It's National Video Games Day - and if there's one thing creatives love, it's playing video games (a close cousin of animation)!

To help us celebrate the day, we asked our artists to share some of their fan art for their favourite games.

What could be better than combining our love for video games with our love for drawing? Take a look for yourself!

Mitch Deslippe: I grew up with the SNES and was always a huge fan of the Legend of Zelda. At its core, it is a game about adventure and exploration, about discovering new things and growing.

I can envision the city of Toronto as a huge map like this one… full of hidden gems that are just waiting to be discovered. Video games can act as a nostalgic window into childhood feelings of wonder and joy.

George Crosbie: I've been playing video games since the PS1 era, back then I liked (and still do!) colourful platformers with lots of whimsical and cartoony levels to explore.

In more recent years I've really enjoyed a lot of story-driven games from both eastern and western developers, which have only gotten better and better as the technology has.

Overall, I'd say I'm mostly attracted to games with great characters and in-depth worlds, I can spend a lot of time immersing myself in them.

Lorenzo Sabia: Video games played a big role in my childhood, I still remember spending entire days with my brother playing Street Fighter, Tekken and Rival Schools. Now we are both grown men, but when we turn the console on… we are 14 years old once again!

Lynne Guthrie: Zelda has lasted through the decades for a good reason, because you can throw chickens. Well, until you throw them too much and they become rather mad and gather together to try and peck you to death. Good times!

Barry O'Donoghue: I've always loved the simple timeless design of these classic video game characters.

Stephen O'Connor: I’ve been hugely influenced by games throughout my life. My first computer was a Commodore 64 in 1988.

The below is a game I never actually played, it was a game from the Tom Hanks film “Big”. This film also came out in 1988!

I remember watching the game in the movie being played by 12-year-old Josh and it really captured my imagination. When I watched the film again years later, I realised that the game is played twice by Tom Hanks in the movie. Once when he is a little boy and once when he is older. When he plays the game (as a child) the first time, he dies! The second time he plays the game in the movie he is older and has experienced some trauma, he defeats the evil wizard easily.

It’s a beautiful metaphor for his character's journey through the movie. So I wanted to redesign it but also wanted to try to keep the atmosphere that was in the original pixel game. I also kept the text description from the original game below my image.

Comment below and let us know what your favourite video games are!

And until next year, Happy National Video Games Day!