#+ the fact that I started this drawing before the release of BATDR

[thatonecrookedsmile]

illusion. the art of mimicking real life.

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BATIM is officially 6 years old..oh jeez. A little hard to believe it's been this long. Six long years since the little devil that invaded my life was created. Where did the time go? Still,it's cool to see how far it's come. The journey so far has definitely been a rollercoaster of emotions,with ups and downs,but even so,I'm still glad I discovered this little guy. He definitely brought me a lot of good moments in recent times.

I didn't have anything really new or done specifically with the anniversary in mind,but I had this drawing I was trying to finish a while ago that I thought would be nice to post on the day. As we can see,this successively failed.I had the idea for this drawing since 2021, and I tried to execute it at the time, but I never made it past the sketches. Then last year I tried to redo it from scratch and since then I've been trying to finish it and post it on specific dates and failing successively.

But eventually, I manage to find the strength to finally end this piece altogether and put it behind me. The main drawings had been finished for a while,it was just a matter of doing...well,whatever the final result became. I confess that I didn't really know how to do the "broken mirror" idea at the beginning. And that wasn't even the original idea that I have in mind back in 2021.

I'll admit the first time I stopped and looked at the glass cracks I was unsure if I was liking how it was turning out. But it's better than nothing. And at the moment I'm just thinking "Bro, stop. You've done everything you could do in this drawing. It's over. Just let it go". So I'm going to do it.

Oh and Joey is here too,I forgot to mention that. Technically it was also his birthday too. So happy day of birth,pencil man. He's definitely going through something in this drawing. This was mainly made with one of my AUs in mind and the events that happen in it,but I think if you look at it as something more “canon related” (close to canon?),it might work well too. I think at least.

Better finish this desc before it gets too long. As a bonus,here are the two main drawings I did for this piece,unedited (because I'm not going to show the edited versions,I assume they're kinda ugly separately) :

Call me "Bendy and the Ink Machine Remix and Lyric Video" because I was AHHH AHHH AHHH trying to finish this drawing.

[thatonecrookedsmile]

"Brought to you by GENT."

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Was it really necessary to do a drawing like this for something that at the end of the day will just be a little spinoff to occupy us while we wait for the Next Big Thing that's being made in the back room? No, I would say it wasn't. But was it something that I ended up really wanting to do after having The Idea™, on the day this game was "announced"? Absolutely.

It's funny,the original concept for this drawing (basically, everything in this image that didn't come from SOTM) first came to my head in the form of a drawing idea related to Bendy 3 (the next mainline game after DR), it would be a little more colorful - more blue in this case - and would have Audrey, Dapper Bendy and maybe even the Ink Demon. Yeah, I know, this game doesn't exist yet. But I thought it would be a cool thing to draw eventually.

But then, recently, Bendy fans unearthed this new game on April 2nd on Steam and my brain went crazy that day. The unexpected surprise in the new game eventually led to inspiration, and the idea of Bendy 3's drawing ended up coming back during the process and part of its concept ended up emerging with some ideas I was thinking about for SOTM and then, boom. The result was the picture above. I started working on this immediately later that day.

Regarding the drawing itself: The house is not and will not be 100% faithful to what will appear in the game. It's shot in the trailer doesn't really have very good quality,so there are certain details in it that will practically be wrong compared to in-game. (I have no idea what is written below Bendy's head,so I put a random phrase in its place,in this case,"The Nightmare Will Never End") (Also, there is something on the balcony next to the entrance. I don't know what is it, but it look a bit like a wheelchair to me? Idk. I decided to put it in after completing the house)

The Man? It's Alan Gray! Gent's CEO. At least, my take on him. He was the part of the original Bendy 3 idea that I decided to reuse for this. To be honest, I don't have much hope that we'll hear from him in the game, but realistically, of all the characters in the Bendy universe (especially in the games) that have been introduced so far, I think he's the one with the best chance of making an appearance ( him,and probably,but with low chances,Thomas) Also, I included him too because, who else to represent the face of the corporation than the boss himself?

"Brought to you by Gent", which I took directly from BATDR, was also part of the original idea. We know that a third main Bendy game that will focus more on Gent will exist one day, but what it will be called we have no idea. So I used referred, not only to this potential game, but the idea of the og drawing itself, as "Bendy 3: Brought to you by GENT". I thought it sounded nice. And now? I turned it into "Bendy: Secrets of the Machine. Brought to you by GENT" It's a small thing, but it's cool to finally apply this to a game that actually exists.

But in short: I'm very interested! This seems like a very different Bendy game compared to the others that have come before. And while I have several thoughts about what this game might be about and what it might offer, in the end, I don't really know what this game will be. And the fact that I don't know what this is going to be is what makes me very curious and makes me really want to be able to play this. I have a lot to say about this game before it releases, so if you want to know about my thoughts,just read this. Warning, though, I wrote a lot. But that's about it. Enjoy. ✌️