So, the amazing author Silvia Moreno-Garcia commissioned me to do pixel art based around her novel, Mexican Gothic, as a thank you surprise to her fans for Christmas. This was a lot of fun to do, I re-read the book, as well as looking at other art she commissioned to figure out how it will look, etc. She wanted it indoors, and originally I was going to have it in the dining room, or one of the bedrooms, or a larger/connected map. But once I re-read it, I realized I *had* to place it in the library. I just had to! It such an iconic scene and so vivid in my mind.
In order to create the pixel art, I had to create the basic idea for what a game would be. I decided to go with old school point an click adventure, but like one of the ones ported to the NES or Genesis/Master System. Think Maniac Mansion, that kind of thing. As for the color palette, I used Faded Page for the sprites and Lost Century for the tiles. The two compliment each other, giving it a kind of faded gothic look, but are different enough that the sprites don’t fade into the background. I applied several lighting tools to give it a kind of vignetting look, like old film cameras from the silent era or so.
All in all, I’m very happy with it. No, it’s not a scene from the book. But I wanted to include all the major sprite characters in a room that’s identifiable. I think it’s funny that one of the “items” you can use in the make believe game would be her cigarettes, since Noemí Taboada smokes a lot in the book and it’s a defining nature of her personality. Originally, I was going to have the lantern have green lighting around the characters, like in the book, but it washed out the sprites and the background, and I figured the candelabras on the tables would offset that.
All in all, I think this would actually have made a really cool Nintendo adventure game. And was a lot of fun imagining what it would be like. All the main characters are represented in sprites here. Hope you enjoy, and def buy a copy of the book (as well as all her other books. I just read Silver Nitrate and it’s fantastic. If you’re a fan of classic horror, def give this a whirl)
