firstly, I used photos of Briggon + Andrew I had and slapped their heads on stock figures. and then I cut everything out of construction paper and layered it all and then messed around with it in procreate!

and you know what? it was FUN! there's just no reason to use AI for show art.

as @georgiacooked.bsky.social wonderfully suggested - take stock photos + make them your own! that's what I did! I edit in adobe, so I do have access to their huge stock library, but for BW, I actually mostly used unsplash images + painted over them in Procreate

for NYD I got a little more creative

both Breaker Whiskey and New Year’s Day are shows that I do entirely on my own (in NYD's case with the wonderful help of @briggon.bsky.social and @andrewnowak29.bsky.social acting for the love of the game) and I made the show art for both.

I am NOT a visual artist. the farthest thing from it.

that all totally makes sense to me! this is why I'm a much bigger fan of 'audio drama' or 'audio fiction' over 'fiction podcast' - but even audio fiction is distinct from an audiobook of a novel to me!! so!! it's all a bit squidgy!!

that makes a lot of sense! thank you for sharing!

ah gotcha! if you don't mind me asking, what's helpful about video specifically? is it being able to see folks' mouths moving at the same time? closed captioning with timed transcripts? I'm always looking to make my audio dramas as accessible as possible

agreed! bsky.app/profile/laur...

the only definition that matters

yeah, I'm fairly wibbly on my own definition bc in my world of audio drama, an @atypicalartists.co show and an audible show are functionally the same for me in the way I'm telling a story. so I'm like....idk...audio that isn't SOLELY music distributed on the internet. that's a podcast

I mean…the focus and favoring of video on apps like Spotify affects me, a person who makes their living doing fiction podcasts, a great deal. I have no problem with podcasts having incidental video but if it relies on video to work, that’s a tv talk show not a podcast?

also fwiw, kickstarter gives you custom links to see where your backer traffic is coming from and lemme tell you, so far the evidence suggests that tumblr is still the best place to drum up excitement for indie art!

but maybe bluesky could catch up? www.kickstarter.com/projects/aty...

if you ever have questions I have tons of resources and also do livestreams the last Wednesday of every month to answer questions about how to make AD!

EXACTLY. to your other point, our YT isn't monetized, but I'll always publish there, just like I do on every random podcast app. and I don't expect YT to favor or promote our shows! they're a video first platform! but for those audio first platforms that are now favoring video...bitebitekillkill

just bc I’m gonna DO it doesn’t mean I’m not gonna complain. I’ll go into the dark night but I’m gonna be a huge bitch about it, etc

I am livestreaming myself playing games + listening to the first episodes of The Bright Sessions today at 1pm on @atypicalartists.co YouTube and Twitch channels because video IS increasingly important for getting listeners due to the unfounded belief that’s what people want from podcasts