Video Games are a wonderful form of media which can do more than just entertain; they can open whole new worlds and possibly up which we might not have ever found. Being a creative endeavor it isn’t really surprising when video games then inspire their fans to go off on their own and create things, but for the most part these fans have largely been doing it for personal enjoyment and most people aren’t even aware of not only the raw talent out there but also how diverse the realm of fan creations is. So this where I’ll discuss various artists and their creations and hopefully introduce everyone to some new things. It’s a journey I hope we can all enjoy together.
Any discussion of fan creations which were inspired by video games probably should start with fan art. It is what most people think of first and is also something which is fairly easy to find around the internet, so it makes sense to start here. I have two very talented artists to with you today.
First up is Kallielef who has been on Deviant Art for three years and has art which covers a variety of fandoms. I first found her looking for Dragon Age: Inquisition fan art and was really impressed by what I found. Here are a few samplings of some of her best Solas images.
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Phamoz is another talented artist and their work covers a wide variety of games. Seriously there is art inspired by Overwatch, Dark Souls 3, Witcher 3, Tomb Raider, multiple Final Fantasy games, League of Legends, Assassins Creed, and Street Fighter just to name few. Here’s a small sampling of some of my favorite pieces, but really you should go check out Phamoz’s deviant art page.
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Let’s make a departure from digital creations into the crazy world of building things in real life that is, cosplay. This week I’ve decided to feature Off the Rails Cosplay. Every costume is a collaboration between Jen Frisch and Patrick Leonard, and they’ve done some really interesting costumes. Their site has a ton of information about their projects and what they are working on. You can also find them on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
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This incredible cosplay was shown at Emerald City Comic Con 2016 and is Scruffy from Guild Wars 2. Take special note of how the back of the feet light up! Overall this is a heck of a feat to pull off because Scruffy is huge and lumbering. I only wish I could have seen this one in person as it is all around impressive.
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This wonderful costume is Mandragora from Final Fantasy XI and is another really cool cosplay, I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen anyone be a Mandragora before. If you were at PAX Prime 2015 on Monday, you might have seen this guy running around being a bit goofy. It only took them two weeks and 4 nights to put this whole costume together but it really captured the essence of Mandragora.
Video Games not only inspire us to create visual things but can also inspire new music based on these games. One person who is doing this beautifully is Corvus. Shattered Steppes is a piece which starts out very calm and builds into a driving melody which feels like it could really just be part of the Guild Wars 2 soundtrack as is, and the video features one of the most iconic world boss fights in the game.
Most of his music is related to GW2 in some way but he also has a wonderful piece inspired by Skellige from Witcher 3. You can also find his music on Soundcloud and talk to Corvus directly on Twitter.
That’s about everything I have for this installment, future columns will generally be more focused on a particular game and fan creations related to it. There’s some really amazing and different things out there and I really look forward to sharing these with everyone. And of course if anyone has suggestions of people to feature I love suggestions.
