A Joke Taken Too Far

Monica and Friends has a long tradition of parodying other stories. For this personal piece, I pushed two of its characters into Bloodborne. Jimmy Five becomes the Hunter; Smudge becomes a version of Micolash, Host of the Nightmare. The joke works because each borrowed element also refers back to the original character.

Jimmy Five, known as Cebolinha (“little onion”) in Portuguese, carries a scallion-shaped weapon. Smudge, known for avoiding water, presides over a damp, fog-filled nightmare from inside Micolash’s cage.

The reference board pairs the comic characters with the costumes, architecture, and atmosphere of Bloodborne.

Keeping the Characters Readable in the Dark

The composition began with Smudge elevated at the top of a staircase and Jimmy Five entering from below. That height difference establishes the confrontation before the costume details are visible. The blue rabbit apparitions repeat a familiar Monica and Friends silhouette, but their glow belongs to the game’s supernatural world.

The painting moves from a broad value sketch to a narrow pool of cold light framed by the staircase.

Two Visual Languages, One Scene

The final rendering keeps the characters’ rounded proportions and recognizable faces while borrowing Bloodborne’s worn fabric, ironwork, fog, and low-key lighting. The crossover stays funny because neither side is treated as decoration: the comic identities remain specific, and the horror setting is allowed to feel genuinely oppressive.

Close views preserve the character-specific jokes; the full composition lets the parody play as one encounter.