Les goûts et les couleurs
Tastes and colors
Hey! What’s your favorite food?
I used a French expression as the title of this post: les goûts et les couleurs. The phrase translates to tastes and colors but that’s not really what it means.
The carefully chosen words are meant to illustrate the subjective nature of our want and wont. With no rhyme or reason, us humans define our interests and desires via the bias of an instinctual understanding of oneself.
Nowhere is that clearer than with the tastes of fine food and the colors of visual art: To each their own.
Palette of Six
I’ve made it no secret that my sister Molly made the art for Besnowed. I haven’t, however, talked much about how we worked together to come up with the look and feel. The style and structure. The taste and color.
Back at the beginning of Buildspace I wasn’t sure I really wanted to dive in. My head was filled with negative critiques and clichés. Circling thoughts about how it was all tech startup bullshit.
AI Powered futures for a human deficient present
Blockchain technology with web3 functionality and NFT monetization
Crypto market news with automated curation for investing insights
Tweets bragging about this sort of nonsense everywhere. It was far from inspiring. A buzzword salad flooded my feed as 7,000 participants tried their best to make their ideas stand out from the crowd.
I was out of my league. I didn’t belong.
A familiar feeling.
But I kept going.
I could afford the benefit of the doubt.
After all, maybe I just didn’t see the value in these projects. I certainly didn’t understand them. Even if I found them annoying and invasive, I had to admit they were catching my attention.
All that to say Besnowed’s art started in that sea of tweets as I scrolled down the page. A colorful message from a massively popular account. A simple six color palette that matched my tastes and caught my eyes.
Molly noticed the retweet and began asking how to design some art for Besnowed.
Form and Function
Once the palette was in place, it was time for a frame. Our initial discussion drifted between my vague visions of the warmth of winter. The holiday spirit of my made-up religion. The impossible forests on a cold and dry continent. Sacred mountains holding up both beliefs and sky.
In every idea the First Tree was always central. Molly’s initial sketches worked to capture that strange half frozen half crystalized coniferous dream.
I wasn’t satisfied with just the tree.
I wanted something more. The full spirit of the story. Something distinct enough to reflect both me and Besnowed.
Everything came together when I sent her a piece of Hotline Miami fanart. The composition was perfect for what I wanted and I believed the structure could easily adapt to the needs of my story.
If you’re unfamiliar with Hotline Miami, it’s incredibly violent, surreal, and anxious. The fever dream of a game breaks the fourth wall and steps into another dimension, having characters directly ask the player why they follow orders unquestionably.
Not exactly a companion piece for Besnowed, but well within the styles I enjoy. Most importantly, I rather liked the art. The process was then fitting everything into that frame, filling the sections with relevant and related images.
Reforestation
The First Tree
Mount Vinson
Chapter’s Worth
As Buildspace continued and broke down my stereotypes and preconceptions, the palette really came alive. The nostalgic flavors and subdued style were more than a one-off piece of art. We could adapt them into illustrations for the chapters.
Molly took inspiration from the opening scenes and opening lines:
It’s been five years since we’ve been home. Five long years away from family and friends. Stuck behind the tall stone walls of Veranum City in the name of protection. There was always a new war, always a new pandemic, always a new excuse. Some kind of fatal flow raging through the greater world.
She wanted to capture the feeling of that train ride out of the city and returning home. She focused on the grandeur of Veranum and its high walls, but slowly shifted into a more subtle style.
The simple shapes developed into soft details, and before we could switch the tracks or repaint the horizon for another dozen drafts, it was already time to apply the palette.
The results were better than anything I expected and absolutely encapsulated the vision in my head.
I love the more-than-nostalgic vibe in a very Wes Anderson kind of way. I always say I want Besnowed to feel foreign but familiar, and I think Molly’s art matches that thought, doing the idea perfect justice.
We continued with those back and fourths for the next few chapters as well. Painting and repainting backgrounds with captions as I recorded audio and anxiously awaited Demo Day.
Judging Covers
It’s significant to note how all of this only existed in a virtual, digital space. One of the biggest challenges and ultimate accomplishments of taking Buildspace seriously was bringing everything into the real world.
An important first step was deciding on a cover. I knew I wanted it to be that initial image - the three rectangles in even measures - but there was a lot to learn in how exactly to make it fit the frame.
The original art wouldn’t work with a physical book. The dimensions were all off at the most basic of levels. A book cover is at best split into two halves of a whole and nowhere near the thirds found in our original design.
There are no rules in art though. We broke down the walls and merged the borders into a continuous portrait of Besnowed. The First Tree running neatly down the spine with forests and mountains on either side.
The aurora on the horizon then fits into place as a constant reminder of the setting and the atmosphere. More than a happy accident but definitely matching my tastes and my colors.
No matter the measure or the scale, the results speak for themselves and I’m forever grateful for Molly’s help.
Her aid and her vision only heighten the themes of family found in the story. No matter the distance or the differences, we will always have each other.
To each their own with an understanding of how we can work better together.
Until next time.
Cheers,
John