Neoblon’s culture and peoples should be well thought out, but the realm will always be rich with mystery. Using the most simple of medium reminds me of how important it is to leave the canvas’ door open, welcoming the viewer to enter by their own accord, and participate in imaging of the fantastic.
Its incredibly freeing and relaxing to sit with paper and pencil after a long day of digital grinding. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys any creative endeavor. There is just something about thee ‘ol analog that allows you to so simply focus on the art. I have gone months without putting pencil to pad and those times have hurt my development, surely. Pencil is forgiving, but not so loose as a digital canvas. The real world is full of imperfection, and the imperfection is what often leads to the most interesting path of ideas, what so tempts the imagination..
Perception of imperfection is one of the core art concepts of Mecromage, the adventure platformer game I’m working on. Old school 8 bit games garner so much love and connection to people BECAUSE they are so basic, not despite. There is so much room there to fill in the gaps with your own imagination. Sure it takes a little more effort from the audience, but that individual exertion results in a more personally interesting character or concept. That’s the stuff that forges links to your audience!
With Mecromage I hope to capture a piece of this ideal by not filling in all the blanks. Leaving a lot of dark shadowy areas the player can explore through game play as well as through their imagination.
I think the most successful implementation of this cornerstone in contemporary commercial art, as I just realize writing this, would have to be the art of Guild Wars 2. There is so much going on in many of those images, but there is also so much room to piece together what you want to be going on.
Visually I think this value can be best described through Tolkien’s thoughts on allegory:
“I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history – true or feigned– with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Tread courageously forward friends, every day is an adventure, every hour a battle, every minute a coherent concert of complete chaos!
– KEYES
RaihnForge 