PROJECTS OVERVIEW.

Independent projects – Autumn 2024. Below you will find up-to-date general introductions, overviews and milestone lists for each of the various music, painting, illustration and video projects I’m currently working on. The time assigned to each task is usually only between one-to-three hours a week and as such, due to the scale of some of the projects, have been on-going for over ten years.

AUDIO

As mentioned on the Music Portfolio page these are the three types of music I have tried to develop since completing my last (god awful) demo album in the late 2000’s. Without trying to sound too grandiose my intent within the three styles was for them all to be mutually beneficial (to cross pollinate each other some what) e.g. the instinctual song writing of guitar and voice versus the more mathematical/rules-led composition with notation. I’ve often used a few bars of an orchestral composition (a hook-like loop) as a starting point for an electronic track too. I also tried to follow a sensible best best practice suggestion by Paul White (of Sound on Sound magazine) that even if you mostly produce music on a computer or paper its very important and beneficial to play/perform some music regularly too.

ACOUSTIC MUSIC

WB-SO-01: Ten folk/blues songs I started writing around 2010/2011. Since then I have been refining and re-writing the arrangements (some songs have gone through around 20 different versions). Made to be played live. Written for rough rhythm guitar and voice with varying song structures. General improvements have been: less grating voice tones, more varied full (amplified) guitar tones/sounds, more consistent pacing, tempo, pitch, vibrato, more varying macro/micro dynamics, fuller use of my limited vocal ranges/timbres and better use of mute, rests and harmonic guitar notes.

Currently at:

  • Practicing Six hip-hop covers.
  • Defining upbeat and downbeat sets.
  • Learning new FX/loop pedal setup.
  • Refining 2024 cover song selection.
  • (experimenting with bridge sections).

Milestone goals (for each song)

  • V3 tracks; 20 gigs/open-mics.
  • Demo (guitar and voice) recording.
  • Illustrated A3 shortscore e.g.
  • A4 Lino/woodcut poster e.g.
  • Demo music video e.g.

ELECTRONIC MUSIC

WB-ICM-01: Ten electro/trip-hop songs I started producing around 2012. I tend to take a year or two making each of these (working 2-3 hours a week). Five of which are completed. A couple had to be re-written/re-mixed. Quite dark and heavy in vibe. Focus on percussion and sound design with minimal harmony/melody. The second batch of five I intend to make abit more upbeat with more interesting vocal lines and harmonic/chord progressions.

Currently at:

  • Mixing remix of Katyusha (2012)
  • (Starting production on track 6)
  • (Auditing/updating VST plugins)

Milestone goals (for each song)

  • Recording
  • A3 Digitally illustrated poster e.g.
  • A4 Cut-out character e.g.
  • Music video e.g.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

WB-ST-01: Original compositions and orchestral arrangements based on 46 fairy written by the Brothers Grimm started in 2014. Each piece is between one to three minutes in length and uses one story as a set of thematic guidelines for a mock-up brief. I also created a cue generator which makes use of dice rolls to determine genre, harmonic guidelines, counterpoint species, number of voices, size of ensemble and instrumentation aswell as randomly selecting one source of musical cultural reference from around the world.

Currently at:

  • Composition/story 25 of 46.
  • Composer/film score analysis.
  • (Refining old music theory notes)
  • (Refining old orchestration notes)
  • (Basic instrument building)

Milestone goals (for each song)

  • Recording e.g.
  • A3 shortscore (with analysis).
  • Matching original illustration e.g.
  • Text review and self critique.

VISUAL

In addition to the large scale realism and folk painting concepts/pieces I’m also working on building my illustrations skills primarily in six different styles; classic sketch, classic clean, cartoon modern, abstract minimal, expressionism and medieval. This is a wide enough variety both to be able to develop my own ideas (e.g. single panel cartoons, posters or creature concepts) aswell as being of use for illustrative design in commission work.

ILLUSTRATION & PAINTINGS

Currently at:

  • ‘Old Nightmares’ – realism piece, begun in summer 2024
  • (‘Snow White’ – folk piece)
  • (‘Hybrid Troll’ notebook render)
  • (Return to weekly pen & ink/watercolor still life practicals)
  • Continue daily figure drawing practicals
  • Continue daily character practicals
  • Continue weekly concept practicals
  • Continue weekly digital painting practicals

Milestone goals:

  • Continue making large scale realism paintings
  • Illustrations for all 46 Brother Grimm stories
  • Render the better character notebook practicals

MUSIC VIDEOS

Currently at:

  • Storyboard for Katyusha music video
  • Location/lighting tests for Katyusha music video
  • (Review lighting notes)
  • (Review cinematography notes)
  • (Research stronger key light)
  • (Review Anime Studio notes)

Milestone goals

  • Continue making live action music videos
  • Add more animated elements

COMMUNITY

Over the last twenty years I’ve been fortunate enough to receive funding from local enterprise boards both while studying and when setting up the business. I always intended, when the business became more established, that I would have the time and money to put something back into the community. Below are three such non-profit concepts. All going well I’ll hopefully get the chance to bring one of them to fruition…

KDMC

A series of free tutorial videos on the basics of audio production – website link.

TOWNLAND COMMONS

A community exchange program to help artists and musicians promote their work nationwide.

CREATURELY

A children’s boardgame that promotes emotional intelligence.