Miles Buckle studied Graphic Communication Design at Central Saint Martins in London and upon entering his course, he assumed he’d be trained in “quite typical graphic design practices (typography, branding, etc)”. It was 3D animation and video game design, however, that Buckle was drawn to and his course encouraged him to centre his work around his interests. Now, Buckle describes himself as an animator and ‘low-poly artist’.

His work certainly doesn’t fall within the expected realm of graphic design for brands. Buckle’s work sees him reimagine scenes from films and TV series – Mulholland Drive and Severance, for example – through low-polygon visuals: edges and lines are jagged as though they’re roughly cut. The style of his work looks back to the nostalgia of 90s video game aesthetics, where movement feels stilted, and the aesthetic is intentionally lo-fi. Buckle takes it a step further, pasting faces over characters so they appear lo-fi and, crucially, as though the budget is low.

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“This is a mid-90s style of low polygon counts, bit-crushed audio and terrifyingly stretched face textures,” he explains. Buckle’s style chimes with current trends; the infamous duo Shadrinsky, for example, have become the flag bearers of lo-fi CCTV adverts created for brands such as Marc Jacobs and Deutsche Telekom.

The nostalgia in his work draws from his own experiences growing up. “When I was really young I loved watching Minecraft parody songs and I would even buy them on iTunes for like 99p, and then watch the music videos on YouTube. I was always interested by how they looked like Minecraft but a bit shinier and the animations were a lot nicer.

“I remember learning that there’s this software called Blender where you can basically make this stuff yourself and I ended up using Blender on and off for ten years, and really ramped this up in my degree,” he explains, “eventually developing this further by making it all interactive and more cinematic in Unreal Engine. I love the complete creative control it gives me. You model, texture and animate every detail of the world and there is so much to consider. The sound, the user interface, the lighting. I just love translating these virtual experiences through my own lens and seeing how people interpret them, how their messages and intentions can be subverted and altered.”

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We’re in a new era now, one where the creative industries are rapidly changing due to advancements in AI. These changes have shaped Buckle’s work too, though perhaps not in the way you’d expect. His response has been to refine a seemingly unrefined aesthetic. “My style of work has come from embracing technical limitations and asking how I can recontextualise design to communicate something different,” Buckle tells Creative Review. “This was also something that came as a response to the hyper-realistic style that tends to come from AI art which I felt looks very unintentional. I wanted my work to look extremely intentional.

“I am interested by how 3D graphics are defined by the hardware they exist around, which means that visual styles have relatively short lifespans compared to eras of film or music, which are often changed in response to culture and the world around them. When we decide to place ourselves in a technically limited space rather than being forced there, these limitations force us to think outside the box and consider what the benefits of this style can be.”

When we decide to place ourselves in a technically limited space rather than being forced there, these limitations force us to think outside the box

On the use of low-polygon pixels and aesthetics, he elaborates, “I love how at the time this was considered new and realistic, whereas on reflection it all looks like surreal horror. I want to make work that chooses to have this appearance and see what this can communicate.”

The surreal quality of his work pulls from the world of David Lynch, which was a source of inspiration for his graduate project and short video game Nights Bridge. Buckle elaborates: “It was heavily inspired by the work of the late, great David Lynch and the surreal worlds he created in his work, most notably for this project the world of Lost Highway. I felt that the slightly off tone of his work matched the feeling that lo-poly graphics tend to do, something not quite being right but you can’t quite figure out what.”

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At this point in time, AI isn’t a concern for Buckle who believes that it won’t entirely replace creatives. His main concern is retaining a consistent amount of freelance work. As a recent graduate, he’s already completed a commission for an artist exhibiting at the Design Museum in London. He’s also been contacted by a horror magazine in Germany to recreate famous landmarks in Stuttgart in a PS1 style, reminiscent of the horror game Silent Hill.

Working as a freelancer has allowed Buckle to create commission-based work and his own personal projects – a balance he’s careful to maintain. “I don’t want to get burned out by content creation or feel that there is a pressure to make something for the sake of it, even if there is nothing on my mind. I need to make sure I am reminded why I am doing the work I am doing.” His long-term ambition is to create a game similar to his graduate project, “but much more fleshed out and much more polished”. He adds, “I don’t want to make the next big thing or anything, but it would be really cool to actually have gotten a game published and know people have played it and enjoyed it.”

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