Backburner Art #11a- Half-Life 2

There's a specific song that plays when you're going through the underhang of the huge-ass bridge in this game. The song got me to reflect that this is the most dangerous place that Gordon Freeman had ever travelled through this game. Sure, there are some other places that have radiation, and of course there are the difficult enemies, but the biggest threat here is the several thousand meter drop that he has to precariously travel over. The place, by itself, is the most dangerous area. The combines that are chasing you is the cherry on top.

So, I wanted to reflect this. First up, it took at least two tries to get the bridge right, let alone the support beam things. It took a while to get the support looking good, and thankfully through the use of smart fill-tool ideas, it was a smoother process than it would be if I did all of the other diagonal parts. The rest of the bridge was pretty easy.

I put some land in the background, mostly because that's the other piece of land the bridge connects to, but also to show just how sheer a drop it is down to the ocean below. Speaking of which, I gave part of the land a brush stroke at the bottom to show that it's rising from the ocean.

All of the screenshots that I was using as a reference for the bridge had a muted, foggy feel. To the point where it looks like the surface of the ocean smoothly blends into the sky (or whatever we can see of it) at the horizon. Not only did I do this, but I also decided to make everything foggy as well. Each layer set has its own layer of fog, using a Fog Lighten blend mode.

I think Gordon turned out fine. He doesn't look as strong as he should be, and he's missing his weapons (including his crowbar and gravity gun), but I guess that helps with the tone I wanted to present here. I had him experience the same thing I did, with him looking down at the ocean below, wondering what kind of journey it took for him to get here. That also explains why there's text, to show his thoughts, and to make a little joke.

The text has a thirst use though, and that was to make sure that people understood that he's pondering his journey, and not looking to end it all. I want him to seem like he's reminiscing on how someone like him ended up here, but not in a way that mirrors people who are clinically depressed and want to off themselves. I may not be the nicest person, but I don't want to trigger that kind of thing, so the words are showing you his thoughts so that you don't get the wrong message. If you, who is reading this, feels that way, I wish I had more help to offer than just wishing for you to get better. Stay safe.