Jonathan Shelor

Thesis Project

Jonathan Shelor works to examine games and playable experiences as a vehicle of storytelling. They believe that games of all types can be a truly immersive and full-bodied method of delivering stories and examining ourselves in new and unexpected angles. Ephemera is a worldbuilding project for a game that does not yet exist, set in a world inhabited by human-like bugs. It is an examination of tribalism and war, and hopes to show that no matter how bleak, there is always a better way forward. They were inspired by works like Hollow Knight, Mausritter, Root, Baldur’s Gate, and Bug World, as well as their own lifelong love of insects of all kinds.

Bio
I am, first and foremost, a storyteller. I hope to tell compelling stories with my art and designs. As an emerging artist from Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, I hope to go into a career in concept art, working with the raw visual language of projects and building worlds for games, films, or comics to reside in. I pull influence from a rich history of sci-fi and fantasy, gaming and comics, and the work of fellow artists in the industry, such as Moebius and Jesper Ejsing. I work digitally, in a style that blends cell-shading and watercolor, to create painterly landscapes, props, and creature designs. I think that a wide range of research, unconventional sources of inspiration, and cultural and real world reference are what truly elevate stories into something with depth and emotional impact.