Ever since Silksong came out, my interest for Hollow Knight reignited and mixed with my fixation on Look Outside. So, what better way to deal with double hyperfixation than making a crossover au?
It was very fun coming up with designs and thinking of how to adapt items\clothing\other special features into HK's style. I also got to experiment with how to achieve textures and shading quickly (even though I originally wanted to make them without any texture and with very basic shading, like how the sprites in the actual game look, but oh well. Couldn't stop myself, even if it did make the project take longer.)
It was cool coming up with bug designs for each one, even if I had to scratch my head multiple times trying to figure out what kind of bug to make some of the characters (especially those who were already bugs in canon).
Some design notes and thought process:
1. The idea behind making Sam a root came from his Denial ending form, which reminds me a lot of a tree. Wanted to keep that aspect of him in this au if he ever ascends to a higher being.
2. Since in this AU Lyle has always been a spider, and it's a normal part of a bug society, he wouldn't really need to hide himself away as he does in canon. However, I still wanted to keep that aspect of him being scared to show parts of himself. So, I decided that in this au it will be him being a weaver, since in Silksong Weavers do seem to have a not very stellar reputation.
3. I know grubs and grub mimics aren't the same species in the game. However, I needed a bug design that was cute and innocent but also had a jaw full of teeth for a face for Joel, and so grub mimics felt like it was the best fit for him. Hollow Outside doesn't actually take place in the Hollow Knight universe; it's an au with a similar setting but with rules bent to fit with certain aspects of Look Outside.
4. Speaking of Joel, I decided to make Fuzzy a tardigrade, because these creatures are also called "water bears" :3
The Pilgrim bugs Dan is based on actually have antennas, however, I wanted to keep Dan's iconic bald look. So, let's imagine he lost his while doing some stupid challenge in this au.
5. I knew that a nosk would fit Leigh from the very start. The problem was, I didn't know how to adapt her iconic grin into it since most bugs in HK don't have a visible mouth. In the end, I decided to go with a weird headpiece that looks like sharp teeth when upside down.
6. Roaches were the hardest to design and the ones that took the longest. I could have gone with simply making them a one normal-sized (by Hollow Knight's standards) roach, but I didn't want them to lose the "bunch of small bugs creating a hive mind and a body together" aspect that sets Roaches apart. Some of my ideas for them were: 1. Massive Moss Charger, but it didn't feel like them. Moss chargers just didn't feel the same amount of "creature that is usually considered dirty and disgusting" like roaches are. 2. Lightseeds puppeteering a corpse. But that too didn't work out because the inclusion of Lightseeds would imply the existence of the Radiance in the au, which is not something I wanted to go for + it felt a bit too morbid for a character like Roaches. And then, suddenly, it hit me. There's a creature in SS that is literally called "MuckROACHES", and before they become a muckroach, they are the Muckmaggot. And it felt a perfect fit - small enough to form a body together, while keeping the same vibe of "unclean creature" that the Roaches are.
7. I know Phillippe is a fungus, and I know that sentient fungus exists in HK. But the fungus tribe from the game just... didn't feel as malicious as the fungus from LO is. From what I remember, they don't seem to show the same parasitic qualities. You know what does show it? What appears as cute and even helpful at first sight only to overtake the user's body to propagate? That's right, Lifeblood baby. Plus, its butterfly motifs made it easier to incorporate into Phillippe's moth disguise.
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