I wanted to put together a quick scale comparison of the last week’s Mario drawings, but I didn’t want to have a totally blank background, and I didn’t want to actually draw a background, so instead I did a quick manipulation of a screencap from Super Mario Bros. Laziness is the mother of invention!

Here are recolor(s) of the drawing of Mario I posted a few weeks ago. However this was always my original intent for the drawing, so the previous one was actually a *precolor*. Anyways, if you don’t know, this is Luigi and Mario as they appeared in their 8-bit NES Super Mario Bros sprites. I love how Mario’s colors feel like the subdued realtype version of him, and Luigi is the opposite–the white makes his colors pop so much more in a bright cartoony way.

*Footnote on today’s post and previously mentioned post: The sprites of Mario from Donkey Kong and Super Mario brothers are not identical, but they are incredibly close, with similar proportions and details. In particular, note the lack of gloves, the pant legs tucked into the boots, and the cap shaped much more like a cap you’d see a real plumber wearing, rather than the more typical Mario “captain’s” cap. However, the tuft of hair in the back is a detail specific to the Donkey Kong version of Mario’s sprite–for my purposes, that one detail didn’t warrant two separate designs.

**Footnote on my Mario drawings yet-to-come–many of them are NOT going to be sticking so closely to the sprites, it’s just that the first few characters I tackled are cases where the sprites are so different from how the characters were later visually defined. There’s something magical that happens early in the development of a fictional world where things are not so fully-formed and tantalizingly hint at all the paths not taken. But I also like exploring the paths that *were* taken, and ALSO finding new paths that literally no one asked for (uh oh, sounds like some “OCs” are brewing)! Anyways, more nerdy Mario stuff on the way. 😂🤓

It’s Bowser, looking like his original goofy sprite! He definitely needs to be depicted with his hammer(s) more often. 😎

Here’s Princess Peach, looking like her original sprite! It always looked to me like she was sitting. Anyways stay tuned, more OG Super Mario art coming this week. 😎

Happy Mario Day! Based on his sprite and colors from his original appearance in Donkey Kong. 🤓

A little something for #PokemonDay! This isn’t *the* Meowth, but it’s *a* Meowth, and *any* Meowth is one of my favorite Pokemon.

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to figure this out, but when I’m drawing digitally, I do way better with a jaggy scratchy brush than a smooth one. I think it’s probably because I’m scruffy and scrappy like Meowth. 😼

Head over to my Instagram if you want to see a bit of behind the scenes video!

#HappyPokemonDay nerds!