public place. But every once in awhile you’ll find someone who says ‘fuck it, yeah, look at me’. That’s where Wario and Tingle come in, because they’re wacky and it would be incorrect to draw them mortified at being naked. Just based of who they are.’
This is showing that nudity doesn’t have to be sexual. It’s just natural.
Roberts, who studied illustration at the Pratt Institute, shies away from fan art. ‘It’s a satirical series meant specifically as a commentary on our view of nudity. I know it looks goofy, it looks silly, it’s irreverent, and above all else it’s an homage to my love of the Nintendo intellectual property.’ When pressed to name his favorite Nintendo character from his childhood, Link from Legend of Zelda is an obvious choice given his love of fantasy. ‘I’m actually far more of a fantasy freak and a science fiction freak. Legend of Zelda was a beautiful fantasy driven, medieval kind of game that had magic and wizards. Mario did have that, but Mario’s world was like an acid trip, and as a kid it was fun, it was cute, it was cartoony. But even from a young age I preferred narratives better. And while Legend of Zelda is not the most in depth story, it always had a narrative.’
When he began the project he sort to do more than simply draw Mario. ‘I started doodling and I thought maybe I can draw Mario under my own lens and see where that takes me. And so I started drawing and I drew
him naked to get the proportions. And as I’m doing it and my boyfriend Jon saw me and said ‘That looks hilarious, do something with that.’ I tried to figure out what would I do with it.’
European animators and graphic novelists heavily influence Aedan’s style. This series strayed from his long, detail-oriented compositions focusing on the importance of line work. ‘Nüdtendo was created specifically to be what I would do with a cartoonish style. The challenge I gave myself was to use all these disparate characters that come from very different and distinct series’ and try to make them a unique universal style. Try to make them all speak the same language. So I actually had to make a style specific for this series that’s not my typical drawing style.’