Underscore, also known as _xo, is a digital artist whose work follows a mythological character he created, the Prince of the Abyss, the Bearer of Light. He renders the character's story through digital illustration, using artificial intelligence for about a fifth of his process as a bridge between a feeling and a tangible image rather than as a shortcut. He has worked full time on the platform objkt since 2022.
Underscore has said the character grew out of the hardest period of his life, when he began drawing an emotionless being living in an abyss full of darkness and pain. Making the work let him process those emotions, and he has described creation as a process of self-understanding and self-growth. In the mythology, the character's origins are unknown: a lone nomad for many lifetimes until the ground opened beneath him and he came to reside below, ruling over the abyss and its people, the dwellers.
