Doctor Octoroc

Unless you were an Arts and Crafts kid, the names Perler and Hama may mean nothing to you. Believe it or not, there are entire communities of young adults that use these fuse beads to re-create sprites from video games. I happen to be one of them.

So, what is a Bead Sprite? Let’s break it down:

• Bead [beed] - the particular beads used for this art form are made of soft plastic, around 1/5″ in diameter with a hole through the center, and a relatively low heat tolerance, for the purpose of being ironed, melted, and fused together with their adjacent kin. These beads are generally manufactured by Perler or Hama company, the only difference between the two being their color selection and a fraction variation in diameter.
• Sprite [sprahyt] - a two dimensional, pre-rendered image, generally one of a sequence used in animation, as pertaining to interactive games, best known on home video game consoles, such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. These images are generally low resolution (8 or 16 bits) and limited in color, being made of clearly visible pixels (units of display in all computer or digitally generated images).

So, put the two together, and you have a real-life interpretation/representation of your favorite video game character, pixel-by-pixel. I like to take it a bit further however, and prefer to draw up some of my own pixel art to re-create with the beads.

The above custom Bead Sprite was a pixel-by-pixel drawn image I did, based on a redesign of the character “Samus Aran” from the Nintendo series Metroid by a very talented artist on DeviantART, Torokun.

Below is an example of a more literal Bead Sprite, based on actual in-game sprites from Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo.

Between these three pieces, there are roughly 14,000 beads. This Bead Sprite trio will eventually be mounted on a printed background and framed.

Another method I have for re-creating larger sprites, rather than ironing one large piece at once, is creating seperate pieces from the same character and layering them on top of foam core. This works well for robot characters, like Gutsdozer from Mega Man 2.

Having layers also gives the piece a 3-D effect, sort of like a pop-up book. It naturally adds depth so the piece can be free-standing, as I have the giant robot treading by radiator at the moment.

My favorite pieces, however, are full 3-D pieces I make by created multiple “faces” that interlock much like those foam Puzz 3-D puzzles. These Gameboy Colors are a great example of a 3-D Bead Sprite piece.

Usually, the edges are interlocking like teeth, every other bead missing from the adjacent edge so they fit together right. Sometimes, like with the cartridges in the back of these Gameboy Colors, I left out an entire section on the top-back edge for the solid cartridge piece to fit through, to simulate the cartridge actually being fit into the slot. Also, the screens picture Tetris, and the Purple one glows in the dark!

As you can see, I keep pretty busy with making these, and they are as fun to make as they are to look at. For being a kid’s craft material, they sure do pack a nostalgic punch!

I’ll Leave you with a few more images of my creations, then I encourage you to check out the links below!

More on bead sprites at my forum, Pixelgasm!

Also, be sure to check out my Bead Sprites Lense on Squidoo!

Posts About Bead Sprites

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• Pixelgasm: VG Insipred Art Forum
• 1.21 Gigawatts!
• Yet Another Bead Sprite Challenge
• Blaster Master: S.O.P.H.I.A. 3-D Bead Sprite
• A New Challenge at The Beadsprites Forum
• 3-D Bead Sprite X-Wing Work In Progress
• The Dukes of Hazzard: The General Lee in Bead Sprites
• A-Team Tribute Made With Bead Sprites
• Bead Sprites Forum Unleashes Challenges
• Shady Bead Sprites Sales Through Blogger?

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