Protography0 - Work In Progress - Tumblr Blog

"Memories"

[sources: x / x ]

Fanart for the "Backrooms" series by Kane Pixels on Youtube, focusing on the character of Ivan Beck. Made in GIMP with free stock images from pexels.com.

(I am actually made this today and am posting it way ahead of schedule - I have multiple months of work in my backlog at this point oops. But considering we got a new video I felt its warranted.)

So I not only found - what I consider to be - perfect Ivan stock images, but also an image that reminded me of the Backrooms/Found Footage 3, and so I wanted to make some fanart with both. I initially tried to emulate the style in how Kane Pixels' song covers on YT look, which seemed fitting, but kinda ended up doing my own thing.

I really like the result - of course we do not have a lot of info about the character at this point, but there have been hints that there are themes of memory involved and that Ivan is linked closely to the Backrooms themselves. I like to think this piece managed to capture that.

"Head In the Clouds" (album/playlist cover + 2 variations)

(sources: x / x / x )

Digital collage made in GIMP with stock images from pexels and unsplash. My first attempt to make grunge-poster-style art.

It took me *far* too long figuring out how to correctly modify/use the noise filter plus a few other settings to get the 'grunge poster' type artstyle I had seen and admired online. Once I figured it out, I did a very quick test and also tested out 2 variations, which you can see here.

Not 100% the look I am going for, I want to do black-and-white artwork with colored/colorful highlights in the future, but for a first test this is pretty nice imo. Reminds me a bit about the soft grunge days on tumblr tbh.

Can't wait to properly get into grunge and maybe even xerox style art - I would really love to design posters for example.

"Polyhedron"

[source / stock image used: x ]

Glitch art made in GIMP with a free stock photo from pexels.com. Makes use of dithering.

I saw the original image and thought of the Polyhedron from "Pathologic" and the song "Polyhedrons" from Disco Elysium, hence the name of this piece.

I originally made the full-sized image back in August, but have since returned to it in my files folder multiple times and wanted to post it. Now I have gone and cropped it and want to share it online.

I love the colors in this one, it gives me vaporwave vibes and I find it really calming for some reason.

[background picture: x ]

Mixed media collage made in GIMP. Original drawing done (with pencil and paper) by me, edited and colored digitally in GIMP. Background picture from pexels.com. Based on Kane Pixels' 'splendor-posting' stories on Instagram and in his server.

2nd splendor! picture I made, this one is closer in resemblance to the picture that originally inspired me to try my hand at this.

"Have you seen this p̷̟̾ë̵̱́r̵͔̿s̴̡͛o̸̝̍n̸̛̙?"

Made with a screenshot from the game "Who's Lila?" by Garage Heathen. The glitchy text is called "Zalgo Text" and was made with an online generator. The text in the 1st pic is inspired by the "This Man" art project.

This one happened completely on accident; I had copied a crop of William's head in GIMP and it temporarily became available as a brush because of that. So I tried the brush out and ended up with this. Not very refined or fancy, but I love how eerie it looks.

It reminded me of the "This Man" art project (which turned into a meme), which kinda fits with the game, considering how Tanya dreams about Lilith etc. So I made a version that references the meme, which also fits considering the role of memes in Who's Lila, *and* used the opportunity to use some Zalgo text. (The version with the title of the game is the first one I made.)

"Incognito"

[source/stock image used: x ]

Glitch art made in GIMP with a free stock photo from pexels.com.

I discovered some cool effects I could get by combining different layer effects (partly by accident). The result is a bit like halftone, a bit like glitch art, but I achieved this with only a few layers - that's it.

I quite like how these came out, I couldn't really settle on one color scheme and just did a few ones to test out different options and combined them. The resulting piece reminds me a bit of Roy Lichtenstein and a bit of Andy Warhol for some reason.

I think especially the upper two color schemes are something I will go back to in other pieces of art; the upper right corner gives me some 80s/90s vibes that I really like. The upper left one is a color scheme I have used in a few other works that I will hopefully post in the future; I like calling it "Raspberry Lemonade".

I just found out that Flawed Peacock also releashed a new video on the game 'Immortality' in the same timespan as well. It's 10 hours long.

Getting a new game announced by Garage Heathen AND a new TOV(-related) video by Kane Pixels all within the span of like 24-36 hours is *wild* in the best way.

"untitled"

Ditherpunk/Glitch art made in GIMP.

At the point that I am preparing this post, this piece was already made a month ago, I just completely forgot about posting it. Now that I have looked more into glitch art and the likes, I finally feel like I can gauge what I even made tbh.

Just some random experiment, but I think it really looks cool. I originally planned to use this as a background for another piece but I think it looks good on its own too.

"The Pixel Giant" (pixel art)

My first pixel art! Pixel art/sprite of 'The Rolling Giant' from Kane Pixels' The Oldest View series. The original Julien Reverchon Giant was made by Kevin Obregon. I made this in Aseprite and upscaled it for better visibility.

So I really wanted to make pixel art *and* I wanted to make more fanstuff for The Oldest View, since there doesn't seem to be a lot of fanart etc. online. From this I got the - frankly - bonkers idea to make a pixel sprite of The Rolling Giant from TOV.

I didn't think my attempt would amount to much tbh, considering this is not exactly what I would call a 'beginner friendly' entity to recreate. But somehow, it turned out very well imo. I guess because there are some creative liberties that can be taken, but also because I might actually be able to do stuff I didn't even think was possible.

Of course, I could still improve bits and pieces, but for a first try I think this is...actually great. I am quite proud of myself, not just for making this, but for even trying in the first place.

(Making this has also reminded me that making art is great for the self-confidence it can bring, the joy of creating things, but also for the inherent feeling of community and 'silent communication' - so many things intersected that lead me to make this, and I am grateful for all the people and the art that has touched my life as I look at this little sprite. Even if some of them may never know I exist.)

(Also, this is likely only funny to me, but the creator of TOV goes by Kane Pixels and people make pixel art of TOV)

"Who's Lila? - Tanya Kennedy" aesthetic/moodboard

[sources: x / x / x / x / x ]

Aesthethic/Moodboard made with GIMP using stock images from unsplash for the character "Tanya Kennedy" of the videogame "Who's Lila?" by Garage Heathen. Both the game and this piece of art make use of 'dithering'.

Additional thoughts beneath the cut:

This moodboard was both easy and difficult to make; easy because I managed to choose a set of pictures that immediately seemed to 'fit' for me and that I ended up using. Difficult, because we find out a lot about Tanya's inner life in the story of 'Who's Lila?', and she has connections with so many characters - so narrowing down what to put in this moodboard seemed a bit daunting before I started.

I think in the end, I managed to convey a couple things about her but haven't dipped too much into spoiler territory - I feel the relationship with William is hinted at in the pic with the cigarette (which has her face hidden, which I think also fits well in regards to her character), her phone hints at the connections with various people etc.

Maybe I'll make a part II one day, or a moodboard that focuses more on specific parts of Tanya's story. For now though, I think this turned out quite well.

"Annihilation - The Deer"

[sources: x / x ]

Digital collage made in GIMP. Inspired by the deer-creature(s) from the movie adaptation of "Annihilation" by Jeff Vandermeer. Made with stock images from pexels.com.

I originally didn't plan on posting this separately and only using it in a 'Annihilation' moodboard/aesthetic (that I haven't posted yet), but then looked through my files and decided to clean it up a bit and actually give it its own post.

Again, this is partly meant to look artistic, part realistic - the branches are from a stock photo but edited so they look almost hand-drawn, and almost as if they are sprouting from the deer's head. The branches make the deer look very alien but regal, just like the ones from the movie did.

Still not quite sure what to make with the text(s) on these pieces however. I'm not sure topography and choosing fonts is gonna be one of my strengths. But the pic looked a bit unfinished without some text imo.

"Ladybug" (pixel art)

Made in Aseprite. 2nd ever pixel art project/sprite, made on the first day trying out Aseprite for pixel art.

(A big thank you to pixel artists like @tofupixel, @pixelartjourney and all the others who post tutorials, share their knowledge, and encourage people to try their hand at this artstyle. I wouldn't have even tried this if it weren't for you and people like you!)

(Originally written 08/24/24) HOLY SHIT I AM DOING PIXEL ART LET'S GOO-

Ahem. Sorry for the outburst. But like. At the point I am at rn, first preparing this post, I made this piece literal minutes ago, and it is my *first day* attempting to do pixelart and like...I love this piece. So much. I haven't felt this giddy in a while, which is saying something, considering how happy making art has made me feel those last few weeks.

After I made my first project (a little sprite, which I will also post soon), I wanted to try other stuff in Aseprite, preferably stuff I might be able to make into patterns for example. I thought about veggies and fruits first, then thought of a ladybug. Considering they are meant to bring luck and I love those little critters, it was a perfect choice.

There's still room for improvement, obviously - my first attempts at lighting anything but what I did in this version wasn't...great. But considering I spent about 2-3 hours on this and this was my second ever project/first day of doing this, I'd say this is a huge win.

I might continue to tinker around with this, we'll see. But I am already so happy with this version I wanted to share it.

Also, for anyone reading this (in which case - thank you for letting me ramble lol) - I used references and am not very fluent in Aseprite yet, and still I was able to do this. I do not think it is some kind of inherent 'talent', just determination and willingness to try a hundred different things until one is satisfied with the result. As well as the joy of creating stuff.

If I can do it, you can do it too, is what I am saying. I never would have thought I'd be able to make something like this and yet I did. And I think others can too.

"Ladybug" (pixel art)

Made in Aseprite. 2nd ever pixel art project/sprite, made on the first day trying out Aseprite for pixel art.

(A big thank you to pixel artists like @tofupixel, @pixelartjourney and all the others who post tutorials, share their knowledge, and encourage people to try their hand at this artstyle. I wouldn't have even tried this if it weren't for you and people like you!)

(Originally written 08/24/24) HOLY SHIT I AM DOING PIXEL ART LET'S GOO-

Ahem. Sorry for the outburst. But like. At the point I am at rn, first preparing this post, I made this piece literal minutes ago, and it is my *first day* attempting to do pixelart and like...I love this piece. So much. I haven't felt this giddy in a while, which is saying something, considering how happy making art has made me feel those last few weeks.

After I made my first project (a little sprite, which I will also post soon), I wanted to try other stuff in Aseprite, preferably stuff I might be able to make into patterns for example. I thought about veggies and fruits first, then thought of a ladybug. Considering they are meant to bring luck and I love those little critters, it was a perfect choice.

There's still room for improvement, obviously - my first attempts at lighting anything but what I did in this version wasn't...great. But considering I spent about 2-3 hours on this and this was my second ever project/first day of doing this, I'd say this is a huge win.

I might continue to tinker around with this, we'll see. But I am already so happy with this version I wanted to share it.

Also, for anyone reading this (in which case - thank you for letting me ramble lol) - I used references and am not very fluent in Aseprite yet, and still I was able to do this. I do not think it is some kind of inherent 'talent', just determination and willingness to try a hundred different things until one is satisfied with the result. As well as the joy of creating stuff.

If I can do it, you can do it too, is what I am saying. I never would have thought I'd be able to make something like this and yet I did. And I think others can too.

[sources: x ]

Patterns (as PNGs) of The Rolling Giant from Kane Pixels' "The Oldest View" on Youtube, made with screenshots in GIMP. The Julien Reverchon Giant was originally made by Kevin Obregon.

This is from my phase of finding out how to make patterns and becoming a little bit obsessed with making them. The intention was to make some stuff that fans could potentially use for a fanpage or blogs, for example as backgrounds. I got a bit lost in the various filters and options in GIMP as well lol.

[sources: x ]

Patterns (as PNGs) of The Rolling Giant from Kane Pixels' "The Oldest View" on Youtube, made with screenshots in GIMP. The Julien Reverchon Giant was originally made by Kevin Obregon.

This is from my phase of finding out how to make patterns and becoming a little bit obsessed with making them. The intention was to make some stuff that fans could potentially use for a fanpage or blogs, for example as backgrounds. I got a bit lost in the various filters and options in GIMP as well lol.

"Who's Lila? - Michael 'Mike' Graves" aesthetic/moodboard

[sources: x / x / x / x / x ]

Aesthethic/Moodboard made with GIMP using stock images from unsplash for the character "Michael Graves" of the videogame "Who's Lila?" by Garage Heathen. Both the game and this piece of art make use of 'dithering'.

Additional thoughts beneath the cut:

Sadly, most interactions with Mike in the game are rather confrontational and the player doesn't find out a lot about the character, but I wanted to put what little bits the story tells us about Mike into a moodboard - the loss of his little brother Malcolm and the subsequent grief, his (complicated) relationship with Tanya, the myriad of feelings he is dealing with due to the events of the story.

I quite like how this turned out. I also noticed I am getting faster at figuring out how to choose images, arrange them, dither them in a way I like etc. And I also enjoy trying to follow the format I set for this particular set of moodboards. Dithering is really fun and I have started to try out different things with that artstyle in the last few weeks.

"Who's Lila? - Michael 'Mike' Graves" aesthetic/moodboard

[sources: x / x / x / x / x ]

Aesthethic/Moodboard made with GIMP using stock images from unsplash for the character "Michael Graves" of the videogame "Who's Lila?" by Garage Heathen. Both the game and this piece of art make use of 'dithering'.

Additional thoughts beneath the cut:

Sadly, most interactions with Mike in the game are rather confrontational and the player doesn't find out a lot about the character, but I wanted to put what little bits the story tells us about Mike into a moodboard - the loss of his little brother Malcolm and the subsequent grief, his (complicated) relationship with Tanya, the myriad of feelings he is dealing with due to the events of the story.

I quite like how this turned out. I also noticed I am getting faster at figuring out how to choose images, arrange them, dither them in a way I like etc. And I also enjoy trying to follow the format I set for this particular set of moodboards. Dithering is really fun and I have started to try out different things with that artstyle in the last few weeks.

"Basilisk 2000" (Aesthetic/Moodboard)

[sources: x / x / x / x / x / x x ]

Aesthetic/moodboard for the horror game 'Basilisk 2000' made by Akuma Kira @stylishkira, made in GIMP and Aseprite with stock images from pexels.com and wikimedia commons (CC BY 4.0). The pictures have been edited via color indexing.

(I recommend opening the aesthetic/moodboard in a separate tab for the best viewing experience, tumblr really compressed esp the top right picture.)

Good thing the video by Sagan Hawkes about this game taught me that 'perfection is the enemy of finished', or I would have struggled to finish this piece. Which is kinda fitting.

I found and followed a tutorial by tofupixels about color indexing with palettes in Aseprite and found out that this isn't just great for making pseudo-pixel-art backgrounds, but also for emulating the low poly graphics of the 2000s web and video game graphics. Which in turn made me remember this little game and inspired me to try and make a moodboard for it in a matching art style.

I (re)listened to the video by Sagan Hawkes about the game while making the moodboard. Making this was fun and a bit frustrating at times. But I also learned a lot, which is always great (and a good antidote to perfectionism, since learning new things is always an improvement imo).

I might post some of the graphics I used (or didn't use) for this piece separately, since I like how they came out so much.

[background picture: x ]

Mixed media collage with an original drawing made by me that I then edited and colored in GIMP, and combined with a picture from pexels.com for the background. Based on whatever the heck Kane Pixels may or may not be teasing in his instagram stories and on his server connected to sun imagery and the phrase "splendor"/"splendid".

Further thoughts below the cut:

This was *awesome* to make; I haven't done traditional drawing in a long while and while I had to edit and combine multiple drawings in GIMP, it was great to see that I could make something like this myself completely from the ground up. I honestly wasn't sure I could and seeing that I indeed can do this is a huge boost for my self-confidence.

Coloring isn't something I am very good at tbh, but this gives this piece a sort of uncanny look that I actually think fits it quite well. Kinda gives it tarot-card vibes a bit.

To give a bit of background on the inspiration for the pic, Kane Pixels has had a few instagram stories and posts in his server that include similar motifs; a smiling sun and the phrase 'splendid'/'splendor'. Personally I think it might maybe be connected to the "Splendor Solis", but it could also just as likely be trolling on his part. We'll see.

No matter whether this ends up being *anything* on his part, it was fun to try and recreate the general idea and feel of the posts and just run with it, and to prove to myself that I could make something like this in the first place.

I have a different picture with a stock photo background as well as a picture with just the sun-mask-figure, which I will hopefully also post in the future.

[background picture: x ]

Mixed media collage with an original drawing made by me that I then edited and colored in GIMP, and combined with a picture from pexels.com for the background. Based on whatever the heck Kane Pixels may or may not be teasing in his instagram stories and on his server connected to sun imagery and the phrase "splendor"/"splendid".

Further thoughts below the cut:

This was *awesome* to make; I haven't done traditional drawing in a long while and while I had to edit and combine multiple drawings in GIMP, it was great to see that I could make something like this myself completely from the ground up. I honestly wasn't sure I could and seeing that I indeed can do this is a huge boost for my self-confidence.

Coloring isn't something I am very good at tbh, but this gives this piece a sort of uncanny look that I actually think fits it quite well. Kinda gives it tarot-card vibes a bit.

To give a bit of background on the inspiration for the pic, Kane Pixels has had a few instagram stories and posts in his server that include similar motifs; a smiling sun and the phrase 'splendid'/'splendor'. Personally I think it might maybe be connected to the "Splendor Solis", but it could also just as likely be trolling on his part. We'll see.

No matter whether this ends up being *anything* on his part, it was fun to try and recreate the general idea and feel of the posts and just run with it, and to prove to myself that I could make something like this in the first place.

I have a different picture with a stock photo background as well as a picture with just the sun-mask-figure, which I will hopefully also post in the future.

"Mind Your Head" (Digital Collage)

[add sources! sources: x / x ]

Two variations of a digital collage made in GIMP with stock images from pexels.com.

An original piece, believe it or not. I mostly just wanted to cut out the 'doorframe' and then played around with what I could put into the resulting space. I actually planned to put a person in there, but looked at the picture I ended up using and it just fit so well.

I really like the contrast between the dark blue and the red, though the visibility in the 2nd variation makes the uncanniness of the 'doorway' stand out more in some ways.

While this piece is not consciously inspired by anything, it reminds me of SCP: Overlord, the Backrooms, and House of Leaves.

"Wheeliam #2" (Who's Lila)

[sources: x / x Sycamore trees, Arkholme by Ian Taylor]

Digitial collage made in GIMP using its dithering option, with stock images from pexels.com and wikimedia commons (license). Depiction of the character 'Wheeliam' from the videogame 'Who's Lila?' by Garage Heathen.

Further thoughts below the cut:

This, like the first Wheeliam piece I posted, was a result of me getting hit with inspiration big time. For this one, I made the wheel from scratch and then used the perspective tool in GIMP to get the final shape. I also wanted to try and 'hide' the wheel-head behind the coat a bit, as if Wheeliam is looking around the Sycamore forest.

I really like how this came out, especially since multiple parts of this piece were a bit more challenging for me, like the wheel, finding a good background, getting the different parts to work together etc.

(Also, fun fact: The working title for this piece was 'biblically accurate Wheeliam'.)

((Tiny rant: Again, it is super frustrating that when I try to upload dithered pics, tumblr will desaturate them and also crop them (or over-size them) in unexpected ways, meaning I had to go back a dozen times to try and crop/saturate/etc. this piece until it looked good. And yet I still like the original much more. Stuff like this can really dampen the enjoyment of making art imo.))

"Wheeliam #2" (Who's Lila)

[sources: x / x Sycamore trees, Arkholme by Ian Taylor]

Digitial collage made in GIMP using its dithering option, with stock images from pexels.com and wikimedia commons (license). Depiction of the character 'Wheeliam' from the videogame 'Who's Lila?' by Garage Heathen.

Further thoughts below the cut:

This, like the first Wheeliam piece I posted, was a result of me getting hit with inspiration big time. For this one, I made the wheel from scratch and then used the perspective tool in GIMP to get the final shape. I also wanted to try and 'hide' the wheel-head behind the coat a bit, as if Wheeliam is looking around the Sycamore forest.

I really like how this came out, especially since multiple parts of this piece were a bit more challenging for me, like the wheel, finding a good background, getting the different parts to work together etc.

(Also, fun fact: The working title for this piece was 'biblically accurate Wheeliam'.)

((Tiny rant: Again, it is super frustrating that when I try to upload dithered pics, tumblr will desaturate them and also crop them (or over-size them) in unexpected ways, meaning I had to go back a dozen times to try and crop/saturate/etc. this piece until it looked good. And yet I still like the original much more. Stuff like this can really dampen the enjoyment of making art imo.))

"Found Footage 3"

Fanart/concept made in GIMP for "Found Footage 3", the newest installment of the Backrooms series by Kane Pixels. The outline of the house was made with a screenshot reference from the video.

Thoughts beneath the cut; I will try to avoid obvious spoilers:

This is an art style I am currently experimenting with, though my current art backlog is long enough that I would have posted the first of the pictures in that art style in a week or two earliest. But then FF3 came out and I got the urge to make fanart for one particular scene, or at least make a concept of what I had in mind.

Yes, this is the house from the preview image. Those who have seen the video likely know which part of FF3 this picture is referencing. It was eerie, it was tragic, and I have so. many. questions.

Very simple fanart/concept that I made in a rush because I wanted to put the idea down and because the next few days are going to be rather busy for me, but I like it for how I managed to get the vibes and the general idea across imo.