Hey there Reader!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend; on my side, I had a blast! But I'll talk more about it later, we have a lot to cover this week: an old project, some scuffed drawings, and some great artists to discover! So let's get into it ✨

That time I did a game for woman's day

Last year, I was in a very different place; I was living on my own and saving money to move in with my girlfriend.

It was a weird time, but I decided to take the opportunity of Woman's Day to make a cute little game for her! It's very cute and silly, but I still felt okay sharing it on the internet for people to enjoy! :)

But there is a twist: I did the whole thing on my phone, in about one evening, taking pictures of my apartment.

The game was one of the very first made and released with Downpour, a cute little app that makes creating little games very easy and fast.

You just create a scene, add a picture or text, and then you add a link to another scene. The player navigates through the scenes this way by just clicking around; it's a very limited format, but with some creativity you can get a lot out of it!

One of my favorites for example was made by Terry Cavanagh, a prolific game designer which you might know for VVVVVV or Dicey Dungeon.

So what is my silly game about? It's called you're a weird bird, and you can play it on the app or directly in your browser! :)

It's about a little chick that wakes up alone in a strange world (my shelf), and she must try to understand how to make sense of it all.

I really encourage you to download the app and start playing around with it, taking random pictures and seeing what you can make out of it.

It's exactly what I did: I had a very fuzzy idea, and just built up the concept as I took more pictures. By the end of it, I knew exactly what I was trying to make.

And besides, I think it's a very fun thing to make little games for people you care about. Give it a try!

​https://downpour.games/​

(Bonus: Someone wrote an article about Downpour and actually mentioned my game! The game was at the front page of the app for a little while; and he told me that their daughter loved it :))) )

A special trip to the Poznań Book Fair

As I mentioned at the beginning, I spent this weekend at the Poznań Book Fair! It was a very big event, with tons of publishers and resellers showing off their latest releases. The crowd was gigantic, and it was a bit overwhelming especially after 6 hours of train (yes), but still very interesting!

Besides meeting one of you there (👋), this was made extra special by a small exhibition held in one of the quieter places of the fair: an exhibition with a lot of small artists from all over the country!

I know a lot of you like when I share cool artists when I was sick, so I thought we could do it again :)

The first one I want to share with you is Monika Maślakiewicz (@ikarysuje), whom we actually met in person! She also traveled a long way to see her art displayed. Her art is very cozy, with great shapes and textures.

Second is Ewa Michalska (@czarymalary), who is a more established artist. She has a few children's books already published, and her style really reflects this. Her website is sadly down at the moment, but she has an adorable watercolor style that I encourage you to check out!

And finally, I couldn't pass on the opportunity to share the art of my girlfriend (@astheri_art) who was also displayed there. I will refrain from using too many superlatives, but she is seriously talented, especially with her unique sense of colors.

She is a huge inspiration for me, and also a big reason I keep pushing my art further! So please check out her art and give her some encouragement :)

There were of course a lot more artists I didn't go over, but that's all the space I have for today!

Did I mention I spent 6 hours in the train??

And it was the same thing on the way back! That was a very long time, I can tell you that. Something I love to do on the train, which is very not wise, is to draw in my sketchbook.

Despite the shakiness, the bad position, the interruptions every stop, I love doodling carefreely and passing the time this way. Something about fighting with the elements maybe? But on top of that, I was also drawing in my 3-year-old sketchbook (still not finished), which is very worn down and might soon fall apart, but right now it's holding on!

I'm really not a big freak when I draw traditionally; I love taking whatever I have on hand and making art out of it.

And this is perfectly reflected by the pen I used: I didn't have anything to sketch with, so I used a blue ink pen directly, along with three crayons for children that I stole from a UK restaurant a few months ago (don't ask). Those crayons came in handy when I needed a ruler as well; anything can be versatile if you put your mind to it!

So, what was I actually drawing?

One of my favorite themes (that you can see in almost all of my illustrations) is wires, cables and power lines. I just love drawing those guys, they are very relaxing and interesting to look at in my opinion. I grabbed some references on the train wifi, and got to work!

I also wanted to explore a concept I'm developing for my upcoming novel project: spiritual plants that grow on wires. You can see them in red on those sketches.

I might go in a different direction; but settling on a visual will be important at some point in the project, since I also want to incorporate illustrations within the pages. I'll tell you more in the coming weeks :)

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you those very crude drawings; it's really freeing for me to make art in such a way that it cannot be perfect, and just see where it leads you.

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Well, that’s all I have to share with you today! I hope you’d try out either making a game on your phone or doodling with whatever you have at hand 😌

Next week I might have a section talking more about the next book and how I’m currently planning it. It’s gonna be a bit nerdy, but it will be fun!

Until next time, take care!
- Nighten