Dev Diaries VI: The Illustrations: A Retrospective
Today’s issue of our Dev Diaries is really special. It ties in with issue V, “The birth of an illustration”, but also has a very personal twist to it. I asked our main card illustrator, Karolína, to take us through the illustrations she most and least liked creating. This time, therefore, there will be more pictures than text. So read on to find out which SCP pictures were her favorite ones to create and which were the trickiest!
Enjoy.
MY FAVOURITE ONES:
I did so many illustrations for this game! But of course, there are several that have a special place in my heart for different reasons. But which are they?
SCP-1186
This was the first picture I created for EFS19. At the time, I didn’t know what was in store for me. I thought I would only make a couple of these pictures for this weird board game, but then I really enjoyed the unique atmosphere and vibe of the whole project! Getting back to 1186, it was a bit of a problem to get good, editable photos of larvae, but after I pulled this one off, the rest was history.
Dr. Wondertainment
This is among my favorite illustrations, so I must definitely name those people close to me who were lovingly forced to participate in its creation. Sometimes, it’s easier taking your own pictures than trying to find suitable stock photos. And so, in this case, Dr. Wondertainment is none other than my own, dear husband, dressed in my long coat, and subjected to long hours of computer editing!
Prof. Kain Pathos Crow
This is the result of hours of hard labor. To represent Prof. Kain, I had to dress up my own hyperactive dog in a shirt and jacket, give him glasses, and take as many pictures as he allowed. Needless to say, many attempts were required, but the result just warms my heart.
There are many other illustrations that I really enjoyed creating, just because I like how they turned out! These include SCP-0726, SCP-1686, SCP-0001-3 and Shambhala from the new Protocols deck!
THE TRICKIEST ONES
On the other hand, there are quite a few pictures that I’m happy to be done with for different reasons. Sometimes, the motif itself was difficult to grasp, or I had trouble finding the right pictures to use. But obviously, being the author of these pictures means that I’ll probably never be completely happy with them and will always look for ways they could’ve been done better.
SCP-0184
Among my least favorites (and I don’t even know if this version ended up being used at all) is SCP-0184. There were way too many versions of this image, and until today, I am unhappy with it, because I just couldn’t suitably express what we wanted.
SCP-1695
The next one on the list is definitely SCP-1695. It just kept looking goofy for my taste, and yet I had to make sure it looked as realistic as possible.
SCP-1940
Lastly, I’ll mention SCP-1940, which I don’t exactly dislike, but it took me a lot of work to find suitable photos and successfully combine them without the whole thing coming across as cringey or confusing. It is obviously a montage of numerous pictures. Some people might like it, but looking at it now, I’m still not that sure.
