Studio Update: Crafting A Web Novel & Composing Audio for a Videogame
Breaks are refreshing and rest is essential. During the studio’s lull, a mentor of mine challenged me to really think about who I am as an artist and what I want to contribute to the studio. The studio is always about exploring what it means to be interdisciplinary, to explore mixed media and explore projects that immerse you.
Creating My Web Novel, P.LS
I wanted a multimedia project that conveys what my definition of "interdisciplinary" looks like. P.LS is a multimedia web-novel exploring the lives of a late 20-somethings as they try to find jobs, make sense of life and make deals with eternal beings along the way. It’s is designed to be a multimedia experience that infuses visual poetry, illustration and music for an immersive experience for this world.
The Queens-based collective, Kaleidospace, invited me to read P.LS's first chapter for their Black history month event, "Black Atrium." I had the opportunity to connect with incredible creators like Nyota (vocalist), Sunny Roberts (Playwright) and Rashad T. Bailey (actor).
Image 1: “Black Atrium Poster, Image 2: Group photo of presenting artists,Image 3: A photo of me smiling, captured by Greta Mantilla.
The experience affirmed how much care and thought I put into my writing paintings. The excitement from the crowd and the Q&A made me think, “This is what I should be doing in life. I should be chasing this.” I posted the excerpt here so everyone can experience P.LS in its multimedia glory.
Composing Tracks and SFX for a Game!
I also recently had the pleasure of composing two tracks and designing sound effects for Small Loan Studio's cyber-noir visual novel "Santa's Secret" along with Valentina Bolívar Castro, Veronica Angulo Benedetti, and Fiorella Frieri. You can watch gameplay here and listen to my audio here.
I am especially proud of the adaptive audio system (implemented by the incredibly powerful programmers Mica Smith and Leon Barillaro) where you get to have this dynamic jazz track that builds with each character you encounter. Fun Fact: The main lead in the Dept. Store is composed of 4 synthesizers and uses this meandering chord progression to have the player feel like an investigator churning through a case. Anyone can get the game for free here: https://smallloanstudio.itch.io/santas-secret.
I am currently working with Small Loan Studios on another piece…stay tuned.