The 8-bit art revival - will it last?

On our Wall Art Rockers site you will run into a lot of artwork that wouldn't look out of place during the production of a videogame. 

In fact, you can view the work we did for Just Add Water, who helped bring Odd World: Stranger's Wrath back into being for a modernised re-release. However, a lot of game art these days, especially in the indie space, is trending towards a resolution that's not been seen on consoles much for decades: 8-bit. 

Low-resolution, it might seem at first to be extremely ugly or primitive. But when you look at the art seen in games like Superbrothers: Swords and Sworcery EP, you know that despite the lack of pixels, some of the art can really be mindblowing. But is it going to stick around, or is it just a passing thing? 

Realistically, it'll be around for decades, at least, and that's from this point forwards, not from its genesis point. Whether you were a gamer or you simply recognise someone's Pac-Man username, you'll know that retro art is a big thing. People like the art of yore, as it still has a sense of clean-cut simplicity to it that some multi-layered, more complex art does not. Here at WAR, we're into all sorts, and focus on progressive, incredibly detailed pieces, but low-res work certainly has its place. 

Whether it'll still be popular within certain mediums in time - not only in games, but even retro chip-tune music (music produced with old gaming hardware) - is something we'll have to wait for, as predicting the tastes of the world is simply impossible. But as society becomes more and more digitised, that appeal may actually just keep on growing. So don't worry about the Super Mario Bros. 3 art on your wall - it'll still be a worthy centrepiece in the years to come, we think.

Stranger's Wrath - Bespoke Digital Wall Art

Recently, we teamed up with our friends at Just Add Water (the developers of the legendary Oddworld Series) to produce a stunning large format wall art immortalising one of their most celebrated tittles - Stranger's Wrath.
The wall art is to take pride of place in the very studio where the JAW team create and develop their games therefore they required something truly inspirational!

After seeing a couple of our printed samples. Stewart Gillray (CEO of JAW Ltd) was left in no doubt that our unique and innovative "wide-screen" perspex wall art was the only way to present their artwork.
The very next day the talented JAW crew emailed over the image they wanted reproducing and the Wall Art Rockers did the rest.

Upon receiving the Stranger's Wrath wall art Stewart commented "Utterly amazing! The overall size is impressive enough but the quality of the print and the colours are simply breathtaking." He continued "We especially love the glossiness of the perspex which really does make it look like a huge computer monitor!"



We printed and delivered the Stranger's Wrath wall art within 7 working days.
We are now on the look out for other video game / software / CG related companies to WOW with our unique wall art for a digital generation!

We're Exhibiting in Leeds Jan 2012

From 9th January 2012 The World Famous Wall Art Rockers are exhibiting a selection of our unique concept, video game, sci-fi, fantasy and digital inspired wall arts at Café 164 in our home town of Leeds, West Yorkshire. 

Café 164 has established a strong following with the local art community by serving good food/drink in a relaxing environment surrounded by inspiring art.
It is also ideally situated for art lovers as they are right next door to the Leeds Art Gallery.

We are exhibiting several pieces of our work including the stunning Down Town by the legendary concept artist Andrée Wallin, Minimal Valley by Dr Franken and our very own vinyl masterpiece Dub Flow.
All will be displayed in our huge 1400 x 675mm "widescreen" format with the artwork printed directly onto 8mm thick acrylic. They really have to be seen to be believed!

A special mention must go to our super star guest artist Phil Wall Art. We have collaborated with Phil to produce an awesome "one off" original wall art that will be exclusive to Café 164!
It's called Leeds vs Monsters and features three cartoon monsters using a Leeds cityscape as a playground. We'll even sign and date it for the lucky purchaser!

If you happen to be in Leeds during January please call in and shows us your support.

Address is: Café 164, Unit 2 Munro House, Duke Street, Leeds LS9 8AG
Opposite the Bus Station

We look forward to seeing you!

Back to School for the Rockers

So last week the World Famous Wall Art Rockers went back to school. In fact we went back to the very classroom where our artistic big ideas first began! 

We were invited in to our former school (Sherburn High School) to talk to groups of year 5 Art students about the highs and lows of being involved in the art/design industry and also running your own business.

Personally, I vividly remember a similar moment happening to me over 25 years ago.
A former student gate crashed my beloved double art lesson claiming to be a "graphic designer" and wanted to show us her portfolio of work. I didn't have a clue what a graphic designer was (or did), so I sat politely and listened and looked.

From that moment on I have been forever in her debt as I have worked as a graphic designer/artists ever since. Therefore I felt duty bound that we would return to our old "stomping ground" and hopefully inspire other students in the same way.

We waxed lyrical about all things creative including social media, brand awareness, the importance of standing out "from the crowd" and everything in between. To be fair the students sat and listened very patiently and even asked the odd question or two.

Fortunately we brought a couple of our huge acrylic wall arts with us and when we showed these they really caught their attention! The were interested in not only the art styles but also how they were printed, produced and sold.

This also led to a discussion about the thriving video game industry and how art plays a pivotal role in the production of any AAA or Indie game title.
We were very surprised to learn that one of the students was in fact a budding concept artists himself and his end of year project featured several manga and concept inspired art pieces.

It was great to talk about our business journey and spread the love for digital art.
Hopefully we have inspired a few budding artists who will go on to enjoy a rewarding and profitable artistic career.

We would like to end with a big thank you to all the students for listening to us, Mrs Landon for inviting us in and Sherburn High School for letting us share our vision.

Aperture's Requiem - Portal 2 Wall Art

The World Famous Wall Art Rockers are proud to announce that we have teamed up with our friends at Steel Series and Valve to produce an exclusive Portal 2 wall art titled Aperture's Requiem.

As I'm sure you are aware the Portal Series from Valve/EA is one the most highly regarded video games of recent years and has received numerous well deserved awards and accolades.
The iconic series has a huge following among the video gaming community with legions of fans eager to discuss, write, draw and share all things Portal.
Therefore we had to create something truly spectacular that the fans would really engage with and get excited about.

Working closely with Steel Series and the artists at Valve we have produced a jaw dropping wall art that focuses on GLaDOS (who also appeared in the legendary Half Life series) inside the decaying Aperture Science Facility.
Chell also features silhouetted against the light beam cast down by GLaDOS. Completely dwarfed by her surroundings.

The muted colour palette really compliments the stark use of light and shadows to create suitably sombre atmosphere.

This stunning Portal 2 concept art is reverse printed direct to a gigantic 1400 x 675mm (8mm thick) acrylic panel. The reflective gloss of the acrylic makes the whole wall art look like a huge HD TV screen and brings every detail to life.

A special mention must go out to our friends at Steel Series who made all this possible.

DJ Woody and the Wall Art Rockers

We recently supplied the 2 x DJ World Champion and legendary superstar turntablist DJ Woody (aka Lee Woodvine) an awesome wall art for his brand new purpose built studio!

For those of you that don't know who DJ Woody is (shame on you), he is described as “One of the most creative forces in DJing the UK scene has ever produced”. His unrivalled visual performance show ‘Turntables in Technicolor’ has taken the world by storm.

DJ Woody has recently appeared at the US DMC finals in NYC as the first ever non-US artist to be invited to showcase. His current tour schedule includes long awaited appearances across Brazil, Asia, Europe and the US, as well as regular shows in his native UK.

Check out his website here.

So why did DJ Woody hook up with The World Famous Wall Art Rockers when he required a piece of wall art? The answer is very simple. He wanted a piece of wall art that visually expresses his love of technology, modernism and innovation as these are the three key influencing factors in the creation of his music. The same values that we incorporate into the creation of our wall art.

The wall art he chose was the typographical themed Type Bot 2023 (by Lukas Bischoff), which is available to buy exclusively from www.wallartrockers.com

Traditional Art vs Digital Art

On Saturday 30th July we attended the Open Exhibition held at Bar Lane Studios in York. We had submitted two of our digital wall arts, both of which had been selected for exhibition. As strange as this may sound, our inclusion came as a bit of a surprise!

When I initially submitted our entries (the previous week), I couldn't help but notice the other artists work. As you would expect the overall standard was exceptionally high. However this didn't phase me as I knew our artwork was up there with the best of them. The thing that really struck me was that ours were the only "digital art" entries. All the other 2D submissions were created using traditional media ie. paint, pen, pencil or photograph.

Slightly perturbed I continued to unwrap our artwork under the watchful gaze of the event staff. Once the wall arts were fully revealed in all there shiny high gloss glory they were greeted with quizzical interest and a couple of muffled "wows".
There then followed an impromptu "Q & A" session regarding how they were produced which also included several members of the public who had wondered into the gallery for a better look!

Maybe my initial preconceptions were wrong. Could digital art really be accepted by the "traditional" art world!

My question was partially answered at the Open Exhibition preview event. We turned up at the studios only to discover our wall arts taking prime position in the studio windows. This was received with mixed feelings. On one hand it was fantastic statement by the exhibition organisers who obviously thought they would catch the eye of the general public and also act as "front of house" showcase for the rest of the art within.
On the negative side the wall arts were facing away from the throng of art critics and visitors inside. I couldn't help but feel this was partially intended.

To conclude, I felt Bar Lane Studios made a brave and astute decision to exhibit our work. They may not of entirely understood our concept (or medium) but they certainly new our work would attract a new breed of visitor.