Castle
By Buzinkai
george-buzinkai
SoundCloud
buzinkai
Twitter
buzinkai
Newgrounds.
Cover art by Kiko B.
kingcheddarxvii
Tumblr.
Released 6/12/2016.
Duration: 1:13.
Listen on Bandcamp or YouTube.
Download MIDI/project files.
Read artist commentary.
Tracks that reference Castle:
- From Fandom:
Tracks that sample Castle:
Download MIDI/project files:
-
MIDI by Unknown
- Castle - Unknown.mid (30.4 kB)
Artist commentary:
Kiko B.: (track artist, booklet commentary)
This gentle but haunting refrain from Buzinkai reminded me of those calm-but-ominous moments in my favorite adventure games, particularly a fantastic little game called Cave Story. Given the title of the track, a castle-exploration scene seemed to be a given.
I knew I wanted to draw the trolls, and liked the idea of depicting Terezi and Vriska during the post-retcon timeline. So I went with one of the castles we see in a Dream Bubble.
Although, compared to the vibe the song gives off, The Scourge Sisters seem a little too excited to be exploring this creepy old place. The piece needed something to give it a more ominous tone. A scrapped concept involved Karkat and the Mayor, so I put them in the forefront here to add a sense of urgency and foreboding - they're probably not in any actual danger, but Karkat's not gonna let his beloved Mayor get wrapped up in Terezi and Vriska's castle-plundering shenanigans. Visually, I was mainly inspired by the illustrations seen during the ending credits of Cave Story, and how effectively they used limited, almost monochromatic color palettes. I cycled through a lot of different colors for the piece before deciding on the blue/purple gradient here.
Still not sure which one I like best!
In hindsight, I could have easily set this piece in any of the castles on Prospit or Derse, but then I couldn't easily include the Mayor. And I really, REALLY wanted to draw the Mayor.
Besides, pursuing a more obscure concept forced me to get more creative with the scenario and composition.
So, ultimately, it's a win-win!
Kiko B.: (alternate artworks, Tumblr)
Some alternate flavors of Castle, one of the tracks I did art for in HS vol. 10! I cycled through a bunch of different color schemes before settling on the one in the album!
