Who are you?
Hi! My name is Jacob. I’m from Poland, and I’m currently a final year student of computer science.
When did you start making art?
I’ve always wanted to create some kind of art, either physical or digital, and I have a soft spot for pixelart since forever. In early 2020, out of covid lockdown boredom, I wanted to try some art media that I found interesting: generating fractals, experimental photography (solargraphy to be exact) and pixelart of course. I stick with the latter as my go-to art medium to this day.
What do you love about art?
Freedom of expression and its diversity. There are absolutely no rules and boundaries, anything can be art. Everyone’s style is different, and one can identify a person through their art easily.
What would you call your style?
When it comes to pieces made and animated by hand, people call them ‘retro pixelart’ and I agree with that. There’s also ‘generative pixelart’ made with Pico-8 fantasy console (shoutout to @aebrer, my master of a generative way <3) that I create under ‘T4NG0F0X’ alias. I also want to shift my style a bit in the future, adding some isometric and/or environmental elements.
Where does the name come from?
‘Guandanarian’ is a name developed over many years of constantly changing online aliases to one that is purely unique and hard to pronounce :). It means… exactly nothing!
On the other hand, ‘T4NG0F0X’ (or T4NG0 F0X) is a nod to NATO phonetic alphabet. The whole project is about plying with code and generating unexpected, but pleasant to look at visuals and interactive pieces. I cut the letter W from a popular ‘wtf’ expression and replaced letters T to Tango and F to Foxtrot, also cutting the latter to Fox. Leet stylization is just purely aesthetic choice.
What adds value to your art?
When creating pixelart by hand, every pixel has a story and is placed where it is for a specific reason. You, as the viewer, have to find out what the reason is. With these pieces I aim to present bits of stories that one can interpret in their own way. I also try to limit my canvas space as a personal challenge. If I remember correctly, my biggest piece was 512x512px (before upscaling).
With T4NG0F0X I mostly aim for aesthetically pleasing, but at the same flashy screensaver-like visuals, some of which one can even interact with!
What impact do you want your art to have on the world?
I want people to slow down and enjoy little things. Literally and figuratively.
Do you have any creations you’ve made that are your favorite?
Blue Forest /// RGB Dimension is definitely one of my favorites. It showcases a duality of the world through peaceful scenery changing into virtual world in a split second. In this piece I used the technique that I call ‘subpixelart’, which translates RGB values of each 3×3 pixel group into a square of the same size that uses only red, green and blue stripes to imitate original color. This technique is similar to the ClearType algorithm used for smoothing fonts.
From more recent creations, Rainbow Access Memory is a bit unexpected one made from scrapped Pico-8 gif. With the magic of Aseprite (my pixelart weapon of choice) I broke this gif into pieces and modified it with a completely new color palette, out of Pico-8’s reach. To create a nice contrast, the rest of this piece is made with black and white chunky blocks made out of lines that imitate wires and motherboard components. I absolutely love how this one turned out, and I think I’ll explore this handmade + generative pixelart style a bit more 🙂
Why did you choose hic et nunc?
I was doing research for my master’s thesis about blockchain when I stumbled upon @noealz video about Proof of Stake NFT marketplaces, hic et nunc and Kalamint to be exact. I had known NFTs exist on Ethereum blockchain, but PoS NFTs were new to me. One hour later, I bought my first tez and minted a genesis piece just to test how HEN works. Fast-forward I’m here!
What advice would you give to struggling artists?
Not to be afraid to show their art to the wider audience and keep on pushing!
Anyone you want to shoutout?
Some of my faves: @aebrer, @jfemiki/@spirito_xyz, @petStarChippy/@chipsters_tez, @jmh_wwyg/@marblez_tez, @_soupsoup_, @mumu_thestan, @ChunkyIsla, @spogelsemaskine, @NeonPez But there are many, many more!
Anything else?
Anyone can become an artist 🙂 Thank you!