Art-Craft Challenge: Week 2 Final

Finished Piece: Choke on Smoke! (6"x12")

This is modeled on the Legend of Zelda sprite for the bomb (with graffiti around it further insulting the smoke-intolerant Dodongo, Level 2 Boss). I've been following with interest in recent years the stories of people appropriating videogame images into their public art, such as the Space Invader graffiti, and the Question Mark Blocks.

Working with that as inspiration, I thought I'd give this more of a graffiti feel to it (especially because the bright colors from old videogames feel attention-grabbing to me, like spray-paint). And that lets me get away with being less meticulous! Yay!


Keyboard Keys in Pickle Jar - getting clean

I am terrible at three-dimensional work, so I thought about ways to de-construct the keyboard in order to make it work for my two-dimensional planning. I decided to go with a mosaic so I got out my screwdriver to take this thing apart. Taking apart keyboards is a gross project - this is a pic of the inside of the keyboard. Needless to say, I did a very careful job of cleaning the keys.

Since I'm a big videogame nerd, I thought going with some sprites would be a good idea. With help from sites like Sprite Stitch I discovered that holy crap, most character sprites (like Ness or Luigi) take a LOT of "pixels" and I only had about 150 of the same sized pieces. I decided to stick with one of my favorites (Zelda) and one of my favorite items (bomb). I made my own mosaic pattern in Illustrator since I couldn't get the stupid Pixelate filter to deliver in Photoshop.


Painted Keys

Once the keys were dry, I laid them out in the correct bomb configuration, and found a canvas that they would fit on. I found some collage paper that looks like an old painted wall. I painted the keys (made sure I re-counted how many of each color I need) and while they were drying, I attached the paper to the canvas.

I started sketching some other "graffiti" ideas to put on the piece, I didn't just want to put "Dodongo Dislike Smoke", I thought that was too easy. I was thinking more along the lines of an angry anti-Dodongo Hyrulian, graffiti-ing their town. So I came up with the phrase "Choke on smoke" and an insulting sketch of Dodongo. Now every time I look at it, I think of Hyrulian political graffiti.



Well, I better find old stuff to make things, quick! This week's already started!

Also, for those who asked previously, I did put last week's "There's a Girl in the Garden" in my Etsy shop.