Aquaria Game - Blog Posts

First Swim

Our MerMay Story, Day 1

Sometimes I wonder who taught me how to swim. I like to imagine there was someone, once. Their steady hands guiding me as I flailed through the water... I can't remember them, no matter how hard I try. I wonder if they're still out there, somewhere...

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I'm hoping to keep up with this event through the whole month, with fanart and writing for Aquaria each day. The story I tell isn't likely to be linear, more a bunch of little slices of Naija's life or thoughts at different points of time

I'm going to be drawing each day's work in a neat journal I was given as a gift a couple months ago, it's meant to have an old and weathered look!

I just wanted to draw her in a pretty dress

it's been too long since the last fanart I drew for Aquaria, so here's a thing I made in MS paint!

New Flowers

(Process rambling below the readmore)

When I first started on this series of illustrations for Aquaria, I'd originally planned for the Kelp Forest to be the first thing I'd draw, since it's possibly my favorite area in the game. I came up with all these ambitious plans for a 2-page spread with as many creatures from the kelp forest as I could fit included, but then I got stuck actually trying to implement them all. I decided to put aside the Kelp Forest for later, and started with a simpler illustration instead.

I came back to the Kelp Forest last week with this new batch of thumbnails, this time much smaller in scale since I wanted to get it done before the end of the year. I'm honestly not entirely happy with the end result, so I might take another shot at this next year if I get the time.

The Veil

here's a bunch of the thumbnails I made for this one! It took me a little while to decide between above the water VS underwater, but I knew I wanted to focus on the sun and the surface of the ocean. I felt like I had a clearer idea for underwater with the corals, so that's the one I went with. I'd like to revisit some of these other concepts some day

"Her gaze penetrated my soul, and though she did not speak…

I could hear her words echoing inside my head, as clear as the waters around me…

… It was beautiful."

- Naija, Aquaria (2007)

reference screenshots :D

In the ruins of Mithalas

Here's some of the sketches I did for this concept! I really love the whole atmosphere of Mithalas, I came up with a bunch of ideas that I might revisit some time in the future.

The final painting was mostly made traditionally, but with some changes in post to try and get the lighting effects closer to how I wanted them.

here's some of my main screenshots I used for reference!

Aquaria Fanart

I wanted to attempt a 2 page spread! Turns out that makes it a lot harder to take good pictures, but I really like how it looks when I open my sketchbook to that page :D

I was thinking of adding in some jellyfish with acrylic paint but didn't end up getting around to that, alas.

Creatures of the Kelp Forest

I can't believe I haven't drawn the Erulian Messenger yet. I love her <3

Naija & Li sketchbook page from October. I wanted to polish these more, but sadly didn't end up getting around to it.

It's kind of crazy to me how Li follows Naija into the abyss as his only light source. He must trust her a lot!!

naija page from a little while ago

Naija'a Room. I think she should get to hug the Mithala doll

I was exploring neocities websites the other day and found this drawing game: https://mimikitty49.neocities.org/games/painting

The character in the top one is Naija from Aquaria (video game), the rest I just made up on the spot! Reminds me of my youthful days of drawing random girls i made up and playing games on scratch.

Wigglypaint Artdump

Featuring my favorite girls from my favorite video games, Hornet (Hollow Knight) and Naija (Aquaria) <3

This was really fun!! I love making little drawings with limitations, this reminded me of what it was like when I first started pixel art!

Link to Wigglypaint: https://internet-janitor.itch.io/wigglypaint

It's fun, you can play it in the browser, would recommend!

edit 10/16/2024: added 2 more that I drew on the same day!

Naija sketchbook page!

rambling below readmore 👇

Naija is the main character of the game Aquaria, a 17 year old metroidvania-style game that not a lot of people seem to know about. I grew up playing Aquaria and I really, really love it.

I've been replaying the game recently, these are drawings of all the forms & outfits I've gotten so far!

Energy Form is drawn larger than the rest cause she's the first one I drew.

Aquaria is only 10$ on steam, I'd recommend checking it out! in fact here's a link: