2020 SC Inspiration Board- Timepool

It's that time once again, time to tie together a board of inspirations in preparation for Summer Camp! These do not apply to the entirety of Heliox, as they are just my personal inspirations. And of course, this lacks a ton of what's inspired me over the years— notably the untold number of things my brain has absorbed without memorizing their names.

Words From Others

An idea is perfect, it's messy and awful to try and pull an idea out of your head and make it real. Because when you make it real, you do it with flaws because that's as good as you can do, and it exposes your own weaknesses.

— Tyler Sigman

It's always inspiring to hear successful artists speak about how they, too, struggle with their own work and the inconsistency between the creations in their head— and what actually is made. We all face this, but we often forget that we aren't alone in this struggle.

In a race, if you're number 1 you just run hoping to stay number 1. If you're number 2, you run to beat number 1.

— O Abnormal

Maybe a bit cheesy, but this one is worth keeping in mind. It's important to have a goal, always. There is no shame in not being the best of the best— as this means you have a clear, defined goal to shoot for.

When a man rides a long time through wild regions he feels the desire for a city. Finally he comes to Isidora, a city where the buildings have spiral staircases encrusted with spiral seashells, where perfect telescopes and violins are made, where the foreigner hesitating between two women always encounters a third, where cockfights degenerate into bloody brawls among the bettors. He was thinking of all these things when he desired a city. Isidora, therefore, is the city of his dreams: with one difference. The dreamed-of city contained him as a young man; he arrives at Isidora in his old age. In the square there is the wall where the old men sit and watch the young go by; he is seated in a row with them. Desires are already memories.

— Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

This comes from my favorite book, which I would highly recommend to any fans of the surreal. There is a lot to pull from here, and I feel it's best to leave it at that.

Landscapes

by Branislav Perkovic

Giant filigrees attached to the moon are just...cool. Warframe's Lua is a fantastic setting, the scale and sheer decadence shown in it is always fantastic to look at, as many Orokin creations are.

by Matt Young

I know what you may be thinking. "Why Black Mesa and not the original Half Life 1?!" Black Mesa reimagines Xen amazingly, here, where there were only vague-bone-like textures everywhere we now see dark metal with flesh stapled over most surfaces. Yes. Flesh. Stapled. Over. Everything. Alongside that gritty 90s sci-fi style that's died out. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

by Joseph Biwald

The first thing most notice when they play Destiny, are the beautiful environments. Bungie's art direction seems to be ace, just about every time. This in particular is similar to Warframe's Lua, showing something beautiful and elegant juxtaposed with ruin and floating junk. The Awoken's aesthetics are fantastic!

Characters

by Ronald Forster

Give me more of that grungey sci-fi. Integrate machines into people's bodies, everything is full of worn paneling and too many wires. Can't quickly recognize the shape as something familiar? GOOD! GET WEIRD!

by B S

Combining organics with metal is always a nice look, I tend to prefer organic shapes to straight edges in general. I hope for my designs on Heliox to be able to deliver on that.

by Tyler Bartley

I don't entirely know how dusters will look, yet, they are individuals from many different backgrounds after all. That said, Destiny comes back with some cool armor designs that will likely inspire some of the character descriptions and art.

Jam2Go is like, half of my writing/working playlist. I love the chill atmosphere with a surreal, trancey edge in their work. Is this majorly techy? No, but I feel something airy like this with a mix between light/odd fits Heliox, so far.

Inspirations

Movies and TV aren't really big things for me, at all. Here're some video games that have inspired me a good bit, and are influences on my work so far here.

Destiny

THE LORE. IS SO. GOOD. I cannot understate this, even if you aren't into video games— you can check out the Ishtar Collective and read lore entries, seriously there's some wonderful stories in there. I'd recommend checking out The Books of Sorrow or the tale of The Last Word. There is SO MUCH here, from something as "normal" as Earth's rise and fall, light-bearing warlords, or the Fallen, to wish dragons, paracausality, and nine beings representing the largest celestial bodies in our system trying to gain bodies in a horrifying manner.

Warframe

Similar to the above, the lore behind Warframe is great! Ontop of that— Warframe's art direction is weirder than other contemporary science fiction tends to get. Just look at any of the warframes themselves, they're machines, but made of many organic shapes and forms— not with rivets, seams, and wires, but unique structures. Look at the sentients! The Orokin themselves! I love so much of the art here!

Half-Life

What can I say? The series is a classic for a reason! The visual design behind a lot of it is great, and the writing/lore too!