Swing your arms from side to side...

...c'mon it's time to go do the Mario!

Oh hey there, whatcha doooin'?

Anywho, I just painted the brothers Mario for PaletteSwap!

Here's the uncropped version of the painting.

While painting this illustration, I was thinking a lot about what it would be like for two Brooklyn-based, Italian plumbers to get transported into the Mushroom Kingdom. These two guys (brothers) know nothing of the crazy, upside down world they've just found themselves in. There's evil mushrooms, dragons that fly in mechanical clown heads, and mutant fire-spitting plants- and the only thing to make it any better is all the gold lying (or floating) around. But there's no store to buy stuff, so you can't do anything with it! You just get to try again if you happen to fall into a bottomless pit. Yay you!

So in terms of the Mario brothers' posture, there's a bit of irritation and unhappiness there. I figure that my brothers and I would probably be pretty irritated with our new home rather than go around joyfully stomping the life out of evil mushroom people.

It's been a while since I made a painting for PaletteSwap (here is a link to my old PSwaps). This time I wanted to go for a classic! Super Mario World was and continues to be one of my favorite SNES games. I love so much about it: the explorable, ever changing world map, the secret ways of beating levels, the art and the adventure. I remember playing it with my own brothers and just poring over different ways of beating the levels...I played it consistently years later with my (now) wife. It's a go-to classic and I can't wait to play it with my kids. Although their built-in cranial micro processors may not be backwards compatible. Gaaahh technology...FOILING MY PLANS AGAIN!!

Ahem, sorry about that. Here's my PaletteSwap:

I found a really nice, clean, high resolution image of the original SNES box sold in the states and mussed it up a little with the powers of Photoshop to give it an older feel. Enjoy!

Super Mario was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka

Super Mario Bros. and all related material is copyright Nintendo

Brothers don’t shake hands, brothers hug.

I have two brothers. One older, one younger. None of us have the ability to shoot fireballs, fly, turn into statues, frogs, raccoons, jump over lava pits that are ten times as long as we are tall. I know two brothers who do have those abilities and more. You may think that those abilities would make these two guys an inseparable team that could work through any issues, but I say nay. Nay I say!

The Mario brothers were two skilled tradesman who were mystically transported to the Mushroom Kingdom just to be inundated with trials and tribulations of an unearthly degree all in an attempt to save a princess they had just met. We can assume they were benevolent guys since there is never any mention of a reward for saving said princess. That makes me think the the princess became the reward for both brothers. There is an instant set up for sibling rivalry.

If you notice, the brothers are rarely shown on screen at the same time without being pitted against each other. I can say for myself that playing Super Mario 3 with my older brother was a lesson in pain. Every time I passed by one of the levels he had beaten, he would initiate the Mario Bros. mini game and steal my lives and inventory items. A worse frustration was never known. Controllers were wielded like nunchucks, brotherly beatings happened-usually quietly so our mom didn’t make us stop playing. Craziness. I’m sure I did something equally as irritating to my younger brother through a later Mario game. My point is that the Mario brothers breed rivalry even if it is funny at times.
So I decided to paint these guys locked in a forever stare that lends us some insight to their family dynamics. Things were simpler when all they had to do was snake drains and unclog toilets.

I am currently offering these two 3D wall paintings on my Etsy! Luigi measures at about 9.25″x6.25″ while Mario is approximately 8″x7″. These guys would look great up on either side of a wall, on separate ends of a bookshelf, over a TV, etc.

These guys sold super quick but if you're interested in a custom order please contact me via my contact button above or via my Etsy shop!