Artist trades fair theme for video games

FINDLAY — For her latest mural, Mia Otto has swapped farm animals for video game characters like Pac-Man and Q*bert. The large 8-by-12 foot painting can be found on what used to be a bare wall in the arcade room at Main Street Deli & Arcade. "I definitely had fun with this one," Otto said. "I've really wanted to do this for a long time." She's been yearning to do a mural at the South Main Street business since the deli and bar was added in 2021. Otto left business cards and sent emails about the idea. Finally, she said, it all worked out. "They said they wanted a '80s style retro arcade mural. I was like, I am your girl," she laughed. Otto admitted that she really wasn't up on her arcade games history at first. "I've played games and whatnot, but I had to do a little research to decide how I was going to do it. But these were the most fun," she said. In addition to the iconic Pac-Man and Q*bert, the mural includes Galaga and images from Space Invaders and Tetris. "I also snuck in the Death Star from Star Wars," she said. The second and third movies came out in the 1980s. Otto first created a design on her iPad. When she was happy with the result, she chose three pieces of thick, smooth plywood. "The way this hallway is, it's really narrow so I was like that's going to be really difficult. I talked them into doing the boards again which I was able to do a better mural that way," she explained. "And then they didn't have to have construction in the arcade during the time I was working on it." Otto used the same system as she did for the fair painting. Her grandparents' barn was her art studio, and her dad, Tim Otto, built a large easel to hold the boards. Her fiance, Turner Isaacson, also helped when he wasn't working. UV reactive neon spray paint was used for most of the mural. "I've been trying to get more into doing spray paint so this was my first mainly spray paint mural which included using a lot of tape and taping off sections to get everything straight," she said. "You can get things done a lot quicker with it. But I'll always do the brush, too, because you can't do the tiny little details with spray paint, but it certainly helps with covering a surface faster." Pulling off the pixelated look was difficult because of all the squares, rectangles and little shapes involved, she said. In all, the painting took about 100 hours to complete. "It was super fun and I got to incorporate my style which I like to do neon and stuff that glows so they put the black light up there so it can glow," she said. Otto said she has always loved neon colors. "Growing up Lisa Frank was my favorite artist," she said. "And later on in life, I realized, wow, I feel like my style is a lot like hers. So she definitely had an influence on my art," Otto said. Her dad and fiancé helped install the mural because it involved cutting out spaces for all of the electrical outlets and the black light fixture. "I couldn't have done it without their help," she said. Installation took four to five hours. A grand reveal was held in May. "This one I was excited about. I have a son who's 13 so I knew he would be really proud of mom doing a video game mural because he loves video games," she said. "I've always just liked really bright colors. I like the fact that they glow and they just pop. You can't miss it because it's so bright," added Otto. "I'm a bright person so I like to make my art reflect my personality." Her work can also be seen at the Pink Panther Tattoo Shop. She does custom painting, some clothing design and paints earrings. This summer she will paint murals at a couple of music festivals. Her business is called LoveMiArt.