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

"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.

[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.

"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.))

"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.

"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.