Some words from Pastel Castle

Big Wows 2.5D pixel art animated video collection. All of the videos have been built digitally frame-by-frame at my home animation studio in Leeds. I tend to consume a lot of sugar and chocolate while working, especially on long 10-18 hour animation shifts. I also tend to rinse full cartoon series from start to finish during animation work (recently including Neo Yokio, Adventure Time, Bravest Warriors,My Little Pony, Rilakkumaand Kaoru, Attack on Titan, Tokyo Ghoul and Pokemon Indigo League).

Show LoveI always find clarity of thought in when I am immersed in water. Igo to the pool to think out a creative idea really good. The videofor Show Love is an illustration for this process as, the lyrics are like an internal monologue projected onto tiles at the bottom of the pool. The song itself is big holiday vibes to me and I wanted to make a pure lightwave / super chill movie to accompany it. It was while making this video I discovered Me and BeX share adeep love for digital water. Show Love is the first of a pair of pool themed videos.

Back in Time is a fictional fantasy adventure game set in an ancient yet technologically advanced world. It heavily references early NES games with faux RPG mechanics and a top down view. The bad guys in Back in Time are little green jealous demons who are a bit too obsessed with their phones to actually put up a fight. The level design is quite inspired by the magical synthetic forests of Zelda and Pokemon (Gold/Silver)

Vapourwave video Joking Me taps into the beauty of the primitive internet. The lyrics are illustrated in a series of pop-up boxes, folder labels and other early pc use of typography. Inspiration is drawn from experiences of the Windows 95 / 98 computers, which I absolutely love. It was on a 98 that I learned how to animate using MS powerpoint like a flip book. Online communication is SO GUILTY of information misinterpretation, but also it's kind of adorable. It seems to be the perfect way to illustrate a message misunderstood.

Why Haven't I features band members BeX, M and Luci as a collection of handheld Tamagotchi Consoles. The three have the ability to connect, sing and play together. The Appearances are inspired by Chantotchi and Chamametchi. Much like original tamagotchi characters the girls have the ability to transform and morph in appearance and are much more visually expressive in this particular video.

Girl (PastelFortress) is the master meta movie that features all of the other Songs from the album 'Big Wows' within a Video Game Arcade. I teamed up with my companion, Night fortress to make this video. Even for the two of us, the amount of visual content we generated is much higher in this video than all of the others! Elements and objects from the entire video series can be found in this one. TheArcade is a virtual paradise of fun and games. The video also features Cameos of Pastel Castle, Night Fortress, Glittery Lilac and Gyuri Chloe Lee. (Animators involved in the BigWows Squad)

Just Dreaming is the second of a pair of pool themed videos, this one set at night. As a practitioner in lucid dreaming, I feel quite deeply about this song. I have included a scene which the protagonist runs a reality check, by observing their hands during the question 'So what if I'm just dreaming?'. This is an excellent way to work out if you are awake or not (I recommend you do this right now).

Big Wows (PastelFortress) is another Pastel Fortress collaborated work. Between us we drink an awful lot of pop as it is great pixelling fuel, which is the theme of this song. Sugar and POP! Night fortress designed a fictional range of pop drinks, including flavours such as 'Clear' and 'Rainbow'. We want them because they are so unattainably amazing. We had a lot of fun using pixels to create kinetic energy, bubbles and gravity in the 'Big Wows' video.

Breathe uses pixel pseudo-anime Avatars to telepathically transfer the lyrics to you. It is all about shapes and vibration. Luci takes the same fantasy faery form as in the ending of 'Just dreaming' and M is illustrated as an urban legend Black Eyed Kid. Spooky Vibes stem from playstation's 'Jade cocoon'and 'Heart of Darkness' games, also the new 'The Way' for switch.

True Colours is a 2.5D motorbike racing video based loosely in Japan and is inspired graphically by games like Outrunners, F-Zero, Kawasaki Superbike Challenge (SNES), and Virtua racer (Sega Mega Drive) this whole idea was really just based on the energy and movement in the song, the synths and arps in particular. It would be crazy if I didn't get them wearing the kitty helmet in this one.

Choose like you' is based on the planet simulator 'SimEarth' the living planet. In the game you make changes to the world and attitudes within it to make the future better or worse. To parallel this, throughout this video parameters such as love, inclusivity, and empathy etc are boosted to create a beautiful world where all humans and creatures can live harmoniously. It is featured in the mastervideo 'Girl' as a cluster of cabinets surrounded by a big see through rainbow seat and is played

by Gyuri Chloe Lee (the creator of the animated video 'Show Love')