Conjure Brief:

• Create a malware-inspired being that heavily references code, and/or infection of a simulant, Conjure, or system.
  • Lots of ‘glitchy’ effects, as to indicate data corruption
  • Shades of sky blue or yellow, as to indicate electricity and connote technology
  • Maybe a simulant being overcome by the infection?
    • Anguished expression, or fearful

Sketches and Ideas

Creating Apocalypse: Alpha

1. Outlining the skull.

2. Blocking in the shapes, I’m not too focussed on shading here, as the whole skull is going to be illuminated and come across as an abstracted vector.

3. Added some heavy glitch effects to imply insanity, and corruption. I played with a cracked glass effect in the overlay to give the impression that Apocalypse: Alpha had broken the screen, and was threatening to escape.

4. Experimenting with a scanline effect to reference the aforementioned screen breaking idea, and to hammer home that Apocalypse: Alpha is a digital being.

5. I erased the scanlines on the skull’s layers to create the effect, then added a slight glow to them to really give that CRT screen feel. I also opted to remove the glass effect, as it felt like it complicated the piece too much. I didn’t actually end up settling on this piece, as it didn’t quite feel like it conveyed the ‘virus’ concept well enough. I like the piece, and it suits Apocalypse: Alpha, but it needs to really convey the assimilation and virus parts of the brief.

6. Beginning a new idea, inspired by Simon Stalenhag’s ‘The Electric State’, in which people have become addicted to the escape of VR technology. This piece depicts a person being infected by a virus lingering within the headset.

7. Adding some warning signs, some wires to suggest transmission from digital to neural, and some glitchyness to represent Apocalypse: Alpha’s viral nature within the UniverSim.

8. I added a lot more glitchyness, mostly in the background, as well as some chromatic aberration, in order to up the urgency and movement of the piece a bit. I feel like this helps to heighten the desperation of the individual being infected, really selling what’s going on.

Final Default Artwork

Lifeline Protocol

1. Started out blocking where the skeletons would go. I opted for black, as that would be the best means of contrasting the potential chaotic and bright effects to be added later.

2. Adding an overlay of blue to the skeletons to define where the ‘shocked’ effect should begin/end.

3. Messing around with some distortion, to symbolise how the individuals are being corrupted and assimilated by Apocalypse: Alpha

4. Building up some glitch effects to further add to the corruption.

5. Adding further distortion. I duplicated the skeletons and turned them blue to create a back-glow behind the skeletons.

6. I then added lots of glow and bloom, then applied lots of of glitchy effects to it to make it chaotic and corrupted.

7. I decided I didn’t like the previous version so much as it didn’t quite hit the digital aspect of Apocalypse: Alpha as much as I’d liked, so I started again, this time using the blue glow as a baseline.

8. I duplicated the skeletons again and turned them blue, but this time I added a layer mask over the blue versions to create a gradient effect in which the glitches look like they are ‘overtaking’ the individual.

9. I toned down the bloom a bit in the background for some greater contrast on the elements being corrupted by Apocalypse: Alpha, then began adding noise and glitches to the parts being corrupted.

10. I added some glitch effects in the background to help insinuate that Apocalypse: Alpha is not just assimilating simulants on a local scale, that its spread is far further. I also adjusted the layer mask and added some glitch effects to the black skeleton layer itself, which I think looks really good!

Final Lifeline Protocol Artwork

Card Iteration History