So, throughout my life, there were a lot of artists and designers that have influenced my creative work. I have discovered these individuals and the work that they have created both on a visual and narrative level as I followed and researched their craft. In turn, it led me wanting to create my own take and spin on these creations and I’ve incorporated that into my drawings for as long as I can remember. But for now, let me start off by talking about one of my earliest inspirations. Wayne Lytle, creator of Animusic.

Wayne Lytle and his now former working assistant and friend David Crognale use to work on two animated TV programs back in the 2000s called Animusic and its sequel Animusic 2. It was known as a visual album that consisted of various computer animated shorts of anthropomorphic musical instruments coming to life and playing and performing music in abstract settings. It was sort of like Disney’s Fantasia. Sometimes it would just be a group of random instruments magically playing by themselves without anyone operating them and other times the instruments would have anthropomorphic and robotic characterizes like giving a long-necked guitar arms tapping at its strings or robots playing on a drum set. Most of these videos mainly have an outer space or liminal setting, like the stage being set on an alien planet or in some enclosed room and most of the music is just electronic-synth music with some occasional slower and softer orchestral inspired tracks.

Animusic started off as this concept Lytle had back when he was in college and in the early 1990s he experimented with combing midi keyboard instruments with early CGI rendered models of instruments. He got kind of creative with it where certain instruments from real life would usually translate to creating abstract instrument models like laser machines filling in for synthesizers or funnel pipes shooting balls to play drums or percussion instruments instead of using mallets. This resulted in creating two animations called More Bells and Whistles and Beyond The Walls which was showcased at Cornell University and was shown on certain VHS programs and later on television. Sometimes being displayed with other early computer animations at the time like commercials and shorts made by studios that would eventually become Pixar, DreamWorks, and Blue Sky.

The 2000s was when computer animation fully flourished. With all these studios mentioned being officially established, it was time for Wayne to put his concept to good use. While Animusic didn’t reach that same amount of mainstream recognition like other animation studios had, the two programs made by Wayne Lytle and David Crognale would officially premiere on CNN and PBS in 2001 and 2005. That’s where I discovered Animusic.

Me not having a background in music, I was still fascinated by the stunning visuals of these magnificent objects coming to life and play catchy tunes. My parents automatically knew that the inspiration for this had to be something along the lines of Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, or Tubeway Army. It definitely was 1980s avant-garde synth music being modernized in public television. I have both DVDs and a t-shirt from their website. I even started to create my own Animusic band with toys I had in my room. This eventually led to my parents signing me up for guitar classes which I had no interest in. But I eventually had to take graded music classes by the time I got to middle school and while I was a little bit more mature and did a lot better in playing the piano and trombone, I was never really into playing music. I just like listening to new music that catches my attention.

It was mostly the out-of-this-world sci-fi instruments, stage design, and crazy three-necked guitars shooting lasers that captured my imagination. That, along with other media from 2000s pop-culture that also influenced me like the 2005 Blue Sky film Robots. It all eventually led me into my drawings creating robot and alien characters. Here are a few examples of my work:

(For viewing purposes only. Please ask if you want any consult regarding top image character. My creation.)

There was supposed to be a third installment (Animusic 3), but Wayne Lytle eventually got carpel tunnel surgery and his work was taking a toll on his health. David Crognale eventually left the project as he wanted to pursue other things in his life. After a few attempts of trying to get back into working on Animusic 3 and a failed Kickstarter campaign, Lytle instead just released a regular CD album in February 2015 called The Sound of 12 (So12) which had mostly new and original compositions while some tracks were going to be fully animated for the third video album. People on the internet has since created their own fan-made Animusic videos on YouTube which some now feel defeats the purpose of having another Animusic video album at all.

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