The Studio monthly 4

Check out the latest themes available to download from the exciting digital art space, The Studio.

Whether it's a vision of the life aquatic or wispy spiderwebs slung across your screen, this month's additions to The Studio on PlayStation Store shine a little light on some truly strange new worlds.

Dutch illustrator Merijn Hos invites you to journey several miles below sea level, and not to any pocket of the ocean known to marine biologists. His theme Deep Down features bright, multicoloured fish flitting among shells and coral, "blowing bubbles that will blow your mind", he tells us.

Typescape, meanwhile, swaps a life under the ocean wave for one of letters. London-based designer Wallzo has created 26 bold landscapes, one for each letter of the alphabet, all inspired by classic 1980s video games such as Frontier and Sentinel.

Set designer and art director Romain Lenancker splits his time between Paris and Stockholm, yet still found a moment to create the playful Retrovolution. "I explored the origin of the first games – early wooden puzzles – and I thought, why not create your own games?" Lenancker says. "Then I imagined the future of games and how they might be without gravity. The theme is a mix of old and futuristic ideas."

New York graffiti, 1970s rock and teenage rebellion inspire London painter O.Two. His theme Static Mist has been created using spray paint applied to canvas in layers, drawing the viewer into a world of ambient colour and organic shapes.

Teenage years are a theme US designer Ryan Cox also visits, with his piece Dazed and Confused recalling heady afternoons in the mid 1990s spent playing video games. Look out for nods to the games he remembers best from that time in this charming theme.

Warped and wonderful is Few Words Created Life, the theme from Finnish surrealist Ville Savimaa. Magical, mutant creatures have been blended into one gloopy whole, with a new animal seemingly revealing itself every time you gaze at the work.

Tales from the Crypt comes from the mind of Hedof, a Netherlands-based artist specialising in print techniques. He overlays his work so that it has a worn, vintage look, making his effort for The Studio especially dusty in feel. This contrasts vivdly with the cheerful nature of his dungeon's inhabitants...

And finally there are two more themes from Studio Output: Heart Rate Monitor, designed to keep you on your toes between bouts of tense gaming with a beeping pulse, and Clock, a toy-like timepiece that keeps your television screen ticking over.

Cross the border between reality and imagination at The Studio on PlayStation Store, where you'll be able to download the latest themes for your PlayStation 3 and PSP systems. For all the latest on the gallery, don't forget to check playstation.co.nz/thestudio and PlayStation.Blog.

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