I was in the middle of playing a game called Hollow Knight, stuck in one of those quiet sections where the soundtrack shifts to a soft, almost classical theme. Ollie had curled himself into the pillow by my grandparents’ nightstand, ears tipped toward the TV like he was pretending not to listen. I was in a specific section of the game; one that played a soft, classical sounding soundtrack. Ollie really seemed to enjoy it as he seemingly struggled to stay awake as he listened.
I don’t blame him either; this track specifically was incredibly peaceful and serene. If I wasn’t the one playing the game, I may have fallen asleep as well. In fact, here’s the exact soundtrack that played; you can listen to it as well to see just what I mean! After playing, you too may understand just how peaceful it was.
I find it rare to find a moment in which Ollie pays attention to my gaming sessions, so I promptly took a picture of him. I grabbed my phone, framed the pillow and the edge of the nightstand so the scene felt quiet on purpose, and snapped the shot right before he finally let the sleep win. I then headed over to GIMP in order to further edit the scene. I felt as if making the image appear to be more of a drawing would fit more.
In order to actually nudge the photo into a sketch, I ran a quick filter in GIMP. I used the Desaturate tool first, then utilized the Cartoon filter to ink the edges more. I tightened contrast with the Levels tool so the textures felt like pen on paper. The black-and-white, comic-leaning look matches the calm of the scene and keeps the focus on Ollie listening. Although it’s a small moment, I felt it’s exactly the kind that makes the drawing version feel right.
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