During the development of Thimbleweed Park, Patrik Spacek (who is also a member of this forum) recreated in 3D one of the backgrounds drawn by Mark Ferrari for the game: the KSCUM Radio Station.
I loved the results of his work and I thought that you could appreciate them as well. Click on the image to see a full-size version and read Patrik’s post on his blog to learn about the creative process.
Wow. I’m surprised how well the style works. I really don’t miss the pixels. The graphic looks “new” and like and old-school adventure at the same time! IMHO it lacks a little bit of detail in the foreground (I miss some bushes and the edge from the grass to the brown path is a little bit too sharp). But overall: really great!
(@RonGilbert: If you would like to make a new adventure game that addresses “new” and “old” players at the same time you should consider that style.)
It’s gorgeous. Like @Someone, I think the style just as fits nicely in high-res rendering as in pixelated view. 
@patrik3dspacek: It seems like you are doing this professionally. Can you give us an estimate on how long it took you for this particular scene?
I was was going to “modernize” the graphics of a next adventure game, I would do lot more than rendering. I would do the layout very differently.
I thought that it would have been interesting to compare the original image by Mark Ferrari to the re-created one by Patrik Spacek, so I’m putting them here.
I think that one of the reasons why Patrik was able to recreate the same look-and-feel was that he paid a lot of attention to simulate the color palette that Mark used in his original drawing.
I don’t know about you, but I find the results stunning.
It’s a good and subtle pastiche although I prefer the visibility of the path to the radio tower in the original. It’s pleasing how even though it’s 3D the style has been more or less maintained.
Thanks LowLevel… Ron knows I am master in re-creating stuff :o) I have remaking in my art blood.
It would be easy for me to re-create full TWP, if needed Once i have a concept art or final art in my hand, I can very easy create a new version in any resolution. For now, its just a fan art… for NOW… (JK Ron)
To compare me with other remakes made by somebody else I am trying to achieve as much details as possible. Not just tracing and smoothing original art. So Ron, … next game with me, ok ? 
BTW: This environment has been done like a game environment and it has many layers needed for parallax, animations and depth.
I am glad you like it and I wish there were more people showing their art skills based on popular games.
This image can be done in about 3-4 days… 1 day: layout + modeling, 2 day: UV + Texturing, 3 day: vfx, vegetation, polish, 4 day: rendering + post production + polish.
Wow, this was quite some work!
Remastering the backgrounds of all rooms in the game using this way will probably take about 2 person years.
Yes, there needs to be more people included or less environments. Also, each environment has different length and different amount of details. Some of them can be done faster, some of them takes longer.
I would say, more vegetation you have, more time it takes.
That makes me curious. 
Could you explain that a little further? How would you do the layout? What could you do more than rendering? Would you rework/post process the renderings?
It really looks great Patrik! I was amazed when you posted it for the first time.
Cool! I was thinking on doing the same as I was playing.
If I do, I will post it here.
this is very early start…keep going… is it 3d?
this room has tons of details, take advantage of unlimited polygons and make every model functional and detailed. Security camera, tv, coffee machine, dead rat, deadly plant etc.
More details you will add, better render elements you will get. Texturing needs to be last.
yes, I’m doing on Sketchup
the hardest thing is that the perspective on the 2D image is very clunky. I’m fixing some things
do you think I should do one colour textures, or more realistic ones? I put more detalied labels on the products or keep it simple?
More work you put in, better response you will get.
If it was me, I would repaint all textures to highres, but dont worry about textures and colors till you have all models and room layout done.
Perspective in 3d world is realistic. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you should get as close as possible to original 2d layout. This also requires some sacrifices. I think you are on good path…
yeah, you have to match the original image as much as you can…
