Another idea poached from the pages of Famitsu were the comment box characters of the staff writers. Famitsu review section had its own little drawings of the four main writers and everyone agreed it was the best approach for the Mean Machines reviews. Not only did we miniaturise the staff we took on the super deformed Japanese style with the tiny bodies and massive heads. Sketching countless variations of characters was easy to cope with especially as a lot of the drawings were generic figures that could be reused again and again. It was not so easy when new staff joined the magazine and a brand new set of character drawings had to be made. I got so lazy near the end that I just drew the heads and stuck them on the old bodies.
3 comments:
These little avatars added real character to Mean Machines reviews. There was usually a lot of variety depending on the game genre such as Jaz made up like a tetris tile or axe wielding warrior. It helped give the reviewers more human in my mind.
Which was quite a feat as far as Richard was concerned as he was more mutant than human. Still, I prettied him up in the drawings... :)
The fact that Gazza took time out to draw manga versions of me and Dazza for the Mean Machines Archive fills me with joy whenever I think about it!
Those little avatars were one of the key 'hooks' of MM; they really added character to the mag. Most other publications at the time were too keen on keeping their staff behind closed doors. MM really brought their writers to the forefront, and everyone else copied it!
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