Minecraft x Animal Crossing
Two incredibly popular games influenced me to create a small gallery of art.
After being cooped up for a year 2020/2021 I decided to focus on my portfolio of art.
This series pushed me to draw again. Quarantined in a small space with 6 people and two cats in 2020 I realized I needed creative projects to keep sane.
The inspiration came in two parts
1) Minecraft:
Though Minecraft has been around for a long time I was still new to the game. (you lost :P) In 2020 I played nightly with someone in the house.
Everyone else in the house had played Minecraft for years now, I was the only one not used to the layout, controls, or concept.
(I’m a classic Mario gamer, and have very little experience with online gaming.)
We built a small community village, went on adventures and worked together to defeat many monsters.
This game was our escape into a world where not only were we free to roam and discover, but to communicate and collaborate together as a family.
**Minecraft was a double edged sword for me; this was how Andrew and I got the kids to talk about their mental health, checking-in while the world was incredibly stressful. But that also meant this was just another place I felt everyone else enjoyed the game while I worried about real world issues like the house upkeep.
And so, like many other people during 2020 I bought Animal Crossing - New Horizons, and a Switch Lite in turquoise.
2) Animal Crossing:
(Not realizing that I couldn’t hook a Switch Lite to the TV at the time; I played Animal Crossing in the corner of the couch or hiding in my room. Giving me the worst back and neck pain for months).
My day started at 6:30/7am and wouldn’t end until midnight EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I was exhausted physically and mentally.
But for an hour a day I snuck away to check out and recharge. Playing Animal Crossing was somewhere I could ignore the real world for a while.
(When you have 4 young children occupying the house all day long it can be difficult to have your own space, or time, to do anything alone).
I called my island ‘Icarus’ after the Greek myth. Later I found out Icaria (also spelled Ikaria) is also an island in the Aegean Sea. 🤓
Icarus was my sanctuary. I didn’t have to make or do anything for someone else here and I didn’t have to share the island with anyone but my NPC’s.
Why I combined M.C. and A.C.?
Minecraft was the world my family occupied, Animal Crossing was my Oasis.
*Minecraft was where I still felt like I had to be responsible, instead of enjoy the game.
*Animal Crossing was where even the NPC’s would clean up their own messes with out being asked a thousand times.
The premise of the series is that Minecraft creatures are on vacation and/or living on an Animal Crossing island.
Enderman: He’s always moving around, so what better job on the island than a mover of boxes. In this piece he’s having a hard day, the box is about to fall apart and we can only guess what the A.C. character is getting him to move.
Ghast: They are always grumbling, which means they probably didn’t get their morning caffeine yet. I imagine they either have a new neighbour they are not fond of or they have to talk to a neighbour that is not their favourite. Maybe they are just grumpy cause neighbours just pop in uninvited too.
Skeleton: This guy is presumably on his headset with Blathers, he probably works for him. With a net in hand, he is searching for rare bugs only found at night. Celeste, Blathers sister, is not much help when the stars are in the sky.
Spider: Now this one was both about the spiders from Minecraft taking a holiday and what the spiders from Animal Crossing do when we don’t see them. Both games had spiders, so I wanted this piece to be a silly mashup. Catching fruit is not something spiders would usually do, but if you did I imagine they would carry a net to catch, scoop and carry the fruit home. The net is probably made from their own silk too.
Zombie: There are not many Animal Crossing characters on the island, and if zombie eats the brains of any NPC’s the island won’t bring many visitors. So instead he eats the brains of the fish in the ponds, and later, the ocean. Depending on the visitor however, the zombie could always invite the travelers over for a bite.
I spent just a few nights creating these pieces, it wasn’t much, but the Minecraft x Animal Crossing Series was probably my favourite collection to date.