Where I started, how I got there.

This is the first Pixel Jam I've entered, doing so with a friend.

Looking at the colors, I was immediately struck by the greens and browns, and wanted to dive in on some environmental objects - bushes seemed like a fun direction so that's what I started on.

It was then drawn to my attention that there were optional side themes. Looking them over, I realized I could make my idea fit if I included post-apocalyptic trees - that is to say, ones that were barren/dead.

With that in mind, I set out with the goal of making a variety of bush shapes. I wanted to see about tiling a few together, which was where I started. The uploaded image was my first crack at it - and it didn't go too well.

I soldiered on, showing my progress to my friend and showing how to create brushes in Asperite (my program of choice for this project). In doing so, I made a simple silly brush - but it actually made very nice designs. A happy little accident!

I took that brush back to the project and began layering in the available colors, with a top-left light source in mind. It took a lot of experimenting, but eventually I found layering that I really felt looked good and captured a texture I appreciated.

I then used the general shape language of the original bushes, and their trunks, to create baselines for the dead variants. I'd create a different layer to draw the general shape of the original bush to operate within, creating the limbs of the dead bush to keep to the shape of the original. I then layered in shading with the same light source in mind.

So that was my process here! It's amazing to me the value of that brush - a brush that I made, completely on a whim, to demonstrate how bushes are made - and how it became so core to the project.