"Proceed To Exit (TOV Edition)"

"Proceed To Exit (TOV edition)"

Pictogram/exit sign fanart for "The Oldest View" by Kane Pixels. Made in GIMP.

I was planning a piece of fanart that incorporated an exit sign and then looked those up and realised that - from what I found - there doesn't seem to be some kind of norm for exit signs. Like the figures etc all seem to have different proportions.

Then came the idea to make my own pictogram for the piece I had planned, and then things kinda escalatated from there lol. I imagined what different exit signs for different pieces of media may look like - realised that there *is* media where exit signs even make sense - and well. Was overcome by creative frenzy and made this in less than an hour, returned to it later in the day and further refined it for another 30-40 mins. So, less than 2 hours in total.

I love this. This opens up a couple further possibilities in making art and collages especially (I could use this as part of a grunge poster for example), but also to make fanart of other pieces of media with its own pictograms.

Also, like with pixelart, it is a cool exercise to break things down to their basic shapes and characteristics while keeping it all recognizable, and working in a liminited format is always a fun challenge.

(Please do not look too closely at the perspective of those stairs btw. Instead of going and seriously considering perspective and all that, I just went 'ah, it's a concept, I'll just wing it' XD)

In case anyone is interested in the original version/concept:

"Silent Treatment" (Album/Playlist Cover)

[source: x ]

Album cover/playlist cover made in GIMP with a stock image from pexels.com.

I actually set out to create a pseudo-heatmap type effect but got sidetracked - oops! I really like the 90s/00s neon aesthetic of this piece and just went with it. It turned out pretty well.

Fun fact, I did this in only a few steps/with a few layers, the same of which I have used in other art I posted. It's a super simple process in theory but a bit fiddly in the execution - lots of fine tuning. But the results are really, really neat so far.

"Henry Stein" (aesthetic/moodboard)

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

Aesthetic/moodboard made in GIMP with free stock images from pexels.com. Based on the character of Henry Stein from 'Bendy and the Ink Machine'.

This one has been sitting in my files for a few weeks months at this point, completely forgot to post it - when I first got back into GIMP and then started making moodboards, I wanted to test out different styles. BATIM and the Bendy series as a whole has a very distinct, black-and-yellow, hand-drawn kind of style that was a bit more challenging to recreate, but a fun exercise nontheless.

Finding the right pics for this was also a bit of a challenge - I had planned to make the upper right pic one of a hand with a wedding band for example, but didn't find a good picture at the time. Still, I think this turned out well and making this taught me a lot.

"The Biologist"

[sources: x / x / x ]

Digital collage made in GIMP. Inspired by The Biologist from "Annihilation" by Jeff Vandermeer. Made with stock images from pexels.com.

"Who's Lila? - Martha Jennings" aesthetic/moodboard

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

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

This one took me longer to make than the other ones; only when I accidentally found the 'love' decoration did I get to finish it tbh. I am glad I managed to find enough pictures to do so.

I didn't want it to solely focus on the (possible) fate of Martha, but like with Mike, I wanted to try and include what little we learn about her; 'fast food for breakfast' and all that. The picture of her opening her eyes wide is more about the confrontation on the roof for example.

One of the more difficult aesthetics I have made, but I like interacting with the game and its characters in this way, it makes me more aware of some of their characteristics and quirks.

"Wheeliam #2 - Variation (Front Facing)"

[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:

A variation of a collage I posted earlier, this one has Wheeliam directly face the viewer of the picture instead of solemnly looking towards the Sycamore trees. Made just because I wanted to see what this variation would look like.