join us as rocket league honor Black History Month throughout February! we are falling three packs FREE in the Item Shop throughout the month, and each pack celebrates the work of talented black artists.
First up is illustrator Geneva Bowers, whose lush artwork covers the sunniya decal. The fantastic designs of him also appear in the game sunniya avatar border Y Sunniya Player Banner. Stay tuned: the next two free packs will be announced on our blog and social media throughout the month.
Grab the Sunniya by Geneva Bowers Bundle in the Item Shop via the in-game Black History Month tab from now until February 28!
Geneva Bowers Sunniya Package (Free)
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sunniya decal
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sunniya avatar border
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Sunniya Player Banner
meet the artist
gin roundabouts capture the world with his art through comics, children’s books and now Soccar! Blending vibrant concepts with ethereal colours, his mystical illustrations bring everyday scenes to life. During our collaboration, we took a moment to ask her a few questions about her, her art, and her story.
Q. Could you tell us about your journey and how you developed your career in the art industry?
A. I will start at the university. I withdrew after one year for various reasons. He had no skills for anything other than drawing. But since that was all I could “do,” I was adamant about making a career of making art. After reading a random user’s response on a now-dead internet forum, I found out that you don’t “need” an art degree. So I studied online from YouTube and blogs to be good enough to be “rentable”. I stumbled upon a great opportunity from a T-shirt design company that did great! However, I still tried to improve my drawing and general skills after work. After a few years, the freelance illustration I was doing on the side started to outpace my work, so I made the decision to go completely freelance. It has worked ever since.
Voyage, Lucid Blade and Grasp by Geneva Bowers
Q. Many of your artworks combine the mystical with the mundane. Could you talk about your connection to magic in the world?
A. A lot of my art is just “what if”. What if this electrical tower was the same, but with a dragon on top? What if this windowsill was the same… but with a dragon on it? What if everyone was, I don’t know, pushed back to the ’90s and given a sword? We all have a daily routine that we have to go through that can be mundane, and I’m very inspired by general fantasy, so it blends in.
Q. As a huge fan of the magical girl genre, I can’t help but ask you about your webcomic, HoverGirls. What inspired you to undertake a long-term project like this?
A. I’ve been wanting to do a comic for a long time, so I’m thankful for HG’s idea! I grew up on magical girl VHS tapes and love to delve into tropes, so this webcomic was a good vehicle to steal from anime and show that love. HG has also been picked up for publication by Bloomsbury next year (2024), with about 40% more story and basically all the artwork redone. However, the webcomic will always be online.
Also, an aside: as a person who illustrates a lot of books and covers primarily for teenagers, I really wanted there to be a story where the story wasn’t just about being black or a person of color. In the absence of better writing, there are many “black fight” stories/main plot points that are important, yes, but I rarely saw or was hired for something that was just a story where the main characters are POC or black and he did not focus on that fact. The HG characters are just vibrating in their established characteristics, and this is the silly situation they find themselves in.
Artist Geneva Bowers
Q. What do you think of video games as an interactive art form?
A. Games are an amazing art form. Gather most of the senses, plus you can interact with them! I especially admire games from the PS1/PS2 era, with all the tricks to present this package of sensory art in such a limited amount of data/space. You can tell when something has a lot of love and thought put into it.
Q. Different people gravitate towards different types of games. Is there a game genre that really appeals to you?
A. Roguelikes and rogue-lites. I can not get enough. Randomizations, resets, dungeons, and loot are the best dopamine hits for me. It immediately smothered any other game in a different genre that has roguelike elements.
Q. What impact do you want your art to have in the world?
R. I just want people to be happy, really. There is a lot going on all the time. So I just want people to look representative of themselves and maybe feel a little calmer during the day.
We hope you enjoy the art of Guinevere in Rocket League! make sure you see her instagram Y shop. Now, go get your free item pack and keep your eyes peeled for our next Artist Feature coming later this month.
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