I like to strive a brand new artful pastime every time I can, particularly since it has been confirmed that my capacity to create artwork with pen and paper is null. I’ve dabbled in hand-embroidery, cross sew, and now crochet to various ranges of success.
But there’s one format I’m a lot too intimidated to strive: ceramics and pottery. I simply know the second I’ve to regulate a spinning wheel and a lump of clay all the things will go improper. Not to say then having to fireside, paint, and glaze no matter I’ve created.
Character Select
Welcome to Character Select, a weekly column the place PC Gamer takes a have a look at the artwork and cosplay created by you. Each week, I’ll spotlight a couple of of my favorite items, highlight and interview creators and artists, or typically simply chew your ear off concerning the skills of the gaming neighborhood.
It’s a shame really, as everyone loves a good mug (I refuse to believe people without an extensive mug collection exist). That’s why ceramic and pottery artists like MadebyLottie are so important—after all, where would we be without our collections of quirky mugs? So if you’re like me and you’re looking for the next best thing to spice up your morning coffee, then one of these gaming-related mugs in particular is bound to do the trick.
I first saw MadebyLottie on Tiktok, where a collection of Katamari-themed mugs were on show, and I instantly knew that I had to own one. Katamari merch feels hard enough to come by as it is, let alone something as adorably handmade as a mug of the Prince we all know and love. But, when I then found MadebyLottie on Instagram, I realised that it wasn’t simply mugs on provide, and it actually wasn’t simply Katamari.
In reality, MadebyLottie has created ceramics for all sorts of games, together with Club Penguin, Dragon Quest, The Sims, and Animal Crossing. These objects span from kitchenware like mugs and bowls to extra distinctive palm-sized “trinkets” and collectible figurines.
One factor that impressed me from a fast scroll was a singular set of Animal Crossing Gyroids, which appear to be they’d been plucked straight from an island getaway. When you assume that each one of those little masterpieces began as a single hunk of clay, you develop a newfound appreciation for a way they have been dropped at life.
What stands out most although is how particular person each single piece feels, a minimum of from the images. As a lot as I like gathering issues like pins, prints, and badges, you understand that each different one that buys one will find yourself with the very same factor. With ceramics, you may inform that no two items are the identical, which suggests you’re the proprietor of a singular piece of artwork. That’s fairly cool, if you concentrate on it, and makes my internal magpie shriek with pleasure.
And it actually works for the characters that MadebyLottie is creating. The gyroids in Animal Crossing are discovered underground, so they are not meant to be excellent, and the slimes from Dragon Quest being all totally different (but nonetheless sustaining that iconic blobby look) makes canonical sense. I by no means would’ve made the connection between online game characters and dealing with clay, nevertheless it actually works and I’m glad somebody did.
One of the posts that actually made this individuality between items significantly apparent was an image of a bowl of ceramic cousin trinkets from the Katamari collection. The whole bowl is full of totally different styles and sizes of cousins, very like the Katamari video games themselves, every with distinctive painted expressions and particulars. I’m the sort of individual that fairly rapidly will get connected to little issues like this, so it is most likely job I have never ended up on the identical occasion as these little fellas in concern of bankrupting myself.
From wonderful mugs to little pocket-sized characters, there’s rather a lot to like concerning the ceramic work from MadebyLottie, and it is clear fairly a couple of folks know that given how difficult it’s to get ahold of 1 outdoors of occasions. I can not say I’ll ever be daring sufficient to strive ceramics for myself, regardless of being considerably impressed to take action, however generally with issues like this you simply should admire from afar.