Buy John Sweeney’s art print and support Shenmue 3’s Kickstarter
Dutch firm Cook & Becker specialises in art prints inspired by games, many of them classic games.
But its latest, created by Naughty Dog concept artist John Sweeney, is a bit unusual: John will be donating his royalties for any copies purchased before 17 July to the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter.
According to John, a huge fan of Sega’s original 1999 action-adventure game, “I wanted to capture the moment just after Ryo’s father Iwao is killed by Lan Di.”
“In the game the scene stops with Ryo cradling Iwao and screaming ‘No!’. I wanted to imagine a shot where Ryo is standing just outside the dojo where his father was just killed. It is cold and very early in the morning. Snow is falling. The morning light is still weak and only some of the wood interior is catching light from the outside. Ryo’s pose already hints at him seeking revenge.”
You can see the full image in John’s ArtStation gallery, and a sped-up timelapse of the making of the image below. (Fun fact: the model for Ryo is fellow Naughty Dog concept artist Nick Gindraux.)
The image is available as a 41 x 80cm Giclee print, in a limited edition of 100, or a 62 x 120cm print in a limited edition of 8. Prices start at £70 (around $110) plus tax, depending on framing.
At the time of posting, the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter, which also runs until 17 July and has a funding goal of $2 million, had already raised more than double its target.
Check out John Sweeney’s Shenmue art print on Cook & Becker’s website
