BFA, Studio Art (Painting & Drawing)
Secondary Focus, Creative Technologies

ian.kromer@gmail.com
@ian.maxfield.art
https://twitter.com/PickyPixelArtst

Artist Statement

Umbra

I am a multi-disciplinary artist using my work to explore nostalgia as a means of activating empathy and compassion. My artworks combine my passion for storytelling with a variety of visual mediums to create emotionally compelling imagery. In the context of interactive experiences, the resulting art helps audience members feel their emotions and find healthy ways to process them. Umbra is a free independent game that pays homage to the monster-taming games of the early 2000s. Players engage with characters in need of help, and befriend monsters to provide assistance. Practicing empathy with unfamiliar faces in a controlled setting helps people do the same in real life. The nostalgic pixelated graphics allow players to access a childlike state of optimism making it easier to practice compassion. Pixel art is a decades-old medium that remains in a constant state of evolution and reinvention while retaining connotations of a bygone era. As a medium, pixel art requires artists to work within the confines of a strict visual language. Rather than trying to work around the constraints, I embrace them to fuel my creativity. I combine existing pixel art techniques with new innovations to convey colors, shapes, movements, and emotions to an audience. This combination of classic aesthetic and ever-changing, evolving technique perfectly encapsulates my creative drive for Umbra to be a source of “new nostalgia.”