We love retro Konami art, especially when presented in such ingenious ways as these papercraft dioramas by Mark Patraw. We first stumbled upon his work on DeviantArt, with three Konami-themed pieces in particular catching our eye; replicas of actual screens from Game Boy titles Castlevania: The Adventure, Nemesis (aka Gradius) and Operation C (aka Contra or Probotector) – all made simply out of printed paper.

We asked Mark a few questions about his work – check out what he said below (N.B. these questions were asked before Mark showed us his most recent Operation C diorama!).

Questions to Mark Patraw

We can see from your profile that you’ve made a lot of artwork, particularly models. But are these Konami pieces the first time you’ve made papercraft dioramas? What’s the most challenging part about making them?

“I’ve made some other papier mache dioramas/playsets in the past, but these are the first ones that I’ve done that incorporate actual game graphics. I’ve seen photos of other artists’ sprite-based papercraft dioramas and figures over the years, which I’ve enjoyed, and felt that it was finally time to give it a go myself.

Different environments pose their own design challenges, but, in the most general sense:

Paper and cardboard love to warp/twist when they absorb moisture from the glue you apply, so that can often be problematic (obviously, you can stick a flat piece between two heavy books until it dries, but, that’s not always feasible/practical with hollow, 3-dimensional pieces). As such, getting perfectly straight/symmetrical objects isn’t always possible, which can be frustrating.

I like miniatures, so my dioramas are pretty small (I just double the resolution of everything on the original Gameboy’s little screen, so, a sixteen-pixel tall game sprite is thirty-two pixels tall in my diorama). Itty-bitty things can be difficult to manipulate, cut, fold, etc., and getting down on your hands and knees to search the carpet for the tiny component that you just dropped is never fun.”

What made you choose Nemesis and Castlevania: The Adventure as subjects for the dioramas? Are you a fan of the two series?

“As far as selecting the Gameboy platform itself, I’m a bit of a miser, so, I’m too cheap to pay for full-color printouts (I don’t have a computer printer at home), which is why I’ve been focusing on black and white video games. I can literally make ten black-and-white dioramas for the same price as one color one. The original Gameboy, with its gray-scale graphics, was the first Nintendo gaming console I ever owned (I didn’t get a NES and SNES until later), so, that portable gaming unit also has strong nostalgic value for me.

Castlevania is one of my favorite game series of all time (I love the gothic theme and the wide variety of monsters pulled from horror films/books and the world’s various mythologies/religions), and, likewise, I regard Gradius/Nemesis, as one of, if not the, best space shoot-em-ups (shmups) franchises. The Gameboy Castlevania: The Adventure and Nemesis cartridges were actually the first games in their respective series that I ever owned (and I still have them after all this time too–it’s hard to believe that it’s really been twenty+ years since they were first released). I’ve been a gamer/collector for a long time, so, I own dozens of Konami’s game cartridges and CDs/DVDs, across multiple consoles/platforms. In addition to Castlevania and Gradius/Parodius, I also enjoy Konami’s Contra (Probotector on your side of the pond), Silent Hill, Tokimeki Memorial (a dating simulator series that never left Japan), and their old arcade/console Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games.”

Do you have any advice for other people interested in making their own papercraft diorama?

“The papercraft diorama is an inexpensive art form that’s accessible to individuals of almost any age and skill level. With the most basic kind of design, you can just do a simple, two-layer arrangement of a background with some flat figures positioned in front of it, and, at the most advanced level, you can make everything in your diorama completely 3-dimensional. Mine tend to fall in the middle of those two extremes (I like to do 3D architecture and objects, but usually leave the sprites/characters flat). Some artists get really fancy and build their dioramas inside professional-looking wood-and-glass frames/cases and even include electric lighting–the end result is truly fit for hanging on a museum wall!

Sometimes it’s tricky to think of the stuff that you see on the game screen in three dimensions (for example: you may only see the front of a box from the player’s viewpoint, but, if you want to make that same object in its entirety in your display, than it has to have a top, bottom, back, and sides too), so, at the very beginning of the process, I find it very helpful to do a quick, isometric sketch of what I think the diorama will look like. Oftentimes, I’ll notice potential problem areas at that stage and can correct for them when I’m editing and laying out the game’s graphics on the sheet that I’ll eventually print out.

Given the 2D nature of many older video games, the sprite/tile artists often had to force/fake perspective to convey depth (angling floors, walls, etc.) As such, you’ll have to compensate for that when converting things into 3-dimensional structures in your diorama. I don’t do it, but some diorama artists go so far as to replicate the game’s slanted visuals (for example, making the floors, walls, ceilings, etc. at the same angle represented on the game screen), which is also an approach you can try.

I rip/edit all of mine, but, if you don’t know how to work with, or manipulate, game sprites, then there are numerous sprite archives on the internet where you will likely be able to find the graphics that you’re after. Likewise, if you ask nicely, many sprite rippers, will help you out if you have a specific request for a particular background or character that you need. Papercraft artists also frequently share their templates/patterns for 3-dimensional objects. Let’s say you wanted to make a papercraft chair, and had no idea how to lay out the geometry yourself, again, with a bit of searching, you should be able to find something online that you could use.

The old adage, “Measure twice, cut once” definitely applies. If your measurements are wrong/off, you will have serious problems, particularly when it comes time to fold up your hollow, 3-dimensional structures. You’ll save yourself a lot of grief, and frustration, if you get into the habit of double-checking your measurements. And always score the lines of your paper/cardboard folds, as they’ll bend into their proper configurations much easier if you do so.

If your papercraft diorama/figure requires printing out multiple sheets of paper, make absolutely sure that you’re printing them all at the same size/scale relative to one another; otherwise your pieces won’t match up when it comes times to assemble and glue them together. For example, some programs have the option to automatically stretch/contract an image to fit the sheet of paper when printing, and you don’t want that, because it will distort the dimensions.

For your younger readers: metal/wood working, drafting (making/designing blueprints), math (geometry in particular), and digital art/modeling are the classes/disciplines that have given me most of the skills that I employ when making papercraft dioramas, so, study accordingly if you’d like to follow my example.”