Prange
Resources used: Sepia palette (used as a foundation for making the palette used for this painting), Rosy256 colormap, Bauhaus, Killing Time, Lost Civilization, Zekhmet project resources, Plerbtex, PyddTex [textures by ContrastSaturation, enigma101, thestupidmeddy, The Royal We, Spacehunyango]
Wad file: DOWNLOAD
I tried to make a new painting two days ago with the same palette I used for the previous one, but inspiration had run dry. Instead I decided to finish my playthrough of Petyan's Sepia, and as I did I got inspired again. I also remembered the cover of a single from 1972 by a very obscure French rock band called Quo Vadis [the single in question is La Baraka] which has this interesting yellow-red palette with some blue accents, and I decided to emulate it by modifying Sepia's palette. Rosy256's default colormap came in really handy as the colormap Slade was making wasn't usable.
Besides the palette, most of the aesthetic weight here is lifted by Bauhaus and Zekhmet resources, with some help from a few other sources. Bauhaus+Zekhmet is for sure one of my favorite texture combos.
The weird shapes in the foreground are vaguely inspired by the works of various artists I like, mainly folks who're active in the Yume Nikki fangame scene.
As a bonus, here's the unfinished painting I worked on before this one, and some snapshots of this painting's development:
-18. May 2025.
Prange was a continuation of something that started after I first played Sepia, which was an appreciation of and inspiration by vintage photography. I still have a love for old-timey photography and film, as evidenced by my recent painting, "Under a Shooting Star". If you'd like to look at some interesting photos or movies from the early years of the 20th century, check out the works of Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky [early color photography] and Georges Méliès [famous filmaker, made Trip to the Moon]
Images from the description are Imgur links, but that should not be cause for concern for my dear British audience: I plan on releasing a zip file containing not only these but many more in-dev snapshots of my works!
Miris Ljeta
Resources used: Cubes Deep [Zekhmet textures, Magnolia textures, Gothictx, COMTEX, Hardfest 2], Lost Civilization
Wad file: DOWNLOAD
I got inspired by a really cool artist and decided to make this piece. Ideas I started out with were experimentation with the vanilla palette and a somewhat more tropical/Mediterranean vibe. I decided to make use of a previous wad's resources instead of always compiling stuff from scratch so I decided to use Cubes Deep's textures for the most part, with some additions from Jaska's Lost Civilization.
I quite like what I did with this one, there's a certain joy in exploring the capabilities of the stock PLAYPAL.
-21. May 2025.
Talisman by the French band AIR is playing as I look at this picture again, and I gotta say it's a great companion to it! Can't miss out on an opportunity to plug AIR either, I fucking love their music.
I still really enjoy the art made by the person whose Bluesky profile I linked above - rataratata, also known as Fumin. His art is excellent and he has also made some brilliant contribution to the Yume Nikki fangame scene! He developed a game called Quilt alongside three other awesome artists, and he also contributed to Collective Unconscious, which is a fangame designed to be played online, though for the time being it isn't playable that way. Instead, there's an offline build available.
Elderflower Season
Resources used: Lost Civilization, Sepia, pyydtex [sky texture by gwain]
Wad file: DOWNLOAD [bonus; older version: DOWNLOAD]
Sepia is definitely one of my all time favorite wads. Yesterday I was inspired to read about old-time photography techniques because of it lol, which led me to learn about a technique called cyanotype, which inspired me to create this painting. I didn't aim to emulate the appearance of cyanotype photographs exactly, I simplt hue-shifted Sepia's palette until I got a color that looked close enough.
For the theme of the painting itself, I was inspired by the elder trees that are currently blooming around my neighborhood. When they bloom, we collect the elderflowers and use them to make cordial, which is a kind of homemade soft drink. I also wanted to explore a more old-timey setting, with some more abstract elements for contrast.
-23. May 2025.
We made plenty of elderflower cordial last spring, which is wonderful as I love that drink, and the fact we can only make it during a fairly brief time window each spring makes it a special occasion.
Onto the painting. I like that I used the same sky texture as I did in Riverside, the second Doom painting I made. It gives this painting an interesting connection with one of its ancestors so to say. It's this feeling of being connected with the past and with ancestors that perhaps contributed to my interest in vintage photography and film. I'm often reminded of the time I'd spend looking at old family photos as a kid whenever I talk about vintage photography.
Вечерњи састанак
Resources used: COMTEX, OTEX, Biolage texture pack, Bauhaus, Mek's Box 'o Skies
Wad file: DOWNLOAD
Someday back in February 2024 I believe, I happened to remember an idea for a setting that I had back in 2022, which at that point I had only illustrated with a crudes MS Paint sketch:
The idea had quite a bit more going on that the sketch implies. One key feature it doesn't show is that the black desert can have an irridescent appearance, and I imagined that cities made in it would be made out of black marble with bright, iridescent inlay.
Anyways, on that day that I had remembered this idea, I also happened to see iridescent clouds in the sky, which I took as a sign and decided to try and realize that idea at last - using Doom mapping.
That decision launched me into a journey of trial, error, and scrapping a lot of stuff (check out the FOXFILES for those), and eventually, after my partner had noted how hopelessly caught up I got in trying to make a perfect palette that I was going nowhere, I entered a creative crisis that led me to say "fuck it" and start making these paintings instead.
And now we return to the present. I remembered the palette I used for one of my previous paintings, Finitude Engine (which was another attempt at adapting this idea) and decided to give this thing another go. I moved pretty fast, compiling the resources without thinking too hard about them, mapped without thinking too hard about it and once I had the screenshot open in Aseprite, I knew that it was finally time to declare this idea realized!
It turned out in some ways quite different to how I had originally envisioned it, but I'm fine with that. I have changed as a person since 2022 and so have my tastes.
I'm incredibly happy to give this random idea a home, and to aslo take my paintings full circle in a way.
Anyways, the big red creature is called Žoao Švprć, and the green figure embracing him is called Milorad. They are engaging in what many know as yaoi.
-24 May 2025.
The title translates to "Evening Rendezvous". The description is already quite in-depth, so I've got little to add. I did take a picture of the iridescent clouds that day, and the date was saved, which was the 2nd of February 2024, pic taken at 10:30 AM. What a blessed day!
Jazmi
Resources used: Eviternity 2 palette and colormap by Dragonfly and Ukiro, Zekhmet project, SKY1 (not seen in the final painting) from Vanilla1.wad from the Cacofiles - original photograph by Nathan Lee Allen
Wad file: DOWNLOAD
Been playing through Eviternity 2 these past few days and got really inspired by its colors, so I decided to make something with them. I didn't use its base palette however, but instead translated the blue range and loosely imitated the lime range by hue shifting Doom's stock green range. Also fleshed out the pinks a tiny bit. Used the colormap for correcting the blues and greens.
At first I had a rough idea of replicating the look of Chefchaouen, but I wasn't feeling the idea after a while, and was left with this:After some thinking, I remembered a dream I had last night, which was also related to Eviternity 2. Namely, last night I started playing Anteres031's Temeraire, and wasn't able to complete it before bedtime. So instead, my dreams tried to complete it for me, and at one point the local changed from a snowy seaport to a weird void that looked kinda like the sky in the final painting.
I used that weird dream place as a starting point for the new idea which became this painting. I made the new sky to imitate the dream visuals and used the existing Zekhmet texture edits I had made. I doodled around in UDB for a while and when I was somewhat satisfied I went on to Aseprite and doodled there, and eventually ended up with the funky looking snake and weird shapes accompanying it.
-28. May 2025.
Something that struck me while compiling these is how crowded the second half of May was! All the paintings above were made in a timeframe of just 10 days! I found the fact that Elderflower Season and Вечерњи састанак were uploaded just a day apart by far the most remarkable.
I've yet to actually finish Eviternity 2 in its entirety. I reached the final episode but then I felt tired of playing it so I moved onto other stuff. It definitely looked cool, maybe one day I'll feel in the mood to play through it.
Okay let's talk about this painting now. It's quite funky and interesting, and I like how one of the shapes surrounding the snake is party covered by it, creating a cat-like silhouette. The title is the Serbian word for snake, zmija, with its syllables swapped. That's a kind of argot common in my language, it's called Šatrovački. The overall visuals feel representative of a vibe that's present in a lot of my art from the first half of last year. Funky, colorful and flashy. I recall being filled with a burning enthusiasm at that time. I was living the dream in a way, several people loved my art, I loved my art and delighted in it, and it was all quite the high I must say. Perhaps this explains the rapid-fire releases of this period - I was in a rush, I wanted to make as much art and cool stuff as possible. I was riding the high. I was cruising down the highway in a shiny new car (funny analogy as I've never actually driven a car) and unbeknownst to me, a wall was waiting up ahead. But I hadn't reached it yet. From where I was, life was good, and for a few more paintings, it would be.
Feenstraße
Resources used: Custom palette made by Plerb [combination of Rosy256 and DreamPal + a custom colormap made by me], car sprites by OceanMadman, zimp sprite by faegameboy, sky from Epic2, Bauhaus, KillingTime tree sprites, COMTEX, Mortiser resources, Lost Civilization
Wad file: DOWNLOAD
So two days ago Plerb showed me a palette she had made by combining Rosy256 and DreamPal, and mentioned it could be fun if I used it for something. I agreed and started cooking. First thing I did was make a new colormap, and then I started thinking about what to make. In the meantime, @OceanMadman and @faegameboy posted some really cool sprites in the Share Your Sprites thread, and I felt inspired to use them in some way. Eventually an idea finalized and went to work. Eventually I ended up with this neat little suburban scene, which feels like a setting I haven't really explored that much. Overall, really enjoyed making this and I hope you'll enjoy looking at it!
-1. June 2025.
I wasn't kidding, this was a really fun one! There's certainly a sense of whimsy here I enjoy to this day. While I had dipped my toes into playing with color blending settings while making Jazmi and Шућмуриш, here I had found ways to integrate them into the scene rather that having them just for visual flair - I made circles of light that emanate from the streetlights! Before I forget, the title means "Fairy street" in German.
This painting can be seen as a bit of a showcase of the interesting stuff one can find on the "post your sprites" thread on Doomworld. Lots of neat stuff in there.
Зонрако
Resources used: Bajo-Kazooie textures (compiled by @raddicted), Rosy256, sky from Bauhaus, Pexels [Handmade Carpet on White Wall by Zülfü Demir📸]
Wad file: DOWNLOAD
I was hanging out with some good friends of mine, and I had jokingly said that my next painting was gonna be Yuri. And by golly it was! Also took the opportunity to try all the BK textures raddicted had compiled for use in The Meadow at Dusk, which I really like, especially when paired with rosy 256.
The sky from Bauhaus did a lot of heavy lifting here, and as a result I didn't feel like adding lots of detail in terms of map geometry was necessary, and even felt a bit detrimental.
In a way this focused my creative energy more towards drawing the girls here [Orange dress girl's name is Eden Žužs7; Kilim pattern creature girl is called Ljeposava 1.12.5]. I really like how they turned out, and drawing them was quite playful and fun.
-4. June 2025.
Something was waking up in me, or perhaps re-awaking. For a long time, I've certainly enjoyed lesbian couples in media more than the straight ones, and I felt drawn towards a kind of personal presentation and aesthetic generally considered "feminine". However, I never felt like describing myself as a trans woman. In the end, being nonbinary just seems to fit better. There's something I saw in the design for Eden that would turn into a prominent aspect of my art to come.
Focx
Resources used: Hacx, Bauhaus, Lost Civilization, tree sprites from Killing Time, COMTEX.
Wad file: DOWNLOAD
Recently played Hacx, and while my gameplay experience was a mixed bag, I absolutely loved the visual direction and I've been wanting to make something with it's textures and sprites since. A few days ago I also ended up trying to make a palette inspired by a Yume 2kki world called Foliage Estate, which would eventually turn into a modified version of the palette I used for Finitude Engine and Вечерњи састанак. I compiled the resources and made this painting today! It was mostly doodling, didn't have much of an idea what I was gonna make. I also ended up trying out a 4:3 aspect ratio, which I think looks pretty neat, and I might stick with it from now on. I think my favorite detail is the sky, which is actually just a modification of SKY1 from Doom2.
Additional credits to Plerb, who came up with the Focx title.
-18. June 2025.
Focx was a threshold. I switched to making all my art in a 4:3 aspect ratio, and three days after posting it I'd get my account suspended for a month over shitposting with an alt account. I'm not mad at whoever suspended me anymore, but at the time I sure was. Hurt as well, but also mad. I was already dealing with complicated feelings before it happened, and I was also in a social circle where animosity towards Doomworld was common, and all of that made for a rather potent and poisonous cocktail. It was a mess of emotions really, and that mess would be something that would be a hallmark of the latter half of 2025. I could write a book if I tried to really delve into every facet of my feelings over the course of that period, and a lot of it would be things too private for me to share publicly. In the end however, I emerged out of it. And as I slowly pick up and mend all the pieces of myself, I feel in me a stronger ability to love and show grace to other people, regardless of who they are, and to myself as well.
Focx will always have a melancholy vibe because of this. It's like an end of an era. But it would also give way to a whole new chapter in the story of my art.
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