Edit: Thanks a lot for all your support, especially mystickirby who suggested the daily deviation! I'm really glad it didn't take as long as the EarthBound poster for it to be recognize

YEEEAAAAH!!!
Another one of my little poster treats for the end of the year. I worked on this one every one hour I was awake this past week, and just finished it. It took me days to figure out the best way to color it: Cell-shading looked way too out of place and digital painting was not an option. I finally opted for a fusion of comic book style coloring and lithography by using some texture I made for a project this last semester. I can safely say that it was a complete success.

Comparable in magnitude to my EarthBound poster, I actually learned a lot from this first attempt at a major print project. For instance, I only sketched the over-all disposition of the characters on paper, so that they could have a better structure. The skecthing, inking, and coloring of the characters were then done directly on Photoshop, a premiere for me.

So yeah, Kirby's one of my favorite series. I decided to include most of the allies, ennemies, and bosses from the first game to the Nintendo 64 title, mainly because those are now considered as classics, but also because Crystal Shards is the last excellent and nostalgic Kirby platformer on a home console. So most of the old characters are in there, except for some that I may have forgotten or don't care about (exception for Mr. Bright and Mr. Shine, Nova, and some more ennemies, which I do like and just didn't know where to place), I may add them in the future, and maybe not. But for now, I'm just too happy of how Nightmare, O2, and Dark Matter's forms turned out. ^^
I also think I nailed what I was going for with the character and color structure of the picture. You see, I believe that Kirby games have some of the most disturbing final boss fights in the history of video games. If you put it in context, a game like Crystal Shards begins with a cute little pink puff ball and a pretty fairy trying to collect pieces of a magic crystal to save her home planet and ends with the duo fighting against a zombie angel with organs for wings and an eye that looks like an horizontal bleeding vagina. The little puff ball also has to cope with the embodiement of every nightmares the world ever had, as well as a giant mechanical comet and a flying demonic circus freak. The contrast between the beginning and ending of a Kirby game is just jawdropping. The only game that use this contrast more efficiently is EarthBound, and that one is just frightening to say the least.
In a sea of stupidly manly game heroes, Kirby and Ness stand out as being freakishly brave without being physical powerhouses...

Anyway, enjoy, and before I forgot...
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR EVEYRONE!!!


Kirby is (c) Nintendo
Art is (c) me