Retro Gaming

There have been many characters over the years that have captured the hearts of gamers all over the world and 3 that have definitely kept me entertained from a young age are, Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong. The structure behind a strong game character is a simple look, nothing too complicated with either interesting surroundings, voices, back story, and most of all a reason to love them. This as a whole is why especially Mario, is known world wide, even the logo of a simple ‘M’ would be known by most people, and aimed at any age people are always learning about Mario and playing the games, which shows that even the most simple looking character can sometimes be the most effective.

Paula Lopez Vallejo (or Paulova)

‘Gallinas y Gallo’ (top), ‘Perro’ (second), ‘Caballo y Yegua en Llanura’ (third) and ‘Clervo’ (bottom) from the article found on http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/miscellaneous-paulova and also from Paulova’s website http://www.paulova.es/index.php/proyectos/9-obras/pintura/8-labores-marcianas

Paulova is a Spanish artist that has attempted to put her own twist on vintage rug designs, and rather successfully in my opinion as it makes what would just be an ordinary design look so much more interesting and intriguing by simply adding UFO’s in where they look mighty out of place. This pixelated style is beautifully done, and shows that when it is done in detail instead of simply 8-bit, it can actually look extremely well executed. These pieces may be aimed at any person who takes an interest in the previous form of vintage rug designs and yet can also appreciate a modern take on them however it may also change the minds of the younger generation that perhaps don’t find vintage very appealing, yet can relate to a more modern outcome.

CineFix

CineFix is a YouTube account that along with many other videos, have recently started making 8 bit versions of famous films. My favourite out of the few they have produced is as you can see, Pulp Fiction. They create it in a nostalgic pixel style that almost makes you believe it is a real computer game that you just missed out on as a child, it is that well made. They made for YouTube entertainment, but they are most likely more specifically made for fans of retro gaming along with fans of pulp fiction and even more specifically fans of both, such as me.

Erich Schmitt

Tier-Lexikon a book I bought in a Berlin charity store by Erich Schmitt.

This is an old fashion comic style book that intrigued me with it colourless funny line drawings. Even though I don’t fully understand any because they’re all in German, I can still be enticed in the book simply by its illustrations. A real illustration can tell a story simply by looking at the image with no words, and even if you can’t see the complete joke behind each image, you illustrations can still be amusing which is what makes the book special and probably why it is still going modern day to say it is a very old book.

Jack Teagle

 

‘No Brow’ Artist

‘Fight’ from The Village book store in the Corn Exchange, Leeds.

This was a book I found in The Village Book store by a No Brow artist and it immediately stood out to me as I love controversy and when you see a comic book with God in a boxing match with Satan, you know it’s going to be good. I think the basically drawn characters work more effectively than detailed more graphic novel based characters, as the comic has a comedy feel about it, a slightly silly but amusing side that would be lost if the characters were drawn to seriously.

Mirage

Page 58 in the Illusive 2 book.

Drawing, Ink, Photoshop (2005/2006)

Mirage work inspires me because even with black and white intricately drawn images that can look beautiful by itself, to then add small sections of colour and improve it is something that definitely inspires me since I personally try to work  myself into getting used to colour more as my work is normally very happy staying black and white. Even though you can’t tell exactly what the face looks like you can still tell it is a face because the main features are made more apparent, and if you can see the most important parts of a face you can almost always tell the vague idea of what the face looks like as a whole. The work seems very advertising based, to advertise clothing or makeup as the glamorous women involved really seem to really sell some sort of desired product to the viewer.

Masa

‘3Dueños – BUDU’ (left) and ‘3Dueños – DJ Trece’ (right) page 238 in the Illusive 2 book.

Pencil and Felt Tip Markers (2007)

There is nothing about this work that jumps out at me and makes me appreciate it other than the continuous line technique used on the faces, as this gives a slight interesting contour feel to the face. However I feel the pieces as a whole look tacky and have an almost cheap nightclub poster feel about them which is not something someone wants in a piece of art. They could be created as a form of advertising for something however I feel the combination of poor colour choice and even poorer imagery as a whole creates artwork that just isn’t pleasing to look at.

Jens Harder

‘M.S Found In a Bottle’  from the Illusive 2 book.

Pen, Brush, Photoshop.

This piece is very intriguing to me as I don’t normally like digital work as much as this but I think it is amazing done and immerses the viewer inside the image greatly, the tones of the colours are very cool and mutual so it isn’t bright, it is just a relaxed image – contrasting against the unrelaxed nature of what the image is portraying. This could be part or an illustrated story book that tells meaningful tales, not as much children’s books but more young adults.

Jan Feindt

Pages 302 and 303 of the Illusive 2 book

Ink

To me Jan Feindt’s work looks very Frank Miller graphic novel orientated, which most likely isn’t the way he is going with it, that is just how I interpret it. The black and white effect looks like an image with a high threshold to the point where there is no grey fade it is simply black or white in the image which is very interesting to me. These two images especially make me think of post-apocalyptic world where even the colour has being destroyed. There is still detail in the images and can probably represent many different things to different people, however I feel the main target audience would be people who appreciate a comic style work that is very dark and mysterious, for example the Sin City comics.

Florence Manlik

‘My Land’ (left), ‘Verde’ (big right) page 99 of the Illusive 2 book.

Hand-Drawn.

The beautifully crafted hand-drawn element within this work intrigues me as to what scale these pieces are done on, because shadow and depth is created in section where the lines are that close together it would be hard to replicate until on a larger scale, but how large. The top left image gives a sort of misty appeal that makes me feel I need to see something like that on a larger and in person to reap it’s true benefits. The pieces do contain a rather feminine, fashion element in my eyes, like it seems someone has illustrated how they feel a dress would move in a wind without containing the dress but simply the movement of the fabric.