This is one of the drawings I made for an Artfight unofficial server I own, and it was made for Mayhem (you can check their art here), one of the really cool artists there!
Analog Thrills, also called Eras Clash, is an Artfight attack (basically a submission in my Artfight game) that was created without direct intention to ask for art back, but rather to express gratitude and appreciation towards Mayhem after a very pleasant conversation that we had.
The conversation was about analog media forms and our enjoyment of using them. I align with the 70s and early 80s, and Mayhem aligned with y2k/2000s stuff. We both expressed a lot of frustration and disappointment towards how, in the current times, most media is meant to be streamed and not owned and not being tactile in any way. I gave them advice and wisdom, and together we had a very bonkers experience, which I enjoyed enough to make art out of.
The soul of this whole piece is basically appreciation of people who still resist, who still want to own their media, and who don’t like the consumerism of the modern times. It is a drawn way of saying “Thank you” for the presence, because I am often lonely when it comes to this currently (as of 2026), and being understood is valuable to me.
The characters in the picture are Mayhem’s shark humanoid persona on the left, and my Warden Mark Artfight-specific persona on the right. Their sona is holding an iPod of some sort, and the Warden is holding an old 80s Philips Radiorecorder radio and a 70s tape.
The characters are also wearing era-appropriate clothes and are placed over era-matched backgrounds. There is a lightning zap visual effect between them, giving the visual impression that different timelines are colliding.
Facts about this piece
- The Philips Radiorecorder radio in Warden’s hand is an actual, physical object I own. It is located in my living room on the armrest of a hideous 70s Greek-themed mustard sofa with doilies!
- The tie Warden is inspired by the same physical necktie that directly inspired my character Emilio’s tie, except here it’s colored differently with a 70s palette.
- The aesthetic I used for Mayhem’s y2k design is based on Frutiger Metro, one of the most distinctive aesthetics of the early 2000s.
- The Warden is not like the normal Mark, who is a helium-based gas person alien, he is actually a silhouette demon. A harmless one, whose mere existence exists for art.