We were lucky to catch up with Alexander Uithoven recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Alexander thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

A 3 year old Alex once sat in front of a 1980’s tube TV playing Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo Entertainment System, or more commonly abbreviated as the NES. My parents tell stories of how I would spend hours and hours huddled in front of the TV, basked in glowing light, playing Mario until I was finally able to beat Bowser and save the princess.

And though I can’t specifically remember beating Mario all those years ago, I CAN recall the first game I have vivid memories of playing. A game that is most likely responsible for my life long obsession with video games and art:

DOOM

At just 6 years old I was introduced to the most influential piece of art that I would ever be exposed to.

DOOM was mind blowing.

The game was fast and violent. The music was heavy and loud.

But the most impressive aspect was the art.

Unlike Mario and all the Nintendo games I had been playing, DOOM was gritty and realistic. The gun models looked like actual guns. The monsters were grotesque and demonic. There was a visceral feeling of actually being in this world and fighting for your life against the denizens of hell. That sense of immersion was something I hadn’t experienced before in playing other games, and it captivated me.

Ever since that day, I had a spark light up inside my mind. The flame of imagination and curiosity that drove me to want to do this myself some day. To create games. To create art. I wanted to make someone else feel that awe and inspiration like they had done for me. DOOM and the people who created it became the first real sense of a “Muse” for me.

And I believe my exposure to it and other games at such an early age had a massive effect on my imagination and my ability to be creative. Without such fantastic and immersive experiences, I don’t think I would be the artist and creative person I am today.

So Id Software, ( the 1990’s crew), you have my undying gratitude for inspiring me with DOOM.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have always had this innate feeling for the need to create, and at the age of three years old I was introduced to the thing that would fuel my creativity and imagination for the rest of my life:

Video Games.

Throughout my childhood, teenage years, and into my 20’s video games were an ever present force. I would spend countless hours brainstorming new game mechanics and drawing levels and characters for games that I loved, never thinking that it would lead to anything but a fun hobby.

But then, my brother and I saw a movie that changed everything. In a tiny film bar in Phoenix, Arizona, we sat down with a beer in hand, and watched Indie Game: The Movie, a documentary about independent game developers. The film followed several programmers and artists on their journey to releasing their first major project. Seeing people follow their dreams and turn their hobbies into something tangible was fascinating and inspiring. It filled me with the confidence that I, too, could follow this path, and one artist featured in the film particularly, Edmund McMillen, would become my muse and inspiration to delve into the world of game development.

So in 2012, I quit my job, joined forces with my brother Kyle, and created AbstrAKT Games.

Under AbstrAKT Games, Kyle and I would start the long and difficult road to becoming game developers. I had to learn how to draw digitally with a tablet on PC, and Kyle would learn programming languages used for game development. We began by creating simple flash games that we would upload to gaming websites like newgrounds.com. Then we intrenched ourselves into the local indie game scene, where we would start participating in game jams ( events where you have to create a playable game in 48 hours ). As our skills increased, we found traction. People would begin to recognize us. Our games became more complex and the art ( I have to admit ) started to look more professional.

We began to win local awards at UAT ( The University of Advancing Technology ) for art and design, and this gave us the confidence to join our first world wide game jam: The Indie Speed Run.

For the contest, we designed and created a game called “Protein Pirates” – in which you played the role of cute little parasites stealing protein from a host. It was the best of our combined efforts up to this point, and was fully playable and beatable. A true testament of our dedication to learning this new profession.

Proud of our accomplishment, but not expecting anything, we went to bed exhausted from our efforts. A few days later – I woke up early in the morning and saw the news.

We won. We won first place in a World-Wide Game Jam. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I woke Kyle up and we celebrated the news. Along with a lofty prize, we were also invited to go to GDC ( the Game Developers Conference ) in San Francisco. We made the long drive and met people who we had looked up to in the industry. We were invited to dinners and parties. It felt like we had really made it, like we were living the dream of those people we were inspired by in Indie Game: The Movie. But, sometimes things do not go as planned.

In the coming years we eventually stopped working together, and I took my try at developing a game solely on my own. I learned how to program and began working on “Deathly”, a platformer that I had designed. I made decent progress, and I even showed a demo of the game off at Phoenix Fan Fusion ( back when it was still Comic Con ), but I couldn’t outrun the eventual depletion of my finances. So, back to the working world I went.

During the next few years Kyle and I would reconnect and work on a few more projects together, including GRIEVOUS, another game jam game that I am most proud of. I also began working on chapter art for the book series “Adventures of Charlie: A Sixth Grade Gamer ” for a long time friend and colleague Chris Goettl. I was bouncing between the professional world of IT, and doing art contracts as they came. Always dipping my toes back into the creative world, but never fully, truly, committing.

That was until in 2021, when my father passed away from Leukemia. I was by his side for the last 6 months of his life, and it changed my view on the world tremendously. He was only 58 years old. An age that I am, it feels, quickly to approach in the grand scheme of things. I realized that anyone, at any point, can have an expiration tag quickly put upon them, and that it may come on so suddenly that all the things you wished you had accomplished fall behind an opaque veil of hospitals and treatments. I had to dive head first into what I really wanted to do, and be: An Artist, and creator.

In 2022, I opened my own art shop – Alex Uithoven Art. I dove head first into creating as much as I could: Coloring Books, stickers, prints, and game development. Today I am running my store on Etsy ( AlexUithovenArtShop ) and selling art at local events here in Arizona. I also sell coloring books on Amazon and spend my days working on game projects. (Luckily with Kyle again!)

It has been a journey of ups and downs but I have finally reached a point where I am grateful to do what I love every day. It is the greatest feeling in the world when someone picks up something you have designed and you can see joy in their reaction. Drawing, creating, and using your imagination to bring delight to others is a gift.

If you are a fan of the creepy or the macabre, then my art might be for you! I only hope it brings you joy.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the ability to communicate through a creative medium. I am not the most social person, and there are things I feel internally that are not always expressed externally. Art helps me do that. When I create a game, or draw a character, or a design, it always has some piece of ME in it. Maybe it was how I was feeling that day, or an idea that I can’t let go of. Whatever it might be, it becomes part of the conversation I have with whoever consumes it. This isn’t direct communication, but it is present whenever someone has a reaction to any of my work, and that feels real.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

This is a question I get A LOT because my art is mainly digital.

The idea behind NFTs makes sense if you look at it from a physical art perspective.

Take the Mona Lisa ( probably the most overused example ). There is only one real, original Mona Lisa painting. It is easy to verify if the painting is real, and if it is owned by someone. Which gives it value and rarity. Physical items have these inherent qualities because they are tangible.

Which is what I believe NFTs are trying to impart on digital art. Where you can guarantee ownership and authenticity of a digital product through validation on a block chain.

But the problem is that the item you “own” isn’t technically real. Not real in the sense that it is tangible. It is just data that can be reproduced indefinitely and spread to whoever. So who really cares if you own the “authentic” version of the image when I have the same one for free?

My art is mainly digital, but I never sell the digital files of the artwork, I always turn it into a physical medium so that it is tangible and real.

I see where they were going with NFTs – I just don’t think there is any value there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://alexuithovenartshop.etsy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alex.uithoven.art/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbstraktGames/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MostlyJustAlex
• Other: Coloring Books – https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BC85ZV94/allbooks?ingress

Image Credits

Just me :)