My new Shadow the Hedgehog Theme

[MattMVS7]

But anyway, I am speaking words of wisdom and truth here and you should listen to me. You should not dismiss my musical claims as nonsense or that of an inflated ego. As I said before in one of my packets, I am a messenger of truth and I am not trying to insult anybody, not trying to inflate my ego, and I have every justified reason to be convinced that these themes I hear in my mind truly are that great as I describe them to be. As a matter of fact, you shouldn't dismiss my worldview that I explain in my book and other packet since these could very well be words of truth and wisdom, too, despite how much nonsense it might all seem to you right now. I instead see every justified reason to treat me with honor, praise, respect, glory, and to see me as having every right to my own personal values without deeming said values as spoiled, childish, etc.

Didn't I already tell you that execution of concepts into the art form you are seeking is what matters far more than the ideas you in your head? It's far easier to imagine your great concept in your head than to actually conceive it. ALL art is like this, and this is something you need to understand.

Also, I get the sense of inflated ego with paragraphs and paragraphs of un-adulterated, fluffy nonsense and the use of certain adjectives every time you post. Just because you say you don't doesn't mean we don't get that sense with your actions, which speak louder than your words. Your Family Guy tangent isn't much better, and I agree with Glowsquid that I didn't find it funny.

I'm not a music expert, but if you created something I have some expertise in (3D rendering), I'll criticize the hell out of it if you describe your first render as "honor, praise, respect, glory".

this is exactly as unfunny as your average family goy joke so you have a tremendous natural ability to imitate hack tv writers, if nothing else.

Now, I am not defending my ego here. Rather, I am defending a certain position. I am defending the position that, for example, if you simply listened to the notes themselves of Amazing Grace or any other beautiful song without the chords, proper instruments, bass line, harmony, etc., then that melody would still convey that beautiful power. Perfecting Amazing Grace would definitely improve and complete the craft, but that is just icing on the cake to fully bring out the beautiful power of Amazing Grace. The fact of the matter is, the notes themselves are all that is needed to convey the beautiful power of Amazing Grace. I am also defending the position that simple themes such as the themes I have made can also convey profound, powerful, beautiful, dramatic, etc. emotion without the harmony, bass line, etc. I could very well just have the notes alone of any simple, compelling theme and it be enough to convey its power. Have you ever seen those wind up dolls or music boxes that play a tune? Well, that is enough to convey the power of those tunes. When they play the tune, it is just the tune itself without the accompanying chords, bass line, etc.

With all of this beings said, all I am doing here is sharing to you the notes of my simple, compelling themes for now until I can perfect them later on. I am expecting praise and glorification just from the simple themes themselves and the power they convey despite the fact that they are not perfected into full themes or songs. To tell you the truth, I am so tired of people who dismiss the power of any given theme or song simply because of other factors such as having too high of a musical standard and expecting any song to be as great as Beethoven's or Bach's music, expecting the person to be famous and rich and dismissing the very power of the music he/she has come up with simply because said person was not famous and rich while famous and rich people who create awful music have their music deemed as great, and the list goes on. Another one of these factors would, of course, be the factors here in this topic which are factors that are preventing people from embracing and appreciating the very power that my simple themes convey as they are now in note form.

 

[Glowsquid]

Having standards isn't elitist. Craftmanship matters.

 

[Ray Trace]

Now, I am not defending my ego here. Rather, I am defending a certain position. I am defending the position that, for example, if you simply listened to the notes themselves of Amazing Grace or any other beautiful song without the chords, proper instruments, bass line, harmony, etc., then that melody would still convey that beautiful power. Perfecting Amazing Grace would definitely improve and complete the craft, but that is just icing on the cake to fully bring out the beautiful power of Amazing Grace. The fact of the matter is, the notes themselves are all that is needed to convey the beautiful power of Amazing Grace. I am also defending the position that simple themes such as the themes I have made can also convey profound, powerful, beautiful, dramatic, etc. emotion without the harmony, bass line, etc. I could very well just have the notes alone of any simple, compelling theme and it be enough to convey its power. Have you ever seen those wind up dolls or music boxes that play a tune? Well, that is enough to convey the power of those tunes. When they play the tune, it is just the tune itself without the accompanying chords, bass line, etc.

Which none of your tunes have. Stuff like Amazing Grace are composed by professionals who had years of experience.

The sum of the piece is worth more than its parts. You'll lose meaning if you remove essential parts like instruments, bass line, harmony. Hell, with Amazing Grace, if it was composed with JUST the bare bones parts, no one would remember the tune that fondly: the other stuff contribute just around as heavily as the main center-piece structure itself. Small details matter.

To tell you the truth, I am so tired of people who dismiss the power of any given theme or song simply because of other factors such as having too high of a musical standard and expecting any song to be as great as Beethoven's or Bach's music, expecting the person to be famous and rich and dismissing the very power of the music he/she has come up with simply because said person was not famous and rich while famous and rich people who create awful music have their music deemed as great, and the list goes on. Another one of these factors would, of course, be the factors here in this topic which are factors that are preventing people from embracing and appreciating the very power that my simple themes convey as they are now in note form.

Hint: if you don't want people to harshly criticize your pieces, don't be so arrogant and label your pieces with heavily loaded words like "glory", "honor", or any other synonym in the first place. You wanted us to have these expectations in the first place.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

You are saying that I can't simply have the notes themselves and that be enough? If, for example, I just presented to you the notes of Amazing Grace without any chords, bass line, etc. just like how I did with my Shadow theme, you are saying that the power of that theme would not get across to others? Wouldn't we just consider the perfecting of Amazing Grace to be simply icing on the cake? That is, something that would definitely improve and perfect Amazing Grace. Although, the notes themselves of the theme or song would be enough to convey its beautiful power.

Not necessarily, but yes, if you were to strip down Amazing Grace to its bare elements, it won't have the same "beautiful power" and I say it probably won't match the original. What makes something work is the sum of all the parts it has; every single aspect of that song is that way for a reason. There is nothing wrong with remixing or covering the song, but you'll have to do it right and maintain the general essence of the song. That's how I think anyway, I'm not a music person. You can't half-ass pieces and then say "bruh simplicity is great and why is no one appreciating my work" and cite "bruh minimalism". Even the simple art pieces are deceptively complex and probably took a lot of tweaking and planning to perfect. Everything good takes effort. Stripping music down is NOT effort.

I am expecting praise and glorification just from the simple themes themselves and the power they convey despite the fact that they are not perfected into full themes or songs. To tell you the truth, I am so tired of people who dismiss the power of any given theme or song simply because of other factors such as having too high of a musical standard and expecting any song to be as great as Beethoven's or Bach's music[...]

And I find it strange you use Beethoven and Bach's music as a standard as those pieces are highly intricate, brimming in complexity soup, pretty much the opposite of the simple thing you champion so much

also that Family Guy "joke" you made was so sexist and overall terrible, I lost my will to laugh

Frankly, you're naturally funny on your own with your crazy ramblings and nonsensical music, and with your own lofty self-inflated expectations, with "expecting praise and glorification". You don't need to write Family Guy jokes when you can just continue writing and making.... whatever the hell this is, while doubling down when people laugh at you.

 

[MattMVS7]

Now, I am not defending my ego here. Rather, I am defending a certain position. I am defending the position that, for example, if you simply listened to the notes themselves of Amazing Grace or any other beautiful song without the chords, proper instruments, bass line, harmony, etc., then that melody would still convey that beautiful power. Perfecting Amazing Grace would definitely improve and complete the craft, but that is just icing on the cake to fully bring out the beautiful power of Amazing Grace. The fact of the matter is, the notes themselves are all that is needed to convey the beautiful power of Amazing Grace. I am also defending the position that simple themes such as the themes I have made can also convey profound, powerful, beautiful, dramatic, etc. emotion without the harmony, bass line, etc. I could very well just have the notes alone of any simple, compelling theme and it be enough to convey its power. Have you ever seen those wind up dolls or music boxes that play a tune? Well, that is enough to convey the power of those tunes. When they play the tune, it is just the tune itself without the accompanying chords, bass line, etc.

Which none of your tunes have. Stuff like Amazing Grace are composed by professionals who had years of experience.

The sum of the piece is worth more than its parts. You'll lose meaning if you remove essential parts like instruments, bass line, harmony. Hell, with Amazing Grace, if it was composed with JUST the bare bones parts, no one would remember the tune that fondly: the other stuff contribute just around as heavily as the main center-piece structure itself. Small details matter.

To tell you the truth, I am so tired of people who dismiss the power of any given theme or song simply because of other factors such as having too high of a musical standard and expecting any song to be as great as Beethoven's or Bach's music, expecting the person to be famous and rich and dismissing the very power of the music he/she has come up with simply because said person was not famous and rich while famous and rich people who create awful music have their music deemed as great, and the list goes on. Another one of these factors would, of course, be the factors here in this topic which are factors that are preventing people from embracing and appreciating the very power that my simple themes convey as they are now in note form.

Hint: if you don't want people to harshly criticize your pieces, don't be so arrogant and label your pieces with heavily loaded words like "glory", "honor", or any other synonym in the first place. You wanted us to have these expectations in the first place.

You are saying that I can't simply have the notes themselves and that be enough? If, for example, I just presented to you the notes of Amazing Grace without any chords, bass line, etc. just like how I did with my Shadow theme, you are saying that the power of that theme would not get across to others? Wouldn't we just consider the perfecting of Amazing Grace to be simply icing on the cake? That is, something that would definitely improve and perfect Amazing Grace. Although, the notes themselves of the theme or song would be enough to convey its beautiful power.

Not necessarily, but yes, if you were to strip down Amazing Grace to its bare elements, it won't have the same "beautiful power" and I say it probably won't match the original. What makes something work is the sum of all the parts it has; every single aspect of that song is that way for a reason. There is nothing wrong with remixing or covering the song, but you'll have to do it right and maintain the general essence of the song. That's how I think anyway, I'm not a music person. You can't half-ass pieces and then say "bruh simplicity is great and why is no one appreciating my work" and cite "bruh minimalism". Even the simple art pieces are deceptively complex and probably took a lot of tweaking and planning to perfect. Everything good takes effort. Stripping music down is NOT effort.

I am expecting praise and glorification just from the simple themes themselves and the power they convey despite the fact that they are not perfected into full themes or songs. To tell you the truth, I am so tired of people who dismiss the power of any given theme or song simply because of other factors such as having too high of a musical standard and expecting any song to be as great as Beethoven's or Bach's music[...]

And I find it strange you use Beethoven and Bach's music as a standard as those pieces are highly intricate, brimming in complexity soup, pretty much the opposite of the simple thing you champion so much

also that Family Guy "joke" you made was so sexist and overall terrible, I lost my will to laugh

Frankly, you're naturally funny on your own with your crazy ramblings and nonsensical music, and with your own lofty self-inflated expectations, with "expecting praise and glorification". You don't need to write Family Guy jokes when you can just continue writing and making.... whatever the hell this is, while doubling down when people laugh at you.

I could have sworn though that I listened to musical tunes I never heard before on certain wind up dolls or music boxes and said tunes conveyed their very power to me even without the accompanying musical factors. But you say that my tunes don't convey any great, beautiful, etc. power. This all goes back to what I stated since the very beginning. I said that there is a memory of the truly great and powerful tunes in my mind blinding me from seeing the reproduced tunes for the complete crap that they really are. I mean, I have the truly great and amazing tunes in my mind, but such memories do not allow me to see the reproduced tunes for what they truly are and all their flaws that make them complete crap. Lastly, as for my Family Guy scene, I think it really is that great and funny and that there are those factors I've mentioned before that are preventing people from truly embracing and appreciating its comical greatness. That factor could be something such as the fact that I, myself, am not famous and am apparently a disliked individual here. Remember, fame and how you get along with people plays a great role in how others judge your works of art.

 

[Ray Trace]

I said that there is a memory of the truly great and powerful tunes in my mind blinding me from seeing the reproduced tunes for the complete crap that they really are. I mean, I have the truly great and amazing tunes in my mind, but such memories do not allow me to see the reproduced tunes for what they truly are and all their flaws that make them complete crap.

Welcome to Art 101, you just stated the very basic foundation of art that everyone, including nonartists, know.

 

[MattMVS7]

I said that there is a memory of the truly great and powerful tunes in my mind blinding me from seeing the reproduced tunes for the complete crap that they really are. I mean, I have the truly great and amazing tunes in my mind, but such memories do not allow me to see the reproduced tunes for what they truly are and all their flaws that make them complete crap.

Welcome to Art 101, you just stated the very basic foundation of art that everyone, including nonartists, know.

But the thing is, some of my tunes I might be able to accurately reproduce just as how I hear them in my mind. I mean, my current tunes might have failed, but do you mind if I try out one last tune and see if it is all just a bunch of random keys plucked out on the keyboard or if the theme I have envisioned in my mind truly has gotten through to you and others?

I will say one last thing here. Now, I am not thinking I am special in the sense of being one of a kind. There are, in fact, many other naturally gifted people like me out there. It would anger me to not only see my compositions and funny scenes deemed as stale, bland, or not that good when they really are deserving of great recognition and praise just as how it would get to me to see works of arts of other gifted people like me out there being given the same treatment. If my themes and their power did not get across to others, then that is not their fault. But if they did and other people are simply not giving them the recognition and praise they deserve due to all of the factors I've mentioned, then that would get to me and it would also anger me to see the same treatment being given towards others and their works of art. I say that as long as my themes and funny scenes possess the actual power/comedy I thought them to be and said power of my themes and scenes are clear to others, then that is what is deserving of the praise and recognition. If my themes and scenes really do possess that greatness, but other people were blind to that greatness due to any given factor, then that would get to me, too.

 

[Lin Beifong]

So if we were to turn this whole thing into yet another Super Saiyan analogy, then what this would mean is that these pieces are so profound and impactful, they have ascended beyond mortal comprehension. The power emanating from that which is clad in the ki of gods is untracable to mortals who lack god ki themselves. Only a god can sense a god, while a mortal senses nothing. A fascinating concept.

So if it takes a god to accurately judge the merits of a god, then it follows that it would require a guy with his head up his ass to perceive the true value of a guy with his head up his ass.

What a powerful statement.

 

[MattMVS7]

So if we were to turn this whole thing into yet another Super Saiyan analogy, then what this would mean is that these pieces are so profound and impactful, they have ascended beyond mortal comprehension. The power emanating from that which is clad in the ki of gods is untracable to mortals who lack god ki themselves. Only a god can sense a god, while a mortal senses nothing. A fascinating concept.

So if it takes a god to accurately judge the merits of a god, then it follows that it would require a guy with his head up his ass to perceive the true value of a guy with his head up his ass.

What a powerful statement.

It wouldn't be like that. Rather, it would be the case that some people out there would really not be blind to the greatness of my compositions and funny scenes. But then there are others who would be blind to their greatness due to any given factor such as the fact that I am not someone famous, liked, etc. But there could be something else going on here which is that my compositions truly are nothing but something akin to a person plucking out random keys. In which case, I cannot put the blame on anybody because it would be the case that the memories of the truly great tunes in my mind do not allow me to see the flaws of the reproduced ones.

 

[Lin Beifong]

I'm going to do something futile and give you a serious response, even though I kind of know already what the outcome is going to be.

I dabble in art. I've been on again, off again with it and aren't anywhere even close to the level of some of the amazing people out there who do the same. But I've somehow managed to accumulate a few years of experience regarding the subject, so I think I have at least a grasp of the basics and can speak on them.

The big secret is: It doesn't really matter how great, or glorious, or beautiful the thing that's in your head is. Even if you become a master, you will never, ever be able to perfectly recreate the piece you are seeing in your head. The thing in your head is a loose, vague amalgamation of ideas, and it cannot physically exist in that state. Therefore, while it helps with conceptulizing, it is largely irrelevant in the matter of conveying things to your audience.

Art is meant to be imperfect, and a large part of your raw skill as an artist is how well you can convert the thing in your head into an actual existing presence. The little compromises you have to make, the sacrifices required, the way you cope with losing parts of your original vision, that is what shows your skill. The thing that you actually create, THAT is what matters. THAT is what people see. THAT is what will convey your soul to the audience. Whatever's in your head doesn't mean jack to them.

So really, trying to assess your artistic skill by what's in your head instead of what's in your work is stupid and pointless. You're not great for having ideas. Everyone has ideas. Those who act on their ideas and hone themselves to understand their craft better and better, so they may turn those ideas into something meaningful, THOSE are the powerful ones.

 

[MattMVS7]

I'm going to do something futile and give you a serious response, even though I kind of know already what the outcome is going to be.

I dabble in art. I've been on again, off again with it and aren't anywhere even close to the level of some of the amazing people out there who do the same. But I've somehow managed to accumulate a few years of experience regarding the subject, so I think I have at least a grasp of the basics and can speak on them.

The big secret is: It doesn't really matter how great, or glorious, or beautiful the thing that's in your head is. Even if you become a master, you will never, ever be able to perfectly recreate the piece you are seeing in your head. The thing in your head is a loose, vague amalgamation of ideas, and it cannot physically exist in that state. Therefore, while it helps with conceptulizing, it is largely irrelevant in the matter of conveying things to your audience.

Art is meant to be imperfect, and a large part of your raw skill as an artist is how well you can convert the thing in your head into an actual existing presence. The little compromises you have to make, the sacrifices required, the way you cope with losing parts of your original vision, that is what shows your skill. The thing that you actually create, THAT is what matters. THAT is what people see. THAT is what will convey your soul to the audience. Whatever's in your head doesn't mean jack to them.

So really, trying to assess your artistic skill by what's in your head instead of what's in your work is stupid and pointless. You're not great for having ideas. Everyone has ideas. Those who act on their ideas and hone themselves to understand their craft better and better, so they may turn those ideas into something meaningful, THOSE are the powerful ones.

I agree. But the question is, how well did I reproduce the tunes in my head? I am just focused on the notes and rests of the tunes for now. I think just having the themes themselves could very well convey their power to others because, as I mentioned before, I heard tunes on wind up dolls and music boxes that I never heard before. Despite them being just tunes like how my themes are just notes, they still conveyed their power to me. It could be the case that I did accurately reproduce the themes and they are just not getting the praise they deserve due to any of the factors I mentioned earlier. Or, the memories of the real tunes in my mind are just blinding me from seeing the flaws of the reproduced tunes.

 

[Stargazing]

But the question is, how well did I reproduce the tunes in my head?

I won't be able to answer that without peering into your mind first.

 

[Lin Beifong]

Judging from the responses in this thread, it seems like your creations aren't as powerful or "deserving of praise" as you think they are.

I mean, don't get me wrong: Bad feedback is a thing that does exist. Artists can be lead astray by comments that are deliberately ignorant or even malicious. But from my experience, the people in this community here usually do try to give decent feedback. So if the best comments you get are somewhere within the line of "mediocre", there is most likely room for improvement. Maybe try to consider the pointers they tried to give you, like paying attention to proper instrumentation.

So if you really do care about reaching people and conveying emotion, you should stop focusing on how great the ideas in your head probably are and how your god-given talent is greater than all those lesser people, and start moving on to new ideas so you can accumulate actual experience. Stop jerking, start working. Then, maybe some day your actual skill can catch up with your ego.

 

[Ray Trace]

I agree. But the question is, how well did I reproduce the tunes in my head? I am just focused on the notes and rests of the tunes for now. I think just having the themes themselves could very well convey their power to others because, as I mentioned before, I heard tunes on wind up dolls and music boxes that I never heard before. Despite them being just tunes like how my themes are just notes, they still conveyed their power to me. It could be the case that I did accurately reproduce the themes and they are just not getting the praise they deserve due to any of the factors I mentioned earlier. Or, the memories of the real tunes in my mind are just blinding me from seeing the flaws of the reproduced tunes.

The 3D model equivalent of what you're doing is submitting a cube with a few extrusions here and there and you thinking that it is "deserving of praise".

 

[MattMVS7]

Judging from the responses in this thread, it seems like your creations aren't as powerful or "deserving of praise" as you think they are.

I mean, don't get me wrong: Bad feedback is a thing that does exist. Artists can be lead astray by comments that are deliberately ignorant or even malicious. But from my experience, the people in this community here usually do try to give decent feedback. So if the best comments you get are somewhere within the line of "mediocre", there is most likely room for improvement. Maybe try to consider the pointers they tried to give you, like paying attention to proper instrumentation.

So if you really do care about reaching people and conveying emotion, you should stop focusing on how great the ideas in your head probably are and how your god-given talent is greater than all those lesser people, and start moving on to new ideas so you can accumulate actual experience. Stop jerking, start working. Then, maybe some day your actual skill can catch up with your ego.

I understand, but there is something strange going on here. I swear I have gotten the notes and rests right of the tunes I hear in my mind. But when I lost the memory of the real tunes in my mind and listened to what I produced, then it appeared as a bunch of randomly plucked out keys. I simply do not understand this and perhaps this is how others are perceiving my tunes. Apparently, there is something more that is necessary that I cannot explain in order to convey those tunes than just proper rests and notes. Perhaps it was what others have been telling me here all along. Therefore, perhaps tunes on wind up dolls and music boxes are something more than just having the right notes and the right rests.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

To be a successful artist, you have to do certain things a lot. For drawing, for instance, you make countless sketches from real life; you will have to learn techniques such as crosshatching, blocking in, measuring proportions, silhouettes, foreshortening, perspective and theory like color theory and light logic and negative space. You will also need to study on art history to understand the different movements and what techniques the art uses, including analyzing composition and why they work (like the classical triangle formation). It's ultimately not that different from learning other craft. Sure, there are geniuses, but from the feedback, you're certainly not and don't delude yourself. Music theory is very likely the same and if you're serious, you need to get a reality-check, stop invoking persecution complex if people don't like your work, and start hitting the books (especially if you don't understand why you "lost the memory of the real tune"; you may understand better if you take music classes and ask the experts as the experts will likely know why something doesn't sound right) and practice, practice, practice.

And I say that as a statement to anyone who wants to be an artist. I think the comments by Edo are helpful too and I hope there is a broader appeal. It is worth the effort to make posts like this even if the intended target doesn't register the advice because it'll be helpful for other people.

 

[MattMVS7]

To be a successful artist, you have to do certain things a lot. For drawing, for instance, you make countless sketches from real life; you will have to learn techniques such as crosshatching, blocking in, measuring proportions, silhouettes, foreshortening, perspective and theory like color theory and light logic and negative space. You will also need to study on art history to understand the different movements and what techniques the art uses, including analyzing composition and why they work (like the classical triangle formation). It's ultimately not that different from learning other craft. Sure, there are geniuses, but from the feedback, you're certainly not and don't delude yourself. Music theory is very likely the same and if you're serious, you need to get a reality-check, stop invoking persecution complex if people don't like your work, and start hitting the books (especially if you don't understand why you "lost the memory of the real tune"; you may understand better if you take music classes and ask the experts as the experts will likely know why something doesn't sound right) and practice, practice, practice.

And I say that as a statement to anyone who wants to be an artist. I think the comments by Edo are helpful too and I hope there is a broader appeal. It is worth the effort to make posts like this even if the intended target doesn't register the advice because it'll be helpful for other people.

Understood. As for the reason why I lose the memory of the real tunes in my mind sometimes, this is because we as human beings naturally forget things all the time. But there are ways to bring back that memory such as if you focus really hard. Lastly, do you agree with the concept of a mental artistic genius who is able to create masterpieces in his mind, but is unable to accurately reproduce them in reality? In which case, the genius would eventually come to realize that he needs to study up on some things in order to know how to reproduce what he envisions. Now, I can't prove to you that I am such a mental artistic genius. Only time, much knowledge, much dedication, and much effort will tell.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

If you know music theory, if you have a tune in your head, you'll be able to quickly jot it down. Or record yourself humming the tune. It's the same as artists jotting down ideas they have.

And your wording the second question is weird but yes, people being unable to translate their ideas in their head to work is a real, common phenomenon among artists. It's not a thing of being a genius, it's a very human thing to experience and it's why taking art classes (for knowing composition for instance) and practicing so many times is very important. But if you're having trouble the first time, understand why you're having trouble (like if you can't get a certain pose to look right, maybe it's because the silhouette is bad or the arm looks too long and improperly foreshortened or the placement of the eye doesn't align with the mouth; most reasons something doesn't look right IS mostly from a flaw, you just have to identify) and do it again, even if scratch if you're too far into the work. It's why blocking things in is important, so you have the general idea first and if it turns out crap, it's easily changed. Once you're into details and something looks off, THEN it's going to be more difficult to work with.

tl;dr: "It looked better in my head" is a very common remark people (and not geniuses) make to their art they don't like, but there almost always is something wrong with the execution to begin with, rather than the idea, and it helps to identify the problem.

 

[Ray Trace]

Understood. As for the reason why I lose the memory of the real tunes in my mind sometimes, this is because we as human beings naturally forget things all the time. But there are ways to bring back that memory such as if you focus really hard. Lastly, do you agree with the concept of a mental artistic genius who is able to create masterpieces in his mind, but is unable to accurately reproduce them in reality? In which case, the genius would eventually come to realize that he needs to study up on some things in order to know how to reproduce what he envisions. Now, I can't prove to you that I am such a mental artistic genius. Only time, much knowledge, much dedication, and much effort will tell.

The key to perfecting your piece is repetition. Like learning a new language, you have to keep doing it over and over and over and you learn from mistakes and you always think of ways to improve your piece.

And no, I don't agree with the concept of a "mental artistic genius". It's really easy to think up of concepts in your mind, since it requires no effort at all and it's entirely abstract, as Edo said it is. The entire field of art is all about translating concepts into reality, that's pretty much all what we do all day. Most of the time, we jut down a bunch of ideas to be used rather than fixate on one idea, because there's an endless amount of possibilities you could go for to communicate how you feel, and some of the ones you jotted down may translate better than others. For example, with rendering 3D models, I always have a picture in my mind what the render I want to make should look like. I wanted a metallic, dangerous-looking render for my character, and with a first few renders, this is how it turned out, also thinking that I had it in the bag with rendering and that it looked like official quality:

Turns out, I'm not entirely satisfied with this. The textures are extremely simplistic, since I simply painted on them with Photoshop, not knowing alternative programs that I could use at the time. The pose is also far too stiff for my liking, despite having rigged the model. This is when feedback told me to take advantage of mental ray rendering, a more complex rendering system that can churn out a much better looking render.

This is not even the final result. The render is much better than the previous one, but more feedback told me about a program called Substance Painter, which is a better tool used for painting textures, and it also generates bump maps, specmaps, all sorts of maps that can help make a render look even better, taking advantage of reflections, Final Gathering, etc. After some trial and error and some tutorials, applied textures improved the render even more, far closer to the vision in my head than the previous ones:

This, at the time of me posting, is my current ability for making renders. And how long did it take for me to realize that I could get a better picture with more effort, closer to my original vision than my previous pictures? Several years. Getting better at your work is a slow and gradual process, and you don't even realize you're getting better until you look back at your previous attempts and analyze what has changed. You gradually add more and more to what you could do, and maybe some day, you'll get the closest you could get at reproducing the concept you want to attain. As for now, I think my render can still use improvements. I still haven't grasped how to make emissive shaders so I still have to resort to image-editing to give the illusion of glowing and the face itself is still fairly low poly, as it was ripped directly from Mario Super Sluggers. In addition, I still want to learn to use z-brush to make a more detailed body and helmet. Maybe even improve the pose a little so it's not as stiff (though stiff was my intention here). The thing is, this is not even close to my fullest potential ability, since I'm not a professional (most of this is self-taught) and I still require to take more formal educated training before I reach that stage of professionalism.

 

[Lin Beifong]

I understand, but there is something strange going on here. I swear I have gotten the notes and rests right of the tunes I hear in my mind. But when I lost the memory of the real tunes in my mind and listened to what I produced, then it appeared as a bunch of randomly plucked out keys. I simply do not understand this and perhaps this is how others are perceiving my tunes. Apparently, there is something more that is necessary that I cannot explain in order to convey those tunes than just proper rests and notes. Perhaps it was what others have been telling me here all along. Therefore, perhaps tunes on wind up dolls and music boxes are something more than just having the right notes and the right rests.

There's another thing: The perfect vision that you see/hear/perceive in your head... probably is not even perfect. Take a look at this:

O O
-
______​

This is nothing more than an assortment of letters, a dash, and a bunch of underscores. However, if you look at it, you might actually see a face. You see a face because there is a part in your brain with the explicit purpose of recognizing faces. It sees them everywhere, in power outlets, buildings, etc.. Yet if you actually look at the thing I posted, it's not a face. It's lacking so many details that you would find in a real face, yet somehow it still looks natural to us.

The human brain really is a curious thing. You can recognize the abstraction above as a face because the brain is trained to gloss over details that are irrelevant, or out of focus. It's not just faces; Your brain is filled with parts meant to process information and make sense of what it perceives, each part focusing on a different aspects. In the end, all of these come together to form something that collectively seems whole to us.

Earlier I mentioned that the thing in your head is a loose, vague amalgamation of ideas that cannot physically exist. What I meant by that is that your idea really is a whole lot like that face up there. There are really only a few key aspects with definition. The rest is vague and missing details, which your brain glosses over because that's what it does. If it was possible to 100% recreate your idea in the real world, the end result would most likely look/sound awful. Like that face.

That's why making art is actually challenging: Because you THINK you have the full picture when you actually don't, and you are forced to compensate for the parts that your brain conveniently neglected to pay attention to with your actual skill.



I just realized that, in one of my posts, I misspelled the word "conceptualizing" as "conceptulizing". In any other instance this would be very embarrassing and I'd edit the post to fix it. However, here, instead of correcting my error, I am going to let it stand as an example. I really meant to write the correct word, but in the end it still came out differently from my original vision, so "conceptulizing" is what the people will get. This is very appropriate and a brilliant move on my part, as everyone will now think I am smart and meant to do that from the very beginning. I hope I will receive as much praise for this as I believe to deserve in my head.

 

[MattMVS7]

If you know music theory, if you have a tune in your head, you'll be able to quickly jot it down. Or record yourself humming the tune. It's the same as artists jotting down ideas they have.

And your wording the second question is weird but yes, people being unable to translate their ideas in their head to work is a real, common phenomenon among artists. It's not a thing of being a genius, it's a very human thing to experience and it's why taking art classes (for knowing composition for instance) and practicing so many times is very important. But if you're having trouble the first time, understand why you're having trouble (like if you can't get a certain pose to look right, maybe it's because the silhouette is bad or the arm looks too long and improperly foreshortened or the placement of the eye doesn't align with the mouth; most reasons something doesn't look right IS mostly from a flaw, you just have to identify) and do it again, even if scratch if you're too far into the work. It's why blocking things in is important, so you have the general idea first and if it turns out crap, it's easily changed. Once you're into details and something looks off, THEN it's going to be more difficult to work with.

tl;dr: "It looked better in my head" is a very common remark people (and not geniuses) make to their art they don't like, but there almost always is something wrong with the execution to begin with, rather than the idea, and it helps to identify the problem.

You see, all I was trying to do here was simply have others keep an open mind towards the possibility that I really am coming up with these next best Zelda tunes and other themes in my mind and that I just have to learn the necessary skills to accurately reproduce these themes. What was so frustrating for me was that, not only are there many people out there who don't keep an open mind on this and just simply dismiss it as complete bull crap, but I first have gotten the strong impression that I did accurately convey the themes in my mind and that others were simply not giving them the praise they deserved. From this perspective, I simply did not understand why others would deem such amazing themes as mediocre, bland, nothing good, terrible, etc. It simply made no sense to me and there was no justified reason given for this at all.

But I later came to realize how the tunes did, in fact, sound like randomly plucked out tunes when I lost the memory of the real amazing tunes in my mind during certain occasions. This has lead me to conclude that even tunes on wind up dolls and music boxes must have something more going on to them then just a matter of them being the right notes and the right rests. It is something I cannot explain and is something I, myself, would have to learn and find out. Even though I think the themes in my mind have been accurately reproduced in terms of the notes and rests I hear, there is this missing factor that intrigues me and I wish to learn what it is.

I understand, but there is something strange going on here. I swear I have gotten the notes and rests right of the tunes I hear in my mind. But when I lost the memory of the real tunes in my mind and listened to what I produced, then it appeared as a bunch of randomly plucked out keys. I simply do not understand this and perhaps this is how others are perceiving my tunes. Apparently, there is something more that is necessary that I cannot explain in order to convey those tunes than just proper rests and notes. Perhaps it was what others have been telling me here all along. Therefore, perhaps tunes on wind up dolls and music boxes are something more than just having the right notes and the right rests.

There's another thing: The perfect vision that you see/hear/perceive in your head... probably is not even perfect. Take a look at this:

O O
-
______​

This is nothing more than an assortment of letters, a dash, and a bunch of underscores. However, if you look at it, you might actually see a face. You see a face because there is a part in your brain with the explicit purpose of recognizing faces. It sees them everywhere, in power outlets, buildings, etc.. Yet if you actually look at the thing I posted, it's not a face. It's lacking so many details that you would find in a real face, yet somehow it still looks natural to us.

The human brain really is a curious thing. You can recognize the abstraction above as a face because the brain is trained to gloss over details that are irrelevant, or out of focus. It's not just faces; Your brain is filled with parts meant to process information and make sense of what it perceives, each part focusing on a different aspects. In the end, all of these come together to form something that collectively seems whole to us.

Earlier I mentioned that the thing in your head is a loose, vague amalgamation of ideas that cannot physically exist. What I meant by that is that your idea really is a whole lot like that face up there. There are really only a few key aspects with definition. The rest is vague and missing details, which your brain glosses over because that's what it does. If it was possible to 100% recreate your idea in the real world, the end result would most likely look/sound awful. Like that face.

That's why making art is actually challenging: Because you THINK you have the full picture when you actually don't, and you are forced to compensate for the parts that your brain conveniently neglected to pay attention to with your actual skill.



I just realized that, in one of my posts, I misspelled the word "conceptualizing" as "conceptulizing". In any other instance this would be very embarrassing and I'd edit the post to fix it. However, here, instead of correcting my error, I am going to let it stand as an example. I really meant to write the correct word, but in the end it still came out differently from my original vision, so "conceptulizing" is what the people will get. This is very appropriate and a brilliant move on my part, as everyone will now think I am smart and meant to do that from the very beginning. I hope I will receive as much praise for this as I believe to deserve in my head.

Sure, there is more needed to have an actual theme or song than just having the notes and rests like I have just posted. But I think I have at least gotten the very basis of the next best Zelda theme, the next best MJ tune, etc. and that would simply be the notes and rests themselves. That would have to be the real amazing Zelda theme or MJ theme in my mind right there and all that would be needed to make it a real theme or song would be having the additional elements necessary such as chords, bass line, and all other aspects. Music is something personal, profound, and instinctive to me. I instinctively know how to create the next best themes in my own head. That is how I am able to come up with, at least, the notes and rests of such themes as well as the heard instruments and voices that sing them. I do not know the names of these instruments I hear, but I hear them and they suit the themes quite well.

It is through pure instinct (inspiration) alone that I know how to convey such profound and powerful emotion through music in my own mind just as how there are some naturally gifted people out there who instinctively know how to create the best comedy scenes without ever having studied up on comedy. These are truly gifted people and there are many of them out there in this world. So, don't get the idea that I am thinking I am special or one of a kind here. Both humor and music are naturally/instinctively wired into us and that is how many people are able to come up with the best themes or best comedy scenes in their own minds through pure instinct alone. But there is one aspect of music that I do not instinctively know and that is how to convey my themes here in the physical world. I might already have mastered naturally how to convey the most profound and powerful emotion through creating themes in my own head, but mastering that in the physical world is a skill that I have to acquire.

 

[Lin Beifong]

Holy shit guys, I just... I just figured it all out! Oh my god!

All this disjointed talk about powerful emotions, and the constant jerking off to the most basic building blocks of a particular craft... The perception of being a grand maestro in a field while knowing next to nothing about what makes contributions to said field work in the first place... The constant jerking off to one's own creations...

David Cage has a marioboards account!

 

[MattMVS7]

Holy *bleep* guys, I just... I just figured it all out! Oh my god!

All this disjointed talk about powerful emotions, and the constant jerking off to the most basic building blocks of a particular craft... The perception of being a grand maestro in a field while knowing next to nothing about what makes contributions to said field work in the first place... The constant jerking off to one's own creations...

David Cage has a marioboards account!

All I was doing was letting people know that I really think I have, at least, the notes and rests of the next best themes in my mind. The reason why I was here this whole entire time having this discussion was only because I had not yet come to realize that just simply presenting the notes and rests of my tunes (the basic building blocks) is not enough to get my themes across. But now that I have come to this realization, especially due to one very important factor that gave me a strong hint and that would have been the moments where I listened to the tunes and how they appeared like randomly plucked out tunes in the absence of the memories of the real amazing tunes in my mind, then I have nothing more to say and now it is time for me to forget about this whole process of articulating the notes and rests of my themes and sharing them to others all the while expecting others to get the themes I was trying to convey. It is now time for me to take the suggestions of others and really learn, study, and train myself.

 

[Glowsquid]

Holy shit guys, I just... I just figured it all out! Oh my god!

All this disjointed talk about powerful emotions, and the constant jerking off to the most basic building blocks of a particular craft... The perception of being a grand maestro in a field while knowing next to nothing about what makes contributions to said field work in the first place... The constant jerking off to one's own creations...

David Cage has a marioboards account!

David Cage is an accomplished composer though

 

[MattMVS7]

I will say just one last thing here and people can respond to this post and any of my other posts that haven't been responded to. I personally think that the only way to live and be an artist is through positive emotions. That is, being happy, having fun, and enjoying living your life and being an artist. As long as you struggle with negative emotions, feelings of hopelessness and misery being the worst of them all from my own personal experience, then that is no way to live or be an artist regardless of your artistic contributions or any other contributions to the world. Why do I say this? It's because our biochemical emotions are, in a way, like the sense of sight. They allow us to see our lives as good, beautiful, horrible, or disgusting depending upon which emotion you feel. As long as you feel a positive emotion, then you see your life as good and beautiful. As long as you feel a negative emotion, then you see your life as horrible and disgusting.

If you somehow had no emotions at all, then you cannot see any value in your life whatsoever. Just thinking and believing that your life has good or bad value will not allow you to see that value. It would be no different than if a blind person thought of colors in his mind. That thought would just be words and it wouldn't allow him to see any colors. If we live in a spiritual universe where the paranormal, soul, god, and the afterlife exist, then our emotions would be a higher and transcended form of sight that I would call "Spirit Vision." Our biological form of sight/vision allows us to see colors and objects. But our spiritual vision allows us to see the value and worth in our lives. As long as we are in a miserable and hopeless state due to a stressful life event or emotional trauma, then it is like we are souls trapped in the dark realm with no light to allow us to see the good value and beauty of things in our lives. Fully recovering back into our positive emotional state would be like our souls returning back to the realm of the light.

This is the realm where we need to be and it would be like a blind person recovering from his blindness and being able to see again. All the blinding spiritual darkness has been removed and the person can now see the good value and beauty of things in this world again. During my worst miserable moments, I could only see things as horrible and disgusting. It was the worst state of mind to be in of my own personal life. Our positive emotions would, therefore, be our inner light. They would also be like the glasses we need to wear in order to see the good value and beauty of things. When we lose our positive emotions, then it is like we have lost our glasses. Our positive emotions are like the eyes of an angel that allow us to see the good values on a level that intellect alone could never allow us to see. If we don't live in a spiritual universe and our universe is secular, then our positive emotions wouldn't be spiritual vision. Rather, they would just be like the higher form of sight we need in our lives to allow our lives to be truly perceived as good and beautiful.