I’m finding that there are specific things that I want to do, but there are several possible combinations of wiring and gear and settings, not all of which are eminently workable.

So far, I’m working with the setup below. I can use this setup to control and program the Yamaha QY70 portable sequencer from my old velocity-sensitive Roland JV-90 synth. This is good, in that I don’t need to use Mac software in order to lay down some tracks—I can just use the Yamaha QY90′s built-in functionality.

The only detriment to this I’ve found so far is that I can’t control the Roland JV-90 from the Yamaha QY70. Alas, one thing at a time.

The point is to make music… but I stil haven’t gotten the Zoom R16 multitrack recorder into the fray yet, not to mention the Mac software (which I may or may not eventually use…).

I’ve created some custom desktop music (DTM) shapes for Illustrator (AI-CS4 format) and OmniGraffle (stencil, ZIP) this evening that could be useful in making a wiring or home studio setup diagram.

Obviously, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to stencils, and there are some even more realistic-looking stencils out there. The stencils/illustrations I drew up this evening are detailed, but simple enough to be adapted in order to create most kinds of desktop music setup diagrams.

I’ll be uploading these stencils to Graffletopia (the online stencil library for OmniGraffle), so if anyone wants to use them in creating their own diagrams, feel free to download the stencils there.

Download the OmniGraffle stencil (ZIP) • Download the Illustrator (AI CS4) data (ZIP)

The text still isn’t in there, but I found some fonts (Brando Bold and Brisk Bold) that seem appropriate, so I’ll be trying those next time I work on this poster. Anyway, this should provide a better idea of the general direction.

It’s funny how removing the facial color on the woman here actually makes the poster more interesting.

I made sure to remove the strokes on this one. It could use a little work to give it depth and lighting, but it’s getting close.

Just for reference, I’m using Adobe Illustrator CS4 to do these drawings. Quite a lot of this stuff starts out as a sketch that I trace using the pen tool in Illustrator. I’ve also become a fan of the Live Paint feature of Illustrator since CS2. It makes it super easy just to fill in areas with color by pointing and clicking, even where there are gaps.

I find that the Illustrator pen tool is getting a lot easier to use for me now. I took an intensive class with Sessions.edu a few years ago on using the pen tool, and I feel a lot more comfortable with it now as a result. It’s really quite suitable for tracing, I’ve found. I’ve also noticed that a lot of artists (including those on my Kyokusen-Yokocho website) start out with sketches and use the pen tool to work up their vector drawings.

More later!

I’ve got to lose the black strokes for the nose and eyes—the WPA style seems to be more stroke-free, using fills and plain shadow without strokes around objects. Likewise, I think I’ll work a bit more on the hairstyle… not sure if this is a period hairstyle or not. Anyway, it’s coming along.

A little trivia: as I scrambled on into the house and sat myself down to work on this blog, I’ve been trying to avert my eyes from the 80′s rock review on channel 3 this evening to post this blog entry. Multitasking, my friends, multitasking… hehe.

One of the assignments that I’m obliged to do for the Digital Illustration Advanced class that I’m taking is an illustration in the old WPA poster style. I’d already found quite a few samples and photos of old WPA posters online, but I needed to first draw up a handwritten sketch of my poster idea before working on it in the digital realm.

It’s been probably a month or two since I’ve actually put pencil to paper in order to draw anything by hand, so I was a little rusty at first. However, I warmed up after several unsuccessful tries, and at last came up with a sketch for a design that I’ll try and work up digitally.

Drawing faces has always been a difficulty for me—I have a tendency to draw too many details at the expense of proportion of features. I found that drawing basic guidelines seems to help. It’s an old art trick, but it helps you keep things in perspective.

Hopefully next time I feature this drawing here, I’ll have it worked up properly in WPA poster style!

Now HERE’S music!

Jeff Chapman—"Greed"

O.K., O.K., the vocals are rough (no reverb here, folks!), and there are a few tiny flub-ups on the piano tracks… but I’m not making excuses. This song turned out far better than I had imagined.

No sequencing, no computer to record tracks, no messing with MIDI interfaces… just me and my Roland JV-90. I’d definitely have to thank the young and rambunctious guy at Ishibashi Music in Sakae who recommended this Zoom R16 multitrack recorder, which I used to track this demo.

The interesting thing is, I’ve had this melody in my head for some time now, and finally it’s come this far! What an exciting feeling. I hope you’ll share this feeling of excitement with me at the birth of a new piece.

(Actually, I did write out a chord chart and some voicings for this one, in addition to the lyrics.)

11:30 PM, here we come! Hope you enjoy this musical work this time around.

Kyokusen-Yokocho currently features seven vector artists from Japan, Europe, and the U.S.A.—truly an international venture. The site is in Japanese. My role is to gather and create the artist profiles and artwork, and assemble this information into an article for the enjoyment of everyone who visits the site.

Vladimir’s work is truly impressive, to be counted among the most colorful and novel artwork I have seen. I’m proud to have had the opportunity to put together this unfortunately brief but important article for him. He has a large amount of other work on his DeviantArt profile as well, which is definitely worth checking out.

View Vladimir’s article on Kyokusen-Yokocho

For today, I’d like to share with you some lyrics and a melodic idea that I’ve been working up for a while, called “Greed”. The lyrical concept is quite simple, but simple lyrics often blend well with a more complex melody.

Greed
   greed is such a lonely word
   because what you get what you deserve

I asked myself, and it wasn’t right
I closed the door and I let in the night
and everything in color turned to black and white
there’s no need to question now

Greed
   greed is such an ugly word
   with it, I got what I deserved
Greed is such and ugly word
   I know I’ll get what I deserve

Download the melodic score for "Greed" so far (PDF)

Like I said, it’s very basic, but I think the concept is worth pursuing.

It’s funny, because I recently found Brittany Jackson’s depiction of “Greed” on DeviantArt, but I had been developing these lyrics little by little, well before I saw this artwork. I really enjoyed her brush styles and use of color. I understand that Brittany is looking for work on commission over the summer, so it might be interesting to approach her for some work and try and match the lyrics to an image. An intriguing project, but I’ll need to flesh the melody out some more…

Here’s the latest from the idea mill here in sweltering central Japan.

This one’s a melodic clip I’ve been working up from scratch on the far from illustrious walk to work over the past few mornings. I have some basic lyrical ideas for the initial eight measures or so, but nothing I want to post yet.

However, I’m happy to share the melodic score this evening with you, this time in handwritten form. I’ve even got some chord choices in there that seem appropriate to the mood I want to convey.

As you can probably tell, the initial melody and the chorus melody are quite different, and I’m still not 100% convinced that they belong together, but it’s interesting to experiment and try and weave these two unique colors into own cohesive fabric…

Upon reflection, I must admit to quite a bit of R&B influence in here, especially with the final melodic turnovers as they roll into each succeeding phrase. I can feel a bit of “Fantasy” from Earth, Wind and Fire in this clip, although it’s not intentional. I’ve never been a big Earth, Wind and Fire fan by any means, and don’t even own any of their albums, but the minor-to-dominant-7th and then back down to minor feeling bears some small resemblance. I do feel that my own melody is unique enough to stand on its own regardless. ;-D