art style and composition

The story that the player is tasked to uncover is communicated through a mural that slowly reveals itself in tandem with the NPC dialogue. It takes inspiration from frescoes, tryptiches, and the like; often depicting many characters and elements in one piece. Think Michealangelo’s Sistine Chapel or Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights.

Murals as a storytelling format are interesting to us for their overabundance of symbols, references, and elements, and their lack of linearity. In pieces like The Garden of Earthly Delights, or in the Disco Elysium Thought Cabinet, there’s often too much to even comprehend happening at once; past, present, and future immortalized. This gives the player ultimate freedom in how they choose to decipher timeline and meaning, and the opportunity to form their own narratives.

We decided to opt for acrylic paint as a medium. It’s the one I feel most comfortable creating with, and it also lends itself well to a painting style that communicates an ancient lore or forgotten knowledge type vibe. With that in mind, the composition inspiration for this piece comes partially from the sources listed above, as well as the Star Wars movie posters, and ancient Greek battle paintings on pottery.

In terms of how the elements of the story will be laid out, that’s kind of up in the air. I tend to feel more comfortable making artistic decisions on the fly rather than planning things out, which you can probably tell by looking at the size of the archer in the process shots relative to other pieces. The good thing about painting on paper though, is that it grants me the ability to cut elements out and rearrange them on another background, which I think might be ideal down the line.

So here's a sneak peak. Whether the style will remain this way, whether it'll change up a bit is to be determined. Either way, stay tuned.