Indie Rock: BECOME A GREAT ARTIST IN JUST 10 SECONDS

Taking screenshots this week was more difficult than usual. Normally I just try to capture something that’s indicative of the experience and specific to what I’m talking about. This time, because the game’s a purely creative endeavor, I wanted to pick a few pictures that were similar enough you could determine that I was the artist, but not too similar that it’s just one instance of the same kind of thing over and over again. I was concerned that I was going to appear as if I’m only capable of one aesthetic and people are going to think I’m a hack.

At that point, I realised what actual artists feel like.

BECOME A GREAT ARTIST IN JUST 10 SECONDS sounds like it’s a how-to guide, but it’s actually more of a call-to-arms. It’s not telling you that you can make great art and that it isn’t going to take long to learn, it’s reprimanding you for not creating good enough art in the generous time limit that you’ve been given. Is ten seconds not enough for you, Rembrandt?

Your keyboard is now able to contort an image. Every button does something different to the picture you begin with on-screen. Don’t bother trying to memorise what does what and why. Control that shit all free-form. Your fingers are more important than your head. Let them dance around as they will.

If you’re interested in playing BECOME A GREAT ARTIST IN JUST 10 SECONDS with a sense of structure there’s a mode which has you attempt to copy art using the system. In Practice Mode you have as long as you need to contort your own image to as-similar as you can get to a different one. The challenge then becomes getting your piece as close as possible to the other image in a sixth of a minute.

But really, just play it free-form. Put a pair of headphones on and just kinda vibe with the chill rhythms the game throws at you and make that bit of art you’ve always wanted to make but couldn’t until now. BECOME A GREAT ARTIST IN JUST 10 SECONDS unlocks a part of you that perhaps you didn’t realise was there, or maybe you always did, despite what those naysayers at the academy said about you behind your back.

My favourite thing is that some of the keys don’t affect the image, they just make sounds like they’re attached to a Speak N Spell. And yet they still add to the art you’re creating. At this moment, as the image contorts from the middle like a whirlpool, random globs of text appear on screen and are highlighted red, you’re intended to hear a soft voice run down a list of arabic numbers starting from 6. This is my vision and I won’t have it tainted by your amateur criticism.

Play the video game and show me your arts, friends. Perhaps next week I will curate them and provide rankings out of 10.