Drawn

Last week I wrote about Chris Jordan’s exhibit Running the Numbers, a critical look at the waste generated from North American mass consumption. I also wrote that seeing the large-format pieces in real life would have more impact than looking at the zoomed-in images on his website. Second Life users can now experience the exhibit as it was meant to be seen, or at least virtually — Running the Numbers is now open at the Q2 Gallery in Second Life in attempts to convey the scale of the real-life pieces.

This short comes from Supinfocom, and features some great character designs and action sequences. With the urban/videogame influences and fantasy fight scenes, I can’t help but think of how great it would be to see Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim brought to life this way.

(Thanks, Jeffrey)

UPDATE: There’s now an official Sigg Jones website

I’m not much of a gamer, but man, what I wouldn’t give for a Gary Taxali custom Wii. Nintendo Canada with a little help from Magic Pony and Udon Entertainment are hosting a contest that will give away 6 custom-painted Wii consoles by six Canadian artists:

Famed illustrator Gary Taxali, Hoi-An Tang, punk group illScarlett and Arnold Tsang of Udon Entertainment, were commissioned by Nintendo in association with Magic Pony, and created four of the unique consoles. The two remaining contributing artists will be revealed on TheArtofWii.ca at a later date.

From now until April 30, Canadians can visit TheArtofWii.ca to register for a chance to win one of the fully-functional, one-of-a-kind Wii video game consoles.

Visit Art of the Wii to enter. Related stories at NOW and BlogTO.

(Thanks, Zub!)

For the 3rd annual I am 8-bit show, the art event that combines 80s video games with the hottest alternative artists, IGN is hosting a contest inviting anyone (professional artist or otherwise) to submit work to possibly be included in the show. Get your work in by April 6th to have it considered for the show, or to possibly win some cool video game prizes. Seen here: Wario Needs Love, Too by Gabe Swarr.

A year ago Philipp Lenssen created over 700 sprites for a fantasy-style game that never came to fruition. So like a good netizen, Philipp is offering them up as a free download under a Creative Commons license.

I’m on a Mac, so I can’t vouch for the playability of this game, which appears to be only for PCs. But if I had to base my opinion of the game solely on the visuals, which is what I’m doing, Gesundheit is a winner. We posted a link to Matt Hammill a few months ago. As a recent graduate he showed a lot of promise, and he’s delivering on that promise as far as I can tell. The sample images I’ve seen from this game, which are made up of scratchboard illustrations, are absolutely delightful… I only wish I could play it! Is it any good? PC-users, please comment!

Listen up, video game fans! As part of the European release of Every Extend Extra, a PSP game from Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Drawn! and Buena Vista Games is giving away an original, one-off piece of art taken from the game and designed by Mizuguchi. The artwork has been stretched onto canvas and Mizuguchi-san has signed it.

The work is described as synaesthesia — the union of sound, mood, and colour — and is completely original. To enter the draw to win, simply send your name and mailing address to drawn.contests@gmail.com before midnight EST on Wednesday, March 7, and one lucky winner will be chosen at random.

The image at the top of the post is the artwork up for grabs. The picture of Mizugushi shows him holding a different, but similar, piece to give you an idea of the size.

This srhunk-down version of this digital painting by Philip Straub (an fantasy/sci-fi illustrator and art director for EA Games) doesn’t do the detail justice. (larger version here).

(Thanks, Paul!)

The Act is touted as an “interactive film experience” but is, in essence, a traditionally-animated video game — the animation of which is created by a slew of ex-Disney employees. I got to play The Act in Ottawa at the animation festival, and it was a lot of fun. I was immediately reminded of Don Bluth’s forays into the video game world (Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace), but The Act differs in that it has a focus on subtlety and facial expressions built into the gameplay instead of fast-paced action. The control to the game was a single knob that, when rotated, would advance or retreat the main character’s actions or emotions between two extremes, and it was great fun to feel like I was controlling the animation. However, I did find that the controls, on the demo I played, were somewhat finicky and frustrating to get the feel of, but was told that there were still some kinks to be worked out. You can watch the trailer for the game on The Act’s website, although it really doesn’t give you a feel for how the game is played. As if a coin-op in a world dominated by home gaming systems wasn’t unconventional enough, the animation, controls, and nuance-based gameplay make The Act pretty unique. I hope it does well.

James Chung, an art director for EA Mobile, writes in to let us know that Mini Golf, one of the new games recently released for the iPod features a lot of work by several illustrators, most of whom were previously featured here on Drawn!. The artists include Jeff Miracola, Julian Hector, Nuno Alves, and Justin Degarmo.

At his Deviantart journal, James describes how they were involved with the project. James also tells us that he found most of the artists for the project via Drawn!, so we’re happy in playing a small part in the development of one of these games! There are also no credits on the game itself, so this is the only public thank-you the artists will get for their hard work!