I Am Afraid You Will Eat Me

I was invited to participate in Retro Game Night, an art show organized by fellow PopCaptive (and original Plants vs. Zombies artist) Rich Werner. This event was hosted by the Piranha Shop, where the third annual MUPPETT RAWK was featured a few months back.

When Rich first told me about this show I was super excited, but it took me a while to commit to a theme. The temptation with this kind of show is to one-up your fellow artists by choosing an obscure inspiration. It's a regular arms race. After a few false starts I realized that I wasn't in the mood for that, nor was I interested in making the kind of piece that the people who know me would expect. I didn't want this to feel like a job. I have enough jobs, you know what I mean?

So, no obscure inspiration. And no digital art. And no traditional art that looks like digital art. What to do? I decided to make a dimensional illustration, a mixed media piece that would stand out from the pack a little. As for theme, I would pay homage to my pound-for-pound favorite video game of all time: Pac-Man!

I started out with a bunch of magnetic alphabet tiles (158, to be exact). My plan was to build the "scaredy ghost" as I call it, meaning the blue-and-white version of Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and/or Clyde that shows up in-game after Pac-Man eats a power pellet. I chose the alphabet tiles primarily for visual interest, but also so I could hide the title of my piece and my initials in the finished product:

Next was the tedious task of priming and painting each tile, which coincidentally led to the creation of this oddly compelling work of a more abstract nature ...

Then, there was very much gluing.

I then sealed the facing side (get it? FACING side?!) with more glue, added a clear coat, and fixed a trimmed cork backing to the whole deal. I adhered a few of those sawtooth picture frame hangers to the reverse, and voilà! Scaredy Ghost!

I'm already plotting for the next Retro Game Night, which I'm sure I'll have a spot in since I gave all my drink tickets to Rich. This is why you invite the Mormon artists, ladies and gents!