Sean Hicks

Artist

Sean Hicks, also known as "Star" or "Starpower", is a character concept artist, visual development artist, illustrator, and pixel artist.

Sean's first encounter with digital art was an interesting one. At around the age of 14 is when he first discovered pixel art through a forum called Pixeltendo. Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga was a game that became highly praised for its unique sprites. After messing around with MSPaint, he made Wario in that sprite style, and continued to practice with pixelart.

It wouldn't be until he started college in 2010 where he became inspired to delve deeper into digital art; he picked up on a magical, art tool called the tablet. With art overall, Sean felt discouraged about his skills. He would do self-taught studies, even alongside his college's art studio courses, to help him reach his personal goals.

It wasn't until his last year and a half of college when he had a solid direction for his art. He had an epiphany to become a concept artist and illustrator ; this combined all of the skills he acquired: both through traditional and digital mediums. Sean graduated with a bachelor's degree in art with three concentrations: digital art, drawing, and painting. He is currently at SCAD through their masters program.

Sean was introduced to Smashified right after his smash ballot video for Banjo & Kazooie. Since then things have been pretty jiggy.

Sean hopes to one day design characters for video games, help design the visuals for a game's style, and create art that can inspire others as well as give enjoyment to those who view it.