The aesthetic of Red Dead Redemption has often inspired its community to create tributes and recreations. Through the years players have taken to creating impressive cosplays, making creative clips, and showing off detailed paintings of characters and scenes from the games. One of the latest of these displays of Red Dead Redemption love comes from u/Molassiver.
Red Dead Redemption follows former-outlaw John Marston as he is forced into hunting down his former fellow gang members. The game takes place in a fictionalized version of the American west in the early 20th century and, as such, places players in a world caught between the old west and modernization.
U/Molassiver's post shows off four impressive acrylic paintings of the main character John Marston. These scenes are incredibly detailed and show the protagonist with guns drown in a pair of paintings, holding a cigarette in another, and resting by a tree in the final. Each painting has Marston in easily recognizable clothing and each appear as though it was an official product. The scars on Marston's face match the character design perfectly and the style conveys the character perfectly. Especially notable in the group is the painting with the double barrel shotgun as it replicates the Red Dead Redemption cover image really well.
U/Molassiver mentions that this collection was gathered and shown off because they were moving and needed to pack these great paintings for transport. Acrylic paint is a common material for artists looking to put something on canvas and it worked quite well on the base for these paintings. These specific paintings feature minimal color and likely took u/Molassiver quite some time to complete. The little details within each are proof of that labor but the finished projects are quite impressive.
These paintings are a great reminder of what made Red Dead Redemption so memorable: John Marston. When it comes to single player games, characters are crucial. Players need a reason to care for the story and building likeable characters and an interesting world are part of that necessary equation. And Red Dead Redemption had both in spades as shown by this impressive tribute to Marston.
Of course there will always be those who didn't mesh well with Marston or Red Dead Redemption. Either the setting, the story, or the missions prevented them from finding a connection and so these tributes hit the same way. But regardless of fandom, the quality of these paintings can still be admired and u/Molassiver's works are a great tribute to a classic game.
Red Dead Redemption is available now on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Source: U/Molassiver