Advice on Getting an SMB Chalk Mural Approved

Raspberry Jowls

My friend and I have been busy chalking up several gaming murals on brick around the art building here at TCNJ and we've had an ambitious idea. The Interactive Multimedia department is holding their annual showcase next month and we intend to reproduce the final battle between Mario and Bowser in SMB1 on a large scale for display at that event. It would end at the door to the building that houses the exhibits, but the princess would be chalked on the brick wall just inside the door. Pretty cute idea, if I do say so myself ;-)

The problem is that it would be right in the middle of campus and, unlike the current murals, we would need permission from administrators who are less exposed to gaming than the Art and Multimedia professors. To help gain approval, I'm going around to various gaming communities around the internet seeking exposure, support, and advice.

Here is the gallery of our work so far:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7660214@N03/

Here is a list of justifications I have prepared for the creation of the large mural:

1. The mural will attract students and visitors to the student center and the AIMS therein. Besides simply drawing attention to the building, the nature of the image would have entrance to the Student Center as the goal of the hero. This will compel onlookers to enter, where they will encounter the trapped Princess.

2. This mural would be an icon for computer gaming, an important and robust branch of Interactive Multimedia and would therefore be appropriate and relevant.

3. The mural will attract outside attention to the The College of New Jersey. The physical recreation of pixel art is not uncommon, but rarely can it be found on such a scale. News and images of this project would almost undoubtedly find their way onto the gaming blog circle and many of the viewers of these sites are college bound. Besides reaching potential students, the project will demonstrate to the world that the students of TCNJ are motivated, ambitious, and capable of taking initiative.

4. The color and character of the mural will beautify the campus. As proven by the smaller murals already completed, the pixel art brings life to an otherwise bland brick wall.

5. Creating and viewing such imagery are experiences unique to this specific situation. Computer graphics are composed of small dots called pixels [this explanation would be for older administrators who aren't so with it], which translate quite well to a patterned, discreet surface such as brick. The match really is uncanny and bringing the two together offers a novel view of each. Furthermore, the blocky nature of the images causes them to become clearer with distance, which is uncommon in physical media and which offers a interesting perspective.

I'm hoping to get some criticism and suggestions on this before I make an official proposal. I believe that these five are pretty solid, but I have a nasty tendency of unwittingly offending authority figures... Also, if anyone could help think of some others, that would be great as well.

Furthermore, I'm hoping for some advice on the mural iteself, since I know there are many artists here. The tentative source image is as follows:



It may look small, but it would actually be 133 bricks wide and about 15-20 feet tall unless we edit it down. Mario would be as tall as me. My big problem here is the bland background. Unless we could think of a way to liven up the environment, we would basically just leave the black out. The result would then be hardly earth-shattering. I'd like to have a massive, colorful, solid end result and as it stands, that would not be the case. Any suggestions regarding what to do to liven up that background?

Thanks in advance for all of your help.

FyreWulff

part 1: push the attraction angle:

part 2: just take some liberty with the background. Make it smeared gray-and-black, or something. I think gamers won't have a heart attack if you take a bit of liberty.

Or you could go with a peculiar mix of SMB foreground and SMB (Allstars) background.

Paul_IQ164

I think you mean that brick is a "discrete" surface (made up of distinct parts) rather than a "discreet" (modest, doesn't-call-attention-to-itself) one. Presumably this thing is meant to be anything but discreet.

Also, if you're doing this with Fire Mario, might as well have him chucking a fireball?

The_Glad_Hatter

I really dig the idea, but wouldn't the 1st scene of level one (with the one single brick, and then the platforms, one of which gives you the mushroom, we all know it...). it's more recognizable, has Mario in his regular colour pattern, and has a more cheerful colouring scheme.
With the brick spacing the colours tend to look more flat, and making the bricks grey isn't going to be superspectacular...
I really like your example pics, supercool, but the colours could be a bit more saturated (perhaps use thick covering base paint first?)

ben0207

I like the idea of using the first level of Mario, it's more recognisable and would allow more bold welcoming colours, like the blue of the sky.