2021 Minnesota Game Poster No. 8: Northwestern

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Previous game posters:

Ohio State

Miami (OH)

Colorado

Bowling Green

Purdue

Nebraska

Maryland

In honor of Halloween, this week's Gophers game poster is based on the cover artwork for one of the most acclaimed horror video games of all-time, 1999's Silent Hill. Goldy Gopher takes the place of protagonist Harry Mason, staring off into the snowy Evanston night. (Disclaimer: It's not supposed to snow Saturday. Nor is it a night game.) In place of Harry's daughter, Cheryl, is Willie the Wildcat, who walks past the eerily glowing entrance to Ryan Field. P.J. Fleck's face can be seen where police officer Cybil Bennett's is on the original cover. In the fog is the ghostly image of Joseph Medill, the namesake of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. I've added branding in imitation of a PlayStation game's jewel case and the old Konami logo.

I don't know if this is my best game poster, but it is among my favorites. Like the Colorado poster, I made this with a drawing pad, tracing images as best I could to fit the style. Goldy is the best-looking object in the picture — vitally so, seeing as how he is the most prominent. I wanted him to look less like the modern Goldy and more like that from 1999, so I found old gameplay footage of an old NCAA Football game to trace over. This helped me get a three-dimensional-looking shading better than probably anything else I drew. Fleck and Medill look a little more "drawn" than I was hoping, but they each are significant improvements from where I started. I had to tone down the detailing to make sure they looked more feasibly like they were created on a computer in 1999.

Similar to Purdue Pete's cameo on the Purdue poster, maybe my favorite detail I threw in is Medill. It's just a dumb nod to all the Northwestern alumni in media who have been the subject of internet jokes beginning with "As a Medill grad...". I have no strong opinion on Medill grads, but I thought it would be a decent bit.

Now, to answer an important question: Is Ryan Field scary enough for a Silent Hill parody? Not really, no, unless wealthy suburbanites frighten you. Especially not this year, with Northwestern's shoddy play. The place is usually a haven for visiting fans. But the Wildcats have seen some weird peaks, and the height of their stadium's natural playing surface has been mythologized as helping even the odds against superior competition. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to work in the grass. But let it be known that I did want to include it.

With a game against Illinois next week, there will be an Illinois poster next week.