Perhaps more than even our most iconic films, video games have given us some of pop culture’s most enduring figures. Nintendo alone has given us a fleet of lasting characters, from Mario to Zelda to Samus Aran. For better or worse, those figures have been taken and adapted by fans for all sorts of reasons, whether for cosplaying or fan-fiction or, shudder, slash-fiction. But other fans stick to the visual, taking those classic characters and recontextualizing them as, say, Caravaggio models. That’s exactly what Astor Alexander has done.
Alexander, who we learned about via Eurogamer, is a professional illustrator working in San Diego. He doesn’t stick to Nintendo, though: He finds inspiration in all of the nerdiest things, whether it be Community or Bioshock, or, hell, even Eddie Izzard. We’re especially fond of his take on video game characters, though, and in particular his fake noir covers are fantastic. We’ve sampled some of his artwork for a gallery here, but all of his images (some of which are NSFW) can be found at his Tumblr, or on DeviantArt, where you can even buy some of it.
“Burial at Sea,” inspired by ‘Bioshock,’ by Astor Alexander
“Hero of Time” by Astor Alexander
“Taken…Again” by Astor Alexander
“The Beast and the Princess” by Astor Alexander
“The Bounty Hunter” by Astor Alexander
“The Puppetmaster” by Astor Alexander
“Wild Hunt” by Astor Alexander
“Twilight Gal” by Astor Alexander