- How long have you been pursuing art, and how did you develop this unique style?

“I’ve been painting for a little over a year now. My birthday was coming up, and my friend, an artist, asked me what I wanted. I told her I wanted a Mega Man piece done, but unfortunately, she got busy and couldn’t do it for me. I wanted the piece so much, I just decided to do it myself. I fell in love with how the sprite came out using just paints. After that, it is all I ever wanted to paint.”

- What motivates you to paint?

“My inspiration is of course both the NES and my childhood. I have such fond memories of it growing up. The wonderful and colorful characters of the NES is what really influenced my painting. I love capturing a moment of a game on canvas and having people get taken back to that time when they didn’t have a care in the world and their biggest worry was trying to save the princess.”

- How would you describe your style?

“I've had people call my art lots of things: Pixelism, Pop Art, Neo-Dada Art and of course, Crap. I guess one could call it Pop Art since the NES is a pop icon, but I don't worry about a certain style or anything. If someone came up to me and asked me what I painted, I just smile and say, ‘I paint squares.’"

- Do you think the relationship between art and video games will develop further in the future?

“Absolutely. No matter how cool the gameplay or how well the game is done, if you don't have cool stuff to look at or have characters that don't stick in your head the game won't be as successful as it can be. The early NES games like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kid Icarus; they had such memorable characters, scenes, backgrounds, etc. It just enhanced the experience and that won't ever leave video games.”

- Do you think retro gaming and style is making a comeback? Is it gaining popularity?

“I think retro gaming is making a comeback, I mean, just look at all the different type of Nintendo shirts Hot Topic has! It has steadily been gaining popularity for while, although it is tough to say exactly why. My personal reason would be that games nowadays are much too complicated. I don't want to pop in Madden 2006 and be the QB and have to control my head, set my feet, and make sure I don't over throw and stuff like that or else my throw won’t be completed. I think it takes the fun out of it. I want to play Tecmo Bowl, be Bo Jackson and just have 25 rushing TD's in one game.”