OT: originalvideogameart.com 0

[Bronty]

From past discussions I know some of us are interested in the original box art and promotional artworks created for videogames, which is what the site focusses on.    Everyone has a favorite game from when they were a kid, and often there was wonderful art

There is a forum kind of like this one, a gallery kind of like CAF, artist biographies and information, and a frame-it app to let you virtually play around with framing choices for your piece of art.   

Its been open for a grand total of half an hour, so if you have any interest in viewing the art, discussing the art, or learning more about the artists, please stop by.

Dan

[alxjhnsn]

Got a link?

[cstojano]

Nice looking site. In typical fashion I am most interested in the early days PC art, games like Bards Tale, Temple of Apshai, Hellfire Warrior. I found artist's names and emails for some of these but alas, long gone. I feel like playing the original Bards Tale was one of my fondest early gaming memories. Original Sierra PC games would be grail level as well.

[Bronty]

On 11/1/2022 at 8:50 PM, alxjhnsn said:

Got a link?

 originalvideogameart.com 

[Bronty]

On 11/1/2022 at 9:37 PM, cstojano said:

Nice looking site. In typical fashion I am most interested in the early days PC art, games like Bards Tale, Temple of Apshai, Hellfire Warrior. I found artist's names and emails for some of these but alas, long gone. I feel like playing the original Bards Tale was one of my fondest early gaming memories. Original Sierra PC games would be grail level as well.

If Sierra is what you like I could put you together with the owner of the space quest 4 cover but he does want big bucks.    I only know of 3-4 Sierra box art that are privately owned fwiw.    There is a Sierra museum that owns a few.

[Garf]

@Bronty

Nice site (I have only had a chance for a quick skim), I have a couple of general questions.

How do you feel about art where you might overlap with other fandoms? For example TCG art and Blizzard art is featured in lots of videogames.

Do you think this is mostly a retro thing or are you seeing any art from modern titles creep in, even if it is a sketch from a known artist who usually works digitally? Personally I would love to get something from https://twitter.com/bourassaart if the opportunity arises ;)

[cstojano]

Another classic is the game Archon. No clue if that is actually a piece of art though. 

[Bronty]

On 11/2/2022 at 10:41 AM, cstojano said:

Another classic is the game Archon. No clue if that is actually a piece of art though. 

The classic black and white Archon box was by Dave McMacken.    You can read a little more about it on his bio here:

 

https://www.originalvideogameart.com/video-game-illustrators/dave-mcmacken-1944–2019-r122/

 

The short version being it was made out of cut construction paper, and destroyed. 

Edited November 2, 2022 by Bronty

[Bronty]

On 11/2/2022 at 10:36 AM, Garf said:

@Bronty

Nice site (I have only had a chance for a quick skim), I have a couple of general questions.

How do you feel about art where you might overlap with other fandoms? For example TCG art and Blizzard art is featured in lots of videogames.

Do you think this is mostly a retro thing or are you seeing any art from modern titles creep in, even if it is a sketch from a known artist who usually works digitally? Personally I would love to get something from https://twitter.com/bourassaart if the opportunity arises ;)

Thanks for taking a look.   I guess I would describe the scope of the site as anything used in the production or the promotion of the games themselves.    Something like the blizzard card game is probably outside of the scope of the site.  Something like the original artwork for a cover of EGM, or art used in a magazine ad or point of purchase display, would be.

I guess at this time the focus is retro just because that’s the community’s focus so far but we certainly welcome newer material.   Part of the reason it’s more retro focussed right now is because a lot of the art went digital circa 95 and so there isn’t much traditional box art after that date.    So there are unexplored questions there going forward I think about what people will value and how for more recent material.   

[Will_K]

Nice looking site.  I don't have any interest in video games (or art).  But I appreciate that you've added a section on the artist / illustrators linked with the art they created.

[Bronty]

On 11/2/2022 at 11:26 AM, Bronty said:

The classic black and white Archon box was by Dave McMacken.    You can read a little more about it on his bio here:

 

https://www.originalvideogameart.com/video-game-illustrators/dave-mcmacken-1944–2019-r122/

 

The short version being it was made out of cut construction paper, and destroyed. 

I saw your "sad eyes" reaction.

The box art for the "black box" NES titles were created in a similar way, and no doubt met the same fate.   I'll see if I can dig up an example for you here.

[Bronty]

Here's duck hunt.    We've probably all seen this before without really looking at it.   

They just cut out rectangular pieces of construction paper and glued them up.   Remember, this is before high res screen captures were easy to do.   If you look at the image there are clues all over it that prove what it is.

I'll post some below.

[darkstar]

I'm stuck collecting Vidpro cards.

[Bronty]

so let's blow up the explosion area.   Sorry I wasn't able to find a high res file to do this with.

The explosion area is a mess.   Those are not standard pixel sizes - everything is a different size.    You can see places where the pieces of paper overlap, or where a shadow has cast and edge on a photo.

On the right hand side, that big blue cube I've circled isn't even square with the rest of the image.

Its just a talented person with scissors and paper and glue..

[Bronty]

More gaps and shadows here from cubes that were a touch too skinny or fat.   Cut lines that aren't straight, etc.    Clearly not "pixel" art, but paper made to imitate the look of pixels on some level.

The tell tale (tail?  wak wak) signs are all over the image if you look closely with a critical eye.

[Bronty]

The white area around the silhouette and top and left that extends into the black border  is telling as well

[cstojano]

On 11/2/2022 at 8:26 AM, Bronty said:

The classic black and white Archon box was by Dave McMacken.    You can read a little more about it on his bio here:

 

https://www.originalvideogameart.com/video-game-illustrators/dave-mcmacken-1944–2019-r122/

 

The short version being it was made out of cut construction paper, and destroyed. 

Interesting, thanks for posting. The artist's section is really interesting. A few familiar names but a lot of unknowns. To me at least. 

[Bronty]

On 11/2/2022 at 4:47 PM, cstojano said:

Interesting, thanks for posting. The artist's section is really interesting. A few familiar names but a lot of unknowns. To me at least. 

Unknown to comic people, sure.    and unknown to the average person playing games, although celebrated too in our small community.    Almost all the artwork was uncredited at the time, so that section is years and years of research as its very difficult there isn't a name attached.    Like imagine you wanted to know who drew, I don't know, Twilight Zone 12 from gold key, or Dyno-Mutt #1 or Four Color #363 and it was all unsigned and uncredited.    10-15 years ago, none of this was on the internet and its been a labor of love for people in the community to find this out and begin to share that information, and selfishly too its part of the way some art has been acquired.   

However, there's really never been any centralized or organized storage of that knowledge which is one of the purposes of the artist section .

What we've found out along the way though, is that while lots of artists did a game here or there, a much smaller number did the lion's share of the artwork.   I guess its the Pareto principle.    If you were going to read  only three bios on the site, read:

Greg Martin

Greg Winters

Tom duBois

as they are three of the standouts.

Edited November 2, 2022 by Bronty

[Bronty]

nice youtube video on teh subject

 

 

[Jeremyamoto]

.

Edited November 24, 2022 by Jeremyamoto