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Not Much, What's Newsletter With You?

Welcome everyone who has signed up for the newsletter so far!! I'm so happy to have you here!

I wanted to give an example of how I think this whole thing is going to work, so this is the unofficial first Lady Celery Monthly experience.

For starters, this week I finished up the first of the PIGSquad (or Portland Indie Game Squad) Summer Slow Jams, a two week stretch where we were tasked with creating a resource management game using the theme "wait, THAT'S a resource?" My team decided to go with a golf game involving a character tripping on psychedelics.

I'm not much of an animator but I knew I was going to need to make a golf swing, so this is my attempt at doing a temporary, un-detailed version while trying to understand how a golf swing even works (shout out to this golf swing image I found online, which has saved my life).

In the top right corner is an eight photo montage depicting the steps of a golf swing from start to finish. Below it are some simple drawings of a short, blue, sort of froggy-looking creature with a giant foam cowboy hat. I've got a front-facing view, and then some pink lines that basically lay out the character's skeleton for animation rigging. Beside that are two drawings of the character swinging the club.
My workspace is seriously so chaotic at all times but it gets the job done.

Next, an example of something I wouldn't normally post on social media--a little sketch I did because I wanted an excuse to break out my alcohol markers and pens. I really love the look on her face (the reference was of a silent film actress, though I can't remember whom). I'm always trying to learn to be less shy about putting in really deep shading, and then I just didn't really finish the rest of it. But honestly I think it looks cool.

A black and grey sketch of a woman with large eyes staring off into the distance. Pearls are draped around her neck, cascading down into her fingers.

My featured artist is none other than Victor--er, James Gameboy, because he lives with me so he has to. And the timing couldn't be better, because his game Initial Daydream just got released on the Playdate Catalog. He made 86 sales in the first week!

For context, the Playdate is a little yellow handheld console that features 1 bit graphics (meaning the pixels can only be black or white) and a crank. It's made by a company called Panic right here in Portland. Having a game on Catalog means that anyone with the console is able to purchase it directly on the device instead of having to import it from elsewhere. It's a momentous occasion...

a person is playing a game on a yellow device
Photo by Amanz / Unsplash

...But that's not what I want to talk about. The thing that I find noteworthy about this game is that, aside from a few screens I made, Victor did all of the art himself. And he doesn't usually draw! According to him, the Playdate is easy to work with because of the limitations in pixels and color. He went for this really simple but effective look:

I feel like a lot of times when it comes to creativity people feel limited by what they can't do instead of encouraged by what they can do. Because sure, you could say "I'm not an artist so I can't do this part" or you can say "Here's what I'm capable of art-wise, how can I use this to make something?" Not everything needs to be some hyperrealistic 3D painting, and there's a lot of value in things that are simple and cute.

Anyway, I think that's all for now. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next one!

If you have something you'd like to share for the next issue, email me at heyladycelery@gmail.com.