Walking the Experimental, Creative Path
Episode 12 - What's next? Retro-Art Aesthetics and How to experiment with creativity
Greetings,
Hope you’ve been watching the fire. Sometimes it tends to burn in odd directions.
To Set the Mood
An update: I am well. Actually, I am starting to realise some of the things I’ve been reading and learning about in all the years I’ve been walking the spiritual path, which now number over 10 but, frankly, you reach a point where you start to realise that counting time or trying to fence a path is pointless.
It has no beginning and, if everything else I’ve read is to be believed, it has no end either.
Is the Spiritual Struggle worth it?
Yes.
The Path is no joke, though. It is extremely difficult - probably the most difficult thing you can do. As I’ve stated before, there is a price to pay and the price is the illusions you’ve been holding tight about who you are and what the world/reality is. The problem is, of course, that these illusions are thick and heavy and so deeply embedded inside our psyche that cutting them out requires nothing less than self-surgery. The only anaesthetic you can find in this procedure will vary.
For me, it’s been reading books by others who have walked the path before me. Alongside this, art, imagination, music and creativity have always been core pillars of my life.
Things are becoming more clear and interesting. A practical benefit, since we’re all about practicality these days, is a re-contextualisation of Life itself. You may begin to discover with a certain amount of Awe, that the simple fact that something exists is nothing short than miraculous.
It is ideas, stories and beliefs that seem to cloud this realisation. Ideas produce abstractions that stretch into the past and future, both of which are illusions. But illusions, despite it all, dictate our state of being.
Pixel Art and Imagination
Recently I’ve been fascinated with retro-aesthetics. This is a recent revival, especially in the videogame world, where new work is being produced using a re-interpretation of old visuals. Back in the day, hardware was limitation, and so visually you could only do so much. Here’s a little example of how things evolved:
This evolution is natural. Movies don’t look like they used to, either. But in terms of artistic expression, one could argue that the first example from ‘98 has its own merit. Because it’s a small amount of pixels on a screen, your mind has to fill in the gaps and make it real. That kind of implicit, unconscious work, is what takes appreciation to another level.
I’m constantly looking for new ways to innovate when it comes to art, and some new ideas have to do with using this retro-style to make some interesting visuals. I had already started to experiment with this last year, when I began taking some old models and sticking them together like collage, using the framework of one of my favourite game-worlds of all time: Warcraft.
Below are some examples of this work. These were done using a level editor in the game, plus extracting models and working them on Photoshop, then adding them to the scene.
These were all very experimental but were a lot of fun to make. As you notice, the quality/detail of the characters (models) is very low, but that also gives them their own, unique charm. More interesting stuff can come out of this.
Lastly, observe this:
Perhaps some of you may be familiar with old classic. This a glimpse of ‘Heroes III’, from 1999. Check out those trees, mountains and treasure chests. What about that tree with a face in the middle? It all somehow blends together cohesively to create a very unique image, despite scale and quality being completely unrealistic. But realism isn’t the point here: this is pure creativity from back in the day when cutting corners was necessary to make something functional.
Now however, we can look back on this with some appreciation and maybe find new things that we couldn’t see before.
Just like we should do with ancient history. And with Mythology.
More to come,
Blessings
