I like to make retro versions of characters I draw at work.
The Glitch is one of the characters who generally represents chaos.
This one is something of a T-shirt design for myself.
Ah, nostalgia. So, I decided to write this blog post since I've been doing quite a bit of retro art as of late. It kind of gives me a sense of identity. Perhaps a feeling of a permission to exist in this increasingly youthful culture. And, I love inside jokes. Jokes only certain people get. This is probably also why I've suddenly gotten into making puns.
It is not hard to tell that I love things retro. More specifically, 80's pop culture. It makes sense since I grew up during that time period. I listened to 80's music, watched its cartoons, played its games, and watched the films. And, I still enjoy them.
I suppose nostalgia gives us a place to go, a sense of ownership and identity in an increasingly changing and unfamiliar world. As we are increasingly bombarded with the new, the strange, the untested, and possibly dangerous (to a certain extent), we desire to go back to things that felt like home, sheltered, secure, and maybe safe. And, you probably were allowed to enjoy some of these things without worrying about finances as you do now. Perhaps it was when you had more of that child-like hope, when you felt a little more free. I think as we grow older, we sometimes need that feeling again to move forward.
Currently, I am an art director at an educational game company that teaches kids to code and make their own games. They are able to make side-scrollers, for example. Side-scrollers are kind of a retro idea. You can blame Mario Bros. for that one.
Back in the 80's, I myself was into educational games like Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and Halley's Project as well as game-making programs like EA's Pinball Construction Set and Adventure Construction Set. Nowadays, I make a game-making program for kids. Its funny how things have come around full circle.
Some of the art I'm posting here were either created for marketing, personal T-shirt designs, or general things I've made to amuse myself or people I know. I'm also a big fan of parody. Weird Al Yankovic is one of my favorite celebrities. Since this article is about nostalgia, the images shown here will all be... well, retro:
This one is inspired by Pac-Man and 80's video games.
Foos are the characters in our game (who represent computer programs).
The Glitch is also one of the characters. He represents chaos.
This one was for a personal T-shirt. I had to make a pun, obviously.
This one was for a boss' T-shirt. He liked He-Man.
I'm a Lucasarts fan. This is based on an adventure game called "Full Throttle."
The Glitch is a character in our game. This one calls back to that 90's movie.
Jurassic Park was all about a Glitch in an amusement park.
And, introduced Chaos Theory to the pop culture.
I'm a big Charles M. Schulz fan. Beethoven's cool, too.
Remember Tomagotchi? I had these in high school.
I also had America Online. They were like the Disney of internet, for no good reason.
Ipod was a thing in the 90's. I tried to match the style.
I frequent Starbucks quite a bit. I always get the Americano.
Ah, trolls... these guys are still around.
If you want to read more on nostalgia, I read and interesting article on brit.co which was interesting:
Nostalgia is healthy, Dr. Kate Cummins (a San Francisco-based clinical psychologist) said, when people use it to draw internal motivation or creativity from the feelings they have about past experiences — for example, when someone remembers a situation or person who inspired them to become a better version of themselves. “When a person travels back to a productive or motivational time, the nostalgic emotions can help push them toward growth and future inspiration,” she says. It’s also a healthy coping strategy and has been scientifically proven to improve patience, help lessen the pain of loneliness, and improve well-being.
...Looking back on the past with overly rose-colored glasses, on the other hand, might cause your feelings of nostalgia to take an unhealthy twist. “If you look back and idealize what happened, you might compartmentalize the past and remember events differently from how they actually occurred,” Cummins explains. “If you find yourself doing this to feel better about a previous version of yourself or how something happened instead of focusing on the truth, you might feel let down or disappointed with you or your life is today. Even more, if things truly were better in the past, sifting through it might upset you or trigger negative experiences in the present.”
-- from brit.co
Well, that is it for now. I'll be working on more work as time goes by. I am already working on various other "retro" style T-shirt designs. For some reason, when I make T-shirt designs, they are usually mostly retro. It is probably because most of us like to wear T-shirts that say something about ourselves. When we think about ourselves, we usually think about how we grew up, where we grew up, and type of pop culture we enjoyed. When I see someone who wears a RUN DMC shirt, I can usually appreciate the era they probably are from. Or, a Jaws shirt. Or, Tron. Or, Robocop.
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