What are you listening to while drawing?

....and do you feel it impacts your results?

I have tried so far popmusic from the 80s/90s, punkmusic from the 80s/90s (because I am old), but found, that if the rhythm draws me in too much, it does impact my lines quite a bit. It can actually give shorter drawings a bit of extra spice, but makes it hard to keep up enough precision to develop longer pieces.

Then I tried out a few of the tunes that label themselves as "healing frequency" or something. For a few hours they gave me more intensity, but the effect vanished. "Psytrance" worked a bit longer, especially because they got their videos filled with flickering AI art, that I can look at for a while, when I am tired from drawing, and then leave again without feeling I miss something.

Podcasts and youtube essays seem quite neutral. They just drone out the traffic noise and sounds from the neighbors, but neither inspire nor disturb me.

I found OST from videogames works well. "Disco Elysium" was great for a while. A quiet and contemplative atmosphere, without ever getting too much into my thoughts.

What do you folks listen to, and what does it for you?

I prefer silence. I can draw with tv noise or music or the chaos of public places, but I feel more focused in a silent room.

I like soul and R&B or hiphop for longer sesisons. It's nice to feel myself getting into a groove while listening to groovy music. Feels complimentary.

Heavy metal for shorter sessions. I find that it helps keep me calm and motivated simultaneously? I'm not sure if that makes sense.

I also like podcasts & youtube videos. They keep me from getting too bored while also not distracting me (and also they don't usually require looking, just listening). I can get into a really pleasant flow state with them :)

Oftentimes when figure drawing or planning for a project I'm trying to really think about what I'm doing and focus, so I'll work without music. But when doing other things like painting or doing flat colors (digitally), I'll listen to really anything, and I think it helps me keep focused. I never watch videos though. I don't know how other people do that without getting distracted by either activity, watching or drawing.

The trick with the videos is mostly to chose documentaries or video essays, that you don't have to watch. You mostly listen to people talking about various things, either stuff that interests you, or stuff that doesn't actually interest you a lot, but is beautifully said, like a lot of video essays on contemporary art and/or philosophy. I mentioned looking at AI-images of Psytrance videos, but that is only, when I do repeated lessons over several hours, and then the looking happens only in the breaks between those lessons.

I listen to my soft electronic french mix featuring artists like L'imperatice, Polo y Pan, Paradise, La Femme. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1E35e42YlzghHu?si=834aa9b56c4047d8

Personally, I find any noise pretty distracting. I tend to think more clearly.

• JO NI edited this post on October 5, 2024 7:15pm.

I personally listen to video game soundtracks as long as they don't get too distracting. The soundtrack to Final Fantasy 8 is the flavour of the month so far :)

The art drawing class I attend have also put together a pretty relaxing and chilled playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3YIhIKZ4SK8t3lrRbuHTVs?si=UM3nsqZoTQizM_jIzOLECQ&pi=wVzZxbviTGa0z

I usually prefer silence or the ticking of a timer . But recently started listening to "nobody" YouTube channel in the background. Ambiental music. Have a look