Looking for feelings in the art direction process

Hello there,

Here’s to another month of development on The Thousand Arms where the story of art direction continues. I’m still trying to find the tone — that balance between what I want this world to be and what it actually allows itself to become.

Interestingly, this month I shared some of the artworks on a discord and received the most useful feedback in return. Didn’t expect that, but here we are. The feedback being that — I should STOP OVERTHINKING! haha No, it was more pointed then that.

The artists suggested that of all the options I have of styles and concepts (attached below), there is a theme that is certain, that they all belong to a world that is mostly not of the larger entertainment landscape. I have mentioned here before that I want to images to read in a slightly lighter way than the subject matter, and that is one aspect of the visual direction that keeps me going back to redesigning the whole thing over and over again.

With regard to the two Half Ashes Burn illustrations at the bottom left, the one with the higher contrast is what people prefer. Where as, I would rather go for the one with the burning pop art style. Mostly because I already have the two previous illustrations that are in that style.

The chaos continues.

At this point, I have a growing bank of visual directions and stylistic choices. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the philosophy behind the design language. But I’m also realising that my current skill set doesn’t always match the ambition in my head.

So for now, the plan is simple: lean into strengths, move faster, and stop overthinking every decision. And just make a lot of art and then get to them and polish them later.

This illustration has been confusing to work through.

It carries a lot — A backstory. A prophecy. Cultural trauma. And somewhere inside all of that, something simple and beautiful like ‘love at first sight’. At first I was trying to bash all of it at once, and it wasn’t working.

So I let go of the trauma for now. I decided to focus on two threads: the prophecy, and the feeling of being in love.

These are the two snippets from The Thousand Arms I started with:

01/
Legend has it that it was the coldest winter on earth. In the early hours of the winter solstice, Padma rose from his dream and rushed out into the frigid landscape. Stark naked.

02/

The girl, her eyes fixed on her thumb, swung her wrist over herself and swirled like the wind. The tassels on her dress floated like meditation. The boy was pulled toward her by something invisible. Lights blinking. They circled each other in slow, graceful movement.

I started with something very basic — a moment of hand-holding, a sense of celebration.
But it felt more like a movie poster/marketing art then a story moment.

Then I shifted to a frigid landscape. Inspired loosely by Leh-Ladakh, but with room for interpretation. Though this felt like a better starting point.

I began adding more elements. More culture and indications of a village. Trying to make the space feel lived-in, while still holding onto the sense that the character is moving toward something. But deep down I think Satori’s parents falling in love is the true beginning of his person.

From there, I explored some poses for both the landscape and the love scene.
On the right: Padma and his wife.
On the left: Satori’s parents. Dancing.

In a clearer split, on the left, I was trying to capture the loneliness of the landscape — the feeling of being completely alone in a vast space.
On the right, I leaned into the prophecy — almost theatrical, exaggerated, like Satori’s parents dancing at full intensity.

I began testing facial features. And since I have skipped most of the structured character development process for now, I am jumping straight into drawing illustration. Which I know will come and bite me later. But that’s okay. Sometimes it helps to just see what emerges out of the chaos.

The previous version lacks something deeper. So I pushed it further — more character, more movement, more distortion. And also Sunanda, Satori’s mother is a little more sinister looking.
I think I am happy with the proportions of the fathe, Sadananda, but Sunanda needs more work on her form.

Though she is young, I feel she should be a little more stout. Which I will work on in the next steps.

To wrap it up, I gave the image a little more grounding and flow. And some basic colour blocking.

The next phase is to build out the background and improve the character forms. Mainly for Sunanda. Right now, the image feels like it’s missing something. It has structure, but not enough emotional weight. So there is that to add to it as well.

It needs more presence. More expression of love — not just visually, but in how the forms interact with each other.

On another note. After years of putting it off, I finally started sharing the process on YouTube. I had always planned to livestream, but unstable internet and constant movement made it difficult. So I kept delaying it.

But, feels like a good time to start — especially since this is a year where I’m pushing hard to build this project properly. I don’t know if I’ll “finish” The Thousand Arms anytime soon. The scale of the world is far bigger than the pace of development.

But the work is moving. And that matters.

You can follow the process here: