I drew this originally for Miiverse, which was an online social network created by Nintendo for it's Wii U console. Wii U owners (and later on 3DS owners also) were able to post screenshots of the games they were playing there, along with comments. These comments could be either typed out or hand drawn with the gamepad stylus as low-res black and white 320x120px images. While most of the hand-drawn comments were quick sketches or just a few words scrawled out, there were also users who went out of their way to create detailed, lovingly-drawn pixel-art. Later on the Wii U got a number of art apps as well, which made it possible to post color drawings there. And so, while Miiverse was intended to be a gaming network, it also attracted a thriving art community. As on any creative platform, there were art trades, contests, and tutorials, and in its heyday there were dozens of great new posts every day.
When I first heard of Miiverse I had almost zero interest in it. I figured it would just be a Nintendo themed version of Twitter. The first time I logged in however I was blown away by all the awesome pixel art! Eventually I started drawing my own cartoons and was pleasantly surprised by how supportive and encouraging the other artists there were. Soon I was particpating in the contests and events and I ended up learning a lot about drawing and having a ton of fun. I met some friends there who I stay in touch with to this day.
Miiverse had a lot of problems as well, from overbearing admins who deleted posts and handed down bans left and right, to trolls who seemed to make it their full time job to cause trouble there, to a horrible redesign of the service that crippled much of its functionality. Despite all of that, the art community was always awesome, and I enjoyed the service from the first time I logged on until Nintendo shut it down for good on November 7, 2017. Miiverse was a weird, hilarious, wonderful place, full of creative energy and crazy fun. And though the Wii U was a commercial failure, I'll always love that console, largely because of Miiverse, its art community, and the cool, creative people I met there.
Every Monday I'm going to post one of my MV draws here. I try to post mostly new content to Steemit, but given how few people there were on Miiverse these should be new to almost everyone. :)
RIP Miiverse. I miss you.
And long live Steemit! :D
