Hey y'all, Nevyn here! I wanted to talk a little about the art process that's gone into You're In Space, and what it was like for me to do it!
I'll start by saying that I've had a bit of a stressful relationship with Making Pictures for a while. I really liked doing it in highschool, but I had a lot of bad feedback and critique from peers and teachers alike that lead to me stopping- nothing I made was good enough, so why bother, right? It lead to me never being satisfied with what I put on a page as a result of constantly trying to stick to the ideals and visions of those around me, instead of just making what I wanted, so I stopped.
Fast forward like 50 billion years and I'm working on Spacefucked. I've been designing the game for a while, and Jam and I started talking about what kind of art it should have.
CW for images below: illustrated blood, body horror, gore, weapons
I'd been seeing my friend Adam Vass doing art for Cybermetal at the time, and they were doing all kinds of interesting stuff with it. Unique tools, tools used "wrong", tools I'd never heard of. Talking to Adam about that art, I learned about soda can pens and palette knives and all sorts of different ways of putting media to paper that I'd never heard or thought of.
I talked about it with Jam, and she encouraged me to take a crack at it- to just make some pens, grab some inks, and to go to town on a big sheet of paper and see what I came up with.
I had a lot of fun making it! This was just with ballpoints, felt tips, and sharpies- but look at the results! Scratchy, messed-up, weird little freaks. I wasn't sure if it was viable for a project, though, so I asked around and got really enthusiastic responses! It was really encouraging, to learn that people liked my art! People wanted to see more!
Jam was a huge fan and wanted me to make more, encouraging me to try out other tools and methods, not just for the potential use in You're In Space And Everything's Fucked, but also for me to get that practice and exposure to new methods of Making Art™!
So, of course, I did more research on the things Adam and I talked about, and got some new tools prepped. I started by making some folded pens out of soda cans and drawing some monsters, then I tried writing some text, and the more time I spent playing these these tools and learning how they worked the more fun I was having, the more expressive and intentional I was able to make things. It felt like my eyes were opening for the first time!
The text results were always varied and expressive, and using different consistencies of ink and different tools always created really unique, powerful results with a lot of impact.
The important part, though, is that I was having a blast doing this art! I got more supplies- stronger paper, palette knives, and a bunch of different kinds of pens. After a few more big pages of messy art, it was decided: I'd be doing the art for Spacefucked, and even now, over a year into the project, I'm still excited to be doing this art.
I've learned a lot doing this. I have a great time with it, every time I sit down I learn something new. I get to make a mess, I get to play with ink and tools that I've never used before and every time I step away my hands are splotched-up with ink. Every time I step away from, I feel excited to get back and make more.
I continue to improve and understand what my style is, and I continue to realize, with every piece I make, that my art just that- my art. Maybe it's a bit cliche or rote, but that's the truth of it. The art I make for this project is mine, and it's in a style I would've never developed if I'd just continued listening to all those dweebs in school.
The project, You're In Space And Everything's Fucked, launches on Kickstarter next year- you can sign up for a notification here and you can check out the very awesome demo, complete with just a taste of my artwork, here!
Thanks for reading!