@KismetPDM - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index
Q: When did your journey on the Internet start, and how did it impact you?
A: Young, way too young, unsupervised. I was very well versed in internet safety, creeps and malware and all that surface level stuff, I just saw a lot of shock content. In terms of social media, very recently, less than a year ago. Was never in my life interested in social media, until I wanted to get paid to make art for other people. Nowadays I'm much more interested in just getting my art seen. Commissions are a fun bonus.
Q: What is the difference between drawing for fun or learning?
A: The end product I suppose. Learning is just focusing hard on making something look anatomically accurate with no end goal, usually stops before any sort of polished sketch (hard for me to say lineart, my lineart is equivalent to other people's sketches, sort of). That line is very blurred though, sometimes I get very invested in a learning sketch and it tries to turn into a full project, only to stop short when I have to focus on an entirely different problem and don't have the motivation to futz with it. Or an actual project requires enough focus and study that it's effectively a learning sketch by the end.
Q: Where did your passion for art come from?
A: I've been doodling since I could pick up a pencil but I'd really call my start when I got my first drawing tablet. For most of my pre-teen and teen life my number one inspiration, easily, was the ability to make things exist. I only learned relatively recently that being able to mentally visualize things in full color and detail isn't the norm so that definitely contributed. Anyway, it was an obsession with being able to transfer scenes and characters from my head into something other people could also see. Plus a lot of belief that I could just "do things right the first time" without practice, so I had a very high bar I was trying to make. I really wanted to be able to make professional level hyperrealism without actually learning to the point of bragging about not using tutorials and getting pedantic when people talked about me. The rise of genAI especially made me have to rethink, now that everyone could just make something exist with zero actual effort behind it. I have a lot more appreciation for the process now, thus me heavily leaning into the imperfect nature of my art. I still want to make professional level art, but stuff that's pretty and has soul above all else. Being able to convey characters in their hyper-specific detail is a bonus.
Q: Why do you think you like drawing gore and body horror?
A: It's therapeutic. A little rebellious. Pain and adrenaline are something very difficult to convey or invoke via pixels on a screen so if I can make people squirm in their seats that means I'm doing a very good job. Art is for all emotions, not just the positive ones. I do try to warn people everywhere thoroughly though, it's a big passion of mine but there's nothing I'd hate more than if someone was made uncomfortable by something they don't want to be made uncomfortable by. It's for the people who want to see it, not the people who don't. That interest is definitely slightly entangled with my interest in biology too, "it's not just what's on the outside that counts", or something like that. Every creature is 90% what they are on the inside that dictates how and why they function.
Q: How did you discover Look Outside?
A: I saw a "unique deaths" compilation on Youtube for the demon and knew I had to keep an eye on that game, but at that time I would've never guessed what a philosophical masterpiece it is. I did say I have a strong interest in flashy colorful atmospheres with depressing plotlines, Look Outside is the exact polar opposite. A desperate, dire atmosphere where you could be condemned to eternal suffering with the slightest mistake, even one not within your power, but humanity and sympathy live on strong in spite of that. It's a story of hope in the worst possible circumstances, even the primary antagonist is there by pure happenstance and didn't mean any harm.
Q: What makes a good horror game in your opinion?
A: In terms of just being scary, I think there's a very careful balance of using jumpscares as a punishment as not as the primary driving "fear" factor. Good horror games make you feel like you're gonna get jumpscared at any moment, punish you when you get complacent, and otherwise just leave you to steep in that looming stress. Too many horror games think that the jumpscares are what makes the game scary, and while yeah having the precedent that your heart could jump at any moment is anxiety inducing, that's like tickling someone to make them laugh at a comedy show. In terms of personal preference, uncanny valley is criminally underrated. It's like a shortcut to getting that sinking feeling without the jumpscares. I don't think there was a game that terrified me more than Yumi Nikki. Big props to games that can make me genuinely uncomfortable.
Q: What do you like about biology/evolution?
A: A lot of history behind this one. I think overall I just really want to create an environment that's just as complex as the one we currently live in, from scratch, otherwise totally unrecognizable. Humans only create thoughts from existing learned concepts which is something I would love nothing more than to surpass, but I've resigned to chalking some things up to convergent evolution. This planet sucks, let's make a new one. It won't suck less but it'll be new and that's cool.
Q: What are these big projects?
A: There is a lot of information so I'll try to summarize it quick. That cyborg character I've posted a couple of times at this point, the one with the rust? That's Kismet, my mascot/insert/sona/whatever term you wanna use for it. They're a member of the starring species for my primary big project at the moment. Hybrids between humans and a native species on a tidally locked planet with a sulfur dioxide atmosphere, in a society where replacing your body with prosthetics and dying at your desk is the norm. They were created by the previous sapient species inhabiting that planet, who have since moved on to farther colonies. One perfect day I'll have an entire catalogue with every major species, kingdom, a full societal guide. And then I'll probably have no idea what to do after that. Probably just expand the universe more. But it gives me a lot to do, I'm fine with being mid-process for a long while.
Q: What music and video games would you like to make?
A: No clue. I'd love to create a game as philosophical as Look Outside but I don't know what hasn't already been done before. For music, I'd probably do whatever I felt like genre wise. Can't see myself sticking to a particular style, I just wanna make stuff that I'd listen to.
Q: What would more you could name?
A: Yumi Nikki, Cult Of The Lamb, Lobotomy Corporation, Buckshot Roulette, just to name some more I like the actual story and lore of. I actually like quite a few games but I value gameplay and fun just as much as lore, it's just the gameplay and lore are two entirely different aspects, so naming just-for-fun games is kind of off topic. There's also a lot of games I like but have never played, just watched other people online play. I used to be super into FNAF and Undertale, still love Deltarune (though I haven't played or seen chapter 3 and 4 yet), that's kind of what I grew up on. And, hear me out, Spore. Many, many hours in spore. Nearly 2000. Granted a decent chunk of that was just AFK'd on my computer, but the majority is actual gameplay. It's the only creature creation game of its kind so I'm more than willing to put up with the jank and sub-par gameplay. Plus, I actually kind of like the gameplay, as long as you accept it's kind of a chill game without much skill or strategy involved.
Q: What do you think about spiders now?
A: I'm actually super chill with bugs and arachnids now, actually I love bugs. A lot of them are adorable if you look close enough. I'm still very slightly arachnophobic, enough to be like "woah" if I see a giant spider in my bathroom, but that's not hard to get over just logically. My fear for bugs is directly attributed to how much I think a particular one could reasonably hurt me. So, I know bees don't sting unless they're forced to, most spiders can't pierce human skin, centipedes can sting but that's nothing a Swiffer can't handle. To some of my other critter-loving friends' dismays I do still kill bugs, mostly because I live with someone who is super not chill with them, I don't have the skills or resources to escort them out and it's not fair for me to knowingly leave a huntsman in the house. What's I'm super not chill with is wasps. That's the only insect in my life that's actually hurt me before and would hurt me again.
Q: Do you ever get nightmares? And do you have dreams? And what are they about?
A: Recently while playing Cyberpunk 2077 I had four Cyberpunk related dreams in a row, mostly gameplay focused. That was a personal record. I can't control my dreams as well as some people can but I usually subconsciously know I'm dreaming even if it's not necessarily totally lucid so I almost never get nightmares. I've been able to track in real time how I forget dreams within 30 minutes of waking up and it's really frustrating.
Q: How did you get interested in Madness Combat?
A: No idea, I figured it was just another come and go interest that'd last for, eh, a few months at most. Now I'm at the four-ish year mark. I do think there was just some happenstance, like me having inspiration to make some fanart, and then I realized a Hank cosplay would be really easy compared to other cosplays, then I started browsing other people's art, then I got really attached to the characters. As a whole though? No clue why this is what my brain latched on to.
Q: What was your process for creating your Hank cosplay?
A: I looked up what Hank wore, bought it, then wore it. Actually most of my kit is pretty cheap, the boots were the most expensive and they were like 60 bucks. Since Hank's character is 90% clothes, unless you're going totally overboard, you really don't need much actual prep. I've spruced up my outfit with bandages and fake blood over the years, tiny things here and there, but for the most part its just an outfit.
Q: What are some examples of what people need help with?
A: Usually emulators and slightly more technically inclined programs. Nothing over the top, I'm not building PCs over here, just some stuff that not everyone knows how to do inherently. I wanna say the average person can understand any thing with a decent UI and I help people with stuff that doesn't necessarily have one, but I don't have a metric on that.
Q: What type of knives do you have? And how did you get interested in collecting?
A: They're all mostly random ones I've been given over the years. My collection started when I was going on walks at night and was given a knife for self-defense, just in case. That knife is since long gone, the spring and lock mechanisms on it broke so it became unsafe to carry or use. I got a new utility knife, a (very dull) balisong, a (very dangerous) switchblade, I even bought myself a nice sharp buck knife. I know a lot of people are weird about carrying knives and I respect anywhere that doesn't allow it, it's just a really simple tool with plenty of uses. I use mine to open mail in the car. Plus you don't need a permit below a certain blade length where I live, nor much prior training beyond basic knife safety.
Q: That is awesome! Which conventions have you been to?
A: Only a single specific one. I'm not a hardcore cosplayer or anything, I just go with my friend each year. Worth the entry ticket fee just to walk around as one "Motherfucker" Wimbleton for a few hours in a place where you're not the odd one out for it.
Q: Are you excited for MADNESS DAY 2025?
A: Hell yes. I've been "planning" on participating in the art contest several years, I just keep getting interrupted by either losing motivation with that current work or being too busy. I have a WIP in the works that, with any luck, I'll have done by this year so I can finally participate. This is also my first year being officially on Newgrounds, or any social media for that matter, so I actually have a tiny bit of a platform to post off of now. Plus, aforementioned WIP is planned on being my wallpaper too. I'm already gonna have "Madness Day 9/22/25" written on it regardless, but if I could put "entry winner" on it somewhere too without being fraudulent, that would be so baller.