Greetings followers of the NERD,
I have a wonderful interview with an artist who designs those little pixel figures we know and love. I first discovered his art via Deviantart when I was looking at some Walking Dead pixels. When I saw the quality of his work, I knew I had to interview him. So without further hesitation, I present unto you my interview with the great artist simply known as alexmicroheroes.
SWN: Who are you and where are you from?
Micro: I’m a creator of little pixel characters, and I hail from the land of Canada
SWN: I just love your Micro Heroes, what made you use this form of art to express yourself?
Micro: I just always found sprites and pixel art in general enjoyable, and when I stumbled upon this form it just clicked. Basically just a fun simple way to draw on the computer (I draw a lot IRL). Also a really good way to show off original creations and re-designed characters
SWN: When did you discover Micro Heroes?
Micro: At this point I think it was 10 years ago, at least. A random google image search landed me at an archive of these lil guys called Ze Ball Breaker Micro-Heros Site (awesome name). Though it hasn’t been updated in ages I still love that site, great classic micros there.
From there I joined the message board that archive linked to, Microheroes International Board. Met a lot of great people there and got to enjoy the works of some seriously talented people. I’ve been part of a bunch of other great boards (shout out to Microstop) but that one has been the most constant.
SWN: What is the process of making a Micro Hero?
Micro: Micros are, for the most part, built off a base body temp. There are tons of body temps available for free use. I use my own personal one to keep things a little more my style. From here you can customize the face as much as you want, use additional templates for clothes/hair/etc.
I find it more fun to just create the clothes and hair from scratch on each micro. With some of my larger works however, all body temps just go out the window and its basically from scratch.
SWN: What advice would you give to someone interested in starting to make Micro Heroes
Micro: I would say start simple. Learn the basics on the more classic temps which usually consist of 3 shades. Asking for CC will help you improve exponentially. Also, if you do use someone else’s parts, be sure to ask and credit them! Micro-makers are good at spotting stolen parts lol
SWN: One of my favorite Micros that you have done is Soundwave from the Transformers. What made Soundwave one of the Decepticons that you wanted to immortalize in your form of art?
Micro: Who doesn’t love Soundwave? Transformers was a huge part of my childhood and I always liked Soundwave in particular cuz he had a cool voice and his own fleet of smaller bots.
SWN: I love your Walking Dead series as well. What characters can we expect in the future?
Mico: Probably a new set of Rick micros based on season 4-5, I love that he now wears the jacket he has in the comics. Abraham and Michonne are also a definate possibility. I didn’t love the way the Governor was handled in the show but I wouldn’t rule him out.
SWN: Where can my readers see your art?
Micro: I’ve been slowly adding all my stuff to DA alexmicroheroes.deviantart.com, but pretty much everything I’ve ever posted can be found in my galleries here at microheroes.virtuaboard.com
SWN: What is your favorite project that you have done?
Micro: In terms of individual micros I’m really proud of how my Diablo micro turned out, same with Gipsy Danger.
My favourite series I’ve done was a series of micros called MIB: Warzone, on the message board I listed in question 3. I basically took OC’s from several people and re-designed them to a WW3/post-apocalyptic world. Another fun redesign project I did was turning people’s characters into Mechs.
SWN: What are your plans for the future?
Micro: Just gonna keep on keepin’ on. I go through phases in the year where I don’t micro as much, but I hope to soon get another big project going like my Gipsy Danger or Galactus.
