“The meaning of his tears...”

This piece is a very complex illustration that was a fan art of the video game, OFF. It was the second big illustration I did of the game and perhaps the longest out of the two. I completed this work on the flight journey back to Amsterdam from Hong Kong. Spoilers ahead of the video game, OFF; please proceed at your own caution.

Basically, the impression I wanted to present in this artwork was of a young child (named Hugo) who was crying out tears. In these tears, lies the true source of his sadness, which has been visually distorted in the water. Theorised by many, Hugo’s sadness came from his parents and the character you see in the video game (the Batter; main protagonist) and (the queen; main antagonist) are child representations of his father and mother. These replications were created by Hugo’s imagination for one main task: to keep him company and to fill in the gaps his parents had not. 

Unfortunately, these entities would not have been created if Hugo was truly happy; therefore you see him physically crying out the birth of the Batter and the Queen as a metaphor for his coping mechanism. 

However, with every child’s imagination comes vivid, uncontrollable fear of materialised visions that people cannot see. Under the tear which contains the Batter, Hugo’s eye is seen with a strange crocodile monster; many people that are familiar with the game call this creature the “Bad Batter”. In this case, Hugo’s image of his father (the Batter) is negative throughout the game and it is unknown what has cause him to dislike his dad so much. The actions of the Batter is dictated by the player, so much so, that at the end of the game, if you decide to see things in a different perspective of a df ferment character, you an see just how much of a monster the Batter is. I like to think that this figmentation was already seen by Hugo when he sees his father; the abhorrent this his father might have done has been portrayed by Hugo as monstrous. This idea is referenced by the Bad Batter crawling out of Hugo’s eyes. 

Additionally, the inverted shading for the Queen and the Batter is hugely significant in terms of juxtaposition between characters. The Batter is a “holy” stoic man on a mission to “purify” the world, so his tear is completely black and he himself is the white reflection and light in the darkness. The hatching on him is very linear and straight like a lawful authoritive figure: this could also represent his linear view in regards to his mission - he will complete his mission of purification no matter who gets in the way, whenever it’s his wife or his child, he will dispose of them for the sake of his mission. That one track thinking can be seen with rigid cross hatching. Yet this mission of purifying the land, was that his real purpose?

The queen on the other hand is very fluid like the embodiment of emotion, her femininity of being a mother is represented using natural lose lines. Despite being a queen, there is no real law and order in her reign, thus, these uncontained lines (especially in the hair) symbolise a chaos in emotions. Such lack of organisation has also lead to the downfall of fulfilling her true task; not looking after her kingdom but rather her child/creator Hugo. Her inability of being a mother makes her a stain to the white, thus she is black.

Yet what defines black or white? In the end, if the two colours cannot live harmoniously and one overpowers the other, then this picture of happiness Hugo has drawn, will fail to exist entirely. You cannot paint using one colour.

Perhaps not much of this made sense. Especially if you not played the game, thus will make even less sense so I recommend you have a play through. OFF is a free video game that lasts for about 5 hours and it’s worth the play! The story is phenomenal and overall, it was quite the experience. 

Thank you for reading my art dissection!

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