed to play my music (Read Wife and Daughter are out of house) I play Jazz Miles Davis some big band. Not blues that's for drinking. Otherwise I just put the TV on as background noise on the History Channel or Food network.

[scruffy]

I pretty much have to listen to music while I work, but mostly because I'm usually in a room full of noisy people and I need a way to tune them out. Lyrics usually hitch me up and pop me out of being able to think visually, though, so almost all of what I listen to is instrumental or electronic. I do pretty much the same thing as Gibson with Pandora, but I've got a station set to Ratatat, which as an added bonus plays a lot of RJD2 and Rob Dougan.

[WilliamHuntJr]

Depends really on what im working on but soundtracks are my favorite.

[Gar]

Pandora doesn't work outside the USA, but I joined Live365 lately and found a good station which plays remixes of 80s music (Club 80s with DJ Lex) which is pretty good to draw to.

[Jack Sign]

Most of the time I listen to the Rolling Stones, but if I really need inspiration I listen to a my collection of Muppet Songs.

[Rori]

Before my computer died, I had a playlist called "Ladies' night is alright for fighting" that was very Tori Amos/Belly/Blondie heavy, and that worked well. Since then I pretty much just go with a random Pandora station. Although I haven't drawn a lot since then...hmm...

And on nice days I really just prefer to open the window and listen to the outside noises.