- Paperback: 156 pages
- Publisher: Chronicle Books (24 April 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0811853195
- ISBN-13: 978-0811853194
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 22.3 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
582,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #44 in Books > Computers & Internet > PC & Video Games > History & Culture
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
This is the first book to contain video-game inspired art. It contains original artwork by lowbrow pioneers such as Tim Biskup and Gary Baseman. It is a great title for crossover art/comic market, for collectors and videogame fans - everyone feels nostalgic about PacMan and the animation of this key period of computer game development. "I am 8-bit" is a collection of '80s videogame-inspired art, paying homage to Mario, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and other icons from the Golden Age of video games. Over 100 artists have put their childhood memories to paper, canvas, and wood in creating original works of art, including Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, and Jim Mahfood. Pieces range from reinterpretations of videogame themes, such as a painting of a haggard and emotionally devastated link from "The Legend of Zelda" inspired by the artist's inability to "save the princess" in real life, to dark depictions of originally whimsical game worlds. A wide-ranging assortment of styles and perspectives, including Low Brow and classical animation, creates an intriguing collection for any gamer or modern art fan.
About the Author
JON M. GIBSON is a screenwriter who has worked for Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, andPBS/Scholastic, and has contributed to several major publications, including Cargo, Electronic Gaming Monthly, FHM, Men's Health, MTV.com, Sound & Vision, Vanity Fair, Wired, and Yahoo! Helives in Los Angeles.
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First Sentence
Grandma has her collection of crocheted cows, Stimpy has his mighty undertable of nose goblins, and I have my ohh-so-fond memories of a man and his many, many mushrooms. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Grandma has her collection of crocheted cows, Stimpy has his mighty undertable of nose goblins, and I have my ohh-so-fond memories of a man and his many, many mushrooms. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
This book is really great! There's lots of fantastic pictures of most of the artwork shown at the I Am 8 Bit exhibition, and they range from cute to really eerie. This is nice to look through and gives me lots of inspiration and influence for my artwork.
Definitely get it if you're into pop art or gaming.
Definitely get it if you're into pop art or gaming.
Format:Paperback
First and foremost, this book makes a wonderful inexpensive gift for anyone who grew up in the '80s playing the 'ole 8-bit video systems and still has a bit of nostalgia for those simpler times. It's also pretty neat as a bound exhibit of how pop culture can be transformed into art that's actually quite captivating. About 70 artists contributed works, and the medium of choice is definitely oil and acrylic paint, with a fair number of mixed media pieces thrown in. The styles vary wildly, with influences ranging from surrealism to manga to skateboard art to graffiti to crafting to abstract to pixilation and on and on. It's actually a pretty decent overview of modern pop art sensibilities.
In terms of subject matter, far and away the most prevalent "inspirations" are from the Donkey Kong/Mario Bros. franchise, with Pac Man coming in next, and Frogger, Zelda, and Dig Dug also getting much play. However, some of the best pieces are from less popular games, like Tim Tomkinson's "Duck Hunter S. Thompson" mashup of a portrait of the gonzo journalist with the Sega "Duck Hunter" graphics, Jim Rugg's faux poster for a pro wrestling event featuring characters from the Nintendo wrestling game, or Jason Sho Green's pen and ink "Tantric Tetris". On the whole it's a very fun, well-designed book, nicely produced, and sure to bring a smile to many 30somethings. It's worth noting that I like Chuck Klosterman too, but his foreword is pretty slim, maybe 500 words, so don't buy it for that!
In terms of subject matter, far and away the most prevalent "inspirations" are from the Donkey Kong/Mario Bros. franchise, with Pac Man coming in next, and Frogger, Zelda, and Dig Dug also getting much play. However, some of the best pieces are from less popular games, like Tim Tomkinson's "Duck Hunter S. Thompson" mashup of a portrait of the gonzo journalist with the Sega "Duck Hunter" graphics, Jim Rugg's faux poster for a pro wrestling event featuring characters from the Nintendo wrestling game, or Jason Sho Green's pen and ink "Tantric Tetris". On the whole it's a very fun, well-designed book, nicely produced, and sure to bring a smile to many 30somethings. It's worth noting that I like Chuck Klosterman too, but his foreword is pretty slim, maybe 500 words, so don't buy it for that!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
10 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
this book proves old-school is awesome!
5 Mar 2006
Format:Paperback
My local bookstore in Chicago got the book early, so i couldn't help but flipped through it. I pre-ordered it on Amazon, but wanted to see what I was getting - you know, like a kid on christmas searching through mom and dad's closet. What did I get...?
An f'ing AWESOME book! Great art! I mean GREAT! But, okay, so I remember all these games from back in the day. But I left the book in the kitchen by accident, and when I came back home, my mom was sitting at the dinner table flipping through it... and, to my shock, she actually liked it!
I'd recomend this book for ANYoNE who likes art and/or old-school videogames. If you like both - fantastic! But this is just really cool stuff... lots of variety... and if you asked me, I wouldn't be able to even pick my 10 most favorite paintings... i just Liked too many.
An f'ing AWESOME book! Great art! I mean GREAT! But, okay, so I remember all these games from back in the day. But I left the book in the kitchen by accident, and when I came back home, my mom was sitting at the dinner table flipping through it... and, to my shock, she actually liked it!
I'd recomend this book for ANYoNE who likes art and/or old-school videogames. If you like both - fantastic! But this is just really cool stuff... lots of variety... and if you asked me, I wouldn't be able to even pick my 10 most favorite paintings... i just Liked too many.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Pop Art a la '80s
12 May 2006
Format:Paperback
First and foremost, this book makes a wonderful inexpensive gift for anyone who grew up in the '80s playing the 'ole 8-bit video systems and still has a bit of nostalgia for those simpler times. It's also pretty neat as a bound exhibit of how pop culture can be transformed into art that's actually quite captivating. About 70 artists contributed works, and the medium of choice is definitely oil and acrylic paint, with a fair number of mixed media pieces thrown in. The styles vary wildly, with influences ranging from surrealism to manga to skateboard art to graffiti to crafting to abstract to pixelation and on and on. It's actually a pretty decent overview of modern pop art sensibilities.
In terms of subject matter, far and away the most prevalent "inspirations" are from the Donkey Kong/Mario Bros. franchise, with Pac Man coming in next, and Frogger, Zelda, and Dig Dug also getting much play. However, some of the best pieces are from less popular games, like Tim Tomkinson's "Duck Hunter S. Thompson" mashup of a portrait of the gonzo journalist with the Sega "Duck Hunter" graphics, Jim Rugg's faux poster for a pro wrestling event featuring characters from the Nintendo wrestling game, or Jason Sho Green's pen and ink "Tantric Tetris". On the whole it's a very fun, well-designed book, nicely produced, and sure to bring a smile to many 30somethings. It's worth noting that I like Chuck Klosterman too, but his foreword is pretty slim, maybe 500 words, so don't buy it for that!
In terms of subject matter, far and away the most prevalent "inspirations" are from the Donkey Kong/Mario Bros. franchise, with Pac Man coming in next, and Frogger, Zelda, and Dig Dug also getting much play. However, some of the best pieces are from less popular games, like Tim Tomkinson's "Duck Hunter S. Thompson" mashup of a portrait of the gonzo journalist with the Sega "Duck Hunter" graphics, Jim Rugg's faux poster for a pro wrestling event featuring characters from the Nintendo wrestling game, or Jason Sho Green's pen and ink "Tantric Tetris". On the whole it's a very fun, well-designed book, nicely produced, and sure to bring a smile to many 30somethings. It's worth noting that I like Chuck Klosterman too, but his foreword is pretty slim, maybe 500 words, so don't buy it for that!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Rad, Awesome, and Other '80s Reactions Inspired by This Book
24 April 2006
Format:Paperback
Where do I start? I found this gem listed under books from Chuck Klosterman, who I think speaks for an entire generation of 30-somethings raised on bad rock bands and crappy John Hughes movies. I gave it a shot, and wasn't disappointed!
In typical Chuck fashion, he analyzes video games and why they had an indelible affect on the childhoods of guys like me who spent about $3 million in quarters on Yie Ar Kung Fu (and why, 20 years later, guys i tell this to completely understand). For Klosterman fans, this is worth half the price right here.
But that's just 2% of the book! The rest is filled with totally awesome art that's hard to describe because I've never really seen anything like it--it's not advertising art, or game screenshots, or concept art from games. I guess it's just like the sub-title says, artwork inspired by what the artists played as kids in the 80's, but it's still hard to understand until you actually see it.
And what's really cool are the pieces that have quotes from the artists explaining their inspirations, why they used a particular game, or just random game memories--really funny stuff!
My favorites are:
1) Excitebike: Cool blocky render of a classic. Made me remember how I'd build my own track and line up all those turbo things.
2) Mega Man: I recognize this artist, Tim Biskup, from Juxtapoz and Super 7 magazines. Cool!
3) Don't Be a 2nd Player Hater (Luigi for Sheezy): Luigi pimped out like Snoop. Hilarious, yo!
4) Pac-Man in Hospice: This gives me nightmares. Especially the Frogger frog.
5) Record Dug Digger: Cross between skateboard art (in a good way) and NY graffiti. Trust me, it's awesome!
Other games I recognized include more mainstream stuff like Joust and Space Invaders to games that are a little more esoteric, like Contra, 720, Kid Icarus, and that weird robot thing that came with the NES. If you're a fan of the classics, I highly recommend it!
In typical Chuck fashion, he analyzes video games and why they had an indelible affect on the childhoods of guys like me who spent about $3 million in quarters on Yie Ar Kung Fu (and why, 20 years later, guys i tell this to completely understand). For Klosterman fans, this is worth half the price right here.
But that's just 2% of the book! The rest is filled with totally awesome art that's hard to describe because I've never really seen anything like it--it's not advertising art, or game screenshots, or concept art from games. I guess it's just like the sub-title says, artwork inspired by what the artists played as kids in the 80's, but it's still hard to understand until you actually see it.
And what's really cool are the pieces that have quotes from the artists explaining their inspirations, why they used a particular game, or just random game memories--really funny stuff!
My favorites are:
1) Excitebike: Cool blocky render of a classic. Made me remember how I'd build my own track and line up all those turbo things.
2) Mega Man: I recognize this artist, Tim Biskup, from Juxtapoz and Super 7 magazines. Cool!
3) Don't Be a 2nd Player Hater (Luigi for Sheezy): Luigi pimped out like Snoop. Hilarious, yo!
4) Pac-Man in Hospice: This gives me nightmares. Especially the Frogger frog.
5) Record Dug Digger: Cross between skateboard art (in a good way) and NY graffiti. Trust me, it's awesome!
Other games I recognized include more mainstream stuff like Joust and Space Invaders to games that are a little more esoteric, like Contra, 720, Kid Icarus, and that weird robot thing that came with the NES. If you're a fan of the classics, I highly recommend it!
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