1-bit Mechwarriors
2 April 2024
Wait a minute, it's been that long since I updated the artblog? It's not that I haven't been making art, I've actually been incredibly productive on the art front recently. Just nothing really to share with strangers on the internet. I finally did a bunch of tutorials and learned how to use Blender. Then I used that knowledge to start making my own stuff using a 3D printer. I've been giving little 3D printed things to my friends. I sketched and did a whole bunch of lettering practices, my handwriting improved dramatically. I've handwritten letters to loved ones. I even managed to make two zines (Which I will never post here because it has something to do with my professional life) that were a product of my experiments with watercolour pencils, bookbinding and zine making.
I guess this is a result of all the philosophising about the audiences and how I want to display art. I've been using everything I have gained to goof off and have fun with my friends. And it actually feels pretty rewarding. Art as a way to enrich life instead of a hustle to gain the elusive side income and boost followers.
I wasted an entire weekend playing MegaMek, an open source computer version of Battletech. I was playing against its stupid bot, which is not really a worthwhile opponent but it lets me play when I don't have other humans to play against. But MegaMek has a feature that allows you to load tiny 256x300 pixel portraits for your Mechwarriors. I hastily sketched up some black and white portraits for my unit using my mouse, spending less than 5 minutes on each.
And suddenly the game came alive, in my mind they were no longer faceless units that had to be used tactically. I could see the faces of people in the 31st century in their desperate struggle to survive the 4th Succession War. They developed backstories and became characters in their own right. Some died from lasers to the cockpit and I genuinely felt bad for them. All those 1-Bit portraits became a tiny little world of war drama that existed solely in my head. It was like when I played with toys came up with elaborate backstories and epic adventures in my head when I was a child. There is joy in just being able to create.
I kind of like this direction of art. Where it is intensely personal and small. I might share a few things here and there, but it is a side product of playing around and having fun with my skills.
This post is dedicated to Elsbeth Russel (3012-3030) who was Killed in Action while defending her homeland, the Capellan Confederation, from the marauding warmongers of the Federated Commonwealth.