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Sea of Solitude Fan Art Maze

Maze-themed fan art for the video game Sea of Solitude. Follow the path to the boat in the lower right, then return by water to the open sea.

Even though this piece is digital, I wanted it to be painterly. I used a nice rough, oval brush in Photoshop set at about 92% opacity. Since I was not relying on black outlines to define the shapes, it was important to add the cast shadows. Once I p…

Even though this piece is digital, I wanted it to be painterly. I used a nice rough, oval brush in Photoshop set at about 92% opacity. Since I was not relying on black outlines to define the shapes, it was important to add the cast shadows. Once I picked my shadow colors though, I would also lay those in opaque (92%)
The buildings continue under the water, like in the game. I only reflected the sky, which seems to work well. Many of my decisions were based on eventually making more maze oil paintings.

Sea of Solitude the game is both lovely and haunting. It is a string of interactive puzzles overlaid with dread, anxiety and childhood trauma. It is somewhat linear and story-like, but also beautiful and cathartic. I enjoyed the game very much. The game’s creator, Cornelia Geppert at Jo-Mei Games saw my maze on Twitter and kind of dug it, which is kind of awesome.

You can see purchase the game or watch the trailer on the Sea of Solitude website.