What’s looming in the background?
We’re back with another team interview: This time, it’s our artist nyanyan: an explorer, cat lover and vibe creator of Solarbots.
Nyanyan is an artist from the Philippines who has been working for Solarbots for a year now. She is responsible for the moody and expressive backgrounds you see in the game. In this year’s first team interview, nyanyan talks about ambiance and atmosphere, her artistic inspirations, and ominous things that are seldom spotted.
Let’s get into it right away: What are you working on at the moment?
Right now, I’m focused on normal mapping. Normal mapping is important for controlling how light and shadows behave in the game. We use specific color palettes that help the engine find out where the light and reflexions are going to be, where shadows are going to be cast. For a natural feel, the shadows have to be able to move according to the movement of the light sources. This is hard work because while you’re doing it, it’s hard to imagine if it’s right, because you only know what everything will look like once you put it into the engine. So I’m constantly checking and putting it into the engine to see what it will look like. It’s very challenging and takes time to learn. I will be doing that for all backgrounds, eventually. It adds feeling and ambience to the scene. You just have more possbilities for different vibes and lighting the scene differently. I know that when we play, we mostly look at the character. But the background and things like light and music all contribute a lot to how we think the character feels at a specific moment. It’s essential for the game experience.
A look at normal mapping and as done by nyanyan for Solarbots.
Light and shadows can now move dynamically around an object.
Which piece of Solarbots art are you most proud of?
The Arborian indoor background. The one with the mushroom lamps! I think it’s special because it has a unique concept: It has indoor and outdoor vibes at the same time. It’s like the outside - on the inside. It’s dynamic, it has a magical feeling but earthy at the same time with all the bark, wood and leaves. I like how all these concepts come together in this piece.
Do you sometimes hide Easter Eggs in the backgrounds you design?
Not as such, but I do think about the details quite a lot. In this background, there is a specific potion at the back, and it’s a different color from all of them, a purple one. I feel like it’s a potion you’re not supposed to use. Maybe a poison? There’s also a black one behind the books. It’s just a little something, maybe it’s silly, but I feel like it provides some mystery to the setting. This is one way how we as artists can contribute to the storytelling. It might not always be obvious or noticeable. There is also a ghost outside the window! I put that ghost thing right there, peeping inside.
Wow, I had no idea! Obviously, a lot of thought goes into these designs. Do you mind if people don’t notice the intricacies?
I’m not expecting people to look at it too closely, but if people do, I’d of course appreciate it. For me, art is about giving the audience a possibility to do their own readings and interpretations. So I’m not disappointed if it goes unseen, but it would be cool, of course! (laughs) Mostly, I’m just glad that we have the freedom to express ourselves, we artists at Solarbots have a lot of freedom of creativity. Seldom are we given a specific task where everything is already decided. We’re allowed to put our own feelings and personalities inside.
Seeing that this is your favorite piece of work, I’m guessing that Arboria is your faction?
Arboria forever. Return to nature! Some people like cyberpunk styles, others like the idea of shining knights, I’m just really the girl in the forest, and I love everything nature related.
Did you always know that you wanted to be an artist?
I started drawing when I was 5 years old. I remember the sketches we did as children with basic shapes: The letter U is the face shape, inside are two 5s for anime eyes, and a huge M for the hair. (laughs) I never went to art school growing up, I actually studied psychology when I was in college. But I needed to work to support myself. However, bread-winning was never art related. This prevented me from drawing for a long time. But it was always something that I wanted to do. Then covid came, and I suddenly had no job. I took the last money I had earned and bought a cheap drawing tablet that connects to a computer and started exploring commissions. This was also thanks to a very special person that supported me from the very beginning and still is helping me every step of the way - I am so thankful for the people who believed in me and gave me a chance to prove myself. At first, nobody noticed me, there are just so many great people doing this kind of work and making incredible things. But after a while, people took a liking to my style and it all got rolling. Growing up people used to tell me: You’re not going to earn anything from drawing or art unless you graduate from an art school. Games and anime are for children, they said. But I still explored and never stopped exploring. And I guess this dedication to learning is also what got me to Solarbots.
What do you mean?
I don’t really have a pixel art background, and I was also not too educated in background design. Before this, I mostly did portraits in Manga and Anime styles. But what I do have is curiosity and a willingness to learn. Having the opportunity to learn while working is wonderful. I love that Solarbot’s hiring philosophy is to get people who are going to grow with them, to give them the opportunity to grow. This explains why people here are putting their heart, soul and mind into it. And now that I’ve gotten a taste of it, I don’t want to stop! Nowadays, when I do portrait styles, I always include a background as well. And pixel art - I really want to learn as much as possible about it and continue doing it. It’s so interesting: The limitations that pixel art gives you - for example, you need to be very precise, you can’t smudge or blend, and you need to be very deliberate about the colors you chose - can give your creativity a real boost. The limitations put you in problem solving mode, and once you “solve” it, aka, finish the artwork, you get such a great feeling of success and accomplishment. It’s addictive!
What are some of your artistic inspirations?
I love this artist Kuvshinov Ilya, who created characters for Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045 and The Wonderland. And of course Junji Itō is also a great inspiration of mine, even though one would probably not guess from the things that I am doing..… I don’t always want to emulate the style the artists that I’m inspired of are doing, it’s mostly … looking at their work inspires and motivates me, because it is so impressive - and expressive! And Griseus of course! Him I do really want to emulate in terms of pixel art!
What’s the first NFT you’ve ever owned? Do you sell NFTs?
The first NFT i owned is this one Axie my brother gave me. Her name is Kyuuri. I drew her once and many people saw my artwork and they asked me to draw their axies for them too. These pieces were also posted to OpenSea and some were purchased there instantly. For me, NFTs is a very wide subject, I understand that it’s controversial. I know now there’s also the possibility to generate stuff with AI now. But I’m thinking: It’s a wide platform, and people mostly use it to make vast numbers of connected artworks focusing on specific characteristica. It helped a lot of artists, I think, mostly because it’s open to everyone, stakes and barriers of entry are not as high as in other artistic communities or endeavours. A lot of artists who just wanted to express their own art, their own style, got a start with NFTs, it is also a place to experiment. Before I started working for Solarbots, I was mostly doing commissions. I’ve witnessed times where peope were stealing. They would just take a commission, and then go online and look for something suitable that already existed, maybe in a message forum. NFTs can't really be stolen, and when they are, it's easy to be spotted. I think it gave a certain kind of artwork and artistic community more pride and value, especially on the internet.
What are you most looking forward to in terms of Solarbots developments in 2023?
I’m looking forward to having more chapters to play and explore! As for the art team, we’re doing normal mapping, getting better shadows, we are gonna learn how to input assets into the Unity game engine independent from the game developers so that we can work more efficiently and create levels, dungeons, and widen the area that players can explore. I'm so excited to design these new levels!