John Zeleznik is a Los Angeles, California-based illustrator and artist with a popular following for his long-running work for the Rifts series of role-playing games from publisher Palladium Books. 

John Zeleznik created several illustrations for Tengen in 1989 and 1990:

1. Fantasy Zone (NES)
2. Rolling Thunder (NES)
3. Alien Syndrome (NES)
4. Shinobi (NES)
5. Hard Drivin’ (Sega Genesis | 1990)
6. All Points Bulletin/APB (home computer; art unused but included in Tengen ad) 
7. Xybots (NES unreleased; included in Tengen ad)
8. Skull & Crossbones (NES; art unused but included in Tengen ad)

While John’s catalog for Tengen comprises his best known game work, an April 1989 cover for Video Games & Computer Entertainment (issue 3) was likely John’s first game illustration. Home computer box paintings in mid-1989 for Dark Side for Spotlight Software and Sword of Aragon for Strategic Simulations, Inc. also slightly predate John’s Tengen work. While lesser known, John illustrated the boxing game World Champ for NES in 1991.

1993 saw John illustrate a Shinobi cover for issue 44 of GamePro magazine and poster art for Data East’s Super Nintendo release of Shadowrun. John returned to game work in 1997 and illustrated the box art for MicroProse’s X-Com: Apocalypse. Another decade later in 2007, John’s digital art graced the box of Drawn to Life for the Nintendo DS.

John is also celebrated for his work for Magic the Gathering, Wacky Packages, and Garbage Pail Kids.

When Bob Wakelin was a lad at school, all he ever wanted to do was artwork for comic books. This didn’t please his art teacher, who felt that such a talented lad shouldn’t channel his artistic energies into something which wasn’t quite ‘art’. During his three-year stint at art college in Wales, his homeland, Bob’s lecturers also tried to put him off the idea of working for comics — to little avail.

Shortly after completing the Graphics course, Bob started work for a Liverpool studio which specialised in artwork for the entertainment industry, and executed a lot of commissions from rock bands, producing artwork for album covers. Working his way up from Whipping Boy, graduating to Lackey and then achieving Studio Manager status, Bob decided it was time to branch out. Starting as a freelance in 1978, he at last became involved in his first love — comic books — working for Marvel Comics. Sadly, the dollar exchange rate in those days meant it didn’t pay too handsomely, though. In 1980 Bob joined a band, playing synths. ‘It was a whim really. I’d got bored with drawing and some friends had a band. I joined them for a while, and we did reasonably well. Then, as is so often the case, we had a row and split up.’  Back in Liverpool, his adopted hometown, and with the band’s spilt behind him, Bob started looking for freelance work again. Through the uncle of a friend of a friend, of a friend etc. he learnt that David Ward was starting up a software house down the road in Manchester and was looking for an illustrator. Just as he did the first job for Dave Ward’s new company, Ocean, all sorts of peo