Old video games may not have the life-like graphics we see on modern consoles, but as one fan discovered, they can make for some fun home decor.
Japanese Twitter user Jenihara (@rurue0111) has created screens depicting pixelated (or bitmapped) characters from Nintendo and Sega games. Jenihara painted the characters from Final Fantasy onto a screen door lining the balcony of her apartment.
In Japan, many apartments have balconies for residents to hang their laundry, hidden behind large wall screens. On the other side of the wall screen is a mesh screen door that can let air into the apartment.
By using stained glass ink and a toothpick, Jenihara created a mural in the mesh screen’s holes. With this method, she painted the small, pixelated characters from the 1990 game “Final Fantasy III” and 1986 shooter game “Fantasy Zone.”
The famous characters were originally developed with a process known as bitmapping, using squares of color known as pixels to form their images. The original Nintendo Entertainment System had a resolution of 256 by 240 pixels, making character designs fairly simplistic.
Home screens can be used for a variety of purposes. Like Jenihara’s work, they can make excellent pieces of art to hang on a wall, and design experts also agree that folding screens in a home can serve a variety of functions, such as a hanging headboard or a clever way to hide clutter.
And using a screen isn’t the only way to decorate with bitmapped characters. Perler fuse beads, which are ironed together to create designs are great way to show love for nostalgic video game and cartoon characters, too, and tutorials are easy to find online.
