Illustrator ultimatemaverickx talks through his stunning Mega Man compositions. 

By Thomas Quillfeldt

One of the great joys of Laced’s Mega Man vinyl sets is seeing new pieces by the ultimate Mega Man artist, ultimatemaverickx (UMX). The thoughtful, dynamic compositions are alive with vibrant colours and loving details. His undeniable passion shines through in every piece. 

Following on from his work on two Mega Man collection box sets and two standalone releases, UMX is back with seven beautiful panels for Mega Man Zero/ZX: The Collection 5LP vinyl box set — check Mega Man vinyl availability on the Laced store.

Composition choices

Some of the elements of an authentic Mega Man illustration include exciting character poses and a composition that tells its own story. 

UMX: “On the previous Mega Man vinyl projects, the majority of pieces I created were character montages [aka ‘character parades’] similar to game promo artworks. For Mega Man Zero/ZX: The Collection, I wanted the majority of the pieces to be scenic compared to character montages. 

“For the front covers of the individual disc sleeves, I wanted the art to be about the most significant, impactful event that happened in the respective game.”

Sleeve front covers: Top left Awakening of Zero; top right - Destruction of the Original X; bottom left - Zero's Sacrifice; bottom right - Biometal Models

Originally, UMX says he was planning for the sleeve back covers to depict just battle scenes, but later changed his mind, deciding on a more diverse range of compositions.

Sleeve back covers: Top left - Cyber Elf X witnessing his successor Copy X; top right - Andrew's story of his life; bottom left - Zero vs Omega Fusion; bottom right - Zero vs Weil.

Illustration process

The above example is a character from UMX’s sleeve artwork that covers the Mega Man ZX & ZX Advent disc 5. 

He comments: “As you can see here, I created two versions: the first is smooth and clean in keeping with the Mega Man ZX art style; the second is a sketchier/rougher version faithful to the Zero art style. Initially, I intended for the Mega Man ZX pieces to be cleaner like the first version but, on second thought, I opted to keep the artwork consistent across all panels.”

Favourite pieces

UMX dubs the disc 5 sleeve back cover ‘Death and Witch – Yin and Yang’.

UMX comments: “Here, I have Prometheus and Pandora from Mega Man ZX and ZX Advent. The composition is based on the Yin and Yang symbol. Prometheus represents Yang and Pandora represents Yin.

Yin means: female, cold, soft, passive, night, Winter.

Yang means: male, hot, hard, active, sun, Summer.

UMX explains: “Prometheus and Pandora as characters are very similar to the yin and yang concept. I thought it would be cool to incorporate this symbol in this piece.

“The characters were unconsciously or unwillingly merged with Model W ["The Evil Mega Man", a Biometal containing the soul of Dr. Weil, source] so I have their eyes closed and their armors forming to show that. Ultimately, the very purpose of their existence is for their hatred to be consumed by Model W, so I have Model Ws on the backgrounds and their poses look as if Prometheus and Pandora are being fused to it."

“This is what I originally created for the disc 5 sleeve back cover but I came to feel that it was too plain and that I should create something more complex for the last piece of the set.”

The outer slipcase front cover is another favourite piece for UMX. 

Here are a few close up details:

UMX explains: “Instead of a game-style cover where characters are in cool poses, I wanted to create a [holistic] piece where all of the main cast are present.

“Given the soundtrack, which largely favours the Mega Man Zero games, the characters from those four games take the spotlight. 

“The composition would be too crowded if friendly NPCs were also included; instead, I included green birds [top left of the cover] to represent the Resistance, and the Grand Nuage Airship to represent the Guardians. The Resistance members are, after all, named after birds which I think is nice. The cyber elves' colors were to represent nurse, animal and hacker-type cyber elves. And I didn’t forget about Croire!

“I added eight mettaurs in the artwork — five of them are hidden. It's a habit of mine to hide mettaurs in artwork and animation.”

Final among UMX’s favourites is ‘Faded Memories’, the front cover panel for disc 3 (corresponding to Mega Man Zero 3). 

UMX says: “This one is a redraw of a previous piece of mine, and it’s my favourite from this set. I’m attached to this art since this is a drawing I made for my fan animation long ago named Zero vs Omega Zero Decisive Battle — the alternate title of which is ‘Faded Memories’. It's a reimagining of Zero and Omega's battle in Megaman Zero 3.

“Zero’s Mega Man X design is facing away from the view, while Zero from Mega Man Zero faces forward. This is to symbolize that Zero has the original’s heart and soul.

“Initially, I intended to draw Zero from Mega Man X in this design:

“However, some people might mistake them for the character Omega, so I decided it was better to draw Zero in his original design by Keiji Inafune.”

Ultimate mega fan

UMX closes by saying: “I would love to share more about the other artwork pieces in the set. I'll gradually post them on DeviantArt along with descriptions. 

“Many thanks again to Laced and Capcom for letting me draw on another Mega Man vinyl project!”

You can check out UMX’s DeviantArt profile.

Check availability of Mega Man Zero/ZX: The Collection 5LP box set here.