Happy South Asian Heritage Month 2024!
POC in Play is launching ‘Reimagined as South Asian’ - a weekly series of commissioned art pieces recasting iconic videogame characters.
#1 Princess Peach
Background
“When approaching the redesign of the character Princess Peach from the Super Mario games, it was very important to create a piece that was striking in both its authentic depiction of Peach and its contemporary/historical interpretation of South Asian culture.
I originally took inspiration from South Asian fashion, art and music; leading me to come up with 3 concepts, ‘Desi peach’, ‘Bollywood peach’ and ‘Maharani Peach’. After creating 3 concepts for the illustration, we decided to further develop the ‘Maharani Peach’. Further pushing the authentic quality of the piece by referencing Maharaja & Maharani art. It was important for this piece to be a modern take that's influenced by Maharaja & Maharani art rather than a historical recreation.
We kept the outlines bold, shapes distinctive, lighting and pose flat, keeping to the tone of reference while leaving the recognisable qualities of Peach's original design. This was important to help fuse pop culture with South Asian Heritage, to get a nice blend of the two.”
About The Artist
“Zakia Khan is a Senior Character Artist who has worked in the video games industry for several years. Her work has been on AAA games and mobile titles such as Sea of Thieves, Fall Guys and Destruction All Stars. She has worked for companies such as Lucid Games, Rare (Microsoft), Mediatonic (Epic), and Natural motion (Zynga) on both PC, Console and mobile platforms. Often her commercial work will revolve around the prototyping, execution and implementation of characters for games;. In contrast, her more personal work involves inspiring others through her own curiosity and life experiences.”
#2 Megaman X
Background
The idea was to reimagine Megaman X and his story as a sci-fi retelling of the Kurukeshtra War from the Mahabharata. I was inspired by X’s mixed feelings towards violence with regards to his fellow Reploids and felt like it echoed Arjuna’s struggle with the war. I also reimagined Zero as a stand-in for Bhima, giving him a stronger physique than the lithe, dynamic one he usually has.
The approach became to merge Megaman armor designs with the ornate and heroic representations of the characters in the Mahabharata. The Z-Saber was re-imagined as a Z-Gama, to be a heavier weapon that does more damage. The X-Buster is designed to be more ornate and regal, and has a charge up attack that resembles the Gandiva. The final illustration style is an ode to the cover art of the original games.
About The Artist
Nabeel is a visual designer from Islamabad, Pakistan who has worked in the games and animation industries for 6+ years. He has a passion for visual storytelling, drawing and graphic novels and is currently working as an Art Director at Wakhra Studios on their upcoming animated shows.
When not engaged in multiple creative projects, he is either drawing fanart, making art and comic books or drowning in 90s Capcom nostalgia.
#3 Team Rocket
Background
“Jugnu & Jami together with Meowth are Team Rocket members operating in small towns in Punjab as a group of Mirasi traveller-entertainers who sing, dance and on the side get down to their Pokemon stealing operations that they almost always fail at.”
“Since this is a fictional world, I wanted to delve into the history of Mirasis and how there were these entertainers known for thieir singing, dancing, poetry and performances. Team Rocket is known to dress up and disguise themselves often, so my idea was to present them as entertainers who can easily switch up their costumes whenever they want! And ofcourse Meowth goes wherever they go.”
About The Artist
“Umair Najeeb Khan is an illustrator, comic artist, and writer from Pakistan. He enjoys creating scenes that evoke emotions, exploration of cultures, and slice-of-life. His favorite projects to work on involve stories around family, fantastical settings, or superheroes.
Umair has illustrated for Bloomsbury, Kids Bolo, PUBG, Killtopia, RestofWorld, BBC, and UNICEF. Beyond writing and illustrating, he also enjoys Jenga, interior design, and experimenting with his (slowly developing) culinary skills. He is currently under a two book deal with Harper Collins for two graphic novels.”
#4 Zelda
Background
"My goal was to reimagine Zelda through a Kerala lens. It was important to me to not only have her be perceived as South Asian, but bring in key details that could have her belong to the Kerala identity. I especially loved being able to bring in the style of Kerala murals."
About The Artist
Nidhi Naroth is a concept artist at Timberline Studio and has worked for various clients including PBS, Harper Collins and Simon &Schuster. In her off time, you will find her being enthusiastic about all things fantasy and folklore.