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"Almost Familiar" (Annihilation)

Digital collage made in GIMP with stock images from Pexels.com. Based on a scene in the book "Annihilation", part of the "Southern Reach" triology-soon-to-be-tetralogy by Jeff Vandermeer.

I was kinda thrilled that making collages enabled me to re-create this specific scene from the book, even if this piece looks and feels just as eerie to me as reading the scene did. This was more of a quick one, but I still like it very much.

I have made a few other collages that dip into the same uncanny metamorphosis-type entities and imagery as this one that I will hopefully post soon as well.

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"Annihilation - The Bear (version 1)"

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

This is less of a 1:1 interpretation of the bear, and more of an abstract, experimental, artistic representation of it. After I made the dolphin, I remembered the bear from the movie and thought about recreating it, and was actually quite surprised (in a good way) when I managed to do so.

The pic is meant to be half-realistic, half artistic; the skull kinda looks like it was drawn over the bear, and kinda as if the skull really portrudes from the bear's head. I really enjoyed the 'shared eye' as well, it came out looking really well.

I have a second picture of the bear that I will post in the future; it looks very similar but is not completely identical. Overall, this concept was a lot of fun to try and adapt, and I learned a few new things along the way.

(Fun fact, the bear actually has a name. It's 'Homerton'.) (2nd fun fact, I am almost sure that the art for Tom Rhodes' 'Don't Fear The Reaper' cover features the same skull I used.)

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"Untitled Album/Song Cover Art #1"

Digital collage made in GIMP with a stock photo from pexels.com.

Further thoughts beneath the cut:

So I guess I accidentally designed an album/song/playlist cover. Huh. Its not a color scheme or style I would normally gravitate towards, but I like how it turned out nonetheless. Kinda retro, kinda surrealist. Also goes to show just how far one can get with a single stock photo.

Originally kinda inspired by the song cover for "Leave" by Kane Pixels, but the stockphoto didn't quite work for that and it instead turned into its own thing halfway through.

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"Annihilation" - aesthetic/moodboard (based on a mix of movie and book version)

An aesthetic/moodboard made in GIMP based on the Southern Reach books and movie by Jeff Vandermeer. Made with free stock images from pexels.com.

Further thoughts below the cut:

One of the earliest aesthetics/moodboards I made when I got back into GIMP, and before I even really got back into 'Annihilation' again, going purely off of memory to make this one. Not the best I have made imo, but still part of my art journey, so I am posting it.

Also, I kinda like simplicity, how 'ordinary' everything looks, while the book and movie themselves contain weird and uncanny imagery.

Either way, I liked making this, which is the most important thing. And it sparked my attempts to make creature collages later on, like the dolphin with the human eye.

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"Out Of Place"

Two digital collages made in GIMP with screenshots from "The Oldest View" by Kane Pixels on Youtube, which includes use of the Julien Reverchon Giant made by Kevin Obregon.

Additional thoughts below the cut:

These are the variations of the movie poster practice pics I posted earlier. This style takes a bit of inspiration from surrealist artist René Magritte actually, what with taking a human(oid) silhouette and replacing the inside of it. These also serve as mirror images to each other with how I replaced Wyatt and the Giant, in a way showing how they are both 'out of place' in different points in the story.

These were really the 'prototypes' for the movie poster(s) I then did. It was a nice challenge to try and find pictures that would not just be great mirrors for each other, but also had distinct silhouettes *and* fit into each other.

"Who's The Giant?" (The Oldest View/Who's Lila Crossover Mockup)

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Digital Collage made in GIMP with screenshots from The Oldest View by Kane Pixels and a photo of the Julien Reverchon Giant made by Kevin Obregon, in the dithering color palette and style (and using some dialogue from) the videogame "Who's Lila?" by Garage Heathen. A crossover fanart of both pieces of media, if you will. The font is Dogica Pixel.

Additional thoughts below the cut:

This happens when I make fanart for multiple pieces of media and a) I start thinking about using the artstyle of one for the other and b) there are actually some similarities that are fun to explore. Hence, this piece.

I like how both pieces of media include themes of remembering/forgetting, and about attention, though in different ways.

Fun fact I learned - first crop the image, then use the dither filter on the final piece, not the other way around. I actually have a version of this piece in a larger size, but the crop made it look pretty bad, so I uploaded a specifically-made smaller one to avoid that issue.

(Also because I am not sure how well it shows up, the little rectangle in the lower right corner is Wyatt's phone.)

(Additionally. Fun fact - I originally planned to have Wyatt be the right-side portrait but I sadly haven't been able to make that happen with the footage from the webseries.)

(3rd addition: Who’s Lila features a Daemon and apparently, Arby from the tv-series 'Utopia' as a model for an FBI agent. Stuff that Kane Pixels has also expressed interest in (Daemon by Daniel Suarez, the tv show Utopia).)