Nintendo Poster for the Nintendo DSi LA Launch

I'm super proud to announce that I'm one of the three Iam8bit artists selected to "perform" at the Nintendo DS1 Launch Event. It's this Saturday (April 4th) at Universal City Walk 9PM to 1AM.

To celebrate the newest Nintendo System, a lucky few (maybe even you) will receive a free poster...


...and to make it extra cool, I won't be just signing them, I'll actually drawing you people into the poster! So, make sure you wear your best outfit to be immortalized!

Here's the exclusive shirt and stickers as well that will only be available Saturday!


I feel super honored to be a part of this, and hope all of you can come and have fun! Hope to see ya there!

I Am 8-Bit 2008

Here's my pieces for this year's I Am 8-Bit art show this Thursday!

Wooden Mario:
(Acrylic on wood)



Yes, I did all the cutting, carving, sanding and screwing together all of these pieces. It was super time consuming, but totally worth it.

Wooden Luigi:
(Acrylic on wood)




Oh, and they are kinda big.

Luigi is almost 4' tall.

Wooden Link:
4" x 6"
(Acrylic on wood)


The fun part of Link was carving out the shield and sword.


All of this woodworking actually reminded me of making Pinewood Derby Cars for Cub Scouts with my Dad. We would spend weeks in the soggy basement with a radial saw, jigsaw, a scale and sandpaper. That was fun and almost won best of show too!


Next up: TRIBUTE TO GYGAX show

"What the Shell?!" Wins Cartoon of the Month

"What the Shell?!" has won Cartoon of the Month on Frederator!

Wow! I didn't even know that there was such a thing! Look at all this loot!


I would like to thank everyone that worked on the short, Channel Frederator, and especially all the viewers that voted! This is a big honor. Thank you!

Here's the interview if anyone missed it.

A Really Really Brief History of Donkey Kong

This is a short film I directed for the King Of Kong DVD.




I don't know if you're familiar with this movie, but it is great. It's an epic battle of good and evil. It's about Steve Wiebe vs. Billy Mitchell for the highest score on Donkey Kong. The movie is really more about the players.

After watching this movie, I think that Weibe deserves the title, BUT I also think the Billy Mitchell is an AMAZING gamer! One of the top of our lifetime. He's portrayed as the villian, but he is still deserves the recognition for his gaming feats. Just to put it into perspective, there probably wouldn't even be competative arcade gaming if it wasn't for Billy Mitchell.

Jon felt that the movie needed some kind of historical perspective of the actual Donkey Kong game, so the short was born.

I sure didn't do this short alone! We were under the gun for this one. We turned it around in 2 weeks--and that's all after hours work! It was a huge labor of love for everyone that worked on it at I Am 8bit Studios:

Written and Produced by Jon M. Gibson
Told by Eric Bauza
Music by 8 Bit Weapon
Designed by Steve Lambe and I
Animated by Tony Mora and I
After Effects by Matt Gadbois

Here's my animatic, just be warned, the whole thing is rough and on yellow post-its.



Every short starts with what is called a color script. This is a way to keep and overview of the whole film's color. It's a way to plan out the intensity and relationships of all the colors in all the scenes in order. Color is SUPER imporant. It basically dictates the emotions in the film--all following the story that is.

"Shiggy" Shigeru Miyamoto. I hope I've done him proud!


I loved designing DK. I must say that I despise the new DK design--ruined by RARE.


Here's some of Steve's Nintendo businessmen:

Thanks again everyone for such a fine job, and especially New Line for paying for it!

What the Shell?!

Here's my short I did for the Nintendo Short Cuts Film Festival.




Here's some BG's by Tony Mora:

I thought it would be funny to have everything in Mario's house pipes, just because, you know, he is a plumber...

This is before textures.

This is after.

I animated the whole thing in a weekend. It was a lot of fun to get my Mario design movin'. I've been dying to ever since I did the first painting. Here's the animation before I comped in Tony's BGs, you can still see me super rough animatic on post-its.



The music was by the awesome band 8 Bit Weapon.

If I did more shorts, would guys actually buy a DVD collection?

I Am 8 Bit Everywhere!

There is so much press for the I am 8-Bit show this year! Check out some!

The always amazing Old Man Musings
The cool coverage on Game One


Game Jew is always bare chested


A funny account of the night on Elizabeth Ito's blog
Vinyl Pulse has some pics plus a video
The show is still up! You can see it the real pieces in person at Gallery 1988!

Wario Needs Love Too

Here's my latest for the I Am 8-Bit Show.

With this piece, and all my new stuff, I've been really inspired by chaildren book illustrators from the 70s.

It's called "Wario Needs Love Too"

Acrylic and Ink on Illustration Board

I've been trying to begun to really stray from the digital rough...

Marios 4-9

Here's the results of a very busy weekend:

SMB2


Wrecking Crew


SMB1


SML1


NSMB


SMB1

These are all of them. If I have more time, I'm going to try to get 3 more large pieces done too...

You guys wanna see some Tigre stuff?

Marios: 1-3

Here's the very first of the new paintings for the upcoming I Am 8 Bit show.

I am doing a total of 9 Marios all together all based on his various pallettes in the games.

I am also trying a new approach to the paintings, What do you think? Old pantings more or the newer "poppier" style?

DK1

SMB1

SMB3

My Mario Poster for Nintendo Power Magazine!

Well, today's the big day for the I Am 8-Bit art show! What better day to announce my secret project I ask you? Well here it is, finally!

I was hired by Nintendo Power to do a huge Mario pullout poster! It's in the next issue (June 2006/V204) that ships in 2 days! It's part of a huge 9 page story all about I Am 8-Bit show.

I spent a long time on this digital piece. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to post it, but I did make for you, a key to all the characters that appear in the poster! Now when you get the magazine, you can impress all your friends by knowing the difference between a Beezo and a Telectro!

1. Side Stepper-MB
2. Fighter Fly-MB
3. Phanto-SMB2
4. Hoopster-SMB2
5. Mario-SMB2
6. Lakitu-SMB
7. Para Koopa-SMB
8. Pokey-SMB3
9. Bonzai Bill-SMW
10. Clawgrip-SMB2
11. Triclyde-SMB2
12. Toad-SMB2
13. Tweeter-SMB2
14. Ninji-SMB2
15. Shy Guy-SMB2
16. Beezo-SMB2
17. Birdo-SMB2
18. Rocky Wrench-SMB3
19. Lemmy Koopa-SMB3
20. Ludwig Von Koopa-SMB3
21. Iggy Koopa-SMB3
22. Spiney-SMB
23. Pidget-SMB2
24. Wario-SML2
25. Roy Koopa-SMB3
26. Princess Peach-SMB2
27. Mario Plane
28. Spiney-SMB
29. Luigi-MK
30. Monty Mole-SMW
31. Wendy O. Koopa-SMB3
32. The Angry Sun-SMB3
33. Morton Koopa Jr.-SMB3
34. Larry Koopa-SMB3
35. Wart-SMB2
36. Bowser-SMB
37. Mario in Kuribo’s Shoe-SMB3
38. Rabbit Eared Mario (from the Power Carrot)-SML
39. Tanooki Mario-SMB3
40. Mario-WC
41. Mario in Frog Suit-SMB3
42. Mario
43. Boos-SMW
44. Racoon Mario-SMB3
45. Giant Koopa-SMB3
46. Dr. Mario-DM
47. Goombas-SMB
48. Donkey Kong-MK
49. Bowser-MK
50. Toad-MK
51. Red Virus-DM
52. Blue Virus-DM
53. Yellow Virus-DM
54. Piranha Plant-SMB
55. Telectro-SMB3
56. Buzzy Beetle-SMB
57. Chargin’ Chuck-SMW
58. Pac-flower-SMB3
59. Cheep Cheeps-SMB
60. Hammer Brother-SMB
61. Para-Bomb-SMW
62. Mario on Yoshi-SMW
63. Blargg-SMW
64. Big Bertha-SMB3
65. Bloops-SMB

MB = Mario Brothers (Arcade)
SMB = Super Mario Brothers (NES)
SMB2 = Super Mario Brothers 2 (NES) (USA release)
SMB3 = Super Mario Brothers 3 (NES)
SMW = Super Mario World (SNES)
MK = Mario Kart (SNES)
DM = Dr. Mario (NES)
WC = Wrecking Crew (NES)
SML = Super Mario Land (GB)
SML2 = Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GB)

Make sure you read the post below this one too! You'll miss out on some amazing art!

Take Two And Call Me In The Morning

Here's a painting I did as a trade to my new painting pal Amanda Visell.

She convinced me to try painting with cel vinyl again after almost 10 years!

I was so happy when she asked for a Dr. Mario piece! It's by far my favorite puzzle game, (and not just because Mario's in it).


Another painting tomorrow...

Newest Marios

Here's some new Mario paintings I did for this year's I Am 8-Bit show. When thinking about the new pieces, I wanted to try to do ideas I didn't have a chance to touch on the first time around.

Here's a little known fact that Mario had a submarine from Mario Land for the Gameboy:


I always try to incorporate the frame into the color choices and sometimes the actual design. I'll have to track down a picture of the framed piece.

(This really isn't the best scan of this piece, sorry!)



Mario 3 Power ups---I know, I'm missing Kuribo's Shoe, but I'm saving that one...

This was actually my first painting entirely digital to paint, no physical rough...



Next post, Legend of Zelda paintings!

Other Video Game Paintings

Who said that Mario was the only videogame character worth painting?! Oh, that's right, I did. Regardless, I'm a giving person, and both of these paintings were Christmas gifts for my 2 good friends, Jon Gibson, and Tony Mora.

Don't ask me why, but Jon is a huge Burgertime fan! He has a Burgertime arcade cabinent in his apartment and everything! He can't seem to finish eating a whole hamburger in real life though...



Tony begged me to do a Donkey Kong painting for about 1 year before he gave up. Then, when he least expected it...hee hee


Tomorrow I'll post some of my commissioned pieces...