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

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

[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.

"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.