"Memories"

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

[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.