CalculcatedCollisions

An artist in progress…

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Hide A(ny)way

By EM | @calculatedcollisions

This is one of my favorite original characters that I’ve created for a comic that may or may not ever see the light of day, Farrah. They are an A.I. with a focus on encryption, which is why their hair is often a cloud of distracting colors, shapes, or images. With this, I wanted the color palette to be light, maybe a little vulnerable, but once you study the character, you realize they almost have caught you in that thought, and you realize maybe they aren’t as vulnerable as you think. They don’t have to stay hidden, but they choose to. I’m very proud of how this one came out. The rough draft was more ambitious than the finished result, but I’m happy that through the process, I simplified it to allow the drawing to shine without any crazy details.

Artwork by EM | @calculatedcollisions

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N.1 What Have You Done

The final piece! As a huge Imogen Heap fan, I was obsessed with her new song “ What Have You Done To Me?” It’s a much darker song than she usually does (which I love).

I loved this idea of something that is naturally an opposite to its goal, like a person made of fire attempting a normal life among woods and plants only to have it burning down around them. Not sure this aligns with the song, but it was what was in my head at the time, so here we are.

I had 4 hours left before midnight, and the original piece I was working on was not working at all. So I did the insane thing of restarting from scratch. But we got there, and I’m very happy with it.

@CalculatedCollisions | artwork by EM/Ezra Murrieta 2024

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N.2 Engines

Often songs will inspire a music video in my brain, and this song is so amazing and different from anything I’ve ever heard. I immediately put it on in my head that just started with me. Foolish Fish by Droeloe is the song that inspired my second of 5 pieces highlighting the top five songs of the year.

In hearing this song, my mind had the singer staying at the center and stationary as they are being tested and fitted for a spaceship, with one of the scenes, right as the singer says “jump in the sea…” with the singer in the middle of two rocket engines igniting in time with the bass. It’s an image that has been stuck with me since I first heard the song.

Originally, my plan for this was to have the subject at the center with the engines angled at a perspective that would shoot around them, but… perspective is hard, and I could not get it right. As for the engines, I wanted them to have exhaust stylized like blowing hair or whatever the material they use for pompoms are, but ran out of time. I think one day I may come back and do this, but everything else was just about right for what I had in mind.

@CalculatedCollisions | artwork by EM/Ezra Murrieta 2024

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N.3 Steel/Steal

This is the third piece of five for my collection of artwork inspired by my favorite tracks of the year. This one is inspired by Max Champion’s: Steel featuring the ethereal vocals of Dora Jar.

I had this scene of two friends stealing glances at each other as tension builds and the line between friend and something more starts to become clearer. Having these thoughts featuring these cute people acting out what is running through your head.

Originally I was going to have both of them covered with their own “thought people” pointing at each other, but I ran out of time. Another challenge was getting that perfect level of calm emotional turbulence just right. But very happy with how this one turned out.

@CalculatedCollisions | artwork by EM/Ezra Murrieta 2024

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N.4 Cyclone

I loved this song the second I heard it. Because of it, I deep-dived into a bunch of drum and bass, house, and electronica playlists, which I had not done in a long time. So for the fourth of five pieces, this one is inspired by Cyclone by 1991.

This piece didn’t really inspire an image but more of a feeling, so the goal with this one was just to sketch to the song on repeat with little to no erasing. This one was fun as I really didn’t put too much pressure on myself to get it perfect and just let my hand do what it felt.

So as I mentioned, the goal was to do as little to no erasing and also keep everything on one layer. I did cheat a little by duplicating the layer a few times just in case I made a fatal flaw and needed to start again, and was starting to love this one, so really didn’t want to have to start completely over.

@CalculatedCollisions | artwork by EM/Ezra Murrieta 2024

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N.5 Talking Walls

This is the first of 5 pieces I did last year highlighting my favorite tracks of the year, number 5 being Talking Walls by Evan Giaa.

Hearing this song, I just always pictured slow-motion videos of people doing parkour and a free feeling that brought this image to life. It’s my first time doing any kind of action shot or drawing something in motion.

In high school, I would spend most of my time in class creating my versions of album art for songs that I loved, and this was a fun way to revisit that.

@CalculatedCollisions | artwork by EM/Ezra Murrieta 2024