I was texting a friend from my college dorm at 1am when she suggested I look into a visual novel series called Zero Escape. I was bored, so when my monthly allowance came in I dropped some of it on a copy of 9 hours 9 persons 9 doors. I didn’t expect much, honestly, it was an old ds game that I’d never heard of, and I’d never been a huge fan of visual novels to begin with. But immediately after picking it up I realized I’d stumbled across nothing less than a masterpiece. I played it obsessively. I spent all-nighters getting to the very end of each timeline. I wept real tears in both the Safe and True endings. I loved it immensely.

It started effecting my artwork. I found that all my personal art was centered around the characters from the series. I would take tropes and twist them into motifs to use for Akane, Junpei, Carlos, etc. in all of my pieces. I drew inspiration from the games and grew more artistically in just a few months than I ever had. My growth wasn’t gradual it was instantaneous and booming. Zero Escape gave me a passion and innovation to create like nothing else ever has. So, thank you Zero Escape, for now and forever remaining my inspiration.

Art and message by @hyliani

For the Thank you Zero Escape project