Free Stuff for the Holidays VI

Another New Year is almost upon us. Here is our round-up of Free Stuff for the Holidays

Video Videomaker is offering a video course on short filmmaking which covers all aspects of short filmmaking including preproduction, budgeting, financing, distribution and more. Check this out while it is still available.
https://www.videomaker.com/short-filmmaking- checklist-everything-you-need-to-do-before-the-shoot/

 

Audio EDM Prod has a multitude of free guides on music production including creative strategies, production workflow and more. A must see. https://www.edmprod.com/free/

The Triple A Dude Audio Production Resource Guide: The Holiday Edition is now live on Amazon.

Click here.

The price has dropped to $2.99 for the Kindle edition and purchases made between now and January 30th will also receive a free 10 GB recording / VST software bundle for PC and Mac. See details on the last page of the book. This also makes a great gift for the aspiring musician/songwriter. Get it now!
Bluezone Cinematic and Sound FX sample collection. An 84 sound compilation pack from their libraries.

https://rekkerd.org/bluezone-corporation-free-cinematic-sound- fx-samples/


Like free orchestral samples? Philharmonic Orchestra samples site is just for you. Download free samples by instrument category.
http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/explore/sound_samples

Art Marco Bucci Character design video tutorials Part I & II: Bucci Character Design I Bucci Character Design II

  Want to create a comic? Have you been checking out our posts on Comic Book Content

Creation? Drawing tips, pose reference, inking and coloring techniques, software and more.Take a look at a whopping collection of resources for the comic artists/creators at any level. Here you go:
Triple A Dude Comic Creation Resources Part I
Triple A Dude Comic Creation Resources Part II Triple A Dude Comic Creation Resources Part III

Our Pinterest page rocks with awesome visual resources for artists and audio creators.

Triple A Dude Pinterest Site



3D Models

Free collection of 3D models.
https://free3d.com/3d-models/


Check out our previous Free Stuff for the Holidays post:

Free Stuff V

Shoot a reply to the blog and let me know what you want to see and if you are enjoying the content so far. I love feedback.

Don't forget to share this post with your friends.

Have a wonderful holiday and a great New Year.

10 Tips for Writing Better Music

Sam Malta and Connor O'Brien do a lot of writing for https://www.edmprod.com/. EMDPROD is a wonderful resource for electronic music producers. Here are their 10 tips for writing better music.

1) Write the hook first

If you can write a solid hook, like a vocal line or catchy melody, the rest of your song writes itself.

That's why I recommend you focus on this first. When you start a new project, make it your priority to get the main idea nailed down. Everything else becomes much easier.

2) Write around a vocal

If you want to write a "song" instead of a track, it helps to have some reference material in mind, such as a vocal.

Search for acapellas online and use one that you like. This doesn't have to be in your final production (and shouldn't be anyway if it's copyrighted), but you can use it to spark ideas and better arrange your track.

3) Copy an existing arrangement

One of the most common struggles I hear from producers is that they can come up with an idea, but they don't know how to arrange it.

They'll put down a melody, drum beat, chord progression, and bassline. It sounds good. But then they get stuck. They can't take it beyond that.

My recommendation? Pull a professionally-made song that's a similar style to the one you're trying to make, and copy out the basic structure. How long is the verse? What happens after the chorus? Etc.

4) Start with just a piano

One of the best ways to write a song that has a strong melodic and harmonic component is to start by making it sound good with just a piano.

If you can do that—chances are it will translate to other instruments well.

It also helps you to focus on the composition and not get distracted by other things like sound design or mixing. You can't tweak a piano the same way you can a synth, and thus you won't be tempted to play with sound design while you're doing the hard work of writing a good melody or chord progression.

5) Keep the focus in each section

Most of us tend to add too much, to overcomplicate, and to make things more complex than they need to be.

But the key to a song that remains interesting and engaging throughout is making it clear and simple. That means that each section should have a focus.

If you have a vocal, that will usually be the focus. Especially in pop production. But if you have an instrumental drop section, the focus might be your lead or your bass.

Figure out what the most important instrument is in each section of your track, then build around it.

6) Tell a story

The best songs tell a story.

Sometimes that story is different for everyone listening. But if you can put emotion, memory, and a feeling of progression into your song, it'll probably turn out well.

What do you want your song to reflect? Is there a particular memory or experience that you want to relive through your production? Figure out a way to share it. You don't need to use words.

7) Optimize tension and release

Electronic music relies heavily on tension and release.

What are you doing to build into the next section of the song? How are you creating excitement? Is there enough energy being built going into the drop? Does it hit hard enough?

All these questions need to be considered if you want to create a song that not only keeps the listener at home engaged, but also works well in a club setting.

8) Simplify

Listen to songs on the radio or popular playlists on Spotify, and you'll notice something: they all sound incredibly simple.

This doesn't mean they're simple on the back-end, but the presentation is simple. The vocal is clear. The hook is catchy. The chord progression makes sense. The arrangement is to-the-point.

And guess what? Simple works.

Don't make your song complex and intricate for the sake of making it complex and intricate, unless you work in a genre that demands that. Simplify. Let your ideas stand on their own. Don't crowd them out.

9) Assume the listener has a short attention span

Unnecessarily long arrangements will lose your listeners.

Arrangements without enough variation and interest will lose your listeners.

You need to work from the perspective that most of the people listening to your music, whether existing fans or bystanders have a short attention span.

That means your intro needs to engage them straight away. It means you have to be adding and removing elements on a regular basis to create variation. It means you have to optimize tension and release (tip #7).

If you get stuck, follow tip #3 and reference a professionally made track that caters to this problem well.

10) Have fun doing it
It's easy to turn music production into a boring, mind-numbing grind. 

Sure, there are going to be parts of the song creation process that you don't particularly enjoy but need to work through anyway. But you should still have fun.

If you're not having fun, the chances of you making a song worth sharing are pretty low. So don't put too much pressure on yourself, experiment, play around, and enjoy yourself.

If you like tips like these, check out the Audio Production Resources Guide available here, featuring 400+ online resources for multimedia artists to maximize audio productivity and creativity.

Gennedy Tartakovsky gets “Primal” with his new animated series for Adult Swim.

The creator of Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack has a new show on Adult Swim (Primal) that is taking TV animation to the next level. Gennedy sat down to discuss his beginnings and his trial by fire to get to where he is today for Polygon.com. Here is the full interview which is amazing.

Gennedy discusses the differences between the shows he has produced in a video clip for SYFI WIRE. Check it out here.

Here is also a preview of Primal.

It seems that the show is generating so much buzz that it may compete for Oscar contention. Wow. More power too you Gennedy!


Enjoy!

Top Comic Creation Resources Part II

So you are probably asking what happened to part one? You can find it here: Top Comic Creation Resources Part 01. Due to the incredible response to the first Top Comic Creation Resources post, we found even more resources that you will find useful; just the good stuff and no fluff. Here we go!

Clayton Barton's website, “How to draw comics.net”, has solid comic art tips and video tutorials on drawing, inking, coloring and more. There is also a free sign up that gets you a figure drawing/ heroic proportions ebook and the behind the scenes techniques ebook on comic strip creation. His story on how he got started and into the comic field professionally is a story of persistence and beating the odds.

How to Draw Comics.net

Pinterest is a comic creators gold mine when it comes to resources on drawing as well as a source for inspirational reference. How about tips from Joe Kubert, Art Adams, Mike Mignola and more. Here is a Pinterest page with awesome drawing tutorials with collections from Wizard Comics Magazine.

Pinterest/Wizard Comics tutorials

 

You may also want to take a look at my Pinterest page to get you started. Our boards include drawing tips, dynamic poses, character design, and figure drawing reference. Click boards to see full topic listings.

Triple A Dude Pinterest Page

Concept Art Empire is a site devoted to concept art, drawing, 3D modeling, and game design.
This software has a large following both here in the states and Japan. Here is an article from the site with the 16 top Deviant Art groups artist should be following. This listing includes drawing, digital painting, concept art creation, and animation. Deviant Art has come a long way since its beginnings and has become another tool for professional artists to post work. Awesome list! Check it out.

Top Deviant Arts Groups / Concept Art Empire

The Creative Bloq website features news, how to's, and reviews on art, graphic design, web design and 3D. They are also affiliated with Imagine FX magazine, Computer Arts magazine, 3D Artist and 3D World magazine. Here is a step by step breakdown on planning the comic page.

Creative Bloq-How to Create a Comic Page

Tuts Plus has been around for quite some time. Their site features tutorials and guides on design, illustration, photo, web, coding, audio, motion graphics and game development. They now go by the name “Envato Tuts +”. Link one features an article created by freelance artist Sara Berntsson, which not only covers the layout basics, how to choose the right panels and more, but has tips on importing into Adobe Illustrator, using clipping masks, and inking digitally. Link two features how to create a comic character sheet in Adobe Illustrator, creating your own ink brushes in Illustrator and some basic digital coloring tips. Sara’s style is cartoony, but info is solid.

Envato Tuts-Comic Layout TipsEnvato Tuts-Creating a Character Sheet

Do you use the paint program SAI? SAI seems to have all the drawing and painting bells and whistles of Adobe Illustrator for drawing and digital painting. This link from Concept Art Empire has cool tutorials on how to maximize the tools of this software. If you know your toolset and how to use clipping masks, some of the techniques should translate to other software.

Concept Art Emprire - SAI Tutorials

SAI is free to use for the first 31 days, after which you must purchase for continued use. Pricing is a one-time purchase, around $50 and is cheaper than the monthly add up Illustrator charge. The download is here:

SAI Download Page

If you are looking for a low cost equivalent to Illustrator and Photoshop check this link:

Adobe Alternatives from Designbomb

Paint.net (scroll to download section) , Inkscape, Krita and Gimpshop (scroll to “get Gimpshop” button) are all good free alternatives for drawing and digital painting.

The Blueprint video series features one on one interviews of top people in entertainment and art. Here is a must-see Todd McFarlane interview with some incredible insights into the craft and business of comics. Todd is very down to earth and straight to the point in his take of the industry and mindset.

Blueprint interview with Todd McFarlane

Want more resources?  Get a copy
of our book here.

Cartoon Production Resource Guide

200 Top Resources for Artists and Comic Creators

Also check out:

Top Comic Creation Resources III

Do you have some favorites inspirational sources for comic creation? Contact me at jon@tripleadude.com. Let's add it to the list.

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Note: this article was also posted on Medium