Art Challenge Projects
2020-2021
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My sister, Sara, and I are artists looking for a challenge. She is a graphic designer while I am a music producer. This is a series we are collaborating on to create a piece of art that has a still visual element with an accompanying music track. Each of us gets one week to complete a piece based on some general topic we choose in advance. Once the time is up, we both set down the work and publish it as-is.
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See the playlist below for shares.
Contact me to license tracks for your project
Beyond
July 17, 2021
This week I wanted to return to another space scene for our project setting. Rather than an intense moment like our last space scene, Crashing Meteor, this time we went for a dramatic, yet calm vista of stars and nebulas. Photos and artwork of nebulas have been fascinating to me because of the colors and shapes they create, being so unique and expansive. Of course, we would have difficulty putting color to these space gases in reality but that is where imagination and art enter in, sometimes with a bit of photo science.
Summer Lake
July 3, 2021
For this track, I wanted something to be brighter than previous tracks and have a lighter tone. As I’ve been listening to some music from one of the Legend of Zelda games, I was inspired by a sound similar to the theme for a village of bird-people, which was a light-hearted piece with moving strings in a waltz-like meter. In the first half of my piece, the music goes back and forth between lush string parts and a light, dance-like feel. Then the music transitions into a more ambient sound for the completion.
Erupting Volcano
June 5, 2021
Rather than writing a track about the destruction of the volcano, I wrote the track for a the build up to the first explosion. For the music on this track, I began with the timpani, taikos, and upright bass. I used a lot of chromaticism for the notes and percussion to drive the music. As I was writing, I started to hear influences from a video game composer I listen to named Darren Korb.
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Check out the drawing timelapse!
Wildflowers
May 22, 2021
For this project, I wanted to continue to experiment with only writing with four tracks. Again I had to use sounds and effects to make each sound stand on its own without the need for many layers.
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Lonely Bridge
May 9, 2021
The feel for this painting is one of seclusion and old memories long gone while still maintaining the warmth of a summer forest. I took this as an opportunity to work on the simplicity of layering and notes. I decided limited myself to 4 simultaneous instrument patches and created interest through the notes, mix, and effects. The challenge forced me to focus on making each part count towards to whole and I think the music brings out those emotions I was hoping to produce.
Mountains Within the Mist
April 24, 2021
In this scene, the sun is rising to warm up the air and dissipate the mist. The beginning of the piece starts with the building strings and free-playing piano. Then as the journey begins, the piece is more structured and melodic, evolving along the way. The initial inspiration for the sound is from Howard Shore's The Hobbit trilogy soundtracks.
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Check out the drawing timelapse!
Mystical Forest
Mar. 27, 2021
A depiction of a forest in a fantasy setting can result in numerous different scenes and depict many emotions. For me, Sara's drawing really captures a sense of dark mystery. My goal with the music is to capture that sense of mystery and fantasy. The inspiration for this piece came from Joe Hisaishi's score for Princess Mononoke.
Glowing Cavern
Mar. 13, 2021
Drawings of caves can be tricky to create since there are rarely light sources underground. However, Sara got around this by creating a fantasy-inspired cave with glowing rocks with the explorers' light source. The music for this one goes back and forth between ambient sections representing the awe of the explorers' discoveries and lighter, moving sections representing their travels. The cave waterfall ambience in the track brings the listener into the space with these explorers.
Crashing Meteor
Feb. 27, 2021
The scene of the crashing meteor immediately produces a sense of large-scale intensity and I wanted to capture some of that in my music. The emotion is geared more towards a sense of awe and excitement, like a crew of a space-exploration vessel witnessing this scene as they pass by. The music starts soft and builds to the moment of the meteor striking the planet with big drums and horns.
Coral Reef
Feb. 13, 2021
After going through some idea iterations for a coral reef, Sara landed on drawing an aerial view of an ocean coral reef. That route moved me from anticipating another underwater sound to creating a sound that would evoke thoughts of flying in a small plane off the coast. I wanted to keep the sound from being epic-sounding but still have sweeping, airy feel, which led to the creation of this track.
Diving Submarine
Jan. 30, 2021
The idea for a submarine in an ocean could go many ways and Sara created this submarine, alone in open water but approaching combat. The sound I turned to had an open, cold, underwater feel that builds towards a situation needing to fire weapons. My track has three sections, each building with some speed and intensity, that keep an ambient sound throughout.
Canyon
Jan. 16, 2021
The basic idea for this one was simply canyon at sunset. That could go in a few directions but it wound up as a Grand Canyon-esque vibe. My thoughts turned to old western film scores and the music has elements from those styles, which have some American classical sounds mixed with Latin music. My track starts off big and moving quick then tapers off to represent time passing as the sun is setting during a journey West.
Tornado
Jan. 2, 2021
For this piece, we wanted to create a blend of gold and dark blue in the form of a tornado. For the music, I use ambient, choral sound for the golden sky and heavy drums and bass for the dark storm. The track starts light and builds into the storm.
Snowfall
Dec. 19, 2020
The basic idea for this piece was snow in an empty parking lot. Upon receiving this artwork, I was surprised to see a more tight, yellow-lit scene than I first expected. This drove my thoughts to an urban, lonely feel that mirrored a jazz, or noire, sound.
Clocks
Dec. 5, 2020
Campfire by a Brook
Nov. 21, 2020
