About this Project

One year ago, in November 2024, I met Tim Downie at Comic Con Stuttgart here in Germany. I was celebrating being sober for one year and used the money I didn't spend on alcohol to rewards myself with the convention ticket.
Shortly before the convention, I learned that some people gift him things when they meet him (I didn't even know that was a thing and allowed), so as an artistic person I of course wanted to make something. I figured most of the things he probably receives are Baldur's Gate 3 themed, so I went for something about the FolkLands podcast instead.
After all, it's the core memory of my summer that year - Sitting outside at a spot surrounded by mountains and forest, listening to the episodes. (As of writing this, it's actually the only thing I remember about that summer without looking anything up. It's been quite a year). So I wanted to show it some love.
And it deserves so much of that! Check it out, if you haven't already.

When the day had arrived, I was way too nervous for my own good. But I still managed to give him the print (Thanks to Monster and Ally for encouraging me to not be a coward). He reacted so much more excited than I would have ever expected, which made me really happy for the next few days (and cry as soon as I was even remotely out of sight, but let's ignore that real quick).
Jumping forward a few weeks, the thought of "Hey. He seemed to have liked that one painting and wrote that Justin liked it too. So what if I made more? Maybe one per episode? Just to bring some joy!" crossed my mind.
Then I looked at the number of episodes and a lot of real life stuff happened, so I abandoned the idea. But the thought didn't leave me alone, so eventually, months later, I decided to combine some art studies and this project into one.
As to be expected, I immediately got terrified and overwhelmed. What if the results were gonna be absolutely awful? It would be a failure. Also, who does something like this? Obsessive much to… show passion for something you enjoy. I guess.
So, I feared this was doomed to fail from the beginning.

This includes only the time spent actually (actively) painting since the programs have an automatic tracking feature.Technically not included in this:
• Re-listening to episodes (often more than once because
ADHD makes it hard to take notes)
• Brainstorming ideas
• Researching
• Looking for inspiration and references to collect them
on my ref boards
• Thumbnailing on paper
• Studying art to get better
• Mental BreakdownsBut all that can probably be calculated for with an
additional 2-6h per episode.

Total painting time for this project:
180.5 hoursEstimated total time in general:
Ca. 232.5 – 336.5 hours

Episode 1 - Times Past and Present

"The Ghost Milkman"

Finished: 05/2025
Painting Time: 8h

I have made lots of artworks in my life, but this is certainly one of the weirder ones. Love that.I kept it in sepia because Tim talking about this childhood memory reminded me of how, as a child, I asked my parents if "colours existed when they were young". I thought before colour TV, everything was black and white… I'm still laughing about it.

Episode 2 - Hidden Things

"Witch Marks"

Finished: 12/06/2025
Painting Time: 17h

I do not possess the skill to paint this the way it looked in my head. But as a child I had the audacity to just go for it anyway.
So that's what I did here!

Episode 3 - Giants & Dragonslayers

"Dragon Friends"

Finished: 30/07/2025
Painting Time: 22.5h

Here, I switched from Procreate back to Clip Studio Paint after like 3–4 years
And I'm so glad I did. Even if I had to get used to it again.

Episode 4 - Hellfire Damnation part 1
Episode 5 - Hellfire Damnation part 2

"Undiscovered Secrets"

Finished: 23/08/2025
Painting Time: 16h

This one broke me. I spent multiple weeks in distress until I scrapped everything and started completely new.
It was the right decision! Had a blast hiding different things on the wall. Good luck finding them to anyone who decides to search.I also started using my graphic tablet again instead of doing everything on my iPad. I hadn't realized how much I missed this. So from here on, the paintings are done on both.

Episode 6 - Pathways to Prophecy

"Death's Stalking Shadow"

Finished: 26/08/2025
Painting Time: 4h

I'm not sure what possessed me here. But I've always liked big cats, so I'm fine with it!

Episode 7 - Witch Country part 1
Episode 8 - Witch Country part 2

"They didn't kill witches, they killed women."

Finished: 02/09/2025
Painting Time: 6h

The main inspiration/reference for this one was the painting "The Fallen Angel" by Alexendre Cabanel. I intentionally flipped Lucifer's pose since the women were accused of "working with the devil".As a practitioner of witchcraft, I could say a lot about the hypocrisy going on when (especially religious) people talk badly about us and magick in general. But I'd rather not waste my nerves, and instead have fun with being a witch.
(And also forget to make moon water for more than a year in a row now…)

Episode 9 - The Rectory in Red

"Ghost Warrior & Phantom Botherer"

Finished: 10/09/2025
Painting Time: 25.5h

That's where I added the second rule. I re-listened to the episode, made notes, really went in there, but then this tiny joke of a few seconds stuck with me the most for some reason.Like 6 hours were just me trying to get Justin's face and hair remotely right. I wish, I was joking. I fought for my bloody life here. I'm sorry.

Episode 10 - Serpent Tales

"From Knucker to Nightmare"

Finished: 12/09/2025
Painting Time: 5.5h

"Okay, but imagine they found one. That sounds horrifying but kinda cool. They would need to run, tho" - That's all my brain gave me to get me started.In my head, the whole (maybe) myth around those creatures sounded more like they were just really big animals instead of fantastical monsters. I tried to let that shine through here by not going too crazy with its design.Don't worry, the Knucker just wanted to say hi!

Episode 11 - PlantLore

"Ink Skull Mushroom"

Finished: 13/09/2025
Painting Time: 3h

As someone whose first language is not english and has auditory processing issues, this episode was arduous (albeit fascinating) to follow since I don't know the english names of plants. I always had Google ready to try and look things up.Lost my jaw somewhere on the ground when I looked up dried Snapdragons. So I took them and combined them with Ink Cap mushrooms. I also may have sent this into our D&D group.
Just in case~

Episode 12 - Underworlds

"Hidden Giggle"

Finished: 15/09/2025
Painting Time: 6h

ADHD and autism combo really locked me in that week. Four artworks in six days is absolutely wild for my standards but it got me very excited 'cause it allowed me to play around a bunch and really get that dopamine.Also: I made Justin be the only one to hear the giggle because of Tim saying he probably never experienced supernatural stuff since he "wants it too much" a few episodes prior.

Episode 13 - Bunkers Deep & Caverns Old

"Calling of the Wisps"

Finished: 17/09/2025
Painting Time: 3h

So, about the "AUDHD combo locking me in" thing: I had a major meltdown the day before I made this, so I had to force myself to dial it down. I still like this one, tho! It's not the most complicated and cumbersome artwork but it doesn't have to be. Also, I just like floaty and glowy things. Big fan of that!

Episode 14 - Stone Lands

"A Stolen Life"

Finished: 26/09/2025
Painting Time: 14.5h

History can be horrific. And while one is used to it, especially in our current timeline, it never fails to unsettle me how people view and use/abuse especially children. Because that's what Lady Jane was.I actually did almost hit artistic burnout between painting 10 and this one (Though this project was only one of multiple factors), so I took a few days to paint as little as possible. Since I unfavorably did have deadlines for another art project and interfering real life schedules that did not leave "take your time and a longer break" as an option, I pulled out a trick that always seems to help me: Watch videos by the artist Sinix Design. And thankfully, it pulled me further away from the danger zone.And despite all the stress, GODS, I'm proud of this one.

Episode 15 - The Lore of the Playground

"Only Escape"

Finished: 14/10/2025
Painting Time: 7.5h

I was on vacation for two weeks and felt my body screaming at me to take a break. So I listened to it for once and didn't paint at all during this time (after having finished #12 on my second vacation day). Instead I played hours of Slime Rancher 2 and celebrated my birthday. But I was happy to return to this project and continue! (I did not expect the progress that was about to jump me for the rest of this)About the painting:
Interestingly enough, my main "memory topics" from the pandemic, aside from personal stuff, are TikTok and Minecraft. And also very fitting: My friends and I recently started a new Minecraft server. The background in this painting actually is a screenshot from inside the village we're building! So this very much stayed with us. And yet I wonder how it must be to have grown up with all this chaos of humanity being stuck in emergency mode.

Episode 16 - Black Annis

"Lurking in the Dark"

Finished: 15/10/2025
Painting Time: 5.5h

This project really made me realize I like painting creepy things.
I purposefully didn't look up any pose references for this one so she would feel "more off" and uncanny. Whether that worked or not, the skull from the Ink Skull Mushroom painting got a cameo here!Also, I'm not sure what's worse to fear as a child. Figures like Black Annis or the "super evil child killer who lives in the woods", a story I heard from another kid when we were telling each other creepy stories.
I was like... 6?
I slept in my parent's bed for at least three months.
Both are probably not particularly nice.

Episode 17 - The Night Library

"Art"

Finished: 17/10/2025
Painting Time: 3h

I hope I should not need to clarify, but these days that hope is probably wasted. There was no AI used in the creation of this project. If there are any "mistakes", that's me being a human.The texts on this site were proofread by my amazing friend Lena. You can find them on their social media as AlohaLena.
Her Twitch channel (german only tho).

Episode 18 - Last Orders

"Be Careful What You Wish For"

Finished: 17/10/2025
Painting Time: 2h (?)

As someone who was born at witching hour and, on brand, sometimes sees paranormal things: I completely understand Tim's wish to see ghosts. I just want to throw in the most prominent ghost I ever saw: A dead guinea pig.
I heard and saw it running up the ramp of the enclosure. It looked exactly like the one that had died not long before this happened.
But that's of course impossible, so it had to be one of the living ones. Naturally.
I looked down, saw that all then living piggies were there, staring at me. That was the only time I had a combination of both sound and visuals. I'm still not sure what that was.Otherwise I saw a bunch of shadow people this spring/summer. One time, a colleague of mine and I turned around at the same time because we saw a shadowy humanoid pass behind us. No one was walking around. That was the first time I talked to them about supernatural things that they don't believe in.About the process:
I thought about meme drawings like this multiple times but always was scared that it "wouldn't fit in with the others" and seem like I'm "not putting enough work into this" (Which is crazy, looking at the amount of work I put into this).
But after I just couldn't get the first version of this right and almost cried, I decided to give up and just go for it.
I'm glad I did because this made me giggle way more.Unfortunately that means I'm not sure how long I took to make this one. The Clip Studio file says exactly 6h but most of that was the scrapped version. We'll just go with 2h for the statistics.Time is a weird soup anyways.

Episode 19 - Limehouse Nights

"Small Disagreement"

Finished: 20/10/2025
Painting Time: 5h

After #16, I hesitated to start this one, not gonna lie. But I'm satisfied with the result, even if the perspective is most likely a bit wonky.Also, I remember when I was like 12, my best friend and I went trick-or-treating. Instead of candy, we got a creepy porcelain doll from some lady. When we returned home, we looked at each other and decided rather quickly that we were not gonna keep it.Who gifts children creepy dolls for Halloween??

Episode 20 - The Haunted Moor

"Lingering Corpse"

Finished: 21/10/2025
Painting Time: 2h

Originally, I planned to paint something to do with the Ripon Hornblower but Jenny has siren vibes, and I LOVE sirens. So my choice has been made rather quickly. Sorry.I tried to recreate an "overexposed and taken in a hurry" kind of look. Because if you'd do manage to get a photo like that, I'd assume you'd want to run like you've never run before.
Also it looks cool.The version without the added effects can be found below with the WIP images! In case someone else is like me and gets dizzy from looking at this too long.

Episode 21 - Adventures in High Strangeness

"Watching"

Finished: 21/10/2025
Painting Time: 3.5h

I did not expect to be painting so many creepy / horror-themed artworks for this project. Before I started, I hadn't even realized how often they talk about creepy stuff in the episodes.And while I find the idea of cryptids like Owlman or Mothman somewhat amusing, seeing literally anything humanoid approach me in a dark forest would absolutely kill me. Dark forests are incredibly terrifying to me anyway.

Episode 22 - Night of the Horse

"And so it Begins Anew"

Finished: 22/10/2025
Painting Time: 2.5h

I'm usually not a winter person but this made me look forward to snowy weather. My husky will be thrilled!And the thought of a skeleton horse playing Epic Rap Battle to get wasted is hilarious. I love everything about this. Folklore can be absolutely silly.

Episode 23 - The Forgotten Henges

"Embarrassement"

Finished: 23/10/2025
Painting Time: 1h

I've asked myself this multiple times in my life. Just a few weeks ago when people thought the purge was happening and sold all of their belongings, gave away their pets, and asked neighbors to take care of their kids for them.The aftermath must be incredibly awkward every time. How do you even return from that? "Hey, I know I just gave away everything I had, but here I am again. Same day next month?"
And it's always "Oh, they looked at the wrong calendar! The aliens / god don't know we're using this one now".Imagine an all-powerful deity or aliens advanced enough to let the world end, and they fail because of different calendars existing. Aside from the fact that different countries use different calendars.

Episode 24 - The Day of the Druids

"Nature's Light"

Finished: 24/10/2025
Painting Time: 3h

I found the pictures of the druids Tim posted very lovely, so I kept this very simple and focused.Please don't look at the dates of the last ten pieces. I don't know what was going on. No, I did not try to rush it. No, I did not take a break.

Episode 25 - The Straw Bear

"Straw Bear"

Finished: 24/10/2025
Painting Time: 3h

I'm still kind of confused why it's called the Straw Bear if they look nothing like bears. So I wanted to see what they would look like if they did. The head now looks like it's made out of wood but I'm not sure how one would build that without suffocating the person inside or giving them the worst neck pain. Cosplayers can most likely answer this.

Episode 26 - Manx Tails
Episode 27 - Manx Trails

"Queenie"

Finished: 29/10/2025
Painting Time: 2.5h

I don't think I've ever painted just food. But all that talking about Manx food reminded me of those absolutely fantastic artworks I've seen on social media, so I wanted to give it a try. I think it came out looking rather like an egg yolk in a scallop but... why not, I guess. Eggs are a nice snack as well.Also, because they talked about Manx and giants: In the Philippines we have folklore about the origin of the islands Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao!
Lus, Bisaya, and Minda were the daughters of the giant Lumawig. Minda disobeyed her father and got carried away by waves. Her sisters tried to save her but also got swallowed by the sea. Lumawig, heartbroken, went to sleep, and when he woke up again, he found three new islands which he believed to be his daughters.
Just a little fun fact because it reminded me of this.Note
These three last artworks of the project were exclusively painted on my iPad since old age has finally caught up to my dear old PC. I can't play most games or even make art without the room smelling like anxiety and a pending call for the fire department.
I was absolutely devastated but thanks to an amazing person called Daniel and my dad, I was able to order a new one. I am beyond excited! At last I'll be able to play Baldur's Gate 3 and actually see something during cutscenes instead of 80% of the textures not loading. Mind you, I've got more than 1000 hours in this game. My PC and I were both fighting for our lives.

Episode 28 - Welsh Magick
Episode 29 - Seers and Sorcerers

"Withstanding Time"

Finished: 30/10/2025
Painting Time: 4h

It's funny they recorded this episode in the month I started this project, while on the day I relistened to those two episodes, the 30th episode was released - the last one included in this project. We're coming full circle here.But imagine how cool it would be if something like this was actually found at some point and became its own little piece of folklore. I think that would be neat.Update after listening to episode 30 and being reminded of Tulpas: I take that back.

Episode 30 - The Dalby Spook

"An Usual Friend"

Finished: 02/11/2025
Painting Time: 5h

As a fan of Doctor Who, I had to.
Which one of them is the unusual friend? Yes.But of course:
I did it! Here we are at the last artwork for this enormous project! Six months and hundreds of hours of work. It feels weird to write this and know, that it's over. Kind of unreal. Or maybe that's because it's 2am and my eyes stopped working correctly three hours ago.I'm so glad I started this. Despite complications and me sometimes running on nothing but hopes and dreams, I finished it. Looking back at all the results makes me incredibly proud of myself. As I should be.I hope you enjoyed looking at this artsy journey I had!
I definitely enjoyed taking it.