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Jon M. Gibson

i am 8-bit: Art Inspired by Classic Videogames of the '80s Paperback – April 1, 2006

by Jon M. Gibson (Author), Chuck Klosterman (Foreword)

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Pac-Man. Frogger. Super Mario Bros. These classic videogames are burned into the collective consciousness of an entire generation, thanks to countless hours spent at pizza parlors and bowling alleys across the country. Now artists such as Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, and Ashley Wood put their memories to paper, canvas, and wood to create original works of art inspired by the art of the videogame. Chuck Klosterman shares his thoughts in his distinctively insightful and entertaining style in a foreword on how videogames created a new playground for artistic expression. With more than 100 thought-provoking, amusing, and simply fun pieces of original art, i am 8-bit is a pixilated stroll down memory lane.

Print length

156 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Chronicle Books
Publication date

April 1, 2006
Grade level

8 and up
Reading age

13 years and up
Dimensions

9.1 x 0.5 x 9.1 inches
ISBN-10

0811853195
ISBN-13

978-0811853194
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Jon M. Gibson
17
Paperback
13 offers from $2.99

Jon M. Gibson
17
Paperback
13 offers from $2.99

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jon M. Gibson is a script writer who has worked for the Walt Disney Company, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and PBS/Scholastic. He lives in Burbank, California.

Chuck Klosterman is a senior writer at Spin and a columnist for Esquire . The author of Killing Yourself to Live and other works, he lives in New York.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chronicle Books; 1st edition (April 1, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 156 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0811853195
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0811853194
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 8 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.44 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.1 x 0.5 x 9.1 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,203,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #787 in Video Game Art (Books)
- #5,613 in Pop Culture Art
- #12,465 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences

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Top reviews from the United States

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J. Crocker

Take pop appreciation to a new level

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 11, 2007

Verified Purchase

Coffee table or bookcase, this book is for the most artistic of videogame fans, as well as those that appreciate mixed media with their pop culture. Joust, Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Pac Man, Q-Bert and more are all displayed like you've never seen them by talented artists. The nostalgia is thick and sweet smelling; a feeling that few will appreciate to it's fullest. Highly recommended for artists and nerds alike. Also check out Arcade Fever and Supercade for the history behind our favorite up up down down history.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Justin!!!

Great art inspired by video games

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 1, 2016

Verified Purchase

Very cool book with a lot of neat artwork. If you're into art based on video games, this is a great book to check out!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 11, 2016

Verified Purchase

My son loves art and video games so this book was the perfect combination! Condition was great, like new, and arrived earlier than expected, thanks!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 2, 2016

Verified Purchase

Ordered as a gift. Thank you!

Helpful

Ryan Sil. (Gamer & PC/Android indie dev)

A museum of spoofs of memories all in a book.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 29, 2012

If you are one to have grown up during the days of the arcades or the NES, then you will surely love this book. It's a collection of painted up parodies of video game moments, if not video games themselves. Open this up, and you will see Mario and Donkey Kong have beer with each other, a little girl using Kirby as a balloon, an old crazy-lookin' Link, and Ms. Pac-Man taking a joyride on the ship from Galaga!

The pictures are downright humorous and/or inspirational. You won't be disappointed when you look at even just a few pictures. Be warned, though, that I happened to accidentally stumble upon a couple painted nude pictures...You'll thank me for this.

But still, this is an excellent book! Definitely a must-have for any 80s/90s gamer!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Pop Art a la '80s

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 12, 2006

First and foremost, this book makes a wonderful inexpensive gift for anyone who grew up in the '80s playing the 'ole 8-bit video systems and still has a bit of nostalgia for those simpler times. It's also pretty neat as a bound exhibit of how pop culture can be transformed into art that's actually quite captivating. About 70 artists contributed works, and the medium of choice is definitely oil and acrylic paint, with a fair number of mixed media pieces thrown in. The styles vary wildly, with influences ranging from surrealism to manga to skateboard art to graffiti to crafting to abstract to pixelation and on and on. It's actually a pretty decent overview of modern pop art sensibilities.

In terms of subject matter, far and away the most prevalent "inspirations" are from the Donkey Kong/Mario Bros. franchise, with Pac Man coming in next, and Frogger, Zelda, and Dig Dug also getting much play. However, some of the best pieces are from less popular games, like Tim Tomkinson's "Duck Hunter S. Thompson" mashup of a portrait of the gonzo journalist with the Sega "Duck Hunter" graphics, Jim Rugg's faux poster for a pro wrestling event featuring characters from the Nintendo wrestling game, or Jason Sho Green's pen and ink "Tantric Tetris". On the whole it's a very fun, well-designed book, nicely produced, and sure to bring a smile to many 30somethings. It's worth noting that I like Chuck Klosterman too, but his foreword is pretty slim, maybe 500 words, so don't buy it for that!

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

J. Fryer

Rad, Awesome, and Other '80s Reactions Inspired by This Book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 24, 2006

Where do I start? I found this gem listed under books from Chuck Klosterman, who I think speaks for an entire generation of 30-somethings raised on bad rock bands and crappy John Hughes movies. I gave it a shot, and wasn't disappointed!

In typical Chuck fashion, he analyzes video games and why they had an indelible affect on the childhoods of guys like me who spent about $3 million in quarters on Yie Ar Kung Fu (and why, 20 years later, guys i tell this to completely understand). For Klosterman fans, this is worth half the price right here.

But that's just 2% of the book! The rest is filled with totally awesome art that's hard to describe because I've never really seen anything like it--it's not advertising art, or game screenshots, or concept art from games. I guess it's just like the sub-title says, artwork inspired by what the artists played as kids in the 80's, but it's still hard to understand until you actually see it.

And what's really cool are the pieces that have quotes from the artists explaining their inspirations, why they used a particular game, or just random game memories--really funny stuff!

My favorites are:

1) Excitebike: Cool blocky render of a classic. Made me remember how I'd build my own track and line up all those turbo things.

2) Mega Man: I recognize this artist, Tim Biskup, from Juxtapoz and Super 7 magazines. Cool!

3) Don't Be a 2nd Player Hater (Luigi for Sheezy): Luigi pimped out like Snoop. Hilarious, yo!

4) Pac-Man in Hospice: This gives me nightmares. Especially the Frogger frog.

5) Record Dug Digger: Cross between skateboard art (in a good way) and NY graffiti. Trust me, it's awesome!

Other games I recognized include more mainstream stuff like Joust and Space Invaders to games that are a little more esoteric, like Contra, 720, Kid Icarus, and that weird robot thing that came with the NES. If you're a fan of the classics, I highly recommend it!

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Mike Griffin

this book proves old-school is awesome!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 5, 2006

My local bookstore in Chicago got the book early, so i couldn't help but flipped through it. I pre-ordered it on Amazon, but wanted to see what I was getting - you know, like a kid on christmas searching through mom and dad's closet. What did I get...?

An f'ing AWESOME book! Great art! I mean GREAT! But, okay, so I remember all these games from back in the day. But I left the book in the kitchen by accident, and when I came back home, my mom was sitting at the dinner table flipping through it... and, to my shock, she actually liked it!

I'd recomend this book for ANYoNE who likes art and/or old-school videogames. If you like both - fantastic! But this is just really cool stuff... lots of variety... and if you asked me, I wouldn't be able to even pick my 10 most favorite paintings... i just Liked too many.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Jason Eckert

A great visit down memory lane!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 9, 2017

Verified Purchase

A mix of nostalgia and art done in a way that will make you want to flip through the pages again and again!

JP Valdes

Four Stars

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

Awesome book

A. Ross

Pop Art a la '80s

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 13, 2006

Verified Purchase

First and foremost, this book makes a wonderful inexpensive gift for anyone who grew up in the '80s playing the 'ole 8-bit video systems and still has a bit of nostalgia for those simpler times. It's also pretty neat as a bound exhibit of how pop culture can be transformed into art that's actually quite captivating. About 70 artists contributed works, and the medium of choice is definitely oil and acrylic paint, with a fair number of mixed media pieces thrown in. The styles vary wildly, with influences ranging from surrealism to manga to skateboard art to graffiti to crafting to abstract to pixilation and on and on. It's actually a pretty decent overview of modern pop art sensibilities.

In terms of subject matter, far and away the most prevalent "inspirations" are from the Donkey Kong/Mario Bros. franchise, with Pac Man coming in next, and Frogger, Zelda, and Dig Dug also getting much play. However, some of the best pieces are from less popular games, like Tim Tomkinson's "Duck Hunter S. Thompson" mashup of a portrait of the gonzo journalist with the Sega "Duck Hunter" graphics, Jim Rugg's faux poster for a pro wrestling event featuring characters from the Nintendo wrestling game, or Jason Sho Green's pen and ink "Tantric Tetris". On the whole it's a very fun, well-designed book, nicely produced, and sure to bring a smile to many 30somethings. It's worth noting that I like Chuck Klosterman too, but his foreword is pretty slim, maybe 500 words, so don't buy it for that!

See all reviews

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i am 8-bit: Art Inspired by Classic Videogames of the '80s Paperback – April 1, 2006

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