Season 1 Q&A - Part 1
Travelling Light S01Q&A Part One Transcript
[Title music: rhythmic electronic folk.]
H.R. Owen
Travelling Light, Season 1 Q&A. Part One.
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Hero: Hello friends, and welcome to the Season 1 Q&A! I'm Hero, the writer and co-creator of Travelling Light and we'll kick things off with our very first question from Miro, who asks, 'Is there any chance we'll hear Matt on mic?' [long pause] [Hero starts laughing] Apparently not! [laughs] That's the part where you say, "Hi, I'm Matt! I'm the artist and co-creator of Travelling Light!"
Matt: I don't want to break the illusion! I think it's- It's good to keep up the mystery. I'm building suspense.
Hero: I tell you what, you say all of your answers and I'll just, uh, repeat it in my best impression of you, and then we can maintain your air of mystery. [laughs]
Matt: Yes, that'd be perfect, thank you very much.
Hero: So, uh, [puts on a bad Northern Irish accent and a deep voice] Uh, I'm, I'm Matt, so I am, and uh, I-I draw all the pictures, so I do, and-and I like, uh, spaceships and uh, aliens and things, so. Hoo!
Matt: Oof. My goodness. That is just... [Hero laughs] Perfect! Perfect. It's not AI I've to watch out for, it's you!
Hero: [laughs] It's me. Actually, all AI is me. They just hire me to-
Matt: Just to do the voices of people, yeah?
Hero: Anyway! [both laughing] Onto the questions! Enough of this nonsense. How do you feel? We just finished our first season of a new show. How- How's that- How's that going for you?
Matt: I don't know, it's a bit surreal. I think we talked about it before but the first two batches, like the first 16 weeks, felt like they went on forever and then suddenly the show was over! [both laugh] Like it was like, oh! Suddenly we were done, like if- It- I think it was just finding our feet took such a long time and-
Hero: Yeah, I definitely think those first two arcs- Because we do this eight weeks on, two weeks off structures, and those first two chunks of eight were definitely very like, oh! How do we... make? This show? [laughing] Like, you know...
Matt: Yeah. I also think we just, in our own personal lives, we didn't have as much going on and then suddenly we had a lot going on post-March. For anyone who doesn't know, we bought and moved into our own house and then, doing all the stuff to do with that there. And then at my work, we released a game this year so we were very, very busy with that, so...
Hero: It's called Amber Isle, it's very good, you should all buy it immediately. [both laugh]
Matt: Yeah. Um. That'd be great, thank you very much! Um. But yeah, I don't know, this- This year for me personally has been a bit of a blur. I know it's not exactly the same for you, but I've just felt like 2024 just kind of came and went with such a... With such a breeze.
Hero: Well, I think it's- it's- it's more that it sort of- All of our busyness just really lined up so we- we- [laughs] It all lined up with quite a lot of big life events so, um, I still remember the start of the show where we had it all planned and we knew what week we were going to be bringing it out and everything and where it was going to launch, and then you were like, "Can we delay for a week because I've got some stuff on at work and I'm- I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to concentrate on it."
And I was [bleep]-ing livid! I was absolutely raging! [laughs] And I was like, "I can't believe he's done this like, this has been in the calendar for weeks and weeks and weeks and now he's saying like, aw he's suddenly got this work thing!" But no, it- it was that you were proposing to me that week [laughs] and thought maybe I might be a little distracted and not quite in the space to launch a brand new podcast!
Matt: Yeah, very considerate!
Hero: Very considerate!
Matt: Your wee face was just all scrunched up and angry-
Hero: [laughing] I was so angry!
Matt: And we had to go to our friend's birthday dinner afterwards and I was, I was laughing to myself, but they were not happy.
Hero: [laughing] I was like, stomping along like, "Can't believe I've got to sit through this [bleep]-ing dinner and pretend everything's alright when I'm absolutely raging!" [laughs] So, and then, we started looking for a new house in the new year. So yeah, no wonder the-the last wee while has sort of flown in when we've- we've had quite a lot on our- on our plates. Yeah. None of that is really to do with the podcast [Matt laughs] It's just us bragging about our delightful life! [Hero laughs]
Matt: I mean, it's not that delightful! It's been very, very busy and very hectic. Um. I know i-it's a, it's a privilege in a sense, to- to be that busy, don't get me wrong, but [laughs] it was quite stressful at the same time.
Hero: Well I think like, I was coming off the back of Monstrous Agonies which um, I think most people who listen to Travelling Light have probably come across Monstrous Agonies but if you haven't, that was my first podcast, it was a weekly late-night radio show, um, advice show for monsters, basically. Um-
Matt: Well, actually, before you go anywhere else- So this is actually a question from me to you which is, how do you compare working on Travelling Light to Monstrous Agonies, aside from working with me?
Hero: Mm. Apart from working with you. So, I did not take enough breaks while I was making Monstrous Agonies, um. I was taking a lot more towards the end of the final series but I was still actually not taking enough time to- to look after myself and to have any kind of work/life balance, which was something that we very intentionally went at differently in Travelling Light which is why we have this eight weeks on, two weeks off structure. Because I do actually need two weeks to- [laughs] One week to sort of vegetate in front of the television and another week to do all of the prep stuff for the next, um, the next arc.
So I think Travelling Light has felt a lot less panicked. A lot less frazzled! [laughs] Um. I've felt less slapdash about it. My process has- has refined a lot. I think there were three or four separate occasions in the course of making this one season of Travelling Light where I found out that, um, something I had been painstakingly doing manually in my audio editing process could be done by a button. [both laugh] There's- There's just a button! [laughs] That just does that for you! [laughs] So that's, um. That's cut down my- my- my editing time quite significantly! [laughs]
Matt: Yeah. Yeah, no genuinely. It used to take you maybe two days, a day and a half to do it? Now you do it in a few hours. It's insane. [laughs]
Hero: Yeah like, I'll, I'll, I'll record on Thursday night quite often, edit on Friday and have it out pretty much in time for 4 o'clock on, on Friday afternoon.
Matt: Yeah. It's pretty... Pretty quick turnaround, like. I think the hardest thing for me is that they have to be finished pieces. You know? In what I do as a job, I can kind of just sketch things out and I don't have to actually finish it. [laughs] And that's fine, it's just about getting the idea out.
So I think the hardest part for me was to complete a piece. So initially it took a little while, it took- I was, I was getting very caught up on specific ideas about, like, how cohesive everything should be and probably focusing far too much on the quality of specific things that actually weren't that important.
Hero: Yeah, we don't need quality! [both laugh]
Matt: No, but just like, uh, just overly focused on certain things and- Because I-I was, I was being too kind of married to the idea of it always being a photo. Early on in the show we had a lot of ideas about, oh, uh, maybe we could do some additional material.
But we- Given time and stuff, we couldn't really do that. And I was like, no well we can actually just start to bring that into the show itself, um. We don't have- Like, the Traveller's going to be picking up a bunch of stuff they're not just going to be taking photos, so. So, I-I felt like that was a good branching point. And for me I think it really opened up then.
And it- Uh, just on a personal note from like, drawing that frequently, uh, each week has been really, really nice because I don't draw as much stuff as I used to. You know, when I was younger I would- I would just sit and draw for hours. And when you get older you just, you lose your love for it a bit or- [both laugh] because it's your job or you just don't-
Hero: Well you've got so much on, you've got a full-time job and a life to have.
Matt: Yeah, exactly. And you know, um. But being able to do that now as like a side job is really nice and uh, it- It definitely improved my drawing abilities, like, significantly. Um. So I hope that answers that somewhat! [laughs]
Hero: I think it does! Mothmanjon asked, "How has the process of episode creation differed from Monstrous Agonies, and how does adding another person and their wonderful art work change things?" And I wanted to read that one because I worried that if you read it, you would leave out the "wonderful". [both laugh] And I just want to make sure that's in there!
Because I think we touched on that briefly there where, um, the actual process of editing has changed because I've learnt, uh. How to do it. And [laughing] what you're supposed to do! But I think the adding another person has changed things because I- I've never really worked collaboratively before? And that sort of means that I've had to be a lot stricter- Believe it or not, Matt, this was me being quite strict with myself about my schedule this season! [laughs]
Matt: I mean yeah, I would definitely say that. I think, you know, it's a shared responsibility now so you, you don't want to let down someone else. You know? It's a shared workload and the episode can't come out if neither of us have done the work.
Hero: Right. Right.
Matt: Or one of us hasn't done it, sorry.
Hero: I think your side of things needs to be locked in earlier than mine. Because, like, worst case scenario, I can go back into my booth on Friday and re-record a line if I've accidentally, you know, said something that you haven't drawn or- Or vice versa. Um. Not that we've ever done that. There's several episodes [laughs] where that's happened and we've just let it stand! Because it's fine, who cares. [laughs]
Matt: The Traveller is an unreliable narrator. [laughs]
Hero: Yeah! Yeah, the camera is where the truth is, actually.
Matt: Mmhmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Hero: Mmhmm. [laughs] Um. And then also sometimes, like, there's- there's other times where we've got- You know, we've- We've had a wonderful prompt from someone and I've been completely blank and brain-farting and I'm like, "I don't know, I love the idea, I don't know how to make it into an entry, I don't know what I'm doing with it."
And being able to just talk that through with someone and you're sitting there going like, "Oh, well I've got this idea of something that I'd like to draw, and I think that this would be really, really cool," has been super helpful. Which you did do during Monstrous Agonies, I just never credited you. [laughs]
Matt: No, no. I think the difference is there as well is that like, for Monstrous Agonies it's like, I obviously have an investment in it through you, but I don't have the same level of investment. But now it's like, we do bounce off each other quite a lot and I show you something that I've drawn or thought of and that could inspire you, or you write something that inspires me. That's just like, how it works.
Here's one from Lionessfeather. I think it's somewhat related. Uh. "When you get submissions, do they get posted in the order they arrive or do you shuffle them about to make it the most pleasing combination of archive entry and story?"
Hero: Uh, it sort of depends, really. It- It depends how story-ish that week's episode is, I think. Because there are some- There are some episodes where it's like, oh, the letter part of this is like, actually the meat of this episode. And you kind of want that to be a bit more in sync with the entry. But there's- I mean, there's 40 episodes this season, quite a lot of them are just, [in a silly voice] "Isn't this nice! I went to a planet and ate some bread!" Um- [laughs]
Matt: But the thing is when- When we do talk about it, you may go, "I have an entry that is about this, and I have an entry that's about this," and then we go, “Well, where are we this week? Oh well we're on this planet, well it makes more sense for this to happen here rather than...”
Hero: That's certainly part of it. I think part of it is also, like, sometimes… Sometimes the archive entry gets put in because it's in the right chronological order, but then that actually inspires most of the rest of the episode and we end up riffing on that and-and building the letter and the story side of it out from there. Yeah, it's- it's- it's all... I keep using the word "organic" [Matt laughs] because it sounds better than "making it up as we go along!" [laughs]
Matt: But that- That- That is what being organic is.
Hero: Yeah. Just loosey goosey. [laughs]
Matt: We're just riffin', you know? We're just-
Hero: We're just riffin'. [laughs]
Matt: We're just jazzin' it out. [both laugh]
Hero: Speaking of the sort of, the story side of it, you know, we talked a bit about your art but you are the co-creator of Travelling Light, you're not just, um... Not just some bozo drawing pictures.
Matt: [laughs] I mean, I am.
Hero: [laughs] You're my bozo! Um, so I was wondering how you found the story side of that kind of co-creation process.
Matt: Feels good. It feels fun. [Hero starts to laugh]
Hero: And that's that on that! [silly voice] "Yeah, I like it!"
Matt: No, I like that, like... You know, it's... A big part of, like, collaboration to me is like, talking through things. So for me it's just- It's just a lot of fun. And it really gets like, your brain firing off. You know? It's like- It's like, just playing make believe when you were younger, you know what I mean? It's just- You both just sit on the couch going, "Ummm... [Hero laughs] This could happen, I suppose..."
Hero: And I'm like, "What if Óli jumps out of a [bleep]-ing window?" And you're like, [laughing] "Sure! Why not!"
Matt: To be fair, I don't think I knew about that until that episode had come out. [laughs]
Hero: I didn't know Óli was going out the window until they went. [laughs] And I was like, oop!
Matt: But like, I think-
Hero: The Óli is out.
Matt: That- That's such a big part of it like, you know. It's like, sometimes it just takes you in some really fun ways and you can be really swept up in it yourself. And I think having that part of the audience - which was like, a big surprise for me, initially - was like, oh- It's like, you know, you guys make decisions sometimes that I'm just like, "What?! That was weird!"
Hero: [laughs] You were absolutely sure they were going to pick the merchant ship.
Matt: Yeah, no, I- Uh- I mean, like a hundred percent! I was like, "Of course they're going to pick the merchant ship, because people are predictable and they'll pick the merchant ship-" You know, I had- I had done a bunch of preliminary stuff [Hero laughs] for- for the show, because I was so sure that yous were all going to pick the- the merchant ship. And you didn't! And then it was like, "Well, that's all that in the bin!" [both laugh] Um. Which is very, very funny. Thankfully we got to bring back Scarry but it was just like, alright, there's nothing I can do with this. It just has to go.
Hero: That's really funny. We'll put it on Ko-Fi. Let people have a look. So, that kind of leads into a question that we have from Piötr which asked, "How much of the story did you have planned since the beginning?" Well we knew- We knew the Traveller was going to Kerrin. [pause] And... [long pause. Then, laughing:] I think that's it!
Matt: [laughs] But we did- We did make a conscious decision early on - same with the art - that like, I decided at some point that it wasn't worth me putting- [laughs] This sounds so bad! But it wasn't worth me putting a bunch of effort and time into designing stuff that was a collaborative effort between us and the audience. Because then I would have felt myself just editing things to suit what I had already done rather than just letting the audience kind of dictate where I go.
Matt: So, I think it was a bit like that there with the arcs. Like, we have to plan out an arc because we have to, like- We kind of have to know where we're going for the next eight weeks. But for the overall story, the only thing we really knew was that the Traveller was going to go to Kerrin.
Hero: I think we know, like- I knew what kind of emotional direction I wanted the Traveller to be going on. So I knew that like, this first season, they would be setting out, you know, a bit naive, super excited about everything, and sort of taking everything quite at face value, and... [cheerful voice] Making friends! And being excited! And all that kind of stuff.
And I know that, you know, Season 2, we'll start to- [laughs] This sounds really bad! It's not going to- [laughing] We're not going to just like, [grim voice] tear them apart! But like, you know. We're going to start, um. Picking at that a little and- And pushing them in a different sort of emotional and personal direction.
But the actual plot points, I think, like- For me, the- the collaboration with the audience is so important and I really love the feeling that, you know, the story of Travelling Light is what it is because of those decisions made week by week. Whether those are the votes or not, because we also, like- Originally that first arc, like- Not even the first arc. Originally I had planned like, the whole first season, the-the tension of the story was going to be about whether the Traveller bonded more with the crew of the ship they were on or with this mysterious stranger who they had met.
But then I accidentally wrote Óli quite sexy! [laughs] And everyone was like, "We would like to see more of the tall and sexy alien, please." And I was like, OK, well, I kind of... I, like... There's a distinct cut-off where Óli stops appearing in the votes. [both laugh] Because I was like, if I put them in, everyone's just going to vote for Óli. Which... You know...
Matt: Yeah...
Hero: Was- Was- Would be fine... But kind of wasn't- So we had to, we had to change that and-and reassess a little bit. [laughs]
Matt: Yeah, we had to just hide, uh, the Óli choices in amongst some other choices. [Hero laughs] Like, so you- Like, on our end, we were like, we knew which one you were voting for, but when we put it out to the audience it was like, all vague. [laughs] It was like, we never said who was going to be there or what, because it was like- We just didn't- We didn't want people to be dictated too much by their own, like, personal feelings about people.
Hero: But at the same time, you want it to be, like, a real choice. Like, it feels like, you know- And I think that's the thing with, "How much of the story did you have planned from the beginning?" In order for it to be a genuine choice that-that you are making as-as the audience, there were only two ways to do that. Either we only write eight weeks worth of choices at a time and then reassess and refocus and realign based on what came before. Or we write out five lots of eight weeks accounting for every possible decision. Um. Which is maths I can't do! [both laugh] I can't! I can't work out- What, that's... No, I genuinely can't do it, actually! Like, that's so many decisions!
Matt: Five- Five lots of eight weeks.
Hero: Yeah, but there's-
Matt: Forty, is it?
Hero: Yeah but there's a decision every... [long pause] Every third week.
Matt: [simultaneously] Yeah, yeah no, it branches off. Yeah.
Hero: [simultaneously] And then that branches and branches and branches. Do you know? Like, every- Every eight week arc ends with eight possible outcomes and then you want to do another eight week arc for every one of those outcomes and another eight week arc for every one of those... Or, the third option is that, you know, we just pretend that these are choices that you're making, but actually the Traveller was always going to end up here or there or-or whatever, regardless. And that just felt really scummy and rubbish. You know?
Matt: Yeah. I think we've both- Don't like that. Like, just from other things that we've experienced or read or played.
Hero: Well I think we play a lot of video games, don't we? And- And that feeling of like, [bright voice] "Choices matter!" [normal voice] And then you're like, no they [bleep]-ing don't! [laughs]
Matt: Yeah, it's like- The decisions we wanted the audience to have obviously influence the story but we didn't want to try and either oversell it or undersell it. It was like, yeah, you do have an impact on how this goes but, you know, we know for certain that we're going to Kerrin. That's it. And you can't change that as an audience member, but you can definitely- You can definitely influence the trip that they take, which was- Which was very different in my opinion from what we had planned. Like, it just, it ended up going a completely different route.
Um. Which I think like, ties into another follow-up question from the same person: "Will we hear some of your ideas for how it would have looked if the different choices were made, for example, if the Traveller had chose a different ship." Um. Like I said, I was a hundred percent convinced people would pick the merchant ship [Hero laughs] but they didn't!
Hero: Yeah so I think you probably have more ideas of what the merchant ship would have looked like, because I was very loosey goosey on, like- [laughs]
Matt: Yeah, the merchant ship was just a big... ship.
[beat]
Hero: Come to the Q&A, I said. Hear the deep insights from your co-creators. [both laugh] [in a bad Northern Irish accent] "Uh, it's just a big ship, so it is." [laughs]
Matt: It's hard to describe! The- The- The research ship is like, a fancy ship, almost like a big yacht. Um. Very, very fancy ship, on the inside it's absolutely gorgeous with all this like, wood trim, hand-made... I-It's got metal, it's got all the usual stuff you'd expect-
Hero: It's got metal and everything! [both laugh]
Matt: But uh, but it's almost like you're walking through, like, a university. It's- It's...
Hero: Yeah like, the reference pictures that I sent you were like, medieval universities and...
Matt: Yeah, exactly. Whereas like, the-the, the merchant ship in my mind was this just giant cargo ship, where they didn't actually- [sighs] They probably lived in less space than the research ship but they were attached to such a big vessel.
Hero: And I think, like, in terms of atmosphere, like, I imagined, like, the merchant ship storyline being a lot more, like... It's hard work, you know? Like, these are people who are- Who are working for a living and they just want to get a job done.
If you had picked the merchant ship and then stopped to help Óli in the Port Authority office, you would have been quite late arriving at the ship before it took off. Which, when you go to the Tola and you're late, it's fine! Everybody's late! Duytren's not even there, Tsabec's having a hissy fit, like, it-it's fine. Whereas if you arrive late at the Guillemot- Like, it makes quite a bad first impression with Scarry and with the rest.
Matt: Well here's a question for you, then. Um. How different do you think Óli would have been on that ship?
Hero: [sighs] Well that's the question, like, was Óli- Like- [laughs] I don't think it will be a surprise to anyone who's been listening this far to hear that we didn't plan all of Óli's arc [starts laughing] beforehand!
Matt: No, I think all- All we had was that they were maybe royalty, that was it.
Hero: Yeah. Well, you wanted them to be the heir to a-a canned soup empire. [laughs]
Matt: Yeah! Because I thought that would be great, that they could be like, you know. They're royalty but like, in a capitalist way.
Hero: So I think- I think Óli- Óli's entire storyline could have been completely different, like, they could have been a completely different person with a completely different background. Um.
Matt: Here, and uh, if- If the audience themselves want to take your flowcharts and see what show they could come up with, that's... I'd love to see it.
OK, well, here- Here's one then. Aurorajanvier. "Which are your favourite and least favourite characters to do voices of?"
Hero: [sighs] I love doing Tsabec. Tsabec is who I long to be in my soul. Um.
Matt: Yup.
Hero: [laughs]
Matt: A grumpy slut.
Hero: [both laugh] Just a little grumpy slut, who won't talk to anyone about anything except their special interests! [laughs]
Matt: Uh-huh.
Hero: Yeah. Um. Unfortunately, I'm cursed to, uh. To live a different life than Tsabec.
Matt: Not much different.
Hero: [pause. Matt starts to laugh] Not that different, let's be honest. [both laugh] No, I love Tsabec's voice. Um. I think... Aman is really fun as well, because she's got that kind of nice, booming richness. And I find her intonations really fun to play with. Um, like, she says things slightly weirdly.
And least favourite... Um. Our mutual friend Bob, who is from Belfast - hi, Bob, if you're listening. We were in the pub the other week and he was, um. Gently needling me about Scarry's Northern Irish accent! [laughs] Um. Which is really, really hard! [laughs] It's really, really difficult!
At one point Bob was like, "Imagine if- if the Traveller had gone off on the merchant ship and you'd have had to do a Northern Irish accent like, the whole season." And I was like, "Are you [bleep]-ing kidding me? If- If the Traveller had gone on the merchant ship, Scarry would not have been Northern Irish!" [Matt laughs] You don't get to the Northern Irish accent until you've done all your other voices, like! [both laugh]
Matt: [laughing] Until you've ran out.
Hero: Scarry is only Northern Irish because he came in at the end of the season and I needed a new voice [laughs] and that was the one I ended up with!
Matt: I think it's a case of, um... You've been doing enough voices all season, now you've gotten over-confident. You think that [bursts out laughing] you can do a Northern Irish accent!
Hero: I was like, "Oh, yeah. I'm ready [simultaneously] to do a Northern Irish accent."
Matt: [simultaneously] "I'm ready! I'm ready to do this!" [laughs]
Hero: Yeah, the accent that doesn't sound real even on people from here! Stupid accent. Yes. Can't wait to write Scarry into every single episode [Matt laughs] of Season 2.
Matt: You'll- You'll probably start to notice his accent soften. Or change completely.
Hero: Yeah. Yeah, no, he's French now, actually. He was just- [laughs]
Matt: But- Here we go, this is also related. "How accurate are the Traveller's impressions of the crew? [Hero laughs] I was wondering how one of them might react to hearing the Traveller's voice of them."
Hero: Uh. Who asked that one?
Matt: Lily asked that, sorry.
Hero: [laughing] That's a very fun question! Because I think it- It sort of pokes at the- the framing device that we have for this, where it's like- The idea that the Traveller is, like- At one point Duytren I think refers to like, "Oh, do you have your little recorder on you?" But we hear her say that. [Matt laughs] Because the Traveller is apparently recording the bit of conversation before she agreed to be in the archive entry. And then has also taken that recording- But instead of hearing Duytren's voice, you hear the Traveller doing Duytren? [both laugh]
Matt: Well the weird thing, is the Traveller constantly recording conversations without people's permission?
Hero: Right! [Matt laughs] Or, alternatively, the- The explanation that I enjoy is that actually, what we're listening to is somebody in the community at Emerraine reading the Traveller's written letters and notes, and doing an impression of both the Traveller and [laughing] of everybody else that you hear! So there's this mysterious third person who's, uh... So you're actually hearing, you know... Gwelf from Emerraine doing an impression of the Traveller doing an impression of Duytren. [both laugh]
Matt: Well I-I think it's- It's really funny because it was never the plan initially for there to be different voices.
Hero: I was really against it, weirdly.
Matt: Yeah. And then, I think it was Episode 2 or 3 you started doing them and- I was listening to them, I think on the way to work, and I was like, "This is the best decision you've ever made." Because it was just like, it was just- It just changed the vibe completely and like- I think in a, in a very positive way. Um. Because I think for the kind of show it is and the amount of characters there are, there needs to be some variation. How accurate they are to the actual people, who knows? Because also they're speaking through universal translators, so it's like...
Hero: Like, because I remember when we were planning it and you were like, "You should do voices." And I was like, "I'm not going to do voice because [fussy voice] the framing device doesn't make sense, Matthew! [Matt laughs] It doesn't make sense for there to be voices, OK?"
Matt: Ooooh!
Hero: "In- In Monstrous Agonies it's magic! [Matt laughs] But in this, it doesn't make any sense!" And then I think it was like- I don't think you hear anyone's else's voice until Episode 4, maybe? [simultaneously] It's the- The pink alien that-
Matt: [simultaneously] It's- No. It's the episode where you meet the crew.
Hero: Oh, right. OK.
Matt: That's when you just start- You're just firing off [laughing] doing all these different voices!
Hero: [laughing] Just whacking them out then! Just like [simultaneously] "Oh, one of them's German now!"
Matt: [simultaneously] And it was like- Yeah!
[both laugh]
Hero: I think Óli is one of the first voices that we hear, which is really funny because it's like, it's described as being this like, lovely, husky voice. Óli's like, [husky voice] "Oh, Tonirsa bless you," or something. And then it's like, by the end of it they're just like, [high pitched, camp voice] "Oh my God! Something fell out of the shower!" [both laugh] They've just completely, like- They've like- It's like, no. No, they're not husky and elegant, actually. [simultaneously] They're just a camp Mancunian.
Matt: [simultaneously] They are... Oh my goodness.
[both laugh]
Hero: Um. And I love that.
Matt: I liken it- I liken it to whenever you hear Jodie Whittaker in a TV show [Hero laughs] versus them on like, Graham- Versus her, sorry, on Graham Norton. Where it's just- [laughs]
Hero: Yeah. Yeah, I think actually Jodie Whittaker would be a really good- Really good casting for Óli. [both laugh]
Matt: No, I think- I think my head canon is that the Traveller is doing voices in the same way that you do voices in real life for people. Like, your impeccable impression of me at the start of this episode. Or this- Sorry, this Q&A, sorry.
Hero: Yeah. Just incredible. [laughs]
Matt: Because you love to do a little voice!
Hero: I love a little voice! That's what's so wild to me, that I was- I was resistant to it, because I remember like- Like, I have so much fun doing the voices and it's like, it's genuinely something that I'm actually really proud of, that like, you can- You can tell who's talking even though it's just one person, and-and I feel really pleased with that.
I-I have so much fun recording. I love recording. I love writing when it's going well, but I... I-I do not like it when it's not going well. And I absolutely hate editing audio, very, very badly. Um. And Anonymous asked, "What is your least favourite part of production? Like, is there something you truly dread but know you have to get through to make your episodes click just right?" Um. For me it is actually the- the making the actual episode- [both laugh] And I'm wondering, for you, what's- What's your least favourite part of it?
Matt: I think it's like, that last 10% of the drawing. So, I'm like, adjusting the values of the colours, the curves, the shadows and all this stuff. That part's my least favourite because there's so much of like, doubting yourself. Spending so much time like, second guessing yourself and whatever.
And usually what I have to do is, I have to close the app [laughs] and then open it again later with fresh eyes. Because you've been staring at it for so long, like. The- The turn-around's very quick for this art, like I don't- Like, trying to balance it between my job and everything else is like- I think I only spend about, maximum, 12 hours to maybe 14 hours on a piece completely?
Hero: [laughing] I love that you're like, "I only spend... You know... An entire day working on it!" Like, that's so long! [laughs]
Matt: I know, I know! But, like. I think it's- It's a- It's a pretty quick turnaround for what it is. It might even be less than that. I'm being generous to myself, to be honest.
Hero: I think you've also, like, you've got quicker as you go on. Like, there was- There was one where you gave me an absolute fright and you came up on Friday morning and you were like, "So I've binned the art!" [both laugh] And I was like, "Oh!" [laughing] And you were like, "I'm just going to start again!" That was an exciting week!
Matt: Yeah. Well, now, to be fair! [Hero laughs] I had come up and told you after I had already restarted-
Hero: Yes.
Matt: And had pretty much cracked it and finished at that point. Because I didn't feel like telling you before then. [Hero laughs] Yeah, that last 10% is quite hard.
Hero: It's- It's the kind of work that you could just spend hours going back and undoing it and changing it and tweaking it and... Yeah, that's why I have such a-a, a tight limit on how much time I'm going to spend editing. I'm like, alright, it's going to get done. That's what we're aiming at. It's going to get done, it's going to be loud enough. [both laugh] [simultaneously] That is all I care about!
Matt: [simultaneously] I think just on a more technical note, my least favourite part of the drawing process is the colour and rendering part. I don't really like getting to the lighting and shading part. Because I prefer my art to look quite flat, generally. But for this here- Like, I wouldn't say it's super duper rendered but I have to do a bit more than I usually would do with my stuff.
Hero: So we've got, uh, a couple of questions about the art specifically. So I think we can do them. Treb - hi Treb! - asks, "Matt, what are some things you learnt/found yourself thinking about more in the course of making all this fab art?" And she adds, um, "I don't know enough art stuff to ask a good specific question, so feel free to make this question the one- Make this the question you'd like!" [both laugh]
Matt: I think- [sighs] I think... There's nothing kind of brand new really. I think it's just, I probably honed in on things more than I used to. Um. So it's been a long time since I- Like I said earlier on, been a long time since I've been like, drawing as much as I have been drawing, so it's been really good to kind of oil that part of my brain. The kind of problem solving part is kind of getting back up to speed where it had been kind of dormant for a while.
There's lots of little quirks and techniques I've come up with through working that has improved my drawing overall. Uh. And I can get to a completed piece very, very quickly compared to what I would have been like in the past. So I wouldn't say that there's anything I've, like, learnt or found, to be honest it's just-
Hero: Bad question, Treb! [Matt laughs]
Matt: No! Like, I think the hardest thing is probably answering these kind of questions! [both laugh] But like, it's just- Genuinely, it was just like, it was just a case of like, having to move at a pace that I hadn't had- done in a long time.
Hero: Well it's like, it's a year of- of drawing almost every single week, like, just churning it out. Like, this was something that I found- Like, before I started Monstrous Agonies... Um... I- Like, I had a huge, huge hang-up, like a huge mental hang-up about like, "Oh, I never finish anything, I never finish writing anything."
You know, and it- it- It really affected my confidence and it affected the way that I approached things that I did write. Because I was approaching them all as like, “It's got to be this big piece or there's not point doing it. It's got to be like, the short story that finally gets me a-a professional rates publication, or something. Or like, no, I'm going to do a whole novel or nothing!” Um. And by the end of Monstrous Agonies I was like, [laid back voice] "Yeah, I can write two short stories a week, man. [laughing] They're not- They're not all good! But they are all done!"
Um. And I think seeing you do that where it's like, the ease with which you go into, um, a new piece, and you're like, "Yeah, I'm excited, I've got an idea, I'm going to try it out, if I don't like it I can throw it away but I can only do that a certain amount of times and at some point I'm just going to have to stick to my guns and do what I'm doing, and do it as well as I possibly can." And you can't get hung up on that because you- You've got another one next week, you know?
Matt: No, I-I think that's the best thing about it is that, if I didn't like this week, I can usually try something new next week. And yeah, I would agree with like, what you said there in relation to Monstrous Agonies, like. Um. Because I didn't draw as much as I used to, I-I would get very hung up on that and be like, "Ah, I don't draw that much, I'm not that much of a- An illustrator any more, for someone who used to draw all the time."
And now I've got like, forty unique pieces of art that didn't exist, um, you know, a year ago. Which, you know, on average I probably wasn't pushing out- Pumping out that much work in the years previous to that.
Hero: That actually- Snazzycrow asked, uh, "Do you have a favourite piece or pieces of art from this season?"
Matt: [laughs] Traditionally I probably wouldn't have that much positive things to say about my work. Um. I'm in a much healthier space now [laughing] so that's good!
Hero: [laughing] I love that you say "traditionally". Like- [both laugh]
Matt: Well, tradition has it with me...! [Hero laughs] Um. But, yeah, I think like- [sighs] Because it's like, special interest for me like, I draw- I like drawing aliens and I like drawing sci-fi stuff, and I like kind of doing- So in a lot of like, the marketing stuff that exists in the podcast, like the, you know, books and stuff like that there, and like, they're not- They're not strictly photos, you know what I mean?
Hero: Yeah, you're not just drawing like, the same kind of illustration every time.
Matt: No I-I, I'm- I'm designing- I'm designing, like, cultural artefacts.
Hero: And I think also, one of the things that I've loved about seeing your work is that, like- Because if you asked me to draw, like, "Illustrate this person doing an interview." I'd just draw the person in the centre of the camera, looking at the camera, and smiling. [both laugh] Do you know? Um.
Whereas I think you've got a really good eye for- It feels like the Traveller has a good eye for what makes a nice photo, and I think that that's really lovely. So like, I think about like, um, the episode on the ice planet with the- the big ice sculpture statue things? And you've got just this one tiny person holding their hand up to feel the vibrations. And I just think that that's- That's gorgeous, you know? And it's like, you've got this eye for detail and composition that makes it feel like these- Like, when they are photos, they feel like snapshots of real people living their real lives in this fantasy universe, you know, this science fantasy universe.
Matt: No, yeah, I-I, I do... I do appreciate that. I'm glad that that comes across. Uh. I wanted- I- You know, they have to be interesting pieces on their own. Um. In terms of like, which ones I really, really do like, I think the earliest one I-I- I real- I do like Episode 1 quite a lot. I like her - the chef, the kind of goat chef lady. I don't know. Because it's the first one I did and I remember when I finished it, I was like, "OK, I get- I-I... I can do this show now."
And then, I like... I think once we did the- The book- The page from the, kind of like, the- the haunted ship-
Hero: Yeah, with Aman's ghost stories.
Matt: Yeah, I was like, "Oh cool, now I can kind of branch out and not just do the same thing."
Hero: Yeah.
Matt: Because that one was like, "I don't know how I'm going to do this." Sometimes it's fine because it's someone literally telling you a story, and then other times it's like, no, it's.... Like, I think when we go back to the- The one of the- The...
Hero: Oh, the Yavkhati? And they're like, holding hands-
Matt: Yeah.
Hero: In the image.
Matt: That one there, I...
Hero: You hate that one. [laughs]
Matt: I hate that one. But it's just like, that one to me was like, I don't know how to turn this into anything.
Hero: Yeah.
Matt: But I think those are my favourite ones. Uh. I really like Episode 23, the really weird goat. It's fun.
Hero: [pause] Really weird goat? Which one's that?
Matt: The one that makes you laugh every time you look at it.
Hero: [bursts out laughing]
Matt: There you go.
Hero: [laughing] Yeah I do remember him!
Matt: You didn't even need to look at it and you're laughing.
Hero: Oh, he's real good. [laughs]
Matt: I like- I like pretty much all of them though, they're all very good.
Hero: Apart from that one with the hands.
Matt: Yeah, that one can [bleep]-ing eat [bleep]. [laughs]
Hero: [muttering swearily and laughing]
Matt: Not the idea, the idea's good.
Hero: Thank you. [both laugh]
Matt: But you know. 39 pieces.
Hero: 39. [Matt laughs] Look, I had a lot more dud episodes... [pause] in Monstrous Agonies. I don't think I've got a dud episode in Travelling Light. [both laugh]
[Title music: rhythmic instrumental folk. It plays throughout the closing credits.]
H.R. Owen
Travelling Light was created by H.R. Owen and Matt McDyre, and is a Monstrous Productions podcast. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions for the Q&A. Part Two will be uploaded next week.
If you've enjoyed Travelling Light so far, please consider supporting us on Ko-Fi. For just £1 a month you can get access to bonus art and additional content, including an extended version of this Q&A featuring more questions, more jokes, and more in-depth answers. Sign up now at ko-fi.com/monstrousproductions.
Our inbox is staying open during the between-season break. If you've got an idea for an archive entry that you'd like us to feature in Season 2, send them in through our website, by email, or on social media. For more information, see the show notes.
This podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. The theme tune is by Vinca.
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