Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Bit.Trip contest!


Update! Here are my winnings! Thank you again,

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If you've read this blog for any length of time you know that I love Nintendo. I admire the company itself almost as much as the games they produce.

For the most part I really only stick with the major Nintendo developed and published titles (Mario, Zelda, Pokémon) for several reasons, one of which being I simply don't have that much time to enjoy video games and with a Nintendo game I'll have a solid experience that I'll love. Everyone once in a while though, I'll happen upon a game developed by another and fall in love with that as well.

One of my favorite new series like this is Bit.Trip. The games play like love letters to the classic video games of the past. Each game in the series is almost elemental, they abstract and distill the building blocks of classic games into a fresh, new experience.

My favorite one in the series is Bit.Trip Runner. It's a terrifyingly challenging game. It also has some great music. See below.



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Recently a game site, Tiny Cartridge, had an art contest to win the new collection of Bit.Trip games for the Wii and 3DS. I thought, man, I got to do something if for no other reason than to show my love for the series. Well, hey, I'm happy to report I won one of the grand prizes!

 

Here's a better look at the piece I did for it:


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And here's the moment from the game that inspired the piece. I wanted to do a more "realized" version of the blocky, pixelated scene. (Not to try an improve it in any way, mind you, there's not really anything to improve with pixels, they're perfect. I love them.)


Though actually I did another version of the piece too, one where CommanderVideo (that's the little fellow) was developed kind of along the same lines as the skull-monster. I made him more of an astronaut, or something. See below.


In the end I couldn't decide and sent in both to let the judges figure it out.

* * * 

Well, thanks again to Tiny Cartridge and Gaijin Games for picking my piece! It's an honor and I'm really looking forward to another Bit.Trip!

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PS If you're interested here's my original thumbnail for the piece. 


Monday, September 19, 2011

The booth

Here are some shots of my booth at Indie Craft Parade.

It was such a fun show; I'm sad it's over. Probably why I keep posting pictures of it.

If you're not sick of hearing about it yet check these out.





Photos by Peter Crane.
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Friday, September 16, 2011

The Hidden People - prints!


The Golden Apple


The Elf Mother


The Troll Father


The Resting Hill


 The Walking Hill

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And of course there are copies available of The Hidden People
40 pages, 6" x 9" color printing, soft cover.

Thank you for supporting my work!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

ICP


Photo by Peter Crane.

Indie Craft Parade, (@craftparade) my wife's pet project went off this past weekend. It was another massive success and a lot of fun to boot. 

I debuted several new prints at the show. I'll be posting those this Friday.

I had several of my Grimm and Alice prints as well as several originals but the work I was most excited about was The Hidden People. The book did very well at the show and I want to thank everyone who came by and supported it! 

Prints of five pieces from The Hidden People will be available this Friday. 

Thanks again!

Thursday, September 01, 2011

Thanks and schedule resumed

 

 Thank you!


The Hidden People has sold through the first print run and is well into the second printing.

I've been thrilled by the response and just wanted to thank you all for your support!

I wanted to take the month of August off from blogging and let the initial THP post sit at the top for the month. At the same time you might have noticed a fresh coat of paint over this old blog. Actually birthday number six slipped past last week. My dear old blog, six years old. 

Anyway, I'm still messing with things and updating.

I'll resume my regular M/W/F posting schedule next week but for this (incredibly, how is the end of summer) first day of September just wanted to check in and say hey.

Also, look at this! Look at this dancing guy!



I'll see you on Monday.