The Genius of Disco Elysium's Portraits
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ค. 2024
- 00:00 Kim and Jean
02:14 Other Portraits
07:35 Harry's Archetypes
09:31 Meaning and Accidents
11:20 The Artist - Alexander Rostov
A video about the art of Disco Elysium, and the character portraits in particular.
CC available - เกม
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- SPOILER - One thing I skipped:
Kim's portrait is Harry's perspective on him from when he wakes up from a specific event later in the game:
"*Sunrise, parabellum*," the lieutenant says. He's in the middle of a freshly cleaned room, with the fan above his head like a halo. His face is covered in bruises."
I think the white circle can also be seen as Kim's hidden sympathies for the communards. White is associated with the communards in-game, and I think the disc hewing so close to Kim's mind isn't a coincidence given what we learn about his sympathies in game. The bomber jacket, Aces High/Low... there's something there under the Moralist shell.
You mean on the boat at area 2?
no, in his room in the whirling, after the tribunal
Thank the innocences that you didn't sleep on that detail, I was about to be quite saddened by the lack of mention.
LETS GOOOOOOOO That’s what I think separates it from Dolores. I see people say it’s reminiscent of Harry deifying someone else but Dora is something in Harry’s mind, with a super colorful portrait that really contrasts with Kim’s I think. Kim is physically there with him. None of the skills say he has a halo, that’s the narration (which I suppose you could argue is still through Harry’s lens but I digress) I just think it’s really cool that you as the audience are shown such a detail from the beginning. I love this game a normal amount (speaking of portraits, I totally think inland empire is the hole in the universe and I have proof I swear)
Haha that Kim portrait in the background on the news is like a pleasant jumpscare
So a "surprise"?
@@rticanteTequila surprise? Wait. Sunrise. Wait. Sunset. I... wait.... Mr Evrart is helping me find my gun.
@@JB-xl2jc more like helping you find your words.
Kim is THE homie
It's so funny lol. Just straight up Kim's portrait lol
Kim's portrait burned a shadow image on my monitor and even now, years after, i can still see the ghostly white circle that surrounds his head and just quite make out the frame of his glasses.
he's telling you to get off the PC :)
@@JamrockHobo”I know you’re gaming, detective, but we really need to get back to the case.”
That’s beautiful
Legend has it only playing Pinball 3D for several hours consecutively will make him disappear again 😱
@@comradeclown3403 lmao i read this in his voice, i can practically hear the quotes he would put around the word 'gaming'
I think I might be an idiot, I never realized Measurehead's Babe had Measurehead in the background
when i realized it i had that response when you like, find something thats not supposed to be there in a picture, like an empty room and then you see a scary face or something
kinda funny i think
if you look closely you see him in her name too
I never did either, my sister pointed it out in her own playthrough after I had finished mine and I was like what the fuck
i only noticed it on my second playthrough. it kind of scared me lol
Harry shaved and not smiling is honestly kind of harrowing
if i was a law a biding citizen of revachol and that harry would traffic-stop me, i would say my last prayers
my one soft reset other than death was when I tried shaving the mustache. It was awful and I could not live with that face for the rest of the game
He is a *professional*.
@@dclqworm I've shaved a mustache and removed the expression in both of my playthrough. It's painful, extremely painful, but I see it necessary. Both mustache and smile seem very fake to me. That's a mask, not a real joy. Sad shaved Harry is a real man and everything else is a destructive coping mechanism. He must see who he really is, and only then he can start healing. I hope he'll return both smile and mustache in the future, but with real joy this time
@@Nice_Tree I don't see it that way. Even if it is fake I don't see it as destructive, but hopeful. Fake it til you make it type thing. It's how I live my life, as a willfully ignorant optimist. I feel like it increases my volition stat.
I like the fact that Cuno and Half Light have the same pose. Likewise Titus and Authority. You can probably find more similarities.
Measurehead and authority as well
@@e1221 There was a post about that on tumblr I believe? A couple of years ago. Iirc it's Measurehead with Logic, Kim with Composure (his profile), Klaasje with Perception, Soona with Shivers, Evrart with Suggestion, and Dolores Dei with Empathy. One could also say Kim is Inland Empire because of the halo. And of course, Cuno with Half Light and Titus with Authority.. It's a pretty interesting thing to think about tbh
Kim and composure, measurehead and logic (ironically)
@@bigburd875 You can be completely logical and still go astray, if your premises are unsound and you never stop to re-examine them.
Measurehead is completely logical. But, as the Logic skill description states, he is also "very proud and thus susceptible to intellectual flattery." His worldview is internally-consistent, but he can't see beyond it to realize that the premise on which he's operating is bullshit.
00:32 Sarah Zhang is the wife of Justin Keenan, one of Disco Elysium's writers. So that might be why there's his picture in their home :) iirc there was an interview here on TH-cam where one of the interviewers told him there was Kim's portrait on TV and he answered that it's because that was his wife on TV
I did not know that!
@@JamrockHobo hm, I keep posting the interview but my reply always gets deleted. Let's hope it stays like this:
It's not on YT but on a GDC talk instead, at around the 57th minute.
Search for it with the title GDC Podcast Live! Hosted by Gamasutra feat. Disco Elysium writer Justin Keenan
@@hsvfanjan17 found it, thank you!!
WHAAAAAAAAAA
i did not know that either that's crazy! always thought she was just a scientist who happened to be really into disco elysium as well
One neat thing about Jean's portrait is that his face's details are also blurred slightly, which ties into Harry not recognizing him for 90% of the game.
Tiktok playing subway surfer to give more visual stimuli to occupy viewers: Dumb.
Jamrock Hobo putting litterall jingling keys on screen: Based.
fr it actually helped lmao. it made me feel like a toddler but at least i paid attention
I would be offended if I hadn't just read the text about the 2024 brain and still looked off to the horizon, only to be pulled back by the keys
I love how your own portrait can change throughout the game
I like how every possible change just makes you look even more sad and pathetic
Having a portrait of Kim hanging on the wall as a Saint icon to protect the area is such a funny yet cool and kinda accurate thing to do
The fact that the art doesn't only act as set dressing for the game, but it is such an essential element of Disco Elysium really got me. I first discovered DE because of the ridiculously beautiful fan art I've seen of it, and after playing the game as an artist myself I understood why. It's really not a hyperbole when I say DE changed the way I make art and living life in general. It is screaming at you that art is what's moving the world forward despite everything.
I didn't even get to the point that it inspired such an ridiculous amount of fanart. true!
yes!! as an artist DE's been such a huge inspiration to me. I really love seeing impressionist-style paintings being applied to a medium like video games, since I used to be really into more 'traditional' art (i practically grew up on it, and impressionism is my favorite) before I switched to learning artstyles that would better suit the kinds of jobs I'd want and are in higher demand nowadays. It's really inspirational to see how those two worlds can be combined, and it's given me a new appreciation for both painting and video games.
seeing some fanart for it was what got me to play it too lol
Technically, according to the DE world, art and all thought is accelerating the pale. In our own world, yeah.
Measurehead's portrait might be my favorite because it's so abstract and uncanny, like you approach this wall of a man and instantly know at some level that he is NOT human. He is purely a threat, an obstacle. Don't expect to reason with him or extract useful information.
tfw you can reason with him and extract useful information
i love how you describe the three portraits
the intellectual harry is isolated from the world. He knows but does not _feel_ it.
the sensitive harry is the opposite, he's extremely connected. he doesn't know much but he _feels_ a lot.
physical is once again completely unique. He's neither isolated nor connect, but he _emenates_ into the world. He doesn't know but he makes himself known, he doesn't feel but he makes himself felt.
You can even see this in the general gameplay, intellectual and sensitive harry interact with the world by observing and judging it, either the hard reality or the complex social world it contains, physical harry however progresses not by _observing_ but _interacting_ with the world.
One portrait I really like is the one of the girl who works at the convenience store. She has these completely blurred out eyes that seem obscured by her hat. It reminds me of when I used to be a teenage store clerk. Much of the time my personality was completely surpressed by an impersonal professional mask. But behind the yellow blending you can see one eye, sharp and observant. Observing, judging, but not caring.
Also the yellow from her hat that is obscuring her eyes is also forming what looks like a wisp of smoke coming from the top of her head. Maybe this yellow is like Roy's yellow, and she's high at work? It would certainly explain the covered eyes. I remember being stoned as a store clerk, I'd hide my eyes too out of fear that the redness would alert everyone that I was stoned lol. Maybe I'm projecting too much but that's what I think of it anyway.
Great video btw Hobo
The blue ‘smokey’ shapes kinda look like a jester’s hat to me!
5:35 The colors on Dolores Dei’s portrait- the purple, yellow, red, and blue- are all taken from the colors of Harry’s skills. It’s part of showing that she is just another weapon his mind is using against itself- having overwrote her, betrayed her, and become all the more powerful for it.
One thing I've noticed that I don't see a lot of people talking about is how yes, all of the union men have the white and red portrait background, however, Evrart's portrait has the white and red flipped. I'm fairly certain this signifies him being on top of everyone else in the organisation, setting himself above and apart from the average member of the unwashed masses but still being a clearly marked and proud part of their organisation
Yeah I too dont think that it symbolizes him going against the union members interest. It's just him being the boss
Well, to feed into the idea of his inverted colors represent that his role in the group is warped and wrong: everyone else believes and contributes to the cause but he uses and manipulates it, and them, for his own personal gain. It's a perversion of the cause. It's like that political statement of a national flag being flown upside down, declaring something is wrong with the nation.
And spinning off of that, there's another character who parallels that upside down look. The Deserter. His colors are also upside down to represent his namesake, how he ditched his comrades when they needed him the most and hid away afterward instead of working to get it back going. Which ties into the big difference between the two: The lack of red. His color is dark, representing his cause being long lost and obliterated. He is worse then Evrart.
It you reject the idea of the upside down representing corruption, then it's a signifier of him formerly being a Political Commissar, comparable to Evrart's role as the boss of the union.
About Jean portret. There are square halos in some regious depictions. Jean's halo became black, full with bad thoughts, it's is still a halo. While Jeand indeed more edgier, he still cares deeply about Harry. He was with Harry for a long time and it left a mark.
Square halos were traditionally painted around the heads of still living persons, bishops or emperors and the like. Although I don't think that particular distinction was taken into account with Kim and Jacques (Kim doesn't seem to have been a ghost, after all!). Soft & protective vs angled and harsh seems to be the right take on those.
Thank you for the jangling keys, milord
I love Egghead and Tiago the most.
Egghead with his goofy expression, his nonsensical phrases, his boundless hope and genuine love for his crew are perfectly present in his portrait.
Tiago the Crab Man looks mysterious, his body looks as if it has become one with the wooden beams of the church itself, which he very well may have with how weird the universe of Elysium truly is.
Tiago specifically looks to me like a marble statue, hidden up in the shadows of the attic.
@@googoogajoog1334 I think marble don't fit him. Wood is much better. He carved some sculptures of church wooden supports and we could say Tiago become one of this statues himself
Encyclopedia (Challenging: Success):
Dolores Dei 5:18 . Her lungs are visible. Incredibly intimate. today not so much since the invention of the x-ray; During the Victorian times having a picture of your insides taken was exposing you in a way that was worse than being naked on a busy street.
I think the writers where inspired by the novel "The Holy Mountain". Trapped in a clinic in the mountains for tuberculosis, a love interest gives the protagonist - despite its rational purpose - a picture of her lungs, revealing her flesh to a man who cannot treat her medically.
It's one of my favourite novels and I never thought about that connection. That's great!
im sorry but i cannot find this novel thru google, it only shows From The Holy Mountain book about some christians or whatever, do u have a link or any tips how to find this novel?
@@PaprikaParade1 you won't find it, because it's actually called "The Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann
I didn't even notice that they didn't use the right name haha. I have an old GDR version that says it's illegal to circulate it in western Germany. really cool
3:16 MEASUREHEAD JUMPSCARE
(seriously, how did I never notice him in the background of his groupie's portrait...)
Great video ! The one who had the most impact on me was Ruud Hoenkloewen's. First of all, you are already surprised to see there is one more mercenary, but then you see his portrait which I feel like is one of the most unique. With only shades of white, black and grey, not only I think he is the only character who is not showing his face but he is also looking directly at you. You can't see what is behind that facemask. The shape of the mask creates a sort of mix bewteen a skull and a scarecrow. You immediately know this guy is a threat, someone you can't reason with and shit is really about to go down. I remember just staring at his picture when it came up, trying to understand what I saw.
a really alien presence, absolutely
I always thought he looked like that one mercenary from star wars the clone wars
The helmet really makes him seem like a grim reaper figure. Death personified.
i really like how it makes it Feel like youre looking up at him even though its more or less face-level, the lighting makes it seem like youre metaphorically below this foreboding threatening figure
@@artic2312 that's exactly what i thought when i saw him for the first time! he looks like Death itself, and completely inhuman
I love this video so much. As a legally blind person all of this stuff went completely over my head so basically thank you for letting me appreciate all the work they put in to these portraits:)
Great video, love this type of discussion!
To add to the discussions on backgrounds: I never noticed Sileng's background being so much like Joyce's. It seems a little more 'corrupt' like a poor imitation of Joyce's. It's been a minute, but isn't Sileng that kind of hustle culture ultraliberal that's chasing a story he's been sold? Makes sense that he'd want to immitate Joyce.
Kim is our babygirl saint
When I first stumbled on random gameplay of Disco Elysium on youtube, I noticed Harry's portrait and felt like I instantly knew what he was about. And having experienced the game for myself now I was amazed how much of Harry's character the artist was able to convey in a single portrait.
egg head’s portrait always makes me think he’s an elf or something
8:13 his head is literally in the clouds, you can see an image of it nearly blended in with the blue and white background
Surprised that you didn't mention how the pose of several portraits are based on skills (or the other way around). Most noticeable with Measurehead/Authority and Cuno/Half Light
Alexander is a treasure that must be protected, creating such amazing visuals while barely having the tools to learn the art. Great video Hobo!
I'm making a dnd campaign with my bf. Me having played the game and him in still haven't finished. I want to make a portrait of my character in this style and though I'd say I know how to draw good enough, I've hardly took into account what I want to express with my art. This made me understand much more the true meaning of making that art, and honestly, it is cool looking.
Thank you for the Disco Elysium content, this game is so rich on it's components, I'll be seeing the rest of your vids now.
"Thank You Kim for not calling my Harry a idiot + having a little dance with him
Your a real one
X"
9:30 Personally I think Physical Harry isn't emanating light, but breaking though it, smashing though the background like he smashes though the world
4:23 While the portraits of all the other union members have white and red in the background, in Evrart's portrait these colors are flipped, showing that his interests and position are actually the opposite of the interests of the union he exploits.
I will say theres an interpreation of everat. That he's pretending to be corrupt so captital thinks he's someone who can be controled.
Nothing is more convenient to the corruption in moralintern than someone who can be bought.
He does still disregard the lives of others however
After several playthroughs, I've concluded that Evrart does have Martinaise's best interests at heart.
He just sees the only way to get there through his corrupt methods.
i thought that it was flipped because you wouldn't be able to see the red so well if it wasn't
Interesting that you think his interests are the opposite of the rest of the union, given the subjective nature of the game.
Regardless of if that's true or not, it would certainly be Harry's first impression.
1:02
*Composure doesn't break when calling him a slur
*Mentioning icebreaker
"ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!"
Kim's used to slurs. The depths of Harry's nonsense are a heavy novelty.
Kim had been putting up with way too much of Harry's nonsense before that point
Do you have a favourite portrait, or a headcanon that goes with one?
i like tiagos
I love Dolores Dei's portrait, and Tiago's portrait, Measurehead is also a classic
Half light is my favourite, it looks exactly Just how I imagined it
i love the fash harry aesthetics. he starts combing his hair there. i wish he could look like that without the fash lol
I think it would be a tie between Kim and Egg Head. That pseudo-halo framing Kim's dead-serious face just utterly completes the character every time he speaks. It's straightforward, but extremely effective. He is instantly understood and instantly appealing.
Egg Head's luminous glory mostly serves to underscore the absurd Scooter memes pouring out of his mouth, but it also underscores what a hopeful character he is. Even if he could stand to engage a few more brain cells when he's workshopping new shoutouts (please don't turn him into a fascist/Moralist), it's great to see how much he actually cares about his friends and his vision of anodic music as a tool to bring people together and heal his damaged world.
He's like a poorly molded knock-off Donald Duck night-light in a dark, dingy room -- extremely absurd, but a reassuring presence nonetheless.
One of my favourite details about the Union's portraits, was the fact that Evrart's background was the polar opposite to the Hardie Boy's, subconsiously telling the player, that even though they might be a part of the same organization, they use extremely different methods to get what they want (its also a reference to the fact that Titus control's the "militant" wing of the Union).
honestly i never thought of the portraits as harrys perspective or symbolism of their personality, but now that ive heard it like that it makes complete sense
i always sorta wondered why some portraits were so weird and convoluted or just hard to see what the character actually looks like
The mercenary portrait is probably my favorite one in the game, the hairs on my skin stood up when I saw it and when I hear him speak.
The drunk's pottait awed me. I thought it was great when i first met him. You put it so well, its like hes melting to the background of the portrait. Thanks for sharing this ❤
Спасибо тебе за твои мысли, дружище. Это очень хороший ролик, особенно когда осознаешь те вещи, который ты не заметил сам.. игры это и правда искусство
One little detail about the union that I'm surprised you didn't mention is the fact that the red and white are inverted for Evrart. It's an interesting touch.
In regard to the elctrochemistry portrait, it’s drawn with a battery that fills itself with skill points when you use drugs to raise it past the cap.
I remember looking at Gary's portrait as being a clean looking proud man and seeing his model as a ragged and balding guy made me laugh.
The booth at EGX, my partner wrote the first note and stuck it to the wall, which in turn prompted LOADS of people to stick up their own, it was such a cool thing to see it grow throughout the day!
Also out of all the dockworkers, Evartt is the only one for where the colors are flipped. Sort of a visual signal that he’s the one on top and is bending the rules to his advantage.
This is a truly impressive video. It gave me a lot to consider not just about Disco Elysium but about art in a broader sense as well. You're an excellent writer.
Thanks to everyone who keeps the discussion of DE alive, it is profoundly important to me and so many !
As a self taught artist trying to get more into painting and sketchy digital art playing through this game and checking out all the artwork has been such an inspiration!
And it's true, it may look sketchy and wonky, but it's really hard work to get right.
This is a bit on the nose but I wonder if the black rectangle is also supposed to be symbolic of a "black box" y'know, a flight recorder. Jeans role in the story is to sort of be Harry's bridge back to who he was before the events of the game, or at least that's how I saw him by the time I finished the game; So I wouldn't be surprised if the black rectangle shape was chosen for this reason, after all it could've been a number of other extremely sharp shapes. It could just be me over analyzing, but it's certainly an interesting thought!
Also there are square halos in religion. And while Kim's halo is white, protective, Jean has black, negative halo, but nonetheless it's still halo. In the end Jean cares about Harry
This was spectacular. The art was what drew me deeper into the game (though I had heard it was an awesome game beforehand). The title screen alone gave me shivers. But the art helped me connect to the world and characters like no other game has.
Absolutely fantastic video, thank you for making it. I'm a design student and although my knowledge isn't really the best, just by looking at the portraits I'm amazed at how much they can convey, directly or indirectly. Although even you have said you aren't knowledgeable with art, I think all the comments hit the nail on the head or at least quite close to it. Just one thing that I really love about them is how color and color theory is applied, one of the main examples being with the Physique Skills. The deep red colors along with the fleshy, sometimes "pained" expressions on them made it all look so good. I also didn't know about Alexander Rostov's influences and reasons for his art to be like that. Even he seems to consider it "flawed", or result from lack of actually being able to study it, and looking at it now with that knowledge it really becomes noticeable. Not to diminish his work though, it's impressive and quite vibrant. It's nice that an style that surged like that became so strikingly noticeable. It really elevated Disco Elysium. Again, great video and great interpretations of the portraits!
I'd go so far as to say the way he views his art is largely how Disco Elysium itself wants to be viewed. Flawed and simplistic behind a veneer of fantastical, unique brilliance. A tilted house with the best decorations you've ever seen. Even the story of his art reflects the stories of the game's writers from what I've gathered, with that feeling of a real post apocalypse.
Thank you for making this video. Disco Elysium is a profound multimedia experience and specific discussion of its art direction is deeply needed
Alexander Rostov and Jen Zee are the GOAT of indie games' art field
Another detail I really love about Gary's portrait is that the background of his portrait depicts his cryptofascism. The white lines on the blue in front looks like it's trying to cover up the golden background behind it. The blue and white being Joyce's background which stands for Ultraliberalism and the golden background standing for Fascism as it's the same as Harry's when he becomes Icebreaker in the Fascist Vision Quest. Fascism trying to mask itself as Liberalism.
I watched this video after I had to deal with some really heavy shit and you've got the perfect voice for this. I feel a lot more relaxed now than I did before. Thanks for that.
my voice is by far the element of the video that I'm the least confident about, so that is really nice to hear! :)
This makes me wanna go play and over-analyze every single character portrait as much as I can!!! man Disco Elysuim's art is just beautiful.
I'm glad you're making these videos.
excellent analysis, thank you so much for uploading this
Wonderful video as always. Seeing a new video from you is such a treat.
I live for when I discover a video essay of this quality in the wild from a channel I've never heard of before
Amazing video as always, I particularly enjoyed your discussion on Egghead's portrait, he became one of my favourite characters instantly on my first playthrough :D
I love these types of videos, there is so much you can read from just the character portraits
What a wonderful video essay - thank you, I enjoyed very much!!
incredible video, loved it, thanks for the jingling keys.
This was a tremendously keen analysis. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
The meaning and accidents part is very well done.
Thank you!
Ya know the thing about the jingling keys with the insightful dialogue really turns this videos itself into an art piece
its called dialectics i think
This was an interesting and thoughtful commentary on the character portraits, which I hadn't spent enough time considering. Well done.
INSTANT LIKE ! Clear and concise analysis,i can't praise this enough !
Great video, very insightful!
What a wonderful analisis, makes me think in the characters in a total new manner, congrats!
This video is honestly incredibly enriching and rewarding.
Thank you for this video and for reminding me of the love I have for this game and the feelings it made me feel.
I really enjoyed this, thanks!
Really great video!
Excellent analysis, thanks for sharing! :)
Wow, great commentary! Thanks, you've helped me appreciate Disco Elysium even more than I already have. Please make more of these :D
Kim's portrait burned a shadow image on my monitor and even now, years after, I can still see the ghostly Kim-circle haunting me - guess I've been Kim-possessed!
This was fascinating thank you!
Great work as always!
Phenomenal analysis! I never realised the portraits hold so much meaning.
Kim’s white circle for some reason gives me a sense of “peace of mind” or “serenity” a very clean circular area around his head that is surrounded by brown. As if to make a difference from what is going on inside of his head and the rest of the world. The whole color choice looks very uncomplicated when compared to the rest of the portraits.
It's interesting to think that with this art style and making the portraits first, then letting that inform the characters, an art mistake or fluke can end up changing the entire reality of the game's story.
Beautiful video, lots of food for thought!
This might be one of the best videos of all time, god damn
Amazing video, thank you for sharing! I stumbled upon Aleksander Rostov's ArtStation page before but now I'll have to look at his art again in more detail.
I appreciated the keys. Things were getting a little complex there.
Fantastic video, this is a great analysis, and has so many interesting pieces of information given quickly. These portraits have so much depth.
Great work, bro! Thanks
Fantastic video. Loved it.
I was up all night waiting for this one
I never know what you shall post about next, but all does this game a great justice.
that was an awesome video! great thoughts
Beautiful essay, it made me appreciate Disco Elysium's artstyle even more
fantastic video man
my favourite read on the portraits is that visual calculus is a result of the dry cerebral focus of encyclopedia, combined w conceputalisation's visual flair - and you can see it in the work, VC is a fusion of the other two
Damn, this is a great analysis. It's the exact type of video I would have made, if no one else had done it. Glad I got to be the one viewing this time.
What a beautiful video.