Steph Blakey

Thank you! 😭🙏💕 I finished this a long time ago but hadn't gotten around to documenting it online until now, wahhh

And the video tour!

The paper illustration framed inside a large, simple gold, frame.

Framed! It's really tough to get a good photo of it framed so I might try again later, but here's what I got for now.

A photo of the background, turned over, to show the wiring of the lights attached inside.

I decided that when framed, I would add LED lights between the wall and the window to add a spooky glow to the area with the Big Daddy. Here's the back of the piece where I've attached the lighting.

The artist holds up the completed paper illustration, now cut down around all sides to fit in a frame.

And here's the piece after I cut it down to frame it. I removed one of the splicers in the foreground (the bunny ears) because it looked too busy.

Red handled scissors cutting off just over a centimeter of the paper illustrations background.

After I took my illustration photo, I had to cut the piece down to fit in a frame. It's always a really stressful part of the process. Here's me cutting the background down to fit in the frame.

Photo of the illustration's background on its own- the cracked tile wall, marble floor with gold detail, art deco doorframe and wall decoration, and the view of Rapture behind.

The completed background!

Closeup of the geometric gold detail above the door in the artist's hand.

A closeup of the completed doorframe detail.

The completed top of the doorframe displayed on a cutting mat.

The art deco door took a huge amount of concentration and effort. I wanted to keep the pieces as whole as possible and it ended up working out great.

Black and white printouts of wall tiles with cracks in them sitting on top of a grey cutting mat.

Photo of the completed cracked wall tiles.

Closeup photo of the cracked tile background.

Closeup photo of the cracked tile background.

This one's boring but still needed a lot of work. Here's the template for the cracked wall background before I cut it out, and after. Because I don't know exactly where I'll place the splicers on top, I cut it all out to give myself the freedom of position changing later.

Simple blue skyscrapers with yellow lights and red neon details for the Rapture background outside the window. There are spotlights even further back.

The artist's signature, a stylized "SB" on a neon sign on one of the buildings.

Here's the view out the back window of Rapture. I messed up a little with a glue smudge on one building, but left it because I knew that the Big Daddy's body would hide it. Also, there's my signature on a neon sign- SB!

Overhead photo of 7 completed splicers, the big daddy, and little sister overlaid on the full template

Similar photo as before, but now with all of the completed splicers and weapons added over the template.

As I built the characters, I would lay them on top of my main template to see how I was coming along and if I needed to make any adjustments.

The back of a splicer's head to be seen in the foreground of the final illustration. It's a dark-haired man with a bandage wrapped around his head.

The splicers in the foreground were pretty big and simple, so I don't have many behind-the-scenes photos of them, but here's the bandaged splicer. I made sure his paper was textured enough for visual interest. I love the bandage paper!

The artist holds two paper revolvers between her fingers with the crafting setup visible behind- including the cutting mat, template, glue, and most of a male splicer who will be holding the guns.

Some little guns for one of the male splicers!

A female splicer, in a crouched position and a torn red dress. She wears a rabbit mask and holds up a lead pipe in preparation to attack.

A closeup photo of the female splicer's head.

The final female splicer, who won't be crawling on the wall, but hiding around the doorframe to try and hit the little sister.

Three paper figures of female spider splicers. One on top wears blue and a spider mask, the middle is in green with a rabbit mask, and the bottom is in a yellow dress with a rabbit mask. They all hold a hook in each hand and are smiling menacingly.

All of the completed female spider splicers.

The fully-assembled female spider splicer in her torn green dress and bunny mask.

A closeup of the female splicer's face.

The completed splicer!

The female spider splicer in a green dress is seen with all of her pieces cut out but not glued together. The pieces are on a cutting mat and part of her template is visible.

A closeup of the female spider splicer, upper torso now built, being held by the artist.

Here's my favourite spider splicer, all cut up and being put together.

8 sparkling white masquerade masks inspired by rabbits, cats, a bird, and a spiderweb, with gold trim, overlaid on a dingy blue piece of paper.

The spider mask that gave the artist a heart attack to cut out of a single piece of gold paper

All of the splicer masks were built with as few pieces as possible. I tried to keep all of the gold trim cut out of a single piece of paper for each one, and succeeded! The worst one to do that with was the spider mask!

An angled photo of the Big Daddy figure with the Little Sister paper figure below it. They are on a light blue piece of paper with tweezers visible in the background.

A test layout of the Big Daddy with the Little Sister!

The completed Big Daddy paper figure.

A close-up photo of the completed Big Daddy's torso.

And the Big Daddy, finished.

Here's a little video of me turning the Big Daddy around in my hands to show off the depth and textures!

The Big Daddy metal torso piece, now with the copper tubing attached to the front. It has lots of depth to it to give a 3D effect.

The same Big Daddy torso, turned to the side, to show the depth between the added copper tubing and the body.

When I attached the copper tubing to his helmet, I made it stand out to give it a 3D effect.

The Big Daddy's helmet and main metal body piece being held in the artist's hand.

Here's the Big Daddy in progress. I used a single type of gold paper for this piece except for the sparkling red light in his helmet and the copper piping. The gold paper has lines on it, so by turning the paper vertically or horizontally, it captured the light in different ways.

Black and white digital line drawing of the splicers, big daddy, and little sister in Rapture, to be printed and used as a template for cutting out the paper pieces.

And here's the final template! It drove me crazy!

Black and white digital lineart of the background- a cracked wall, art deco doorframe, and underwater city of Rapture.

The same black and white background, now with the characters drawn on roughly in red and pink to figure out the layout.

I drew and cleaned up the background first, since it was going to be the most elaborate one I'd have ever made, then I did a rough overlay for the characters.

A screenshot of thumbnails of screenshots taken from the game to use as reference. Splicers and locations are mainly collected here.

A screenshot of a folder's contents with images of splicers for reference.

I had to collect a TON of references and screenshots for the piece. I found a bunch online, but I also took screenshots myself in the game.

A hand-drawn page of pencil sketches. Each sketch is a different idea for the BioShock piece and they vary in size and detail. The common thread is that there must be a little sister, big daddy, splicer, and the city of Rapture.

The "winning" thumbnail for the piece- a little sister in the center, acting as bait for splicers to attack her in a doorway, as her Big Daddy lies in wait to protect her.

This is absolutely the most intricate and difficult piece I've ever made, and took a LOT of planning. Here are my initial thumbnails. It was always going to be somewhat complex.

A male splicer holding two revolvers and wearing a cat mask. His vest and shirt are torn and he has a bandage around his upper arm.

A male splicer wearing a large bird mask, crawling down the wall and holding a hook in each hand. He wears a torn blue suit which shows a sock garter visible on his left calf.

A male splicer crawling down the wall, wearing a rabbit mask. He holds a hook in both hands. He wears a deep red vest and his white shirtsleeves are rolled up. There's a bandage on his right forearm.

A male splicer wearing a cat mask, crawling on the wall. He wears a torn black suit and holds hooks in each hand.

Closeups of the freaky fellas!

A female splicer in a bunny mask in a torn green dress hanging up on the wall by the doorframe. She is smiling and holding hooks.

A crouched female splicer wearing a bunny mask and a torn red dress. She holds a pipe above her head, about to try and hit the little sister.

A female splicer wearing a bunny mask and a torn yellow dress. She is crawling on the wall holding a hook in each hand. Her arm is bandaged

A female splicer wearing a blue dress and short, fur-lined cloak, wearing a spider mask. She is smiling and crawling on the wall, with a hook in each hand.

Closeups of the deadly dames!

A close up of the little sister with her teddy bear.

A close image of the little sister with the Big Daddy behind her.

A slightly closer shot of the piece featuring the little sister, Big Daddy, the art deco doorframe, and a few of the splicers.

There's a lot of detail in this, so here are a lot of detail shots.