"Mom, the ghost in my closet got an eviction notice!"
The first drop of the Dead Pixels Ghost Club collection
Are you ready for somethin’ spooky? The Dead Pixels Ghost Club got you covered with their aleatoric NFT collection; exploring themes of fantasy, escapism, child- and adulthood, they are all the rage this week:
Dead Pixels Ghost Club is an art project launched by four long-time friends Raf, Ray, Will and Gℏost Bot, with the first Ghost Club drop minted on April 26th 2022. This drop includes 500 randomly generated pixel ghosts with unique traits.
Our process is a collaborative one where we design as a group and nothing passes the final cut unless all three of us love it. We have a lot of fun with it, and like to think this shows up in the end result, as well as in the spirit (pun intended) of the project.
In their Frightpaper DPGC lists ghost details, describe their brand mission and possible future perks. Additionally, they open-sourced their art generation tools and made it free to download.
With various digital projects under their belt, Will (@will_dpgc) recounts how the ghost template came to them by chance:
The ghosts kinda just happened. We were trying a lot of different format and character ideas but as soon as we saw the dopey little ghost faces we knew that was the one.
Taking a closer look at the gallery, the team’s experience as digital artists becomes apparent, as it presents their ghost collection in a deliberate and rhythmic execution of their pixelized collection.
The genesis ghost #1 is the starting point for all other iterations. Eight randomly generated attributes give every ghost a unique appearance, with some being more rare than others. Among them you will find the background, skin, gestures, facial features and accessories. The ghostly silhouette stays preserved.
With their fluttering sheets and orientation, the majority of ghosts appear to be on their way to haunt the outside their quadratic frame, while some more brave specimen are launched upwards by their jetpacks and/or rainbows.
Why am I talking about deliberate? Even though we are dealing with an aleatoric collection, peculiar and intersectional themes emerge by provision of their creators. While genesis ghost and its variations detract themselves from the rest, all the others grant us a window into what it means to become an adult and how we still share the fantasy world we had as a child.
Despite the ghosts identical size, there are elements that signify if a ghost is roaming childhood, dealing with adulthood or springing from fantasy. It’s the in-betweens where the magic happens.
While ghost #82 with its suitcase and cowboy hat appears to be heading off to work, #379 is rescuing a kitten that got lost in the subway. In contrast, the ghosts #324 with a rainbow-colored propeller hat and #482 seen carrying a skateboard, are sporting age-appropriate items.
Clearly stemming from the fantasy world are the rainbows, sometimes propelling the cutesy characters, sometimes shooting out of their mouths. Horns, wings, special powers and floating gold coins remind us of associated worlds we have explored digitally or that are part of traditional fables.
A classic pirate appears as ghost #190, the bored devil as #409 or its pendant, the bored angel, #286. While some attributes like pets, jetpacks or even unicorn horns are not necessarily coming from fantasy, they will integrate in context. Still, a ghost with a cape and a rainbow stream shooting out of his silhouette, like #164, is a superhero in its most obvious form.
Fantasy and age blur in the 1:1 crops by Raf, Ray, Will and Gℏost Bot. #148 is a child that has discovered its secret abilities, #291 and #435, with their baseball caps and boxing gloves, could be teens looking for a fight, while ghosts with a mustache are either giving off hipster vibes (#484, #99) or can be read as leaning towards the older side.
Escapism from the real world is especially evident in ghosts like #123, with a crown, a cape and a coffee mug or in iteration #251 who seems to be playing ungodly riffs on his guitar, signified with angel wings. That is, when reality and fantasy of our realities overlap. The mischievous child (#118) with bubblegum, as described by their parents, and the anxious teacher figure with antlers (#120). The vaporwave background in ghost #197 is a honorable mention of digital fantasy. Or, taking a look at #141, a ghost who seems to be reciting his letter of resignation in case the boss has a hearing impairment.
Smartphones are nowhere to be found, which might be due to the fact that they qualify as magical objects (“telepathy”) and are used at any age. This door has been left closed and emphasizes the contrast and the intersections of the chosen attributes. However, there are technical items like jetpacks, which are man-made and could hint at the technological attempt to overcome the limits of our world and to escape into fantasy- similar to the story of Icarus.
It is here, where playfulness draw us in to the ghosts’ world, which seems eerily similar to what we experience day-to-day. Even though the little ghosts are banished to their crop, they do not shy away from dialogue with a fictitious partner outside their frame and present a range of reactions and moods. Some, for example, looking oblivious or bored, or others openly showing their anger or happiness.
It is remarkably easy to read the floating Dead Pixel ghosts, which the artists have managed to put in a golden zone of informational density and minimalism so iconic for low-resolution 2D art.
On their website, the creators are featuring a selection of submitted ghost stories, written by their respective holders, leaving open a window for the community to participate in this ghostly metaverse.
Dead Pixels Ghost Club has more drops planned, which are to be announced. It is a project launched and running on the Hedera hashgraph.
Twitter: @deadpixels_club
Website: deadpixels.club
Gallery: turtlemoon.io/dead-pixels
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