[Art Attack Friday is your weekly look at videogame fan art created by a talented artist.]
The possibilites are endless when it comes to art inspired by videogames. Just DeviantArt alone is a blackhole of fan art of all kinds (some of it better than others). Not to thumb my nose at videogame fan art, but it seems that all you need is a pencil and a scanner and you’re ready to go. There are, however, a few exceptions to that rule: Anna the Red’s bento boxes and the vinyl toy scene both provide different outlets for game-inspired creativity. Well, I’d like to introduce you to another exception to that rule. His name is Chris Lange, he’s from Washington D.C., and he makes Nintendo collages, made entirely out of old issues of Nintendo Power.
And they are awesome.
When I first saw his collages hosted by TheBBPS, I was tempted to do a post then and there. Hamza then reminded me that we have, y’know, a weekly column devoted to this kind of stuff and asked me to cover for him this week during E3. So, to that end, I got in touch with Chris and asked him a few questions about his art and his relationship with Nintendo. To my dismay, I also realized that Colette had beaten me to the punch about two years ago. Whoops.
But, I couldn’t just cancel the project, especially since I’d already sent the questions to the guy. So, below the jump is a little bit about Chris Lange and his art, and, simultaneously, my attempt to save face.
I suppose we should start at the beginning: Lange says he started playing the NES at about 5 years old and hasn’t stopped since. “Any time you spend 20 years with something, whether it be a person, or, in this instance, a video game company, I think it is bound to influence you in one way or another,” he explains, via e-mail. “I think growing up with Nintendo probably had a lot to do with the friends I made, the art classes I elected to take in school, and obviously the art work I am making now.”
Lange says that he’s a big Link fan, having fallen in love with series after playing Ocarina of Time. Link is the only character to get more than one collage — his most recent collage is of Windwaker-style Link on his boat — and he says that his two Links “rank highly” on his list of favorites. I asked whether or not there was a connection between his childhood memories of Nintendo and collage as a medium, Lange seemed to avoid getting too sophisticated:
Collage definitely gets a bad reputation in general. I think most people put it pretty low on the “Art Totem Pole,” maybe right below finger painting. Then there’s a whole other group of people who sort of put collage in the same group as quilting in their brain. The truth though, is that there are a lot of very sophisticated collage artists out there, doing some amazing things. I tend to think of my pieces as “paper mosaics”, which people immediately take more seriously than a “collage”. In the end, a big picture of Mario isn’t meant to be taken that seriously, so it doesn’t really matter what I call it!
In the end, Lange just happens to like Nintendo: they have “no shortage of great characters” and they’re just plain easier to do. “What’s especially nice about Nintendo characters is that they lend themselves very well to being collaged. They tend to be fairly simple in shape and texture, and brightly colored,” he explains. “Collaging Mario and Link is a much simpler proposition, for example, than collaging Marcus Fenix.”
Lange’s first collage was of Yoshi, his wife’s favorite character, when he realized that he was going to have to get rid of years and years worth of old Nintendo Power issues. After that, his friends, neighbors and co-workers started requesting collages (Mario being the most popular), and, eventually, he started accepting commissions. Lange won the grand prize of a contest hosted by Technabob.com and then word began to spread. His collages were featured twice in Nintendo Power (June 2007 and June 2008), and his Princess Peach collage currently hangs in the executive offices of Nintendo of America.
While the core of collaging is simply 1.) tear and 2.) paste, it’s just a tiny bit more involved than that. Lange explained his process this way:
- Paste sheets of paper to a canvas, to create a nice surface for applying more paper
- Freehand the character of choice in permanent marker
- Start flipping through dozens of magazines looking for the right colors. Rip out anything that looks about right.
- Start gluing pieces into the drawing, working from the background forward. (More precise tearing is required as you go)
Depending on the size, one collage takes several hours and is usually completed over the course of a few baseball games. Lange hasn’t completed a collage since February, but a note on his Web site says that he is ready to start updating reguarly again. Hopefully, we’ll see some more of his amazing Nintendo collages. I’d personally like to see a Birdo, Shy-guy, or the penguins from Super Mario 64.
Custom collages get pricey very quickly, but, luckily for us, Lange has a few smaller pieces at college student-friendly prices. Check out his Etsy store and his eBay store to make a purchase.
And then send it to me.
