killerkobra | 268 Posted October 25, 2022 Share Posted October 25, 2022 (edited) Greetings, (Current Display in Game Room) I figured I would finally share this piece here on VGS to celebrate its 12th year anniversary (It is also where my avatar is from). I completed this labor of love on Oct 26th 2010. I then decided to send the photos and a small write up to Nintendo Power. I got a reply extremely fast from them with a request for more photos. I sent the additional photos and we exchanged a few emails discussing my creation. They were very excited to put it in the magazine right away, which to me was very surprising. I did not think I would get a reply at all. He stated that it would be coming out in a future issue so keep my eyes peeled. Here is the Nintendo Power Article from April 2011 VOL #266 FANDOM Luminating Tribute, Get reacquainted with old friends, One of the great things about the many talented and dedicated Nintendo Enthusiasts who offer up their fan creations to be featured in the Community section is that their efforts often inspire others. That's what happened with long-time reader Dean Kucy, 25, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, who was so jazzed about one contributor's Airman and Mega Man pixel-block creations that he bought a heap of pixel blocks and set out to make his own NES tribute. Six weeks of hard work and 5,700 pixel blocks later, this incredible Nintendo-themed faux-stained-glass mural was complete. "The NES [system's] 25th birthday was a huge deal for me, and I dedicate this piece to it for obvious reasons," says Kucy, who adds that Nintendo's new Nintendo 3DS handheld provided additional inspiration. "I wanted to combine the old with the new, since that is what Nintendo has done best for many years. I made it in layers to give it a 3D look." Kucy sized the mural to fit perfectly in the top slot of his gaming shelf. Growing up, he says Mega Man, Simon Belmont, Mario, Luigi, and Link were among his favorite NES-game characters, and he's thrilled they're all still going strong so many years later. _-NATHAN M. The Nintendo Power article explains the story briefly. Times have changed and I have moved houses (game rooms) since but I still have it proudly displayed although not in my game shelf anymore since I had to do some remodeling of those shelves. I have this proudly displayed on my windowsill in my game room. Sun light makes these things vibrant and beautiful, much nicer than a backlight. (Original Game Room and display) Some fun facts about the photos in the article, You can see the stand-alone Link in the bottom photo. That was actually not the same Link in the mural itself (you can see the swords are different) I made that one as a gift for my newly born nephew at the time. You can see green yarn holding it up. My girlfriend (now wife) braded that yarn and attached it to a suction cup so his parents could stick it to his bedroom window and the sun would hit it and illuminate it just perfect. I was never happy with the photo he chose to put in the magazine. I felt there were other much better photos of it. I had send like 30 photos of it ha ha. I also kinda regret that I had all my Sega Genesis games underneath it instead of something Nintendo. I did rearrange at a later date to have NES on the shelf below. The real reason why it is “3D” is that it would have been extremely BRUTAL to make it on one plain. I swear that you have to be almost perfect each time you place a block in. The way they link together side by side is extremely difficult to take back apart with out destroying other parts of it. Towards the end I basically had to use a rubber mallet and gently tap them into place on the larger sections. I had never done this before nor had I seen anyone do something like this, so I made up techniques as I went. I spent a large amount of time trying to get it all straight and it is still not perfect. I had a ton of cuts, raw fingers tips and pinched pieces of skin by the end. I tried to come up with as many video game references using the limited number of blocks and colors. Below I have listed the details. It was a massive challenge to plan and execute this in the beginning. I would try make something only to be a few blocks short of a certain color. So there was a lot of counting and planning ahead of time to not have those issues. I ending up taking screen shots of characters, then drawing a grid on them to use as a guide to build them. Sadly, Pixel Blocks were a flash in the pan and I can no longer find them beside on the secondary market. I did find Pix Brix but they do not have translucent colors (yet). Pixel Blocks were very expensive to begin with but I did manage to buy a massive amount of them back in the day and planned to do a “bad guy” one. I started to play around making some characters. But I never got to far since my supply was partially drained…. I ended up using a bunch for my cousins wedding centerpieces. She was only supposed to “borrow” them but I never got them back. They are displayed in her dinning room China cabinet so I guess they are hers now ha ha. Also here are some more detailed pictures to see all the layers and descriptions of what I did A Cross inspired by Castlevania A bush from Legend of Zelda 2 Triforces with a Heart (Legend of Zelda) . Also the top border are all Tetris pieces Pink Rupee on the left and there is a Blue Rupee on the right (Legend of Zelda) and a Coin in the middle (Super Mario Bros) The Blue Rupee (Legend of Zelda) The orange and blue pattern were a reference to my hockey team, The Edmonton Oilers Fire from Legend of Zelda and Blue/Green Red/Green design was just inspired from a pub I used to go to. They had these kinds of designs inside The pillars on the sides were from Kid Icarus Just a combo of Red Green Blue again that was inspired from old CRT TV/s RBG Since this piece has grown in age and Nintendo Power is no longer around I often wondered if it would hold any value to anyone besides myself. I guess you could consider this a piece of art and it was featured in NP. Not like I would ever sell or trade it but it got me thinking about the many other items featured in this section of NP. Would it be a desirable item to obtain??? Thanks for reading Edited October 25, 2022 by killerkobra Photo doubles 5 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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