Finally finished these paintings last week! It's the Vic Viper and a partial complement of options from Gradius III. They've been a long time and several rolls of masking tape in the making and I'm happy with how they turned out.

Here's a small gallery with a few finished shots and images of the process:



Front shot of the Vic Viper and an option.


Close-up on the Vic Viper.


Masking out the first version. I scrapped this version for several reasons and ended up using these more for experimenting.


Two of the discarded prototypes.


The final version is underway! I used a much more rigid grid for it compared to earlier versions.


Repairing a few spots on the options.


Compared to the options, the Vic Viper was a masking nightmare.


Game over: Plans, palettes, and wads of all the tape used during the whole process.


I got this idea for the inscription at the last minute.

At several points I considered adding more elements, like a star field (You can see stars planned on the grid in one of the photos.) or the powerup bar running along one of the canvas's bottom edge (facing the floor). After removing all the tape and looking at these, though, I think I like the minimalist look better.

I haven't decided on a title for it yet, but now I'm leaning towards "From Legend to Myth," which is Gradius III's Japanese subtitle. I always liked how lofty and pretentious it sounded for a shooting game.