3rd July 2024 Community Spotlight: Moss Baby's Stylish Remedy Artwork [w. Interview]

Community Spotlight is a regular feature that highlights and celebrates amazing fan projects in the Remedy community. This time, we're putting Moss Baby in the spotlight and taking a closer look at their brilliantly stylish and hilarious artwork, guaranteed to improve your day. 

I've been wanting to write this community spotlight for such a long time; I absolutely adore Moss Baby and their incredible artwork and it's such a treat to delve into their portfolio, the contents of which may surprise you! At first, my social media feed will show me one of their cartoons; a quirky style that beautifully complements the lightheartedness of scenes, but then I see another, this time a more realistic heartbreaking photo of Alan hugging Alice after over a decade apart. Both feel authentic to that Alan Wake vibe, but fires off very different emotional sparks. 

Continuing to scroll through her portfolio, there's clear and constant care that has been taken to each of the pieces; the colours are thoughtfully matched and each digital brush stroke is carefully considered. Moss Baby is extremely talented and it was that passion and level of creativity that drew me to her and her work. I love nerds who nerd out about their favourite things in their own style.

But there also was something else that I really liked about them, that I couldn't quite put my finger on... until recently. 

I was in two minds about writing the next bit (and if you're reading it, I decided to keep it in at the last minute), but between reaching out to Moss Baby and getting the first draft of this article done, I unexpectedly lost someone really close to me. After the initial adjustment, things like kind gestures and just nice things stand out a lot more, and you appreciate those who created something to make your day a little better, even if just something someone put out into the world. And everything about her work and her attitude is genuinely warm fun and kind.

I got seriously lucky when I reached out to Moss Baby, someone who actively makes the community better, with sweet and funny artwork packed with in-jokes. Not to mention their genuine passion for other artists in the community; their feeds are packed with support, shares and friendships. (They are also extremely patient when it comes to delays! Sorry for the wait!) It was that wholesome nerdiness that appealed to me straight away when I first saw their work in February and has stayed with me since. 

On the topic of their art, while they experiment with different tones and styles, they all are created with a familiarity of the series in mind, and for like-minded fans. In our interview, I bring up my love of her Cynthia Weaver's piece, which shows the lady breaking into an energetic rave, complete with glow sticks; absolutely ridiculous and yet absolutely perfect. It's those little in-jokes about "the lady of the light raving in the night", the wild animalistic version of Scratch we see in the sequel, or Wake's instance of being involved in the FBI when he gets back.

Alan Wake is a tragedy in many ways, but maybe similar to grief in many ways, those bittersweet happy moments stand out even more so. And they are at their best when they're shared and celebrated, exactly like Moss Baby's art does. 

I'm definitely not the only one who adores their work; their posts tend to rack up likes in their hundreds, alongside thousands of views, but they were also one of the winners of the recent 10K Discord fan art competition; hand-selected by Remedy to win an FBC pin, for their piece below.

We recently had the pleasure of learning more about their work, how they got started in art, and why they chose Alan Wake. Check out our conversation below!

First of all, we'd love to know a little more about you! Can you tell us about yourself?

Hello, and thank you so much for this opportunity! I'm Moss Baby, and I'm a 23-year-old Canadian lady! I love video games, movies, trains, music, the 1970s, TV shows, stuffed animals, shiny things, and snow storms! I went to college for Animation, and my ultimate dream is to be a storyboard artist and one day maybe even helm my own cartoon.

When and how did you get your passion for art?

It's hard to say, but probably the day I was born! Which was really not that long ago, considering I'm the Moss Baby ;) haha! In all seriousness, I have a few graphic novels that I wrote and drew when I was too young to spell "Help" correctly. I produced them all under my fake conglomerate, "Little Artist Co." I'm not sure what drew me to art way back when, but most of my stories were inspired by whatever book I was reading at the time! I think the ability to create was just so enticing I started one day and never stopped! It's a truly magical power to be able to get what's in your head out into the world!

Your illustrations have the perfect mix of nerdyand funny. How did you develop your style and were there any artists that inspired you?

Oh wow, thank you very much!! To be honest, I never thought I had much of a style! I would think of myself as having potential but never quite getting to that happy place. I believe that is a common feeling among artists! Nowadays, I feel a lot more confident and consistent, and I owe it to all my artist friends and kind supporters! I think being exposed to so many cartoons and creators has slowly morphed me into what I am today. I find myself inspired by pretty much every artist I follow on social media! I save a lot of their posts as "True Art Living" to look back on when I'm drawing. I take little pieces of everyone haha! There is this one artist I can specifically say changed me though. When I first looked up Alan Wake fan art I found this piece by "firepowerwalkwithme" on tumblr that inspired me to start integrating the abundance of lines that I use in my art.

Where do you start when designing a new piece? Do you have any routines or traditions that you do to get into the art-zone?

That one can be really tricky. I have a tough time focusing in general, and I have to figure out what sort of noise is going to get me out of my head and into my art. Some days I need to listen to an OneyPlays video I've seen a thousand times, and some days I need to listen to Balance Slays the Demon on repeat! Original soundtracks from movies and games usually do the trick. I also like to scroll through Instagram for a moment before drawing. It puts me in such a pumped up mood for creating art when I see everyone's fabulous work!

How and when were you introduced to Remedy's games?

Now, this one is a little embarrassing, to be sure, but I had never really given any thought to Remedy games until the 2023 Game Awards. I know I'm a psycho! No really, I'm a psycho ;)! I had been vaguely aware of Alan Wake's existence since its debut, but had a completely different idea of what it was like. My step-brother became very interested in the franchise after he saw the trailer for Alan Wake 2, so he bought it and sort of filled me in on all the cool things in the game while he was playing it. It sounded interesting for sure, but I still didn't look into it! Then came The Game Awards. We were both watching it, hoping for a nice Alan Wake 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder sweep, when suddenly came the performance of a lifetime. Herald of Darkness started to play, and the rest is history!

What made you decide to create artwork for Alan Wake 2?

Sooo yeah, after seeing the dance and the lovely developers at The Game Awards, I went crazy for it! The first drawing I did was of Alan's fly moves, and it evolved from there as I learned more and more about the games. I quickly bought Alan Wake Remastered and played it to perfection (yeah I am bragging), got involved with the online Remedy community, and watched whatever relevant YouTube videos I came across! Crazily enough, I still haven't played Alan Wake 2! My laptop just doesn't have the strength, but I'm currently making my way through it with my step-brother.

From start to finish, on average, how long does it take you to make a single piece? And what's the hardest aspect or most time-consuming part to get right when creating them?

I have a tendency to overestimate how quickly I finish any given piece, but I want to say about 3-4 hours? I like to draw from start to finish in the mornings to try and post before noon. The sketching and line art are my absolute favourites, and they usually don't take me long. Colouring and rendering is where I spend all my time! That stuff is just not my forte, and I always fuss around with it for way too long. A lot of the time I don't end up happy with the results! I look for ways to improve on this with every attempt.

Do you have a favourite piece that you're especially proud of? (One of my personal favourites is Cynthia Weaver raving in the night. I love that one so much, and I've sent that piece to so many people.)

Oh, I am so happy you like that one! I appreciate that a lot! That idea was spinning around in my head for a while, haha! This is a wonderful question, and took me some time to think about. I am quite happy with my recent entry for the Remedy 10k Discord member fanart contest, but I would have to say my favourite is that one stupid image reference exercise where Alan is holding up the payphone to the hotel room peephole. It makes me laugh every time I look at! I actually like the shading I did on it too xD

Do you have any art plans or projects in the future that you're excited about or hoping to get underway?

I am very excited for the Oceanview Guestbook fanzine that is coming this fall! I am doing four spot illustrations as well as a full page! There's a lot of amazing talent involved, and I urge everyone to check it out on social media! I have a bucketful of ideas I'm always sort of fiddling with, but nothing much concrete. There are of course more Alan Wake-related drawings and maybe even animations to come! Oh, and my commissions are open hehe :)

A huge thank you to Moss Baby for the interview and brilliant artwork. You can follow her on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.

Posted in: Community Spotlight, Fan Focus