PixelBlock Art

Wait, what's the plural of Samus?  Samus'?  Samuses?  Samuii? Whooooooooo boy has it been a while.  I think there were digital cobwebs and dust on these authoring tools I had to clear off.  Hey there! It's been a while.  I've been busy with Real Life Stuff™. Still employed by a certain fruit-themed technology company (we're very small I doubt you've ever heard of us) but in a new position that doesn't give me a ton  of time to work on PixelBlock stuff, but I'm thinking real hard about getting back into the biz. Anyway. I had an itch to scratch, so I did the things and am writing this post.  Back when I first started doing this, I had priced out the cost of PixelBlocks vs. LEGO, for a few reasons: LEGO obviously will survive us all.  Our great great great great cyber-grandoffspring will be playing with LEGO that will still fit on bricks centuries old.  PixelBlocks... might be dead any day now if they aren't already, but...

IMG_0275.JPG , originally uploaded by dash16 . ***WARNING: GEEKY HISTORY BELOW*** At the end of Metroid 2, after successfully exterminating every Metroid (including their queen) on SR-388, Samus found a hatchling Metroid. The hatchling thought Samus its mother, and Samus couldn't bring herself to destroy it so she brought the hatchling to Ceres space station for Federation research. This sets the events for Super Metroid, in which Ridley attacks Ceres station and steals the hatchling for Mother Brain, who sets the baby loose in Tourian to feast on the most powerful enemies in the game. Samus encounters Metroids again on her way to defeat Mother Brain. The Metroids must have been cloned from the baby Metroid, and are weak to the normal method of freeze and blast with a missile. The baby Metroid however, has grown 3-4 times the size of normal Metroids and is apparently invulnerable to Samus' weapons. The baby attacks Samus and drains her within 1 energy unit of death w...

IMG_0212.JPG , originally uploaded by dash16 . I never tire of building Samus pixelblocks art.

IMG_0194.JPG , originally uploaded by dash16 . I recently retired the Chronotrigger cast from the top of my desk, and am replacing it with a Super Metroid themed one. This is a normal metroid from Super Metroid, found in Tourian on the approach to Mother Brain.

104_4799.JPG , originally uploaded by dash16 . I redid Samus in a different pose with some of the new colors I got. Again, harder to see some of the darker colors now without backlight... I need to come up with a good way to display these. Check the little Samus on the screen in the background, thats the digital bitmap I went off to build the physical model.

IMG_0026.JPG , originally uploaded by dustinnewell16 . Samus Aran from the original Metroid game. Much easier to do than the 16-bit version. A Coworker recently asked if I could build the final fight against Mother Brain from NES Metroid for him. I've been looking into how many blocks it is going to take, and trying to figure out the best way to mount these in a semi-permanent state. I'm thinking picture frame, easy to hang on the wall. Would also be nice if I could come up with a way to backlight it, since the pixelblocks are semi-transparent it would look really nice.

IMG_0023.JPG , originally uploaded by dustinnewell16 . Samus Aran from Super Metroid. I'm definitely happy with how this turned out, as I said in my last post 16-bit is harder to do.

IMG_0022.JPG , originally uploaded by dustinnewell16 . Forgive me for not knowing the name of this Super Metroid creature. They live in Norfair, they are made of fire and creep along walls and ceilings. One of my first attempts at 16-bit characters. Quite hard seeing as I have 12 colors to work with, not the required 65,000+. Still, I think it turned out ok.