Getting Creative Again

June 27, 2025

In my previous log, I looked back at some old files I uploaded to JKFiles/JKHub from the 2008-2016 era. Since then, I’ve been getting back into the game, I think reminiscing really sparked my desire to return and confront some old skeletons in my closet.

Since returning, I’ve been getting a little creative again, making graphics and even a skin for some fellow players. Of course, whenever I’m hyper focused on something, it distracts me from everything else I should be doing.

Here’s some stuff I’ve been working on.

(JAWA) Logos

When I left the community, I selfishly took my logos and graphics with me after a dispute with some people there. Long story for another time. But I wanted to make up for it, and so I went ahead and created a new crest, forum logo and wiki header. I wanted to combine my old style with the new style they took on since I left, with more softer edges and that huge Jawa head.

It took me forever to find a font I wanted to use, and even longer until I was finally happy with it. I think what really sealed it was reversing the stoke gradient from the text gradient, they contrast really nicely.

Malgus Skin

Malgus posted on the forum about wanting a skin that put his existing skin’s face onto Tommy Angelo’s body, from the Mafia franchise. Before I even read Malgus’s suggestion on using the Agent Smith model, it was clear that was going to be the best choice as there’s really limited options on the suit front.

So, I got to work, seeing how easy it would be to “Face Off” Agent Smith and Malgus.

To my surprise, it fit almost exactly without any modifications. This is a miracle considering the fact that Smith is an entirely custom model. Obviously it looks weird, that hairline looks painted on, but the eyes, nose and mouth are the important pieces here.

Before fixing the face, I moved onto the body, replacing the tie, adding a waistcoat, moving the jacket to go from a middle button up to a … side button up? I’m just going to assume that’s what this jacket style is called. Smith is obviously tinted green, so I went ahead and made the suit more greyscale.

Going back to the head, Smith has a big forehead, so I had to stretch Malgus’s skin a bit to compensate, and darkened his hair. The beard was a bit tricky, but it al came together in the end.

The shoes on Smith’s skin are awful, they’re super shiny and bright white for some reason. Malgus wanted brown shoes, so I found some references online and used them here. It took a lot of rejigging to make them line up right but I think it came out pretty well.

Lightened the suit a little bit, finished up the shoes to be better aligned and updated his hands to match his skin colour.

Once done, I updated the files so they didn’t conflict with the Agent Smith skin, I added team support and finally I added the sounds Malgus requested (Quotes from Tommy from the games). Overall I’m pretty happy with how it turned out and Malgus seems to as well which is all that matters =)

Kirby Signature

From 2006 to 2015, I was close friends with Kirby, someone I knew from my time in JAWA. Unfortunately in 2015 he passed away, and his twin sister asked us not to reveal this to the clan yet. As the years went by, we never heard much from her and finally in 2025 we decided to go ahead and memorialised him, and announce his passing. As part of the memorial, we were asked to make some signatures which would be displayed.

I spent quite a bit of time on this, around 2-3 hours I think. I wanted to challenge myself to hand draw everything myself from scratch without using any renders, and using as little references as possible. At first I was really struggling with ideas, but it just organically started coming together on its own =) which made this a lot of fun to make.

I can’t lie, I got a little choked up making it, but I’m really happy with how it came out.

Cheer Signature

I’ve known Cheer for a while, we were never super close or anything but since returning we’ve been playing a lot together. He requested a signature, and to be honest I kind of ignored his wishes because I saw an opportunity to make something else, when browsing for reference images. Upscaling pixel art is a lot of fun, and definitely something I’ll be doing again someday soon.

Signature of the Week 624

B L U E is the absolute best colour, in all its forms. I use it in pretty much everything I create these days (That and hot pink). This was the first signature I had made in years, so I wanted to give the contest a go. I decided to take this quite literally and included all the colours in the contest (Royal, Space, Prussian, Navy, Yale, Egyptian, Azure, Sapphire, Olympic, Cornflower, Independence, Teal, Maya, Pigeon, Turkish Blue, Carolina, Steel, Tiffany, Baby Blue, Air Force, Electric, Sky, Powder and Turquoise). I incorporated the 624 into the image itself, going with some audio waves. Pretty happy with it. It looks a lot better on a light background.