You see, all 18 of the portraits Roberts has completed so far render the Japanese giant's extensive stable of colorful protagonists and cohorts as both naked and, to varying degrees, surprised and embarrassed.
Roberts recently agreed to answer a handful questions about what prompted him to start the series, why he decided to focus on Nintendo characters, how many more he plans to produce and much more.
The Gay Gamer: When did you start creating these "Nüdtendo" portraits, and what prompted you to do so?
Aedan Roberts: I began creating this series back in the summer of 2012. Up until that point, all my gallery work was intentionally devoid of work that contained other people's intellectual property. I was still trying to figure out a way to do it without falling directly into the "fan art" category while also doing something fun and original.
At the time, I was doodling some of my favorite characters and was up to Mario. I tend to draw my characters naked when I'm working out their proportions and then add the clothes in a later version. But before I could progress, my boyfriend stopped me and told me I had something with this stout, squat, embarrassed creature I had just doodled. So I finished him up, painted him, and then did another two vignettes (Link and Samus). The results were so popular that I decided to go whole hog and make it into a series.
The Gay Gamer: Why did you decide to focus on Nintendo characters?
Aedan Roberts: The decision to concentrate on Nintendo characters was both because I love the long, storied history of Nintendo intellectual property and because it gave unity to the project.
I grew up as a fan of Nintendo. Our very first console was an SNES and from there I have owned every single generation (barring the Wii U at the moment). I have such an emotional attachment to these characters, and if I was going to create a satire where I reproduce a famous series of characters, I wanted it to be these.
The Gay Gamer: Was your plan all along to create a series, by the way, or did that just come to you after you'd made a few?
Aedan Roberts: I decided to turn it into a full-on series after the original three proved to be so popular. I then gave myself a goal--52--that I don't know if I'll reach, but I'll definitely try.
The Gay Gamer: Can you tell me a bit about how they're created? Based on the descriptions you've included on your etsy shop, I'm guessing they're paintings? Regardless, what kind of process do you go through to produce them?
Aedan Roberts: Each character is drawn out so I can translate it into my style. After that, I try to make sure the proportions are in line with the previous characters and then I re-draw the sketch onto hot press watercolor paper. I then glue the paper to a small wooden board, paint the character and then place the board into a custom-painted shadowbox. The color of each shadowbox is made to coincide with the character within. That way, when the shadowboxes are placed together, it forms a pixel-like color grid.
