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Ukiyo-e is a Japanese art style focusing on entertainment, pleasure, and landscape scenes. The brilliant artists at Ukiyo-e Heroes mixed their love of this beautiful style with iconic video game protagonists, creating action-packed sequences with a whimsical, floating feel.
Prints start at $40 and go all the way up to $135 depending on the size you want. That might sound steep, but these images are actually made in the traditional way, meaning they are laboriously carved into wooden blocks before transferred to paper.
Jed Henry and David Bull, the founders of Ukiyo-e Heroes, hope that these gaming-inspired works will inspire younger artists to pick up woodblock printing. The pair have already hired several traditional artists to help train apprentices in this style.
So, the high price seems fair when you consider that buying one helps keep a beautiful art form alive. I love the Metroid-inspired image above, but Ukiyo-e Heroes have also done prints of Star Fox, Pokémon, and Donkey Kong. You can find the full collection here.