How much does music affect your artwork?

Posted 2 years, 11 months ago by Wingspan

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18 Votes A lot. Many of my art/characters are inspired by songs I like.

15 Votes A little bit. A few of my art/characters are inspired by songs I like.

10 Votes Not at all. I still enjoy listening to music, but it doesn't affect my artwork much.

1 Votes Not at all. I don't listen to music that often.

I saw this question posted by someone a while back on the DeviantArt forums, which in case you don't know is uh... kinda empty, and since I thought it was still a really great question, I thought I'd post it here! So... For any music fans out there (people who don't are allowed to reply too ofc), how much does what you listen to affect your art? I've been kinda curious about this, cause for me? It definitely affects my art a lot. Many of my artwork and characters are inspired by songs I like, and I'll show a few examples of such in the spoiler below (warning, the list is very long):

Characters whose creation was inspired by a song:

Ten Of Spades - Mr. Bellamy by Paul McCartney

Three Of Clubs - Say, Say, Say by Paul McCartney (he was actually inspired more by the music video than the song itself though)

Ace Of Clubs - Deirdre by The Beach Boys

Seven Of Spades - Devil's Radio by George Harrison

Ten Of Clubs - Cuckoo by Rob Cantor

Allen - King Midas In Reverse by The Hollies

Ruben - Crackerbox Palace by George Harrison (technically based on dumb inside memes I made from screenshots from the music video but still counts)

And a few others...

Heck, I even have a whole story based on these AMVs I want to make of an album I like (the AMVs will 99% never get made but y'know what? It's still fun to plan that sort of stuff haha)

There's also plenty of characters that are references to various musicians like Harris, Nine Of Hearts, McCartney, Bingo, etc...

Oh! And finally I have waaaay too much artwork based on songs, I'll show some examples here:

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(in case you're wondering why 3 of them have the same character it's cause it's a character that I just use to represent the dude who sings the songs sort of?? (those 3 are all George Harrison smH) Like he doesn't have a backstory or anything and I can just use him in any situation I want wegjowe. Designing a totally new character for a AMV I'll never make, although I do it sometimes, would be impossible for every single song I like.)

Anyway before you nag at me for being unoriginal or something: Yes, I know I'm unoriginal. But I'm just creating this art and my characters for myself to enjoy. Although other people looking at them and liking them is something I love too, it's mainly all about me and what I want to draw, and if I want to make art and character designs based on something I enjoy, then I will.

I think whether you do what I do or not, there's probably something else that inspires your art somewhere. And even if it's not music, I'd love to hear about it, too!

blorbos

Music can inspire me to make art of my ocs. If something fits my characters I'll try to draw art of them based on it usually. But my art deviates a LOT from my initial ideas so half the time when I do make music art, it kinda stops being music art by the time it's finished lmao.

idk how to imbed pics on mobile but (https://toyhou.se/10367618.lyele#32723942) this is music art for example, but it kinda transformed into its own unique piece that's a few steps away from my original intention. it was based on the lyric "no one thinks what im doing is the right way forward" in reference to him hating void magic so much he uses void magic to kill other void magic users. yeah. but to me its more of a visual character study now, which isnt what i pictured at first

i do plan on doing more tho i want to do more animation memes and pmvs and lyric comics because I get so much inspo from songs but never use it

Classy-Cat

Hm I really like to listen to music when I'm drawing. It's amazing and I get some motivation c:

- About characters, until now I don't think I've created a character based on a song? But normally I address a song to an existing character. An example: Kinda Outta Luck from Lana Del Rey. Started listening to it and got some vibes for Mercedez (a character I'm currently developing). So I've addressed this music to her.

- About art, haven't really done any inspired by music if I remember. But it really motivates me to draw. Sometimes I do get some ideas for drawings, but I just can't draw them (not only about music btw. I get some ideas but to draw them? Oh boy, they just stay in my mind forever).

RandyMace

That would be 99% of my OCs

Music plays a big part for my characters

If I can't associate a song/band/music genre to an OC I lose interest

v1nsinclair

Music affects my art/ocs a LOOOOOT lmao, sometimes not even directly, occasionally I just manage to find the right vibe for a piece from what I'm listening to and sometimes it's more, depends really.

Other times I'll get an oc and immediately start associating them with a certain song/songs (Corey was one of those cases lol, I associate him heavily with Circus Hop and The Show Has Just Begun So Let Them Laugh) so it definitely tends to play a big part in how I build my characters

Here's some of my beans based on songs lol;

Cause is based on Ghost From The Barrow by Paddy And The Rats
Bo is based on teresa by YUNGBLUD
Check is based on WITHIN THE VOID by DISREIGN
Stefan is based on Не Отступай by TKN
Andie is based on Voice by Cloud
Aspen is based on Asphyxia by Cö Shu Nie

I also have more in the works (including one based on Rogue by Paddy And The Rats who'll be Cause's ex gf 👀) jsshdhdshjdjf

galaxycreations

Music really does determine my ocs. I have a playlist on my Youtube that is used for worldbuilding baesd on moods, places and more. I especially use them for themes.

Martymcchew

A lot of my characters are inspired by the music I listen to and the artists that make it, but my art isn't so much inspired by music, though sometimes I'll use photographs of musicians for pose references if I'm out of ideas

Aarix

hmmm depends if u mean the concept of music, or specific songs themselves..... concept yes, songs no

all my work AND play irl is music-related, I always want to totally stop thinking about / listening to music when i get home 😪

but the majority of my active OCs are musicians or other industry-related ppl :0

How much does music affect your artwork?

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