From Bold Inspirations to Happy Accidents

Of all the moments in the process of creating a video game, there’s one we absolutely love: choosing the visual style. It’s difficult to articulate how we make that choice because it’s shaped by personal taste, references we’ve seen, certain affinities… and, of course, the clear objective of what we want the art to achieve.

For PINEAPPLE, we set out to create a visually unique style—something distinctive, something that truly stands out, with our signature touch. Our vision was to draw inspiration from the world of comics and cartoons—vibrant and colorful—but with one crucial detail: it had to look intentionally imperfect. We wanted the illustrations to appear as if they were sketched by someone who isn’t a professional artist, like a 15-year-old kid doodling in their diary or notebook.

Initially, we had two key references: two of our favorite comic artists, Mauro Entrialgo and Juanjo Sáez. From Mauro, we admired his work on Herminio Bolaextra, Ángel Sefija, and El Demonio Rojo, among other pieces. His irreverent and edgy humor resonated with us. Similarly, we appreciated Juanjo Sáez for his irony, owning nearly everything he’s created.

Mauro Entrialgo illustrations

In a bold move, driven by our admiration, we reached out to them directly to see if they’d be interested in working on PINEAPPLE. Both loved the idea, and we were thrilled at the prospect of collaborating with them. Unfortunately, the stars didn’t align, and we couldn’t secure the necessary resources to bring them on board. But sometimes, setbacks lead to unexpected opportunities, pushing you to explore new paths.

Juanjo Sáez work

That’s how we discovered Conxita, an illustrator and comic artist from Barcelona. Her style was a perfect match for what we envisioned, and she loved the project. She even had a music group, Tronco, that could have created the game’s soundtrack. But once again, timing wasn’t on our side, as her schedule was too full to accommodate our project.

Conxita's style

Just as we were starting to feel a bit desperate, luck intervened, and we found David Octane. What a talent! Where had he been hiding all this time?!

David not only matched our style perfectly, but he also excelled at animation, and his great sense of humor made working with him an absolute pleasure. Every idea we sent his way, David elevated a thousand times over! We quickly aligned and dove into the first sketches and illustrations for the demo. David works the old-school way: drawing by hand and then digitizing his work. While this process is a bit more time-consuming, it results in a natural, authentic feel, with the perfect amount of imperfection.

Some illustrations for the first demo

When we had the opportunity to showcase that demo, we received overwhelmingly positive feedback. People loved it; they found it fresh and different. However… some thought the style seemed a bit childish, leading them to believe it was a game for kids.

We weren’t entirely surprised. We knew this style carried some risks. Animated series like South Park and Family Guy thrive on telling adult stories disguised with a playful, cartoonish aesthetic. So, we discussed with David how we could tweak the style to make it edgier, more rebellious, and yet still uniquely distinctive.

New references

David was all in, and he returned with new, punk-inspired illustrations that truly nailed it. In addition to the character style, the big change also came from a shift in the color palette, inspired by typical fruit stickers.

From this......to this......and this.

And that’s how we arrived at the final style for PINEAPPLE. Some have said it resembles Diary of a Wimpy Kid or the classic Cartoon Network style, and you might see other similarities. But we can confidently say that, in the end, we didn’t achieve the different and unique style we were aiming for, we found something far better.