A brush with death.

Emma’s Adventureswas a monthly column created forEurogamer Supportersthat ran throughout 2023.

And there are always unexpected twists in her tales.

A view from a wooden platform overlooking the sea in the game Rust. In the distance is an oil rig - the the same oil rig that has been painted onto a board in the foreground of the image. In the painting, the oil rig is silhouetted against a deep red sun that’s dipping into the sea behind it. In ‘reality’, we see the oil rig in daylight. It’s a striking painting.

Today, Emma settles down for a spot of landscape painting.

How relaxing, you and nature, your drawing tablet in hand, your virtual palette of paints poised.

Oh, and the infamously hostile world of Rust around you - didn’t I mention that?

A laptop on a table and a graphics tablet connected to it. A hand holding a pen belongs to the person we can’t see who’s drawing a picture in the game Rust. It’s a blue and colourful scene that appears to be being painted - possibly of a lighthouse. I bet it’ll sell for fortunes.

It’s a brutal, anarchic environment.

If you haven’t read that piece yet, bookmark it for when you’re feeling festive.

We’re not far off that time of year again.

A player’s eye view of a small, hexagonal, stone hut, with a thatched roof, on the shoreline of the game Rust. The sky above is blue, and the characters' hands in the foreground hold binoculars. It’s an idyllic spot to paint from, which is precisely the point.

For this month’s column, however, I wanted to focus my attention on a different creative outlet.

Surely this would be a nice relaxing thing to do in my spare time.

It was reassuring to know that the community’s sense of humour had not changed.

In the corner of a makeshift wooden platform in the game Rust, stands a painting Emma has just completed. It’s of the oil rig we see in the distance, although she’s depicted it at night time, lit and silhouetted by a deep red sun that’s dipping into the sea behind it.

And it was from my new home that I was inspired to produce my first painting.

So I built myself a little jetty, plonked down a sign, and got to work.

At this point I learned just howdifficultit is to paint in Rust.

A close-up of Emma’s Rust painting of an oil rig. Here we see much more clearly the silhouetted oil rig lit by the glowing red sun that’s dipping into the sea behind it, with red refractions of the light glittering on the inky black sea.

Without an option to draw in layers, it’s very difficult to go back and edit previous work.

This makes creating detailed shading very difficult.

The translucent paint also just ended up looking like some really naff 90s street graffiti.

On a small wooden platform painting a picture in Rust, in the dark, when all of a sudden, in the distance, two eye-like lights appear. That’s never a good sign.

This meant I couldn’t quickly glance up and down to see what I was drawing.

So considering all of the above, I did my best on the first attempt.

But I wasn’t totally satisfied, and I realised I would have to rethink my painting approach.

On another raised wooden platform in the game Rust, this time painting a picture of a lighthouse seen in the water ahead. By now, Emma’s interpretation of a scene has - by virtue of the tools available - become slightly more abstract, so the canvas we see has a more daubed, chunky-lined image on it. It’s also a pleasantly bright blue.

Due to the survival elements of Rust’s world, each painting session became a full-blown expedition.

I became a literal starving artist.

Another unexpected problem was that it was actually rather difficult to get close to any of Rust’s landmarks.

Looking out across frozen drifts of ice towards an iceberg in the game Rust. In the foreground is the side of a wooden platform and attached to it, a rectangular wooden board, which is what Emma uses as a canvas to paint on in the game. There’s nothing on it yet, though.

For this reason I decided to have a go at painting player-made bases.

This was a total disaster.

After straying too close to one building, I was instantly vaporised by an auto turret.

Emma’s inventory screen in Rust, showing her character completely undressed with no equipment or items in her bag. It’s all be stolen overnight while she slept.

My only chance at survival was building myself a campfire.

As I huddled near the fire, I eventually heard a shuffling noise near me.

No, this wasn’t a bear - this was a player.

Looking out at iceberg scenery in Rust, while nearby, a finished landscape painting by Emma is attached to a wall. It shows pink-skied, abstract, colour-blocked interpretation of the scene. It’s bright and eye-catching.

Already slightly terrified, I peered over the parapet, hoping to talk them down over voice comms.

My gaze met two green glowing eyes.

We both froze for a second.

A close-up of Emma’s abstract iceberg painting in Rust. Here we see the triangular, almost polygonal interpretation of the scene she sees before her. The colours are bright and cheerful. It’s very effective.

I was shot in the head.

After this incident, I was curious to see what had happened to my work-in-progress painting.

Was it still intact?

Or had it been blown to pieces?

Maybe the player had ‘contributed’ to my painting in some way.

I scurried back to have a look.

So I abandoned the project and went roaming once more.

This time I found a lighthouse, which was right around the corner from the oil rig.

Kind of funky, I think!

I’ll admit that the first mishap on this journey was entirely my fault.

I got distracted by a mysterious cave and went inside to investigate.

“Hello hello what’s in hereaaaaAAAARGH!”

One of these had a partially-sunken wreck next to it: a wonderfully moody and haunting vista.

So I once again set up a little hut.

I logged off and went to bed.

The next day, I rejoined the game and found myself still in the shack.

I had survived the night, what a relief!

Now I could return to my art.

In the corner of my vision, however, I spotted that I was cold.

Minus 11 degrees, in fact.

What was going on?

That’s when looked down at my feet and saw, well, my feet - my naked feet.

Panicking, I checked my inventory and discovered that all my clothes were missing.

They had even taken my rock!

The most basic tool in the game, without which it’s impossible to harvest resources.

What a sight that must have been - a naked, frazzled artist running through the arctic snow!

What must the polar bears have thought?

Amazingly, I survived the experience.

I even managed to collect some useful resources on my way.

But I wasn’t quite out of danger yet.

And then it spun right around and headed straight for me.

Well, intervened - I have no idea if they knew I was there.

But it was all the distraction I needed to escape.

It was time for hard lines, geometric shapes and a flat 2D vibe.

I just can’t believe I had an enlightening art experience throughRust.

I can’t say, however, that paintingen plein airin Rust was a particularly relaxing experience.

These are great conditions to produce some anxiety-laden artwork, perhaps.

But if you want a chill place to paint?

I would probably recommend just going outside.

I’m heading out there now to lie in the grass and calm down.