Gamescom Art Contest: The Winners

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago we put out a call to the creatively-inclined to submit a piece of art directly influenced by video games. 10 finalists would then be selected by the members of our gamescom ‘games as art’ panel, mounted on canvas, signed and shown during our livestream of the event.

The panel – which was held immediately after our gamescom press conference – has of course now been and gone. So, for the benefit of those who didn’t manage to catch a glimpse of the winning images in the background, here are the 10 victors, complete with a description by the artist.

Nills van Dammen: This piece of art is a combination from two of my favorite games: Patapon and God of War. If a (new) Patapon game came with a God of War DLC pack, this would be the result. A perfect combination of violence and cuteness. I really love the whole composition of the battle against the Basilisk.

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Ramón Varela Arrabal: With this artwork I’ve tried to highlight the artist behind every game (Fumito Ueda this time). The artists are true protagonists in the stories and magic worlds that make us dream and live innumerable adventures. Thanks to them the industry evolves and may become something more than just blockbuster entertainment.

Andy Fairhurst: This work was inspired by the awesome artwork from the Assassin’s Creed series. I loved Raphael Lacoste’s concept artwork in the games. This was something I thought would work – a female assassin in Victorian London.

Mateusz Kudranski: The World is in Play. This is my interpretation of what “The World is in Play” means for me. I’m a big Vita fan.

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Heather Louise: I love painting in my spare time. Only a beginner artist at the moment but seeing my friends work inspired me to pick up a paintbrush and paint. I’ve never painted anything before. Also I really love gaming and so do my daughters.

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Egor Stolyarov: As you see, I am an enthusiast of Heavy Rain and PlayStation consoles. With my artwork I try to ask everyone: ‘What are hardcore emotions? May hardcore emotions be hardcore gaming experience?’ And answer is… should be somewhere in your mind.

Matthew Hogben: I was inspired to do this piece because I absolutely love Naughty Dog and their games and I’m really looking forward to The Last Of Us! When I saw the gameplay footage at E3, straight away I had ideas to do a piece for the game! I loved the look and colours to the game and tried to put as much from the gameplay as I could in this picture, with things such as Ellie with the brick and Joel setting one of the enemies on fire with a molotov cocktail.

Hannah Bakewell: I used Insomniac’s Spyro The Dragon as inspiration for my painting, because I’ve always thought the game has a very distinct, surrealistic look. The combination of the colourful skyscapes and the floating, elongated platforms really captured my imagination as a child. And 14 years later, I still think the game’s environments are very artistic.

David Stirzaker: My artwork is inspired by Journey. With its engaging and serene world, its enigmatic character and its shared experience, Journey provides an emotional experience that rivals that of any book, movie or piece of music.

Daniel Navarro Guerrero: This picture was painted with a digital pen in Photoshop. My inspiration was Shadow of the Colossus. I think this game has an atmosphere and tone that create images with magic. I think it’s a good choice for the theme ‘art and video games’.

Congratulations, one and all – fantastic work. Please take a bow! Your pictures are in the process of being sent back to you now – and believe me, they look wonderful on canvas.

If you missed the panel – which featured Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida, Media Molecule‘s Alex Evans and thatgamecompany co-founder Kellee Santiago, among others – you can watch a highlight reel below, or the full hour-long debate on YouTube. Put your feet up and enjoy – it was a fascinating discussion.