Amazing artist round-up: video games and geekery!

With the internet being the vast expanse that it is, I go back and forth between feeling amazed that I find good things at all, and miffed at the number of ridiculous things that I encounter. This is most evident in the amazing game-based artwork that crops up from time to time. 

Two artists I very much enjoy: Zac Gorman of Magical Game Time esteem, and Wednesday Wolf, with his drippy, macabre, watercolor Pokemon masterpieces. With their inspiring works in mind, I set out to try and find additional dedicated art masters to keep an eye on, and in the process I want to (hopefully) share some new artists with you as well!

Zac Gorman: Magical Game Time

I'm pretty sure most people have seen his work by now, but I'm including it anyway!

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Sonic running like an idiot is the first Zac Gorman piece I ever saw. It was on tumblr, such a wonderous place, and after that I found his Magical Game Time haven. I've been enthralled with his whimsical, slighty-gif'd, game-based pieces ever since. And, if there were any doubt, his UH-mazing 'Joust' piece sealed the deal for sure.

Wednesday Wolf

I found this guy (name unknown!) while cruising through video game items on Etsy. His pieces are all so awesome and unique, I hope to purchase one someday! He does paintings that aren't Pokemon, of course, but it's hard to deny how great it is seeing some of my favorite pocket monsters in twisted, badass form.

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It would appear that no popular culture subject is safe from his wicked brush and mind, and I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief and thanks for that fact. His work is all for sale, and you can bet that I WILL own that Oddish piece someday. Oddish for life.

Pixel Paradise

These little gems are created by Mel K., and I commend her for her variety and talent! I really love perler bead art, but I'm pretty sure I don't have the patience for it. One of my favorite aspects of her work is the diversity of use: coasters, decoration, pins, magnets, dioramas, and more. With glue and any number of backings, you can have her work anywhere in your house, office, car, boat, airplane, spaceship, etc. 

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All of her items are reasonably priced and look very well made! It's tempting to buy a bunch and create my own Mario World play set on my fridge! Actually, that's an amazing idea. Time to update my wish list!

Canvas and Paints

A Penny Arcade forumer by the name of LewieP's Mummy runs Canvas and Paints, and it's a chronicle of the art commissions she paints for people, as well as charities. All proceeds go toward either Oxfam or Child's Play. Her paintings are really well crafted and very diverse because of her client's requests. If you'd like to commission something from her you'll have to wait a while, she's usually backed up!

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The Professor Layton and Limbo pieces are but a small sampling of her work. I definitely recommend that you check out her site and follow the progress of current pieces from pencil to finished painting!

botjira - deviantART

Sometimes I forget that deviantART is still a buzzing hive of artistic activity, and the times that I do remember I am generally greatly rewarded. Case in point: botjira from deviantART. botjira makes these wonderful paper collages, with the more popular pieces being Pokemon related. As a budding paper artist, it's exciting to see the medium being put forth into the video game world! These pieces differ in that they're entirely two dimensional, but they have no less talent or beauty to them.

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Be sure to click to embiggen and see the detail! I am just in love with the textures and separation of subject and background. The diverse paper types and everything are blowing my mind. They make me want to dabble in collage sculpting! Great art is inspiring, after all.

Those are my artist picks for today! I know I've hardly scratched the surface, so I'd just love it if you told me YOUR favorite gaming artists! Or your favorite artists in general. Comment or tweet @abitofgeek with your wonderful, arty information :D

-MJ

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Apparently this is about tablets and Minecraft.

Everyday that I walk to work I pass these really great wrought iron fences. They're thin and black (of course) and at the tops they have gold painted fleur des lis type ornaments. They're nice to look at, but more importantly they remind me of my 40K army. I painted a few little gold fleur des lis for my vehicles. I miss them. I have a feeling that my future holds a place for me to paint again though, so that's really exciting!

The 3DS launched today. In Europe, anyway. The US has another two days to wait. This doesn't make a bit of difference to me because my system is sitting in Washington AND I won't have it until June. Ugh.

I'm currently at work and doing some photo editing for a family shoot. I'm lucky in that, when at work, I get to use a giant tablet PC. I am unlucky in the fact that this computer is effed up and slow. Apparently, whoever used this machine before me was just download happy. And stupid. I'm hoping I can convince my boss to let me wipe it and start fresh. It needs it very badly. [I'm continuing this entry from home and I'm happy to update that I've been given the OK to wipe and restore the computer. Awesome!]

I remember the first time I used a tablet at all; my friend Leneah had one in high school. She really loved to draw and one time during Junior year she let me use it. I remember how horrible I was at it and wondered how she managed to control the pen well enough to make the drawings that she was so proficient at. Turns out it gets a lot easier with practice. I asked for one for Christmas that year, 2003, and received one. A tiny 5x7 tablet. I clumsily drew Neopets and mushroom scenery in Photoshop 7. Ah, memories. The next one I ever saw was the monstrous one that Andrew received as a birthday/graduation gift that following June. He's the kind of person that actually needs a tablet. I was very impressed.

After starting at OC for my Associates, I took some Photoshop classes. Once I was in the advanced class I had access to a tablet again. I had kind of fallen out of use on mine (already) and the work space was so tiny that it was frustrating to use. The ones at OC were sizable, but not nearly as large as Andrew's. Haha.

I didn't really mean for this to turn into a blog about tablets, but here it is I guess. I really enjoy using one. I don't need one, but I'll absolutely use one whenever the opportunity presents itself. Plus, Andrew gets jealous when I talk about it (which is fun and cute). Here is me using it:

Don't I look thrilled? My face may have not gotten the 

memo regarding how awesome tablet PCs are.

For lunch today I set out to find something new to eat (didn't happen) and while on my walk I passed a store called Game. I saw it last summer but had apparently forgotten about it. I most certainly didn't forget that there's a GameStop in Eyre Square Centre, but I like to avoid going in. It was so disorganized that I felt stressed when I went in last! Anyway, I popped into Game because they had crap-tons of signage for the 3DS. I wanted to look around and see game cases for Pokemon White and Okamiden. I easily found the boxes for Pokemon, but I didn't spot Okamiden. I don't even remember its release date though, so it's entirely possible that it's not out here yet. I looked around at their displays and the strategy guides and the empty box ads for the 3DS and felt... sad. Then I went, ''Do I miss GameStop?!'' and I turned and ran out of the store, almost knocking into an unsuspecting patron attempting to enter the door.

I suppose it wouldn't be entirely out of the question for me to miss it. I was there for over six years. Weird.

When we find the time in the day, Andrew and I go ahead and play Minecraft. It works best when he's on his lunch break, and that only works for me if I have nothing going on immediately after work. So far this week we haven't been able to play very often, but when he have played I've managed to grab some really fun screen shots! Allow me to share.

Andrew expanded our castle wall out quite a ways and

found some lovely new islands off the coast.

To the right of our castle's front wall he built a long low wall

that extends into a dock. Look at that beautiful ship! <3

While assisting with the construction of our ship's sails I 

spotted not one, but TWO squids off to the right of the dock!

Now I can make more black wool without finding those

ever elusive black sheep. Score!

We explored the Nether for the first time last week. It was

really freaky at first, and so very dark. I am not a fan of the

Pigmen. At all. The Ghasts make me so sad, then I shoot

them with my bow until they cry and explode.

Sometimes when I leave the Nether the Nether takes a

while to leave me.

I don't condone book burning, don't worry.

Andrew built us a fabulous library that is completely covered in lava. I painstakingly built tons of bookshelves in order to properly stock our intellectual alcove. I also made some classy as shit couches. One day I popped in to relax and all of the shelves and wool were gone. We were both very perplexed. We kind of assumed it was a server or game error, so I decided to wait until the anger wore off and then I'd build new ones. I had just placed about 20 bookshelves and was stopping to admire my handiwork, then I noticed that they were in flames. Apparently there is some sort of issue with flammable items being against a wall that has lava on the other side. So that was fun.

 Da da da daaaaaaa!

This is my latest contribution to the castle. Generally Andrew assigns me a task and I get to it, or I just hunt for sheep, but in this case I had a clear vision! Seems like a good welcome mat to me :]

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