Share Jordan's creative journey through his artworks and artist diary.

Jordan Mechner, best known as the creator of Prince of Persia, is also a visual artist. In his award-winning graphic novel memoir Replay, and in his ongoing sketchbook journal drawn from life, his pen-and-ink drawings and watercolors sensitively portray the world around him.

From time to time, Jordan releases artworks in exclusive limited-edition signed and numbered giclée prints, including an "author's tribute" series inspired by his video games. Details on current availability are below.

Replay

Jordan's newly released graphic novel "Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family" is his first book as complete writer/artist. A 320-page epic interweaving Jordan's video game career (the development of Karateka, Prince of Persia, The Last Express, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) with the saga of three generations of his family through two 20th-century wars, Replay won wide acclaim on its April 2023 release in France.

The English edition will be published by First Second Books on March 19, 2024. You can read reviews, excerpts, and Jordan's commentary (and pre-order a signed copy of the English edition) on the Replay book page.

A Faithful Friend

I drew "A Faithful Friend" as an author's tribute, not just to a memorable moment in a game that's meant so much to me, but to the teams, collaborators, and fans who have supported and kept its legacy vibrant for 33 years. Without you, there'd be no Prince of Persia.

Having spent most of the past four decades creating digitally, I appreciate more and more the tactile qualities of handmade physical objects. My ink line these days is finer than was possible on a 280 x 192 computer, but I've respected the restricted Apple II color palette.

Bones

I was really touched by the warm response from Prince of Persia players who remembered the princess's brave little companion. I hoped my drawing would evoke fond memories; I didn't expect the entire edition of 40 prints to sell out in less than 24 hours.

A number of people wrote to say they wished they'd heard about the release sooner. I cannot print more of "A Faithful Friend" (that's the nature of a limited edition), but I've gone ahead and drawn a second author's tribute artwork, inspired by a gameplay moment in the Prince of Persia dungeon. I'm calling this one "Bones." If you've played level 3, I'm sure you can guess the reason.

Dagger

The third in a series of Prince of Persia tribute artworks — my homage to the fans and teams that shaped the prince's destiny (and mine). This one is dedicated to the incredibly talented Ubisoft team I had the privilege to work with to make The Sands of Time, and to the fans whose loyalty has kept the flame alive these past 20 years.

Like my two preceding artworks, "A Faithful Friend" and "Bones," "Dagger" is a personal expression as a visual artist and graphic novelist of what Sands of Time has meant to me, looking back over two decades of memorable experiences and adventures since that game's release.

Cliffhanger

I composed "Cliffhanger" to evoke the final image of Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame, and to depart from it. The prince, princess, and sorceress in my drawing don't exactly match the characters in the 1993 PC game, nor do they literally represent the 2019 team's work-in-progress at the point development was cancelled. My goal was to create an artwork that embraces both my evolving vision of Prince of Persia 3, and fans' enduring curiosity for the past 30 years about this mysterious sorceress and the game that never was.

Departure

Players of a certain 1997 point-and-click adventure game may recognize the characters (and even the time on the station clock). It depicts a moment on the Gare de l'Est platform just before The Last Express begins and the train leaves the station.

"Departure" is my homage to Smoking Car Productions; to the European comics authors and filmmakers whose work inspired us; and to the fans who embraced the game and have kept its world and characters alive for 25 years. It's also an homage to my grandfather, my father and his aunt Lisa, whose real-life adventures reverberate both in Replay and in The Last Express's fictional story.

Promenade des Anglais

"Promenade des Anglais" depicts the storied boardwalk in Nice, France, where my dad spent a year of his childhood as a refugee in 1940.

Readers of Replay (chapters 7 and 8 especially) will understand the personal resonance this setting has for my family, and why I chose it to pair with "Departure" / The Last Express.

Saturday 1979

"Saturday 1979" depicts the living room of my childhood home and a very special computer — the Apple II, where my earliest gaming memories were created. This is the machine on which I learned to program in BASIC, then went on to develop my first games, Karateka and Prince of Persia.

I drew this scene remembering the endless weekends and after-school hours I spent playing games like Breakout, Star Trek, and Space Invaders, and trying to unlock the fascinating new machine's powers. Readers of my graphic novel memoir Replay will recognize the kid sitting next to me as my brother David, whom I drafted into service to model the Prince of Persia animation six years later, in 1985.

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Preview

Artist Diary: Year in France

See the world through Jordan Mechner's eyes in the pages of his personal artist diary. Jordan's life, work and travels as a video game developer and graphic novelist are illuminated through his sensitive pen-and-ink drawings done on the spot, most of which have not been published elsewhere. Printed in facsimile editions of only 200 copies, each volume represents one year of Jordan's sketchbook journal since his move from Los Angeles to France in 2016.

While supplies last.

Artist Diary:
Year 1 in France

$27

Sold Out

Artist Diary:
Year 2 in France

$27

Artist Diary:
Year 3 in France

$27

When I Stopped Drawing


When I was a kid, I spent as much time as I could drawing... until I got my first Apple II. Old interests got swept aside to make way for my new obsession: making games. Over the next three decades of writing, programming, and other activities, I almost forgot that drawing had once been a primary means of self-expression.

It came back to me in 2008. My artist friend (and collaborator on Templar) Alex Puvilland gave me a Moleskine notebook, black Pigma Micron pen, and no eraser. I started drawing people in the street, at cafés and airports, conferences and live-model workshops. (And on the Prince of Persia movie set. There were camels!)

I found the tactile, no-undo, Zen aspect of pen and ink brush on paper a soul-refreshing break from screen time. Other than showing my sketchbooks to friends and family, and an occasional snap-post on Instagram, I had no plans to take my personal art public. But through 15 years of daily practice, my drawing has evolved into a new vocation. It's opened creative doors I couldn't have imagined when I (re)started, notably my first graphic novel as writer-artist, Replay.

I've worked closely with Tomoe, a local fine-art printer in Montpellier, on high-quality limited-edition giclée prints of selected drawings. When available, artworks can be purchased from this page, above.

The gallery below shows a bit of my recent sketchbook and life-drawing work, as reproduced in the books Years 1-3 in France.