For The Love of Nintendo - Little Video Game Books Vol. 3

I got a really nice little write-up on one of my favorite game sites Kotaku!
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Nintendo has been going through a rough time lately. This isn't the first time they've found themselves in this position, but this time, something feels different. I have been holding out on picking up an Xbox One or a PS4 until some better games come out, but I recently purchased a Wii U because it has some great games RIGHT NOW.

It's a good little system with some major issues (i'm looking at you gamepad battery life and overall uselessness) But the games... oh the games! They're fantastic! Nintendo has created some of the most memorable characters. I would say that Mario is as important to our culture as Mickey Mouse. I hope Nintendo can get out of this slump they're currently in because their characters and the worlds they have created deserve to succeed. In an industry overrun with space marines and brown post apocalyptic wastelands, Nintendo has injected a much needed sense of adventure, color, and joy into our world. 

In honor of Nintendo, I created three new prints in my ongoing "Little Video Game Books" series. See Vol. 1 HERE and Vol. 2 HERE.  Let's hope Zelda and Metroid get their turn on the Wii U before the sun sets on the embattled little console. 

"The Little Plumber Bros."

To purchase a print, click HERE

"The Happy Little Hunter"

To purchase a print, click HERE

"The Little Hero of Time"

To purchase a print, click HERE

You can also buy all three prints together at a discounted price and save some money that you can use to put towards buying awesome video games! Because who doesn't need more video games in their life?

Order all 3 prints by clicking HERE

A Tribute to Hitchcock @ Gallery 1988

*****UPDATE #2*****

Prints are now for sale:

Buy - Psycho

Buy - The Birds

Buy - North By Northwest

The framed prints are sold out. 

***** UPDATE *****

I will have 30 prints for each film available signed and numbered. Prints are 5x7 and fit perfectly in matted frames as seen in the pictures below. Prints will be $25 each and framed artwork (Signed and numbered as AP's 1/1 each) for $50 each. 

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Gallery 1988 is THE place in Los Angeles for Pop-Culture art shows. I have been fortunate enough to have been involved in quite a few shows with them over the past few years. This year marks a record for me with 10 shows at Gallery 1988 in 2012!!!

Earlier this year I was in the "Adult Swim" show and last month "Is This Thing On? 2". The next show i'm so proud to be a part of is "Suspense & Gallows Humor: A Tribute to the All-Time Greatest" at Gallery 1988 in Venice, CA.

Alfred Hitchcock was a true master. His work was so chilling and visually captivating, there are many options for an artist to interpret his work, which is why i'm so excited for this show! Below is my contribution.

In the 80's Nintendo was a dominant force to be reckoned with. Had Hitchcock been just a few years behind I'm almost certain that Nintendo would have jumped on the chance to make video-game adaptations of some of his most iconic films. I'm almost certain that their game boxes would have looked a little something like this:

A very limited number of these prints will be available exclusively at Gallery 1988's Venice location as well as online through their website.

There are over 100 artists participating in this show and it's sure to be an excellent event. If you're in the Los Angeles area you should definitely make it a point to come on out to Venice. Details below.

"Suspense & Gallows Humor: A Tribute To The All-Time Greatest"
Friday, April 13th (How appropriate...) 7-10pm
Gallery 1988 - Venice
214 Pier Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90405

The Legends of Hyrule - Gallery 1988

**UPDATE**
On Saturday, November 19th, this design will be available exclusively at Shirtpunch.com for 24 hours only, then it's gone forever. The shirt will cost $10 (or about 100 Rupee's depending on the Hyrulian exchange rate). So be sure to mark your calendars and tell your friends!

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I grew up playing video games. At the tender age of 5 years old my family got a Nintendo Entertainment System and I got REALLY into it. Mario was great, but then about a year later, The Legend of Zelda came out. I must have sunk months... maybe years of my childhood into roaming around Hyrule, I really should have been granted dual citizenship. From then on, I was a gamer for life.

So when Gallery 1988 asked me to participate in their upcoming Video Game Show, I was beyond honored. Zelda is celebrating it's 25th anniversary this year, so it only seemed appropriate to create a piece celebrating one of my favorite game series. Combining three of my favorite things: Music, Video Games, and Illustration, I followed along my theme of creating retro children's albums for Firefly and Dr. Horrible I decided to set my sights on The Legend of Zelda.

Link and Zelda have taken a break from their adventures. The Princess is tired of constantly being kidnapped by Ganon and Link needed to relax and fill up his heart containers. During some downtime, the two came together and decided to put pen to paper and out of that came The Legends of Hyrule's new album "Songs of Time":



Here's the back of the album and it's track listing:



Click the links below to find out more about the meaning behind the song titles!

Side A:
Heroes of Time
It's Dangerous To Go Alone
Excuse Me, Princess
A Secret To Everybody
The Wind, It Is Blowing

Side B:
Come On!
Grumble Grumble
I Am Error
You Got A Piece Of Heart
Hey, Listen

In addition to prints, I always make one physical album that is mounted and framed. Since all of the Zelda games have shipped on gold cartridges I thought it would be fitting that the album would be pressed on gold records:



Here's the label printed on the record:



This framed album will be available exclusively at Gallery 1988 at the show opening: Purchase it HERE!



The album's Front and back prints will be available exclusively through my etsy store. To purchase high-quality prints, all you have to do is click HERE!.
Signed prints of the album front will be available exclusively at the gallery and online through Gallery 1988's Website.

If you love video games, or at one point in your life you did, then you will not want to miss this show. With about 100 featured artists, the Old School Video Game Art Show is likely to have something that interests everyone who ever picked up a controller at one point in there life.

The Old School Video Game Art Show
Friday Sept. 16th - October 8th
Gallery 1988
214 Pier Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
http://www.gallery1988.com
http://www.joebot.etsy.com

Save Ferris! The Nintendo Game That Never Was

Last year I had great success with Gallery 1988's Crazy 4 Cult show in Los Angeles. They were kind enough to invite me to contribute work to multiple shows this year, the first being "The Road To Shermer: A Tribute To John Hughes". I'm a little bit different then most kids of the 80's, as I really am not a big John Hughes fan. I have seen his movies, and some of them I really like, but i've never been a huge fan of Sixteen Candles, or The Breakfast Club. But there's a reason for that, and that reason is video games.

I was born in 1980. When I was 5 years old, a brand new shiny Nintendo Entertainment System came into my life one Christmas morning, and me in all of my 5 years of life knew that things would never be the same. We had an Apple II as well as an Intellivision, and they were great, but something about the squatty little Italian plumber and the simple 2 button controller really spoke to my 5 year old sensibilities. Also, it came with a robot that I could play with when my brother wasn't around.

So movies of the 80's came and went, and I saw and loved a few here and there, but I was a video game fiend. It came time to create a piece of artwork for the John Hughes tribute and I had a bit of a hard time coming up with a concept. I started to think about what it was that his movies main draw was, and I thought about the great characters he created that became cultural icons. I quickly drew a comparison to the old Lucas Arts adventure games. Tim Schafer was my John Hughes. Games like Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Sam & Max had characters developed as deeply as any in a film like Sixteen Candles or The Breakfast Club. But those games came out in the 90's. John Hughes movies exemplified the 80's, and so I would need a more 80's theme to the art piece.

There were some awful Licensed games released for the NES.
Exhibit A:


The thing I love about those old NES boxes was that the artwork was really representative of the gameplay.



Then somewhere down the line someone in marketing decided it would be cool to imply amazing graphics with the box art because you should always judge a book by it's cover:



For a tribute to John Hughes, I thought I'd like to make a game based off of my favorite of John Hughes movies, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". It would have to be an action game set in chicago. It would also need Cameron's dad's Ferrari. Inspired by the Super Mario Bros. box art, my goal was to create a fitting tribute to both John Hughes and Nintendo.



and the finished image:



But as I learned with my "River Tam and the Fireflies" piece, if you build it, they will come. It's cool to have artwork, but it's cooler to create a collectible, one-of-a-kind item. So I made the box:



And you're gonna need a game cartridge and instruction booklet:




(The cartridge doesn't contain an actual Save Ferris game, it was however at one point my copy of "Back to the Future Part II")

All of this and more can be yours if you come down to Gallery 1988's new location in Venice, CA on Friday February 11th. There are 50 artists participating in the show and Gallery 1988 always puts on a fun gallery opening.



Prints will also be available both at the gallery and online in my Etsy store.

P.S. Gallery 1988, how about a "Tribute to Tim Schafer" themed show?