Your Next Great Adventure Sermon Series

About:
In the spring, our creative team at Gateway discussed ideas for an upcoming message series “Your Next Great Adventure.” As a kid in the 90s (well, I was born in 1984), I grew up with the original Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and N64. In many of the early games, especially for the original NES, many of the title screens began with “Press Start.” With a video game, you really can start an adventure at any time. In my seven years of creating art for churches, I’ve always wanted to do a retro 8-bit or 16-bit series. This was my opportunity to finally make it happen!

Resources:
Aseprite, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Sony A7III,

The Process:
I don’t typically write out all the steps, but this one is interesting enough that I think there is value in sharing:

• I began with a photo of Zilker Park

• Converted photo to 8/16 bit using the sprite animator, Aseprite

• Using keyframes, animated the paddleboarder and birds

• Created a title in Photoshop

• Recreated the title in Aseprite, sticking to a very limited color and shade palette

• Put the elements together in Premiere

• Superimposed that video onto an older tube TV, adding CRT distortion and flickering.

• Bought blank NES game shells.

• Designed / Printed custom NES labels and made 10 cartridges

• Hunted down an NES from a neighbor. Filmed myself inserting a cartridge.

• Modified the graphic for many different applications (and made a second teal-based set for a parallel project).