Clay Models in Video Game Promo Art

Clay models in video game promo art. I love this stuff. Isn’t it great?

It’s honestly pretty silly looking back that you have these simplistic 8-bit or 16-bit graphics, and the way you think you can accurately represent that in marketing is by making some clay models of the characters. It’s surely expensive enough that 2D art, or even live-action actors, surely would have been a more sensible option.

But all these years later, and I look at the clay promo art for video games as some of the coolest stuff ever. Just look at all of this:

Retro game promo art

Magazine promo art too

Nintendo Power was the best.

There’s a few games that use a claymation art style as their entire gimmick, and I respect those immensely, but there’s something about video games using completely different styles in their promotional art than what you find in the game itself that makes me love it.

You don’t see it very often, but there are two in-development indie games that have some clay model promo artwork– Burrito Galaxy, a weirdo Gamecube era-esque first-person adventure game by Mushbuh, and Otosan, an Earthbound throwback RPG. Check both of those out when you get the chance.

Retro game commercials and clay models

In the age before CGI, video game companies even used to do it for their commercials:

I’m a sucker for neat art and interesting art styles, and this is the kind of stuff that really grabs me; it always has even since I was a kid. I’ll probably end up doing a few more blog posts like these about the really cool types of promo art that companies do or have done to boost their pop culture products. Sometimes the promotional material itself is high art!

Do you like clay models in video game promo art? Are there any other aesthetics you enjoy seeing? Sound off in the comments. And speaking of video games with lots of clay art… I also love Earthbound merchandise…