Interview with the artist: Brighid Grand Explorateur

This interview will surely prove to be a great attraction for all fans and creators of pixel art. We had the great pleasure to ask some questions to the experienced pixel artist, author of the beautiful The God’s Twilight Doll, and at the same time admin of the popular fansite TibiaLight.com! If you are curious about his beginnings, inspirations and experiences, we invite you to read on!

Thank you so much for agreeing to give us an interview! To begin with, introduce yourself. What’s your name? How long have you played Tibia?

Hello, first of all, thank you for the invitation to this interview! Well, my name is Renan, I started playing Tibia at the end of 2008, and since then there were many moments that I stopped and came back.

How did your artistic adventure start?

I made my first Tibia-related pixel art drawings more than 10 years ago in a fan art area of a fansite that is no longer in the program. I did simple drawings until then and stopped soon after. I came back to the activity in 2020 in a contest promoted by the fansite Rookie.com.pl, and my first drawing after almost a decade was this one:

In this contest, I got second place with another designed doll, which I called “Rookstayer Doll”.

Since then I have tried to learn more about animation, and I am still learning.

Are you an artist away from Tibia? Is your real-life job related to art?

I like to draw. I have done it a lot in my spare time, but nowadays, due to my studies, I have reduced my time. I am in my last year of medical school, a little away from the artistic world, although in the first years, my anatomy drawings were very useful for me to learn much better. In the future, being in a well-established routine (which I love very much) I will return to drawing more and more, whether focused on Tibia or other areas.

Has Tibia in any way influenced what and how you create?

A lot. The whole atmosphere and history of Tibia are very rich and I admire it very much. Virtually all of the most recent stories and designs that I have created and will still create are closely related to this rich and diverse game.

What was your motivation to learn (drawing, pixel art, etc.)?

I wanted to be able to manifest or express what was stuck in my mind, little by little I was able to manifest close to 100% of what I had planned inside and this made me very happy. There was also the fact that I attended forums of people who made pixel art and this motivated me to learn.

How long have you been mastering your skill?

Without considering the old phase and just considering what I have been doing since the Rookie contest, I have been creating my designs in pixel art for 2 and a half years. I plan to start soon practicing much bigger designs using GIMP, Photoshop, or similar tools. My first challenge will be to create a background image for TibiaLight.

From the perspective of your own experience, what would you advise people who want to start their adventure with pixel art? Any software or habits that will make their work easier and the results better?

Well, regarding software, I have good experience with GIMP, it is free and easy to use. It is even very simple to create animations and it was through it that I learned the magic of animating creations. My tip for all those who want to enter this area is to learn with the sprites that already exist, download and open with Gimp or any other tool, analyze the style and see if you like it, then start creating something completely your own. There are several articles on the subject, including the one on TibiaFanart.

How would you describe your style (drawing, pixel art)?

I don’t know if this is appropriate for a pixel art drawing, but I try whenever possible to be “realistic”. Currently, all drawings involve animations, so my focus is on making a drawing that is in accordance with the image in my head and I try my best to respect the animations plan I would like, it is not always possible as the project exceeds my ability to convert it into a drawing. There were times in contests when the maximum number of frames limited the planned animations, really in some cases I think I overdid it, hahaha. One more thing about my drawing style is that I try whenever possible to avoid black or very dark outlines.

What is the next milestone you’d like to achieve in your art progress? Any art-related dream?

Ahhh, there is one kind of pixel art that I was not able to do… Basically, it is objects and creatures in 45º perspective, especially creatures/bosses. I think with more time and focus I will be able to overcome this. At the moment my plan is to advance in creating sprites like floors, and walls, which already helps me to have an experience. Of course, I also want to learn how to make bigger images, like the background which will be my personal challenge.

Is there someone who inspires you in Tibia or out of the game?

Sure enough, there have been several fansite item creators like you (Makadamia), as well as Lupus Aurelius and Li Dao. Another designer that inspired me was Galiant, he had a sprite-art-only website. An out-of-game inspiration is a designer whose Instagram account is @erskine.designs, he has designs that I like and his style will guide me when creating my own.

Which one of your works are you the proudest of?

Well, there are three of them in the first place:

A relic of TibiaLight’s Lore Universe. A curiosity is that this sword was almost the fansite item of TibiaLight.

Since this is one of my favorite bosses.

I am also proud of the Ancient Bonelord set that I created.

What is the most impressive tibia fanart you’ve ever seen?

This wonderful drawing by Paulo Silvente.

And my favorite pixel art from fansite item contests, designed by Lupus Aurelius:

You are the designer of The God’s Twilight Doll, a beautiful item representing your fansite – TibiaLight.com in the game. Tell us a little about this item, what is its lore?

This was an item that took a long time to develop, its story was already planned, but not fully written, which was even finished in late 2022. In the lore created, there are 8 characters, being: Valiant, Aerodus, Riberus, Iris, Petros, Hera, Olga, and Ragna. Only Valiant and Ragna are represented in the doll, the initial letters of all names conform to the name of Variphor, the entity that threatens the whole Tibian universe in this Fan Lore. Valiant means the beginning of the word, he represents Fardos, the creation, and beginning of everything in Tibian history. Ragna is on the other hand the last letter of the word, it represents Variphor, the destruction, and end of everything in this Tibian Fan Lore. The complete story consists of 10 chapters and is available in Portuguese and English.

As a creative person, you attach importance to having fanart and fan lore as a constant on your site. Tell us what interesting Tibian fanart fans will find there.

At the moment we have 1 story: The Gods’ War, in which 2 relics from the TibiaLight’s Fan Lore universe appear: Doomsday Mirror and The Lightbringer. There is a side story that is being developed called The Seven Relics, little by little the stories will reveal how Valiant and Fardos obtained these interdimensional relics. Regarding the art: there is an enlarged version of The Gods’ Twilight Doll with all its animations (static and transition) and its in-game description, as well as an area with a demonstration of the set created and present in this story, The Ancient Bonelord Set.

“The God’s War” lore – illustration used in Chapter 5: Necropolis.

A new Fan Lore continuation of the Valiant adventures is planned for 2023. This time a new relic will appear and will be responsible for the rise of an unknown empire commanded by an old villain, Cyberpunk style. There will be at least one contest inspired by this story.

Are you working on anything currently? Could you spoil it for us a little?

Of course! As I said above, I am working on a new Fan Lore that will introduce another relic from the TibiaLight fansite’s Fan Lore universe. For this, it is necessary to create some sprites to demonstrate the story in a more visual and interesting way.

The city in the new Lore is called Neon, and for some photos, I created this floor (1 central SQM + 9 different borders for demonstration).