Art & Music Discussion - For on-topic chat times!

[Crazy-8]

I've been working on an 8-bit version of a HS song in FamiTracker for a while, and I'm having a bit of trouble finishing the song/polishing it.

Anyone here have some experience working with Famitracker?

Might want to ask Underwater Basketweaver, He's pretty good at it

[Urzyle]

I get atleast 300 or so daily deviations in my messages, most for a Homestuck -Fan group.
Anyone here joined that group?

[Keltzy]

So I've been playing around with music composition lately, and I find that I like the melody and chord structure and whatnot, but I can't seem to write for anything other than piano. I'd like to branch out, but I have a hard time figuring out what instruments to use. Do any of you music people have any tips for choosing instruments?

[Torquemadras Trump]

Hi there!

I'm trying to learn animating with Flash (Adobe Flash, actually), and I pretty much don't know where to start. I can draw pictures and make gifs, but Flash...

I figured this would be a good place to ask for advice! Where / How should I get started with Flash? Thanks a lot in advance!

[Petite.Kleptomania]

So, it was brought to my attention that I might be of use to you Musical people here in the forums, but I'm not sure if this is true or where to go looking for places I could do stuff. I'm a singer, not a composer, so I am not sure if I'm of any help to any projects people are working on.

So I've been playing around with music composition lately, and I find that I like the melody and chord structure and whatnot, but I can't seem to write for anything other than piano. I'd like to branch out, but I have a hard time figuring out what instruments to use. Do any of you music people have any tips for choosing instruments?

Violins and Violas generally sound nice and have a good variety on moods that they can create. And flutes are gorgeous for quiet things. I haven't taken a music composition class for a few years, so I don't know how different it will be composing for those instruments instead.

[esteemlessGuitarist]

So I've been playing around with music composition lately, and I find that I like the melody and chord structure and whatnot, but I can't seem to write for anything other than piano. I'd like to branch out, but I have a hard time figuring out what instruments to use. Do any of you music people have any tips for choosing instruments?

What usually happens with me is that all of my melodies start out as something I just randomly play on my guitar (that being the one instrument I actually play), and then I shift them to something else when I put them into FL Studio, just sort of testing all the possibilities to find out what sounds best. So basically, my instrument choices come down to "let's see how this sounds".

[==>]

Someone should start a thread where we can swap tumblr pages for following and such. If such a thread exists... link me via pm plz?

If not, let's start! ==>'s Tumblr

Also, far superior to my own... Lithiumboy's Tumblr

[MasterK]

I have a really stupid and probably sensitive n00b question to ask, but I can't find the answer anywhere, so here goes. I'm sorry in advance.

How does one volunteer for the art team?

I realize Andrew's probably got *way* more talent than he knows what to do with. I'm a little unique as my degree was in animation so I'm a pretty decent 2D animator. I just graduated and am unemployed, so I thought doing something for Homestuck would be a cool way to work on my reel.

I'll go hide under a rock now.

[Walliard]

I realize Andrew's probably got *way* more talent than he knows what to do with.

This, pretty much.

That said, if you wanted to share some of your past work with him (or any member of the art team), it can't exactly hurt. The young trolls in the latest flash were drawn by an outsider, so to speak.

Of course, if you're just looking for practice, you could always head over to Group Art Projects or Fan Projects and see if someone needs an animator. Not exactly glorious work, but you have to start somewhere.

[Avi]

You could just send him a PM and ask to volunteer! I think it's only by invitation or recommendation though, and they haven't added anyone in the last few months. (The newest contributor was Lazylaz, but she didn't join the team(?)) I'm not sure how people get picked to draw album art but I assume it's also by recommendation! I also assume it would be easier to volunteer for that than for animation contributor?
I suggest post your fanart here and on tumblr and deviantart, hang out and get to know people.

And there's at least one or two fan animations in progress in the Fan Projects forum that are looking for artists, you should check those out.

[tynic]

I think it's only by invitation or recommendation though, and they haven't added anyone in the last few months.

The art team is, basically, now completely closed - essentially there are already too many members and not enough work. But at the same time, the userbase that art is being drawn from is actually expanding - fanartists completely unaffiliated with the 'art team' have been commissioned for song art, album art and even flashes. So division between fan and team member is becoming increasingly meaningless - in the same way that earlier in MSPA's history, the audience was the writer; now the audience is more and more frequently also the artist.

Your best bet, if you want work to appear in homestuck, is to just go ahead and create fan stuff and try to get it noticed. Post it here, post it on tumblr - if you're good, it will get an audience and people from the MSPA team will bring it to andrew's attention. That I can guarantee. And then who knows what plans he has in the pipeline? Anything is possible.

[MasterK]

Thanks for the info guys! Yeah, I just wanted to volunteer some work, nevermind "art team" status or anything like that. I skimmed the fan projects and they look really cool, so I'll definitely try to do something for them. And I guess I'll have to get a Tumblr. I always resist these things and it's always futile!

Anyway, here's my reel if anyone's interested: http://vimeo.com/24392624

Edit: Tumblr: http://masterkfox.tumblr.com/

[Anarel]

I'm not entirely sure if this is the correct place, but here it goes. I've a good number of projects (that I should really work on) currently running:

-First, I have my conworld. I case you don't know what that is, think about Alternia. In short, it is a made up world. In my case, the planet I created is named Nahaiteru and it is inhabitated by a good number of different intelligent and a wide variety of non-intelligent species. Don't expect this world to be full of clichés, I worked hard to made it original and above all, realistic. For example, there are no gods that created the people of Nahaiteru they evolved as we did, as all life in Earth did. No weird plot shit about gods creating the world and all the living beings. This, however does not denies the existence of the soul and spirits, as these things do not need necessarily a god to exist.
Anyway, I could speak about Nahaiteru for hours but I don't want to make this needlessly long, so I will just go by saying that I have a lot of work to do, which basically is to define and create in detail up to 15 different cultures (which includes [I]a lot[I] of things, actually) of 15 different intelligent species (some are related to each other, though).

-Secondly, I have many ideas of novels, short and long tales, legends, plays, and so on based on Nahaiteru in different times, spaces and cultures. Because you know, the people of my world doesn't get stuck in a middle ages kind of civilization for millennia like in Tolkien and so many other rip-offs, I mean... novels based on him. *cough*. Now, I have many ideas and a quite terrible short novel that I've been promising to edit and improve since I ages. Yeah, I don't even have a title for it *shrugs*

-In the third place, and what has become my main project (at least what I'm focusing on for now) is a science fiction/fantasy/supernatural Earth-based novel. It won't be long, just 200 or so pages, but it has proved to be though but fun, as it is set in a somewhat dystopian future (the year is 2100) in which USA is a Neopuritan Teocracy, Europe is the main and first world power, Tokio has evolved in a highly technological hyper city (it goes from the north coast of the main island to its south uninterrupted) and the Middle East has been devastated by the US and Israel (who dominates all the muslim territory). The plot is about a man named Henry Walker, who is working for an organization named the "Brotherhood", who capture and study spirits in order to study them and the Afterlife. Henry is what is known as a "Soul Hunter", which happens to be the title of the novel.

-Last, but not least... fanfics! I love fandom. In fact, I have a really weird and crazy Silent Hill fanfic which I wrote years ago, just as SH4 was released. The protagonist is an OC named Nathaniel Reynolds, who is lured to the town because he wants to return home. Oh, and because he's having these really crazy dreams in which he murders people, is attacked by horrible monsters and a mysterious familiar shape haunts him. It is a story about the instability of mind, of madness, of violent outbursts. I don't want to spoil anything, but the second part (which I never finished, shame on me) explains much more about poor (or not so?) Nathan.
I took this as an experiment, as a way to develop my writing skills. I deal with a lot of things in this fanfic, the town and lore being just a nice and perfect stage in which to represent a shattered, damaged human mind, always suffering and never knowing what is real and what it is not. So I thought, what better place to put a crazy guy than Silent Hill? And then you have this fanfic.

[VeritasUnae]

okay i literally did not know where else to drop this. A general art / music chat seemed the likely spot to determine where to drop it.
It's kind of Fan Music, but parody, and I felt that I was unsure whether it was alright to drop it in the Fanmusic thread. If you think I should, I will, then, but for now.



Here's a parody I did.
Tumblr post for avid rebloggers

[Dollywitch]

Err, I don't seem to be able to make a new thread. I have a new comic series I'd like to post here as it's pretty MSPA relevant, I don't see anything in the rules saying how many posts to make a new thread or anything. Maybe I missed something but it should be made pretty clear IMO...

[Avi]

Err, I don't seem to be able to make a new thread. I have a new comic series I'd like to post here as it's pretty MSPA relevant, I don't see anything in the rules saying how many posts to make a new thread or anything. Maybe I missed something but it should be made pretty clear IMO...

Rescued from the spam filter! http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread...PHANTASMAGORIA

[Keltzy]

Actually, I've kinda got an FL studio question as well. Does anyone know how one might change tempo within a song? Using the same tempo the whole time feels really limiting, and I can't seem to find anything about it under the help topics.

[VeritasUnae]

Right click the tempo and select automation, I believe. From there you just automate it as usual.

[neoEcologist]

*BUMP* I hope this is the right forum for vid manips.

[Walliard]

Anyone doing NaNoWriMo this year? It occurred to me that I've known about it for six years now and this is the first year I won't be in school (and therefore have free time as opposed to crunch time).

[SkaianRedeemer]

Anyone doing NaNoWriMo this year? It occurred to me that I've known about it for six years now and this is the first year I won't be in school (and therefore have free time as opposed to crunch time).

I had been planning to support a friend by using the month as an excuse to complete the second draft of something, but nooooooo. Work keeps me as much from work-writing as it does from xenoculture fanfic writing.

Good luck to everyone that is taking the plunge.

[VeritasUnae]

I am considering it. But for the first half of Novemeber I have final exams period...
Eh, what the hell. I just signed up.

[Walliard]

I just came up with a story idea, so I guess I have two days to flesh it out before I start. It's actually based on an idea I had for a Minecraft mod that I never got around to making. Maybe I can make it for 1.0 at the end of the month.

[haphazardVagrant]

right, I wanted to ask...
I'm screenshotting moments from Cascade and turning them into Wallpapers. Should I just post them in this thread when I'm finished?

Also, here's a few I've done so far.

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All in my native res, 1360x768.

[Bellstrom]

Seems like they might be more appropriate in the Image Manip thread.

also suddenly new ask blog out of nowhere