Interview: Coleman Engle

Video game inspired art is all over the place right now and Coleman Engle is one of my favorites. I asked him a few questions about what he’s playing and how games have influenced his art. Coleman also drew five original pieces exclusively for this interview!

Kevin: What is your earliest gaming memory?

Coleman: When I was about five, my sister got her tonsils out. She stayed in the little kid’s part of the hospital that has a NES, so whenever we went to visit her I just tried to get as far as I could in Mario. It was awesome because I just got to hang out and play through all these levels, and then later that year my sister got a NES for her birthday.

I remember she got The Little Mermaid game too, and I played it the whole time. It was really awesome playing that game, because you got to swim and have free range, almost like flying. I was really freaked out when I had to go to Ursula’s cave though, because of those nasty little doodoo looking people on the floor.

K: It’s funny that you say The Little Mermaid because I see a lot of Disney influence in your artwork. Were you already drawing a lot at that age?

C: Yeah, I mean I’ve doodled for as long as I can remember. I definitely watched a ton of Disney as a kid. It was great growing up with my sister because she would get like Beauty and the Beast or Sleeping Beauty for Christmas and I’d get Aladdin and The Sword in the Stone, sort of covering all the bases. There was always paper and pencils around, so I’d trace anything. After I got tired of tracing Might Max or Sub-Zero and Raiden, I started drawing my own stuff. Towards the end of elementary school is probably when I knew I wanted to draw forever. K: I would have never pegged you as a Mortal Kombat fan. What other stuff were you playing back then?

C: Haha Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct are probably the “toughest” games I’ve enjoyed. I really loved the Resident Evil remake for the GameCube though! Fifth grade was awesome, because Pokemon Red and Ocarina of Time both came out that year. Pokemon was great because it was so new and different. You were in charge of these cool little monsters, and got to battle! I hadn’t seen anything like it before. Nothing compares to getting through Mt. Moon the first time (which is terrifying by the end because Butterfree has fainted, Bulbasaur is about to faint and Mankey is too weak to get through the last string of trainers) or finally getting to The Elite Four. I carried the instruction guide around until it was falling apart because of the Ken Sugimori art. Ocarina of Time was just breathtaking. Seeing Gohma creep on the ceiling of the Deku Tree? Casting Din’s Fire the first time or getting Epona back? Flawless! It totally oozes of personality and style. It’s also so manageable, like the perfect length. Both of those games are just full of charm. I know Pokemon and Zelda being my favorite games isn’t unique or original, but fuck it, those franchises rule.

K: There’s just something about those games. It’s the charm and it’s the art. You were talking about Ken Sugimori. Those original 151 Pokemon are like a miracle of charming character design. And people get so attached to them! Who was your starter Pokemon in Red?

C: Bulbasaur! I’ve loved him since the first time I saw him, he looks so cool! Charmander was okay, and Squirtle was a little too cutesy. I really liked how Bulbasaur was a dual-type, he had nice moves. Poison Powder and Sleep Powder are great if you’re in a bind. A real pitiful story of mine is I had Charizard card, traded that for a Pidgeotto and Electabuzz, then traded those two for a Bulbasaur card.

But yeah, Sugimori’s designs for the first generation were out of this world. Everything was so blocky, wonky and chunky. Even the human characters were stellar. He has this knack for putting a lot of detail in his characters without it looking too busy. That first generation he had a nice, faded palette with those watercolors. The watercolors do so much for his art, it’s sort of sad to see him color digitally now.

K: I will say that I thought his designs for Black & White were some of the best since the original, though. I’m quite enamored with my Oshawott. So do you still play video games?

C: I totally agree, Black & White was really strong. I chose my first fire starter with this generation! It’s a nice fresh slate they’ve made for the series, generation 6 should be cool. I play a lot of DS just for the convenience of the handheld. My mom has a Wii (she’s really into Wii Fit and Super Monkey Ball), and I’ve really enjoyed the Mario Galaxy games, and the new Donkey Kong Country was awesome. I’m so excited about Zelda: Skyward Sword too! That game looks amazing, I love the style. Wind Waker was one of my favorite games, so it’s nice to see Nintendo bringing that energy to a new game, with heavy Orcarina and Twilight Princess influences as well. Watching games is fun too though, as sort of background atmosphere to drawing. My roommates just blitzed through a few God of War games that were super fun to watch, and they played Shadow of the Colossus which is gorgeous. I’m trying to drop hints that they need to get the new Castlevania: Lords of Shadow game because that looks awesome, but they might be holding out for Batman: Arkham City, which is fine. K: From Mare Odomo and Zac Gorman to Bryan Lee O’Malley and the iam8bit gallery shows, it seems like art inspired by video games is all over the place right now. Why draw video games?

C: I think there is a ton of video game art now is because this is the aftermath of us growing up with these great games from the 90′s and early 00′s. So much fun energy behind those games. There is a huge sense of nostalgia connected to the games, and people don’t want to let them go! Gorman, Mare and O’Malley know their target audience perfectly, it’s awesome seeing their stuff light up Tumblr and Flickr. People can shit on fan art and disregard it all they want, saying it’s stupid and not creative, but when it’s done beautifully (like by those three you mentioned), you know they’ll reblog it or favorite it in an heartbeat.