This news segment is fully dedicated to put a designer in the spotlight. We've asked them about themselves, their creations, their process and their inspirations. This spotlight is for and by Auxiliary!

Let's introduce! 

Im Auxiliary! Im 28 years old and I love nostalgia, gaming, board games, math, pokémon, cats, embroidery, movies, drawing, pixelart and designing ! My design journey started in the spring of 2024 leading up to the second JD comp. With no experience with digital drawing but years experience in traditional photo realistic drawing, I decided to give designing for gsm a try. I made my two very first finished designs that were recreations of Bratz outfits. The process gave me a bit of practice prior to the JD comp, in which I made it to the finals. Throughout the next year I participated in three Guest Designer comps (Fiji beachwear, Aurora and Farmers market) gaining more design practice, but without the luck of getting a design onto gsm. That was until the design tool was announced, and it made it possible for me to share my creations with gsm! 

I would say my motivation as a community designer is to relive the nostalgia of vintage goSupermodel-made items (think 1st collection items). Those are my absolute favorites. As part of this mission im reviving old gsm hair colors as I match the majority of my hairs to the old vintage 1st collection hairs. In my mission to achieve items with a vintage gsm vibe, I choose to do clear outlines and quite simple rendering. I enjoy clear colors and mild contrast when it comes to highlight and shadows. Learning to design was a very Brute force like process, designing feels for me a lot like "placing pixels correctly next to each other" rather than drawing, that I know IRL. I use GIMP and computer mouse, pixel-brush in different sizes and opacities, the smudge tool and some noise filters for certain textures, thats basically all I use.

The inspiration for my designs somehow always links back to nostalgia and the 00s: It could be nostalgia for vintage gsm, fashion I grew up with in the 00s, textures and vibes from Sims 1 and 2, Bratz, Betty Spaghetti or other toys I grew up with. Examples could be my "Frutiger Aero" design and my "Yellow leopard with red details" design, that are inspired by a Sims 1 fish tank and a Sims 1 couch respectively.

Inspiration that fit these vibes I look for on Pinterest and enjoy designing based on moodboards a lot. Technically, a start a design by choosing a base color for an item and draw a rough shape. I then clean up the edges and ad a clear outline. I then ad shading and if the material needs, then highlight. On new layers I might add prints, buttons, buckles, lace, bows, chains and glitter/sparkly details. I always more or less finish one item before moving on to the next. A typical progress would look something like this: 

Being able to share my designs as a community designer has made designing one of bigger hobbies. I primarily use designing as another media to create art and secondarily I use it to explore fashion ideas. I'm not really a fashionable person IRL, and I enjoy designing because it is pixel art. Seeing my designs on gSm has been a super cool and enjoyable experience, and absolutely love whenever I see an item of mine styled in new cool ways. I love connecting with other designers or people who also has a love for vintage gSm.

I definitely look up to many different designers, and while this does not cover everyone that inspires me, I want to mention a few of my biggest design inspirations.

• goblinbazooka I had the pleasure of competing against in the JD comp, and seeing their designs back then, it scratched something in my brain. The perfect balance between realism and pixelation to fit the gsm model mixed with incredible creativity is what I love the most about goblinbazooka's design.
• victoria. I want to emphasize because of her incredible skills when it comes to creating fabric that naturally folds and warps arounds the body. I love her exploration of y2k streetwear, I cant always comprehend how realistically she can design while still keeping shapes sharp and clear.
• RGB might only have released a few items, but they remain as some of my top picks for community items when it comes to wearability and vintage gsm vibe.
• Jopie has an incredible skill when it comes to designing under a wide range of themes. Some of their most recent designs really pushed the limits of what is possible when creating fabric textures on gsm.
• scry remains a big inspiration because their designs are super recognizable and forward when it comes to new ideas and fashion sense. 
• soccer mommy has thru their designs created some of the best streetwear pieces drawn in pixelart the most satisfying way possible.

Looking back, I want to highlight two designs as my favorites. Firstly, my "Sparkly denim" design I am super proud of because it is the first denim texture that I have made that I am satisfied with. Moreover, the design really captures my design style well with all the sparkly details that I would like to turn into a trademark of mine. Secondly,

Lastly, I want to say thank you to everyone who ever mentioned their love for one or more of my designs. I appreciate it so so much. To anyone starting their design journey, have patience. My best tip is to study your own items almost pixel for pixel, how much the shadows are blended, they values of the pixels and outlines and so on. The more you design, the more freely you can drawn the folds and shadows. It takes a lot of mediocre designs before you create something that really assembles your vision.

Auxiliary's: goSupermodel profile, design page

Thank you Auxiliary! for this amazing interview. The goSupertools team appreciates the time and effort you've put into the interview. We can't wait to see what you'll create in the future <3 

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