Ghosts 'n Goblins Fruit Bowl My Girlfriend Painted

[InsaneDavid]

My girlfriend had been working on a special ceramics project for a long time and picked up the finished piece today. She paints ceramics occasionally and awhile back we were looking at the different pieces offered for painting and saw a large fruit bowl with relatively flat sides and plenty of surface area. I got the idea to section the bowl off into the six individual areas of Ghosts 'n Goblins and put Astaroth and Prin Prin in the center as essentially the final objective. Each section would show Arthur engaged in his quest relative to an actual scene in the game. She did some concept drawings, including one that would more or less end up being the portrait of Astaroth, and we headed out to get started.

I hung out in the ceramics lounge with her while she sketched out the characters and scenes. After that first session she worked on the bowl over the course of many months, going to work on it for a few hours every week or so when time would allow. Sometimes weeks back to back, occasionally with almost an entire month in between sessions.

While we printed screen captures I made for her to work off of, everything was done freehand. Tonight we picked up the bowl as glazing and firing was complete. It turned out AWESOME.

Keep in mind it's a very large piece, about a foot and a half across at the top rim, and due to it being super glossy there's a lot of reflection in the pictures.


Over all picture of the inside of the bowl, with the first area up top, working around clockwise....

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GnGBowl-2011-09-28-%2801%29.jpg

Another shot of the same at a different angle to change up the glare...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GnGBowl-2011-09-28-%2802%29.jpg

The underside of the bowl, showing the start of the story as Satan steals away Princess Prin Prin. We decided to use the little wisp guys to fill out one third as they weren't going to be used anywhere else and fit the intro / first stage. The mountains and castle are based on the background of the opening scene...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GnGBowl-2011-09-28-%2803%29.jpg

Levels 1, 2 and 3...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GnGBowl-2011-09-28-%2804%29.jpg

Levels 4, 5 and 6...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GnGBowl-2011-09-28-%2805%29.jpg

Astaroth and Prin Prin in the center...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GnGBowl-2011-09-28-%2806%29.jpg

The three sections of the outside area that go around the bowl, crazy glare in these pictures due to the black...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GnGBowl-2011-09-28-%2807%29.jpg

I can't express how happy I am that this turned out so well. She really did an incredible job on it and put in far more hours than I can comprehend. Makes completing the game seem easy in comparison. :)

[aryoshi]

Wow, that is super awesome, she's very talented! That's definitely something to hang up and showcase!

[sfchakan]

Awesome.

[burn_654]

That is really cool stuff.

[Aussie2B]

That's awesome. :) Kudos to your lady. If it's not too heavy and if it could withstand the use, that would make a fantastic Halloween candy bowl.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

this is truly outstanding! Is she willing to do commission work? I'd love a Megaman 2 themed bowl of this same general design, with Wily in the middle.

Even if not, this is still phenomenal!

[Emperor Megas]

That's pretty sweet. I mean really, what a fun project that must have been. Oh, and forget fruit, man; it's PERFECT for a Halloween candy dish.

I may have to steal this idea and make a Ghost House themed one. Or maybe a Super Mario World haunted house.

[aryoshi]

That's pretty sweet. I mean really, what a fun project that must have been. Oh, and forget fruit, man; it's PERFECT for a Halloween candy dish.

I agree, that would make a perfect Halloween candy bowl.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Considering how frequently Arthur is in his underwear I think that you should keep nuts in that bowl.

[orakio_rob]

Man, this is great! Congratulations!

[portnoyd]

The only problem with it is that the point of the bowl is to cover what's inside. Invest in invisible fruit.

[OldSkoolBrian]

Thats an awesome bowl.. Very talented.. I would love to eat a bid bowl of cereal out of that bowl while playing the game!

[Robocop2]

That is completely fantastic! She even included my bane the hot dog ghosts!

[mrmark0673]

Awesome bowl Dave! Love how she did art from each level, I'd love to have something like this in my game room.

[BetaWolf47]

Holy shit!!!
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A retrogamer that has a girlfriend?
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I kid. That's awesome. Wish I knew someone that was that good at painting.

[Graham Mitchell]

That's freakin' phenomenal.

[treismac]

Much praise to your awesome girlfriend! Truly impressive work.

[treismac]

Holy shit!!!
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A retrogamer that has a girlfriend?
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I kid. That's awesome. Wish I knew someone that was that good at painting.

Much rarer is having a girlfriend who is supportive of retrogaming. But, hey, it's cool... I love my Irish girlfriend mocking me playing my old Nintendo and then getting beyond frustrated the ONE time she tried cooperative Tengen Tetris then giving up. Definitely not bitter at all.

[InsaneDavid]

Thanks for the comments everyone! This piece will probably remain on our dining room table for the rest of its existence.

While I'm sure there will be candy in it for the upcoming season, the goal is to keep grabby hands away from it. LOL So I don't think it'll be used specifically as a Halloween candy tray, we never get any trick-or-treaters in the complex anyway. Never understood that - kids just don't work for their candy like I used to.


this is truly outstanding! Is she willing to do commission work? I'd love a Megaman 2 themed bowl of this same general design, with Wily in the middle.

No commissions, it's just way too much work and even to get things like this for herself done, there's rarely much free time available. Also with ceramics it's always a crapshoot, especially if you're doing the work over the course of many sittings with multiple coats and blending. She was able to keep on top of her color notes really well for this one and knock out specific colors / coats on the same sittings to help keep color consistency.


The only problem with it is that the point of the bowl is to cover what's inside. Invest in invisible fruit.

The cool thing with the shape of the bowl is since it's so wide and shallow, the top tier is still visible when it's holding something. As the contents are removed, more and more of the stages are revealed until you can see Astaroth and Prin Prin.


To better represent the scale of the piece, here it is with something I think most of us are familiar with the size of...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GnGBowl-2011-09-28-%2808%29.jpg

She's done a few other video game pieces over the years, BurgerTime spoon rest (one sitting, think it was just a couple hours)...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GnGBowl-2011-09-28-%2809%29.jpg

And where the video game themed stuff started, The Black Hole (pinball) doggy bowl that is used as a quarter container on our cocktail table. I think this one was over a couple sittings...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GnGBowl-2011-09-28-%2810%29.jpg

Nothing took up nearly as much time as the Ghosts 'n Goblins piece though, or was worked on as consistently. For instance when she works on most of her projects she'll go paint with a friend (I usually don't go, I suck at this, it's not a talent I have), however on the GnG bowl she would go alone so she could concentrate.

She's going to take a hiatus for awhile and then probably go back to non gaming things. However we're trying to figure out a montage type piece involving Galaxian / Galaga / Gaplus / Galaga '88 with some Bosconian thrown in there (since there's a blown out Bosconian sector in Galaga '88).

[Bratwurst]

Also with ceramics it's always a crapshoot, especially if you're doing the work over the course of many sittings with multiple coats and blending. She was able to keep on top of her color notes really well for this one and knock out specific colors / coats on the same sittings to help keep color consistency.

Yeah what some folk might not know about painting ceramics is that the paint is often a different color than what it cures into from the firing.

The spoon rest is my favorite, I have to say.

[BenG76]

That looks awesome. Nice work.

[pixelsnpolygons]

Wow - awesome stuff.

[DDCecil]

Looks great! The only thing missing is the cat:

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/5274/armorf.png

Yes, growing up, I thought Arthur's armor icon was a cat.

[Crutch]

Great work, very creative. That must have taken a ton of man hours to create, I envy the skills of others.

[Aussie2B]

Looks great! The only thing missing is the cat:

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/5274/armorf.png

Yes, growing up, I thought Arthur's armor icon was a cat.

Looks like the Jumping Flash bunny to me, haha.

[inkedfrog]

I've always enjoyed watching someone play G'n'G..I never made it past the second level to be honest. But the music and graphics always impressed me.

[MyTurnToPlay]

The game is still 1000 times harder than making a bowl.

thank you.

[Baloo]

The game is still 1000 times harder than making a bowl.

thank you.

Oh, it's not that hard. I found Ghouls N Ghosts to be fairly easy in fact once you got a hang of the patterns. Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania, now THEY'RE hard, if solely because the controls are 99x harder to handle.

Awesome stuff by the way, your Girlfriend has some real talent!

[InsaneDavid]

The game is still 1000 times harder than making a bowl.

thank you.

Bah, the game while challenging, is still far from being impossible. You have to keep at it and learn patterns and proper ways to react. You know, like most old games before the industry decided everyone needed their hand held.

[BydoEmpire]

Very cool!

[RPG_Fanatic]

Awesome!!!!! That's pretty cool to have a girlfriend that likes to do video game themes.

[biggzy]

Awesome work!

[jammajup]

That G`nG plate is awsome,put me down for a 100 of them ;-)

[InsaneDavid]

Thank you again to everyone for their comments.

[swlovinist]

One of my favorite games, thank you for sharing.

[InsaneDavid]

With Halloween a couple days away...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GnGBowl-2011-10-28-%2801%29.jpg

[PresidentLeever]

lol, the backside scene is somewhat disturbing :) Pretty awesome overall though, love the layout.

[Emperor Megas]

That bowl is awesome to begin with, but it looks so much cooler with Halloween candy in it.

[Bronty-2]

I love it. What an awesome bowl and nice thing for your GF to do