Father of them all v1.0

'Scuse me a minute.

...

S'all good now. Bloody HELL this took FOREVER to finish! And I still may (or may not) add things later, but I felt that since i've worked SOOO hard on this and have FINALLY made it presentable, I thought i'd might as well submit it.
I think I started this about... August time, just as a few doodles at first but I really liked how it came out so I decided to scan it and photoshop it. Nearly two months later, and we have a (almost, maybe) finished picture. It's not as increadible as it's sounds (that time taken to do it I mean) cuz, knowing me, I got bored part of the way through and just left it for ages before I though "Oh, what the Hell" and went back to it again

But anyways, enough blabbing about how increadibly slow and lazy I am, you wanna know about the actual pic, right?

I made this as a kind of tribute picture. Nintendo now is pressing on, getting more and more increadible as time goes along, what with the DS and the soon coming Wii, but I felt like doing something to look back on what really shaped Nintendo, what people really love about Nintendo; the characters.
Honistly, I don't know a single person who doesn't know Mario, or who hasn't played a Mario game at some point in their lifetime. Mario is a global icon, he is a legend, everything related to him is legend, people have grown up with Mario, and still love him to this day. But theres someone even more legend than Mario, however so few people give him the credit he deserves. He is the man who MADE Mario. Who CREATED Mario. If it wasn't for this man, Mario would never have even EXISTED.
And he is, of course, Shigeru Miyamoto. (And the tall guy in the middle of the pic).
As well as Mario, i'm sure you'll recongise, Luigi (Mario's brother) Link (from the Legend of Zelda games), Fox (from the Starfox games) and Samus (From the Metroid games), and a few possibly familiar toys lying about.

I decided to make the characters as children, cuz it gives a kind of father (Shigsy Moto) and child sort of feel... what thats what I was going for anyways. Plus the fact that I, for some strange reason, wanted to draw the Ninty characters as kids, even though I don't actually like kids all that much meself, but they look cute don't they ^_^?

I even want as far to imagine how they were all like as kids (and in this kind of "Nursary School" kinda situation).

Mario: As a kid, Mario likes to feel like the leader of the others, and if anything happens to any of them, he feels it's his responsibility to take care of them. Never strays far from any of them, and keeps an expecially close eye on his brother, Luigi. ALWAYS has his beloved Yoshi doll at hand.

Luigi: Unlike Mario, Luigi is less confident, quiet and shy. He relies on Mario to watch over him, and be there for him, and if Mario isn't around, he becomes lonely and scared with no one to turn to. Like all youngsters, he sleeps alot, and if you wake him up from his kip your ears will suffer the consiquences of it.

Link: Kind of a mix of Mario and Luigi, he's not shy, but he's not confident either. He mostly just prefures to keep at the sidelines and watch the others play, or do something on his own, but he will join in now and again. Link hardly ever speaks. He's so quiet it's often not realised he's there. He's a little sweetheart is Link and, like Mario, he'll step in if something happens to the other kids, and quite often he's the one to break up fights between the others.

Fox: Probably the most troublesome member of the group, and the loudest too. His father, James, is his idol, the best dad in the world, and he wants the whole world to know this. Always telling stories of his fathers work, and often acts them out, which is what ends up getting him into trouble. Although all the kids enjoy hearing his stories, Samus is particularly facinated by them. Battling the baddies, saving the Lylat System, the Arwing the Great Fox (mothership) and other cool stuff. And one day, Fox wishes he'll be doing exactly the same, working side by side with his father.

Samus: The girl of the group, however she doesn't act it. I suppose it's ony natural for a girl growing up with a bunch of boys to act more boyish herself. She's facinated with machienary, and anything she can take apart and (try to) put back together again. She can often get quite annoying by shoving what she's found/made into the other kid's faces to show them off. Like I said before, she loves listening to Fox's stories about his dad and the StarFox team, and often get's involved with Fox's games. So she's not the trouble causer, but she's certainly a troube follower.

Coming back to the picture itself. I kinda got into old habits of using the burn and dodge tools, however I think it looks alright for the most part. I'm still trying to find a more suitable colouring style for myself so any tips are appreciated, thanks.
The background was VERY quick. I just wanted something to add on since it would be a shame to work so hard on the characters only to leave them on a boring, white background (like I normally do). I may fix up the background at a later date, but it looks ok for now.

Ok I think i've written enough.
Comments and CONSTRUCTIVE critism accepted!!

All characters belong to Nintendo/Shigeru Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto is himself

NO STEALING!!!

~*Vixen*~