This exhibit will be located at the main entrance of LaGuardia's E building. The reason for this is because there is a high school across the street that is connected to the college, and there are some students that attend classes here. By placing the exhibit here, they might be able to see it and have hopes for their futures so they can keep trying. I want them to never give up, know that they will improve if they keep practicing, and I would like this to be an inspiration and motivation for them. They need to know that they can not get better overnight, and that improvement only comes with hard work and dedication.
As the curator of this show, I picked these pieces because I was originally going to make the exhibition of concept art for characters, which is usually drawings. But I realized that most of the concept art is done by the same person (an example of this is Ken Sugimori, the artist of the Pokémon franchise). I know that teams of artists usually create the sprites and character models, so I came to the conclusion that writing about the sprites and models of a game would be better. Different art teams usually work on different games in the same franchise, and different art teams consist of different people. It is common knowledge to know that even if one is writing about the same series of games, different people have most likely worked on them. Also, the game releases range from 1986 to 2014, so a lot could have happened within that 28 year span. Another reason I changed it was because there are more noticeable differences in the sprites and models than the concept art's styles.
As for the art I picked, I chose them because they show significant change. From the advancement of technology, we have been able to see better art in video games. In this show, we will be focusing on The Legend of Zelda series, even though we can see it with any franchise that has been around for at least 10 years. The Legend of Zelda was released on the Family Computer Disk System in 1986, which was not able to handle many colors. As you can see in the first image, the sprite only has three available colors in it. The sprite next to it from A Link to the Past, (released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991), has been upgraded to have 12 colors. In only five years, the art and graphics have undoubtedly been able to get better, and that is because there were newer gaming consoles that could handle more at the time. Technology keeps improving so art can keep getting better as well, and video games are a form of interactive art.
As time passed, sprites became models; even today, graphics are becoming more and more realistic. Ocarina of Time, released in 1998 on the Nintendo 64, is the first example of this. Even though it does not look very realistic, we can see video games are advancing. Because it was in 3D, it looks more realistic than any 2D image could. Majora's Mask, released two years later on the same console, does not show much of a difference. In Majora's Mask, we could see better differences in the lighting and shapes; a specific example could be that Link's hair and boots look less jagged and sharp than in Ocarina of Time. Even if it is not considered a huge improvement, it was still getting somewhere. Six years later, we are introduced to Twilight Princess, released on the Wii, showing a huge advancement compared to Majora's Mask. Because of the newer console and the people more familiar with creating graphics made for that console, people have been able to make a newer, more aesthetically-pleasing game. The last piece from Super Smash Bros., released in 2014 on the Wii U, does not provide a groundbreaking, Earth-shattering masterpiece. In fact, it looks very similar to Twilight Princess' model, with some slight differences. You may be thinking, "What happened? We have the technology to make him look even better, so let's do it!" While that may be true, I think it is because if the Super Smash Bros. Link looked any more realistic than he does right now, his entire style would be lost. There are some characters that were meant to be more realistic than like a cartoon, and Link is not one of them. It all depends on the company that produces the game's style. Nintendo's style is different than Activision (Call of Duty) or Telltale Games (The Walking Dead Video Game). Each of these and any other unlisted companies have their own style and things that are likable. With technology continuing to improve each passing day, we can only keep getting better.
As the curator of this show, I picked these pieces because I was originally going to make the exhibition of concept art for characters, which is usually drawings. But I realized that most of the concept art is done by the same person (an example of this is Ken Sugimori, the artist of the Pokémon franchise). I know that teams of artists usually create the sprites and character models, so I came to the conclusion that writing about the sprites and models of a game would be better. Different art teams usually work on different games in the same franchise, and different art teams consist of different people. It is common knowledge to know that even if one is writing about the same series of games, different people have most likely worked on them. Also, the game releases range from 1986 to 2014, so a lot could have happened within that 28 year span. Another reason I changed it was because there are more noticeable differences in the sprites and models than the concept art's styles.
As for the art I picked, I chose them because they show significant change. From the advancement of technology, we have been able to see better art in video games. In this show, we will be focusing on The Legend of Zelda series, even though we can see it with any franchise that has been around for at least 10 years. The Legend of Zelda was released on the Family Computer Disk System in 1986, which was not able to handle many colors. As you can see in the first image, the sprite only has three available colors in it. The sprite next to it from A Link to the Past, (released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991), has been upgraded to have 12 colors. In only five years, the art and graphics have undoubtedly been able to get better, and that is because there were newer gaming consoles that could handle more at the time. Technology keeps improving so art can keep getting better as well, and video games are a form of interactive art.
As time passed, sprites became models; even today, graphics are becoming more and more realistic. Ocarina of Time, released in 1998 on the Nintendo 64, is the first example of this. Even though it does not look very realistic, we can see video games are advancing. Because it was in 3D, it looks more realistic than any 2D image could. Majora's Mask, released two years later on the same console, does not show much of a difference. In Majora's Mask, we could see better differences in the lighting and shapes; a specific example could be that Link's hair and boots look less jagged and sharp than in Ocarina of Time. Even if it is not considered a huge improvement, it was still getting somewhere. Six years later, we are introduced to Twilight Princess, released on the Wii, showing a huge advancement compared to Majora's Mask. Because of the newer console and the people more familiar with creating graphics made for that console, people have been able to make a newer, more aesthetically-pleasing game. The last piece from Super Smash Bros., released in 2014 on the Wii U, does not provide a groundbreaking, Earth-shattering masterpiece. In fact, it looks very similar to Twilight Princess' model, with some slight differences. You may be thinking, "What happened? We have the technology to make him look even better, so let's do it!" While that may be true, I think it is because if the Super Smash Bros. Link looked any more realistic than he does right now, his entire style would be lost. There are some characters that were meant to be more realistic than like a cartoon, and Link is not one of them. It all depends on the company that produces the game's style. Nintendo's style is different than Activision (Call of Duty) or Telltale Games (The Walking Dead Video Game). Each of these and any other unlisted companies have their own style and things that are likable. With technology continuing to improve each passing day, we can only keep getting better.
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| The Legend of Zelda 1986 |
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| A Link to the Past 1991 |
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| Ocarina of Time ; Majora's Mask 1998 ; 2000 |
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| Twilight Princess 2006 |
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| Super Smash Bros. 2014 |
What a wonderful idea for a show Ariel- your idea and selected works would attract a lot of people!
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