Raf tells Nerdist that he started the art series after picking up a Nintendo Switch and playing with his son. “I grew up with those characters and just seeing them together for me on the Smash series has always been super inspiring as an artist,” he says. “Recently I bought a Switch, and because of that my son started to get into the Nintendo characters. For me, that is a dream come true, and I started creating them to show him that I do those things for a living.
“His passion now to see them come to life is driving me to keep doing them. The feedback from the fans have been amazing, so I’m super grateful that I can keep doing them and share a little bit of a different twist to what have been done before.”
He’s posting each portrait on his Instagram account, and he often includes in-process images as well to give you an idea of how the character is created. Raf’s “Smash Bros. Remastered” series started with Samus at the beginning of January.
Raf is a master at combining realism with the personality of the character so that there’s no mistaking which game they’re from. His take on Link, for example, shows a more adult character than we’re used to, but is unmistakably the hero of Breath of the Wild.
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His version of Sonic the Hedgehog, one of his own beloved characters, is almost fantastic enough to wipe out the memory of the sneak peek movie poster. Almost.
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Here are just a few more of our favorites from Raf’s Super Smash Bros. series. Follow him on Instagram to catch each new challenger as they enter the battle!
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Who’s your favorite Nintendo character? Tell us in the comments.
Featured Image: Nintendo
