The Art of Grave Seasons

Happy Spooky Season, y’all!

The Perfect Garbage crew is back with another behind-the-scenes devlog on the making of Grave Seasons! This time we’re diving into how we merge the cozy and the unsettling, all while working within the beautiful boundaries of isometric pixel art 🖤

We caught up with Mima (Lead Pixel Artist), Elliott (Pixel Art Direction), Liz (Animation Lead), and Suvi (Art and Audio Direction), four fantastic members of our art team, to chat about how they’ve been shaping the world of Grave Seasons.

You wouldn't expect something eerie happening in a nice little village with cute round chickens, you know? - Mima

Fun Fact: To capture the right kind of dread, the team was encouraged to submit the most upsetting moments they’ve ever experienced in horror media: movies, games, anything that truly stuck with them. Suvi bravely sorted through all the nightmare fuel, and we were left with a disturbingly lovely mood board!

We’re all huge fans of farming sims here at PG, so when the chance came to put a twist on the genre we love, we jumped on it. Farming sims traditionally lean toward a bright, cheerful aesthetic…sunshine, smiles, and cozy cottages. We wanted to take that comfort and layer in something a little darker into this world, something that makes you second guess what may be hiding beneath the surface.

One of my favorite things about working in pixel art is the limitation of the medium. Fitting all of the concepts of creepiness in just a tiny space is very fascinating. - Mima

The team embraces the limitations of pixel art as a strength when it comes to horror. These tiny canvases invite your imagination to step in and fill the gaps. You know that feeling when you catch a glimpse of a shadowy figure and can’t quite tell what it is? Is it a ghost? A curtain? Just the light playing tricks? That same uncertainty is something we’ve been exploring through our art. The mind starts to project its own fears into those little unknown spaces, and we hope that makes it all the more terrifying.

You should certainly be keeping an eye on the world and remembering what it looked like yesterday, because it's not always going to stay the same. - Elliott

And of course, there’s Ashenridge–our little seaside village at the heart of it all. It’s more than just a setting to us…it’s alive, breathing, and quietly watching. We can’t wait for you to explore it.

What’s up next? Stay tuned! Or join the official PG Discord or follow us on Bluesky to find out.

The Perfect Garbage Team