When creating the art style for The Path, we were influenced by several wonderful artists. We are trying to interview them all. Our interview with Lisa Falzon was published a while ago. And the interview with Ray Caesar was done in that same period. But we never got around to publishing it. What better moment than the first anniversary of The Path to share this very insightful and inspiring interview with one of the world’s most imaginative contemporary artists!
People think I paint pictures of children… I don’t! I paint pictures of the human soul… that alluring image of the hidden part of ourselves… some call them ghosts or spirits but I see them as the image of who we truly are, made manifest with all the objects and bruises that filled the story of each life.
I look at the game industry today and see only one game… it starts the same and ends the same and it’s sold in a variety of names and packages and has no mystery because it is not utilizing creativity as well as it could…
They are not the same girl. Or are they?
The Girl in Red Wolf is an even bigger mystery than The Girl in White when you meet her.
The Girl in White was the first model made for The Path prototypes. We couldn’t keep re-using the girl model from 8. The Girl in White of The Path is much older. I was perfectly ready for a re-design and asked the help of Ted Pendergraft. Here are a couple of his suggestions. But everything he gave seemed too much of a radical departure from the original girl. I think that if he could have worked with us longer we would have come to something great. But he had other work at the time which drew him away.
I went back to my original concept for this character and started from scratch. We always wanted one of the wolves to be female, it just had to be. We liked the concept of there being twins in the game. (at one time we’d even thought of making Ginger and Rose be twins.) But then at some point, it felt good to split the Girl in White into her shadow self. And the girl most likely to be attracted would have to be Ginger. A girl stuck between child and teenager and a total Tomboy.
A switch in hairstyle & dress and The Girl in White becomes The Girl in Red Wolf. click to see them larger.
Now perhaps the Girl in White and the Girl in Red are aspects of each other. The Girl in White always trying to be helpful to those lost in the forest and Girl in Red is always playing tricks, her disappearing act, tripping Ginger up so she falls, etc. And all those birds that suddenly show in the field… Maybe the girls have encountered her before and that’s why they keep chasing the Raven away on The Path… they don’t want the Girl in Red Wolf around! Only Ginger wants to play with her, unlike her sisters this wolf likes rough games, she understands. Ginger doesn’t want to grow up and this wolf in red doesn’t either. They are 3 of a kind, all 13 years old, they are what is missing from each other’s lives. So Ginger wants to play…
… and who can blame her, she is the perfect playmate.
