Minimalism NES Style, testing ideas (u1)

Here's a secret - I have a nostalgic video game problem. They were such a huge part of my life growing up that I just love all things classic. I often browse around a site called Sprite Stitch to see what great fan art folks are making, especially all things Bowser related. I'm not very active there, but couldn't pass up their March challenge - Minimalism. When it is done right, pop culture presented in a minimalist style is one of my favorite things! Check out these that always come to mind when a contest like this comes along.

Keyser Soze by MarcusAurelis, Worth1000

Kane Mckowen, Kane Mckeowen.com

Given that it is a bunch of things I love - pop culture, NES, minimalism, and stitching, I had give it go. There's a deadline - March 31. Given the entries that are already there, I don't expect to win virtual prizes and glory, but I do hope make someone smile.

I decided I wanted to do something a meta and pulled out my own personal NES to get the proportions and measurements right. I never depend on my memory for something this delicate!

There she is - my sweet sweet baby complete with sticker gunk from the little fuzz ball guys that used to stand on top of it. I went ahead and used photoshop to block out the shapes and get an idea of waht I wanted to try with canvas and thread. I want this to hang on the wall and a Nintendo just happens to be 8x10 - standard canvas size. Perfect!

I knew I wasn't going to get a "controller sized" canvas, 2x5. I did luck up and find some 2x3s. I thought about ways I could take them apart and put them back together to get a 2x5, but decided to go the controller pattern on the left (no start/select buttons) and use the shorter size. I do like the balance of the layout better on the shorter canvas and this it still gets the point across with less and in this case - less is more.

I tried removing the canvas from the frame, stitching right on the canvas and putting it back, but found the canvas to be a really bad "fabric" for holding stitches.  I grabbed some white linen from my stash and tested out painting it and adding some stitches afterward.

Looking at the picture, it doesn't seem as bad as it does in real life. The paint dried with a kind of "plastic" look and feel and made the fabric thick enough that it didn't wrap around the canvas well. My next plan - dye it!