OVGA Database 28 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 North and South American artist information from BOX=ART BOX=ART (B=A) separated its research into regions: Americas, Europe, and Japan. OVGA has reviewed this information and will publish B=A’s research by region as three separate threads in the Artist Appreciation section of OVGA’s forums. OVGA has only lightly edited this information and has not expanded artist catalogs, some of which may be incomplete. Artists already included in OVGA’s Artist database have been removed from B=A’s data and will not be repeated below. OVGA will consolidate in a separate forum topic the contributions of digital artists, art directors, and other individuals and companies that were included among B=A’s data. North American Arthur Nichols – F-Zero (エフゼロ) | Nintendo | 1990 | JPN ver. | by Art Nichols (ink), Paris Cullens (pencil) & Janet “JayJay” Jackson (color) | Super Famicom. Off the back of their licensed Nintendo of America comics (early 90’s), VALIANT would get the commission from Nintendo of Japan to design the cover for Super Famicom launch title, F-Zero. For the time it was quite the feat for western artist’s to be picked to do this work, considering Japan’s proud attitude towards its own comic industry. Along with writer Jim Shooter the artists would additionally produce the pack-in comic book. The complete package would add a surprising amount of western influence for such a high-profile eastern release, but more surprising is that the cover art was never used outside of Japan where it would have perhaps been more at home. Instead, it was replaced with a typically air-brushed effort. Art recalls that the price they charged for the piece was massively in excess of what VALIANT would normally charge, $35,000 compared to $5,000! http://jimshooter.com/2012/02/made-to-order.html/ Barry E Jackson – Project Firestart | EA | 1989 | Commodore 64. Wasteland | EA | 1988 | Commodore 64, Linux, MS-DOS, Windows. Alone, confronted and in danger… Barry E. Jackson’s Wasteland would depict a classic apocalypse evoking human trepidation and conflict. The post-apocalyptic setting would be fresh in 1988 and Jackson’s box art would stunningly evoke the intensity of nature’s sun scorching man’s crumbled cityscape. The title strikingly crafted out of the original artwork confronts the viewer with the bluntness of its meaning helping to set the game’s tone further. Bill Sienkiewicz – Resident Evil (バイオハザード) | Capcom | 1996 | EU/ NA ver. | PS1, Saturn, Windows. Capcom would use U.S. comic book artist Sienkiewicz’s cover art for the tie-in comic book released under Marvel a month after the video game. The character art would be re-used for the following years Resident Evil: Directors Cut. Spider-Man/ Venom: Maximum Carnage | Acclaim | 1994 | Genesis, Mega Drive, SNES, Super Famicom. Bob Flemate – Mystery Quest | Taxan USA Corp | 1988 | NES. Space Invaders | Atari | 1980 | Atari 400/ 800. Bob Haynes – B-1 Nuclear Bomber | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1980 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, TRS-80. Bomber Attack | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore PET, VIC-20. Computer Baseball Strategy | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET, TRS-80. Conflict 2500 | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET, TRS-80. Empire of the Over-Mind | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80. Guns of Fort Defiance | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore PET, TRS-80. Midway Campaign | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1980 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore PET/CBM, FM-7, MS-DOS, TRS-80, TRS-80 CoCo, VIC-20. North Atlantic Convoy Raider | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1980 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore PET, FM-7, TRS-80. Planet Miners | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET, TRS-80. Shootout at the Ok Galaxy | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore PET/CBM, TRS-80, TRS-80 CoCo, VIC-20. Tank Arkade | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET, TRS-80, VIC-20. Voyager 1: Sabotage of the Robot Ship | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET, MS-DOS, TRS-80. Zardon | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Atari 8-bit. Brom – B-1 Nuclear Bomber | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1980 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, TRS-80. Bomber Attack | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore PET, VIC-20. Computer Baseball Strategy | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET, TRS-80. Conflict 2500 | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET, TRS-80. Empire of the Over-Mind | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80. Guns of Fort Defiance | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore PET, TRS-80. Midway Campaign | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1980 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore PET/CBM, FM-7, MS-DOS, TRS-80, TRS-80 CoCo, VIC-20. North Atlantic Convoy Raider | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1980 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore PET, FM-7, TRS-80. Planet Miners | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET, TRS-80. Shootout at the Ok Galaxy | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore PET/CBM, TRS-80, TRS-80 CoCo, VIC-20. Tank Arkade | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET, TRS-80, VIC-20. Voyager 1: Sabotage of the Robot Ship | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET, MS-DOS, TRS-80. Zardon | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Atari 8-bit. Doom II: Hell on Earth | id Software | 1994 | Game Boy Advance, Macintosh, MS-DOS, PC-98, Windows. Tasked with designing box art centered around ‘Marine vs. Cyberdemon’, Brom has stated he had a great deal of freedom in what he created. This would go some way in explaining the differing look of ‘Doom Guy’ from Punchatz’s original characterization on Doom. id’s first choice of painter for Doom was Julie Bell (Turrican, Splatterhouse 2, Eternal Champions), but the commission went to Brom after her depiction of the Cyberdemon looked too much like a bull. Brom’s original piece was created logoless with Punchatz’s famous lettering later added. Heretic | GT Interactive | 1994 | MS-DOS. Heretic II | Activision | 1998 | Amiga, Linux, Macintosh, Windows. Mageslayer | GT Interactive | 1997 | Windows. Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor | Ubi Soft | 2001 | Windows. Warlords III: Reign of Heroes | Red Orb Entertainment | 1997 | Windows. Warlords III: Darklords Rising | Red Orb Entertainment | 1998 | Windows. World of Warcraft | Blizzard Entertainment | 2004 | Macintosh, Windows. Bruce Wolfe – Indiana Jones in the Lost Kingdom | Mindscape | 1984 | Commodore 64. Publisher Mindscape would start the trend of using movie posters as box art in the Indiana Jones series, in this case Bruce Wolfe’s poster for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). It would additionally be the earliest known example of movie poster art used as box art across the industry. Charles Kibler – Charles whose background had been historical illustration and board-game layout would join Avalon’s video game art department in 1981 and support one of the companies long running board-game artists Bob Haynes who’d the previous year begun box art duties. Charles’ earliest covers (Bomber Attack, Andromeda Conquest) would follow Bob’s graphic design of the previous year, before covers started to become more individual in 1982. The artist’s time would be spent in a number of roles within Avalon including play-testing coordinator, in-game graphic artist and manual/ map designer before he left in 1995. The rest of the 90’s and into the early 2000’s, Charles would take a wide variety of design positions, but none included box art duties. Andromeda Conquest | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-BIT, Commodore 64, Commodore PET, MS DOS, TRS-80. Bomber Attack | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-BIT, Commodore 64, Commodore PET, VIC. Dnieper River Line | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Commodore PET, TRS-80. Galaxy | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore PET, MS-DOS, TI-99, TRS-80. Moon Patrol | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Atari 8-bit. Panzers East! | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1984 | Atari 8-bit, TRS-80. Space Station Zulu | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit. T.G.I.F | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1983 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Tanktics | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1981 | Atari 8-bit, Apple II, Commodore 64, KIM, TRS-80. Chris Kenyon – Asteroids | Atari | 1981 | Atari 8-BIT. Asteroids | Atari | 1981 | Atari 2600/ VCS, 2800. Battlezone | Atari | 1983 | Atari 8-BIT, Atari 2600/ VCS, Atari 2800, Apple II, Commodore 64, PC Booter, VIC-20, ZX Spectrum. Jungle Hunt | Atari | 1983 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Jungle Hunt | Atari | 1983 | Atari 8-BIT, Atari 5200, Apple II, Commodore 64, ColcoVision, PC Booter, TI-99. Zork | Personal Software Inc. | 1980 | TRS-80. Cliff Spohn – Air-Sea Battle | Atari | 1977 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Backgammon | Atari | 1979 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Basketball | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Bowling | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Brain Games | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Breakout | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Casino | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Codebreaker | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Football | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Home Run | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Human Cannonball | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Indy 500 | Atari | 1977 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Miniature Golf | Atari | 1977 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Star Ship | Atari | 1977 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Super Breakout | Atari | 1981 | Atari 2600/ VCS, Atari 2800. Surround | Atari | 1977 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Video Olympics | Atari | 1977 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Dan Quarnstrom – The artist would start out as an illustrator before later going into design work. Along the way Dan picked up a few box art and magazine promotional art jobs. All were bold comic art style pieces where the artist first of all designed striking black and white artworks - using pen and ink - and then ‘trapped’ the underlying color. Skyfox II: The Cygnus Conflict | EA | 1988 | Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Spy vs. Spy III: Arctic Antics | Epyx | 1986 | NA ver. | Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Zaxxon | Sega | 1984 | Atari 5200. Denis Loubet – Akalabeth: World of Doom | California Pacific Computer Co. | 1981 | Apple II. Arx Fatalis | JoWooD Productions Software AG | 2002 | with Daniel Balage | Windows. Arx Fatalis | JoWooD Productions Software AG | 2003 | with Daniel Balage | Xbox. Autoduel | ORIGIN Systems | 1985 | Amiga, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, MS DOS. Caverns of Callisto | ORIGIN Systems | 1983 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit. Exodus: Ultima III | ORIGIN Systems | 1983 | Amiga, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, FM-7, Macintosh, MS-DOS, PC-88, PC-98, Sharp X1. Ogre | ORIGIN Systems | 1986 | Amiga, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, MS-DOS. Omega | ORIGIN Systems | 1989 | Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIgs, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, MS-DOS. Pagan: Ultima VIII | ORIGIN Systems | 1994 | Macintosh, MS-DOS, PC-98. Ring Quest | StarCraft Inc. | 1985 | Apple II. Shadowcaster | ORIGIN Systems | 1993 | MS-DOS. Tangled Tales | ORIGIN Systems | 1989 | Apple II, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Times of Lore | ORIGIN Systems | 1988 | Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, NES, ZX Spectrum. Ultima I | California Pacific | 1981 | Apple II, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, MSX, PC-88, PC-98, Sharp X1. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar | ORIGIN Systems | 1985 | Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, MS-DOS, MSX, Master System, PC-88, PC-98, X68000. Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny | ORIGIN Systems | 1988 | Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, FM Towns, MS-DOS, PC-88, PC-98, Sharp X68000. Ultima VI: The False Prophet | ORIGIN Systems | 1993 | Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, FM Towns, MS-DOS, PC-98, Sharp X68000, SNES, Super Famicom. Ultima IX: Ascension | EA | 1999 | Windows. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss | ORIGIN Systems | 1992 | FM Towns, MS-DOS, PC-98. Ultima Underwold II: Labyrinth Worlds | ORIGIN Systems | 1993 | FM Towns, MS-DOS, PC-98. Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2 - Martian Dreams | ORIGIN Systems | 1991 | MS-DOS. Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire | ORIGIN Systems | 1990 | Macintosh, MS-DOS, PC-98, X68000. Don Dixon – Eliminator, The | Adventure international | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80. Mask of the Sun | Ultrasoft Inc. | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Mission Asteroid | On-line Systems | 1980 | Apple II, Commodore 64. Mission Asteroid would numerically start Sierra On-Line’s Hi-Res Adventure series offered as the introductory game #0. Its box art by space artist Don Dixon would perfectly fit the gravity and loneliness of the game’s mission, and is a standout example of an established artist’s work being used as cover art in early home computing. Commissioned by Sierra, the artist has said the artwork was a quick job taking him a day to complete. Created using oil paints, as much of Don’s early work was, its quality would stand tall above the other Hi-Res Adventure box arts, with no small part to the artist’s exceptional detail for lunar geography. Don would follow-up with further box arts for Sierra before leaving the industry in the mid-80’s. Moon Shuttle | Datasoft | 1983 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, TRS-80. Rear Guard | Adventure International | 1981 | Arcade machine art only | with Gerald Hattaway | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80. Savage Island: Part 1/ Part 2 | Adventure International | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, Browser, Commodore 16, Plus/4, Dragon 32/64, Electron, TRS-80, TRS-80 CoCo, ZX Spectrum. Strätos | Adventure International | 1982 | Atari 8-bit, TRS-80. https://mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,13575/ George Barr – http://archeogaming.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/sorcerer-of-siva-1981-i.html https://mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,7032/ George Opperman – Missile Command | Atari | 1981 | Atari 2600/ VCS. George Ira Parish, Jr. – Guderian | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1986 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Spitfire ‘40 | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1986 | NA ver. | Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Under Fire! | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1988 | Apple II, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Greg Theakston – Telengard | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore PET, MS-DOS. Greg Vance – Canyon Bomber | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Sky Diver | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Hiro Kimura – Born in Kyoto, Japan, Hiro is the earliest known artist of Japanese heritage to design box art for the western market. He would be employed by Atari in the States and design some of their most well known covers. Centipede | Atari | 1982 | Atari 5200, Atari 2800. Crystal Castles | Atari | 1984 | NA ver. | Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600/ VCS. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial | Atari | 1982 | Atari 2600/ VCS, Atari 2800. The infamous game that legend has heaped the coals of failure upon its shoulder - in part, and probably unfairly, accrediting it to the video game crash of 1983 - would have quite the pleasant and frank cover art. The character art looks to have been taken from a movie still, cobbled together with phone motives and arguably does a good job of portraying the innocence and wide eyed wonder the movie is famous for. Joust | Atari | 1983 | EU/ NA ver. | Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600/ VCS, Atari 2800, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari ST. Krull | Atari | 1983 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Mario Bros | Atari | 1983 | NA ver. | Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600/ VCS, Atari 5200, Atari 7800. Yar’s Revenge | Atari | 1981 | Atari 2600/ VCS, Atari 2800. “Yar’s Revenge turned out to be my first package art assignment after having done a couple of manual illustrations. I got the basic concept of the Yar, not as a gigantic fly, but a chrome-plated insect shooting spitballs. It was my first attempt of rendering chrome surface and I recall struggling mightily with it. Perhaps the biggest reason for it was that I used airbrush almost exclusively for the very first time, a tool I still wasn’t skilled in then.” Hiro Kimura via The Art of Atari. Jackson “Butch” Guice – Skyfox | Electronic Arts | 1984 | Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, ZX Spectrum. Programming whiz Ray Tobey would team up with comic book artist Jackson “Butch” Guice who would be responsible not only for the box art but also the inlay/ comic strip the game shipped with. Looking like the cover to a classic bronze age comic book with its heavy lines and bold colors, the scene is set as our hero embarks his fighter amidst an invasion. The Skyfox title lettering was credited to a Rick Parker and is a well done example, complimenting the action without being too prominent. Following on from this commission Butch would have a successful career with both Marvel and DC comics, but Skyfox at present appears to be his only penciled cover art. James Kelly – Dodge ‘Em | Atari | 1980 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Pele’s Soccer | Atari | 1980 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Adding to the sports star’s legacy of achievements would be his likeness on James Kelly’s cover art being the world’s first celebrity depiction. Raiders of the Lost Ark | Atari | 1982 | Atari 2600/ VCS. James Kelly’s cover would score a couple of firsts in gaming history. It was the world’s first movie licensed cover, plus the first time that a film star was depicted - Harrison Ford. It was designed using acrylic and gouache on a 27.5 x 20.5 inch board. Originally the artist used a friend’s likeness, only for George Lucas to insist it look more like Ford. It is credited as being Kelly’s favorite designed box art. http://www.theartofjameskelly.com/ Janet Lopez – Autobahn | Sirius Software Inc. | 1981 | Apple II. Taking inspiration from German car adverts from the 1930’s - see Adler and Peugeot - Autobahn’s art style would be an early and rare example of European advertising and war time propaganda art being used in box art design. Its flat, pastel color palette and clever incorporation of logo would artistically lift it above Sirius’ other early covers and complimented the era’s love for bold and simple designs. Janet would be responsible for other Sirius box arts, but looked to have left the industry in 1983 after Sirius fell victim to the US video game crash and folded. Of interest, Autobahn’s artwork thematically complimented the actual games content - basically a top down Monaco GP clone. A rarity for the American scene in the early 1980’s where overblown and often misleading cover arts were standard. Borg | Sirius Software Inc. | 1981 | Apple II. Computer Foosball | Sirius Software Inc. | 1981 | Apple II. Snake Byte | Sirius Software Inc. | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, VIC-20. Jim Talbot – Jim Talbot would be brought on board at Avalon’s video game division when Avalon’s box art was starting to diversify past the design heavy look of the previous two years, to more painterly efforts post ‘83. The artist’s ability and rich creativity is breathtaking and quite evident throughout the variety of styles his cover arts exhibit. One only has to compare the sci-fi offerings of Jupiter Mission 1999, to the comic-book art of Mission on Thunderhead, to the historical paint-work of Gulf Strike to see an artist of great talent. He appears to have left Avalon over 1985/ 1986 where he went to work for board game publisher Victory Games producing covers for its 007: James Bond line of games. Presently, Jim freelances as a concept artist within the children’s toy industry. Beast War | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1984 | Apple II. By Fire & Sword | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1985 | MS-DOS. Clear for Action | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1984 | Atari 8-bit, TRS-80. Darkhorn: Realm of the Warlord | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1985 | Apple II, Commodore 64. Death Trap | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1983 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Gryphon | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1985 | Commodore 64. Fortress of the Witch King | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1983 | NA ver. | Apple II, Commodore 64. Gulf Strike | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1985 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Inculabuna | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1984 | MS-DOS. Jupiter Mission 1999 | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1984 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. London Blitz | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1984 | Atari 2600/ VCS, Commodore 64. Maxwell Manor | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1984 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Mission on Thunderhead | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1985 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Out of Control | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1983 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Panzer-Jagd | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1983 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Ripper | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1984 | Commodore 64. Quest of the Space Beagle | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1984 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Super Bowl Sunday | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1984 | Apple II, Commodore 64, PC Booter. Tsushima | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1985 | Apple II, Commodore 64. Joe Jusko – Silver Surfer | Arcadia Systems Inc. | 1990 | NES. John Berkley – Disposable Hero | Gremlin Graphics | 1993 | Amiga, CD32. Emergency: Fighters for Life | Wizardworks Group | 1998 | Windows. Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle | Parker Brothers | 1983 | Atari 2600/ VCS, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ZX Spectrum. The Parker Brothers follow-up to the world's first Star Wars game, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back would be a far more painterly effort by renowned Star Wars illustrator John Berkey. The artwork would also be used to promote the game in magazines across the US, the double page spread conveying a greater sense of the original painting's scale. It is also the first Star Wars box art used in Europe. Parker Brothers followed up with two further games, Star Wars: The Arcade Game and Star Wars: Jedi Arena. Both shipped with decidedly weak covers. In addition, there are two known box arts of Parker games that never made it past pre-production, Star Wars: Revenge of the Jedi Game I and Game II. Game I’s box art depicts the movies opening scene on Tatooine and Game II the movies final scene on Endor Of interest is that both games use the movies original title, Revenge of the Jedi, and thus point to their early origins. Star Control 3 | MacSoft | 1996 | Macintosh, MS-DOS. Star Wars | U.S Gold | 1993 | Game Gear, Master System. Starfight | Electronic Arts | 1991 | Genesis, Mega Drive. John Enright – Flag Capture | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Outlaw | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Slot Machine | Atari | 1979 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Slot Racers | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. John Jinks – Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes, The | Electronic Arts | 1994 | 3DO, MS-DOS. John’s extraordinary style of art would be lavished upon Mindscape's first crack at a graphic adventure. The abstract artistry in the vain of early 20th century Cubism would fit with the game’s time period perfectly, but, in what could be argued a missed opportunity, was not adopted in-game where instead digital art and realism ruled. The artist at the time of the commissioning was very much in demand with an international presence, and recalls being hired with a brief of little more than a written paragraph depicting a crime scene. The box art was created using airbrushed acrylics and the title’s font is keenly reminiscent of the style used in the 1900’s to promote the character. John would go on to produce another Mindscape cover, The Real Deal (1995) - again in this unique style - before hanging up his box artist boots. Real Deal, The | Mindscape | 1995 | MS-DOS. John A. Rowe – Rocketeer, The | Information Global Service | 1992 | NA ver. | by John Rowe | SNES. Rowe’s cover art would pay homage to John Mattos’ original North American movie poster (1991). Mattos’ artwork would interestingly be dropped for the film’s worldwide release, after US audiences found its 1930’s art deco look too stylized. It would though still be used on the DOS release (1991). Japan’s Super Famicom cover art and North America’s NES version would adopt the Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens’ comic book character art. Jonquille Albin – Dunjonquest: The Datestones of Ryn | Epyx | 1979 | Apple II, Atari 400/800, TRS-80. Dunjonquest: Merloc’s Tower | Epyx | 1980 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET/CBM, PC Booter, TRS-80. Joseph Chiodo – Eternal Dagger, The | SSI | 1987 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Gauntlet | Tengen Inc. | 1987 | Genesis, NES. Gettysburg: The Turning Point | SSI | 1986 | Amiga, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Gemstone Healer | SSI | 1981 | Apple II, Commodore 64. Phantasie III: The Wrath of Nikademus | SSI | 1987 | NA ver. | Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Pharaoh’s Revenge | Publishing International | 1988 | Apple II, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Realms of Darkness | SSI | 1987 | NA ver. | Apple II, Commodore 64. Roadwar 2000 | SSI | 1986 | Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Roadwar Europa | SSI | 1987 | Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Shard of Spring | SSI | 1986 | Apple II, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Wargame Construction Set | SSI | 1986 | Amiga, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Judy Ritcher – Superman | Atari | 1979 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Publisher Atari would capitalize on the recently released Superman: The Movie (1978), with Superman, the world's first superhero video game. The box art is a composite piece, made up of character art from comics, Superman #252 (1972) by Neal Adams and Superman #300 (1976) by Curt Swan, and set against an original space background. Rather than use the original assets though, it is highly likely that the box art is the creation of Judy Richter, who took a DC licensing guide and created the piece from the ground up (evidenced by the fact that color and shading do not match between the DC and Atari artworks). In doing so, Richter’s cover would make the art Atari’s own (keeping in line with the rest of the company’s original artwork output), and possibly side-stepped future licensing issues. D. Maresca and T. Lapetino. Justin Sweet – Dragon Dice | Interplay Entertainment | 1997 | Windows. Invictus: In the Shadow of Olympus | Interplay Entertainment | 2000 | Windows. Designed in 1999 and under the title of ‘Achilles’, this would be concept artist Justin’s second (and possibly final to date) cover art. The artist is disciplined in both traditional media and CGA art and this artwork appears to be designed using the former. It is a great and typical example of his love for ‘Frank Frazetta’ style fantasy scenes. Karen Gerving – Dunjonquest: Temple of Apshai | Epyx | 1979 | Apple II, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, TRS-80. The debut game in the series, Temple of Apshai would adopt a unique stencil art style that would go on to brand its many offshoots and sequels. The term box art is slightly out of place here due to the original 1979 release being shipped within a clear plastic bag, complete with printed manual and disks (as was commonplace for late 70’s home computer games). All post-1980 ports of the game would include boxes, and in the case of the CBS Electronics versions, a different cover art. Compared to other home computer box arts from 1979, that in general were rather crude and simplistic, Temple of Apshai had more in common with the quality of art established by the 1970’s console scene (in comparison though its lack of box would exemplify the infancy of the 1979 home computer scene). This quality undoubtedly contributed to the games huge success with a massive 30,000-40,000 units sold (!) Dunjonquest: Upper Reaches of Apshai | Epyx | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, TRS-80. Kurt Miller – 5th Fleet | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1994 | MS-DOS. 1830: Railroads and Robber Barons | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1995 | MS-DOS. Advanced Civilization | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1995 | MS DOS. Age of Sail II | Take-Two | 2001 | Windows. Cavewars | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1996 | MS-DOS. D-Day America Invades | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1995 | Macintosh, MS-DOS. Devil Inside, The | Take-Two | 2000 | NA ver. | Windows. Dogs of War | Take-Two | 2000 | Windows. Flight Commander 2 | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1994 | Macintosh, Windows 3.x. Green Berets | Take-Two | 2001 | Macintosh, Windows. Merchant Prince II | Talonsoft | 2001 | Windows. Outlive | Take-Two | 2001 | Windows. Ski Resort Extreme | Global Star Software | 2004 | Windows. TalonSoft’s Divided Ground: Middle East Conflict 1948-1973 | Talonsoft | 2001 | Windows. Wooden Ships and Iron Men | The Avalon Hill Game Company | 1996 | MS-DOS. Louis Hsu Saekow – The designer looks to have started within the video game industry for publisher SSI in 1980, debuting with box art Computer Bismarck. He would have a long career within SSI and was involved in the package design of the vast majority of games they released. As an artist his style comes across as rather rudimentary, which could be why many of the painterly covers were done with an additional artist. It is likely that he managed a team within SSI and that he was responsible for much of the overall box art design choices. By the early 1990’s he had set up his own design company and was freelancing for publishers such as Tengen and Williams. Baltic 1985 | SSI | 1984 | with Doo Woo | Apple II, Commodore 64. Battle of Antietam | SSI | 1986 | Apple II , Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, MS DOS. Chronicles of Osgorth: The Shattered Alliance | SSI | 1981 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit. Computer Bismarck | SSI | 1980 | Apple II. A landmark title for North America’s home computer scene, Computer Bismarck would not only successfully launch publisher Strategic Simulations. Inc (SSI), but also artist Louis Hsu Saekow. Wanting to compete with The Avalon Hill Gaming Co. and their newly formed computer game division Microcomputer Inc, SSI set about producing the most professional and arresting box art possible. In general up until the 80’s home computer cover arts mimicked Atari’s VCS efforts in terms of artistry, and lacked any sort of physical casing. Bismarck changed that and shipped with a large high quality box, and printed manual. Louis’ graphic design also bucked the trend by moving away from the board game style cover artworks Avalon used, and instead creating a striking wire frame model with minimalistic palette. In a sea of traditionally painted box arts, Bismarck’s graphic design leapt off the shelf and subsequently proved a big hit for SSI. Surprisingly the company and Louis would not adopt the artistic approach for future box arts, them being in the main rather conformist. Cosmic Balance 2 | SSI | 1983 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit. Cytron Masters | SSI | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit. Galactic Adventures | SSI | 1983 | with Doo Woo | Apple II, Atari 8-bit. Gemstone Warriors | SSI | 1984 | with James C. Summerville | NA ver. | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, FM-7, Macintosh. Germany 1985 | SSI | 1983 | Apple II, Commodore 64. Hard Drivin’ | Tengen | 1990 | NA ver. | Genesis. Ms Pac-Man | Tengen | 1990 | EU/ NA ver. | Genesis, Master System, Mega Drive, NES, SNES. Norway 1985 | SSI | 1985 | Apple II, Commodore 64. Operational Apocalypse | SSI | 1981 | Apple II. President Elect: 1988 Edition | SSI | 1987 | Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Questron | SSI | 1984 | with William Carman | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Rails West! | SSI | 1984 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Rings of Zilfin | SSI | 1987 | with Christopher White | Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Super Sprint | Tengen | 1989 | EU/ NA ver. | NES. Veil of Darkness | SSI | 1993 | With David Boudreau | MS-DOS. Wizard’s Crown | SSI | 1986 | with Christopher White | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Mark Bagley – Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes | Epock Co. | 1995 | by Mark Bagley (penciller), Karl Kesel (inks), Paul Mounts (colourist) | Super Famicom. Japan would score exclusive box art from an American comic book artist - unusual for the time - for this highly sought after game. It would be based on the Marvel four issue mini-series The Lethal Foes from 1993 and was drawn on Bristal board with an image area of 11”x15”. Mark Strutzman – Challenge of the Five Realms | Microplay Software | 1992 | MS-DOS. Punisher, The | Microprose Software | 1990 | MS-DOS. Space 1889 | Paragon Software | 1990 | Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS. Matt Hall – Matt would study fine art at Missouri Southern State University and took inspiration from the likes of NC Wyeth, Normal Rockwell and Frederic Remington. The artist would get his break into video game box art through his time at DreamWorks Studios, working as an art director on many of the company’s film and video game projects. Medal of Honor | EA | 1999 | PS1. Medal of Honor: Frontline | EA | 2002 | GameCube, PS2, Xbox. Medal of Honor: Underground | EA | 2000 | Game Boy Advance, PS1. Secret Weapons Over Normandy | LucasArts | 2003 | PS2, Windows, Xbox. Michael O. Haire – Dunzhin | Med Systems Software | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, PC Booter, TRS-80. Kaiv | Screenplay | 1983 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Institute, The | Med Systems Software | 1981 | Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, TRS-80. Psychological drama The Institute would be another text-based adventure from publisher ScreenPlay and coding superstar Jyym Pearson. Its cover by artist Haire paints a Freudian nightmare, with delicately draw character art that wonderfully depicts the player’s slipping into a hellish dreamlike state of madness. Using vivid and juxtaposing pinks and yellows against black on white, The Institute leaps off the cover and mesmerises with its suggestiveness. Due to it heralding from the dawn of the home-computer scene no box was originally produced (the game came in a plastic bag, as was common of the time) and so this artwork was made available on the cover of the instruction manual. Wylde, The | Screenplay | 1983 | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Ziggurat | Screenplay | 1982 | Apple II, Atari 400/800. Mike Bryan – Robocop | Data East USA | 1988 | Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Boy, MS-DOS, NES, TRS-80. Mike’s original movie poster would be used across the globe and on all formats. It was arguably the first movie poster box art to have mass appeal. Nick Stathopoulos – Carriers at War | SSG | 1992 | MS-DOS. Carriers at War II | SSG | 1993 | Macintosh, MS-DOS. Carriers at War: Construction Kit | SSG | 1993 | MS-DOS. Complete Carriers at War, The: Fleet Carrier Operations in WWII | SSG | 1996 | MS-DOS. Decisive Battles of WWII: Ardennes Offensive | SSI | 1997 | Windows. Fire King | SSG | 1989 | Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Halls of Montezuma: A Battle History of the United States Marine Corps | SSG | 1987 | Amiga, Apple II, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Reach for the Stars: The Conquest for the Stars | SSG | 1988 | Amiga, Apple II, Commodore 64, Macintosh, MS-DOS. Rommel: Battles for North Africa | SSG | 1988 | Apple II, Commodore 64, Macintosh, MS-DOS. MacArthur’s War: Battles for Korea | SSG | 1988 | Apple II, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Warlords | SSG | 1990 | Amiga, Macintosh, MS-DOS. Warlords II | SSG | 1993 | Macintosh, MS-DOS. Warlords II Deluxe | SSG | 1995 | Macintosh, MS-DOS. Warlords II Scenario Builder | SSG | 1994 | MS-DOS. Paul Hanson – BASIC Computer Game | Creative Computing Software | 1978 | Apple II, Commodore PET, Ohio Scientific, TRS-80. More BASIC Computer Games | Creative Computing Software | 1978 | Apple II, Commodore PET, TRS-80. Peter Morawiec – Comix Zone | Sega | 1995 | EU/ NA ver. | Genesis, Mega Drive. Ralph McQuarrie – Star Wars | Broderbund | 1986 | EU/ NA ver. | Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, MS-DOS. One of only two known box arts by the influential artist Ralph Mcquarrie (the other being for the classic Atari 2600 game Vanguard). It would not only be used for the US release of Star Wars (the EU equivalent illustrated by Steinar Lund) but also for the European exclusive Star Wars Trilogy pack. Vanguard | Atari | 1982 | Atari 2600/ VCS, Atari 2800. Rick Guidice – Basic Programing | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/VCS. Breakaway IV | Sears | 1978 | Atari 2600/VCS. Blackjack | Atari | 1977 | Atari 2600/VCS. Canyon Bomber | Sears | 1978 | Atari 2600/VCS. Casino | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/VCS. Memory Match | Sears | 1978 | Atari 2600/VCS. Space War | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/VCS. Street Racer | Atari | 1977 | Atari 2600/VCS. Robert C. Clardy – As with many North American home computer designers in the late 1970’s, Clardy would be wholly responsible his game’s development, which often meant covering box art duties. He has commented that he was never an artist so the crudeness of both credited covers can be excused. It can also be noted that the way in which games were sold then meant strong artwork wasn’t as vital as it would be by 1980 when more sophisticated publishers and greater competition started appearing and box arts became painterly and elaborate. Dungeon Campaign | Synergistic Software | 1978 | Apple II. Clardy’s cover would be wonderfully crude in a time when cover arts for home computer releases were usually the case, especially in comparison to there Atari VCS brothers. As was also the case in the late 1970’s no box shipped with the game - only plastic bags - so the cover art here is the instruction manuals. This cover also has the distinction of being the earliest to depict a dragon. Wilderness Campaign | Synergistic Software | 1979 | Apple II. Robert G. Depew – Alien Carnage | Apogee Software | 1993 | MS-DOS. Duke Nukem II | Apogee Software | 1993 | MS-DOS. Wacky Wheels | Apogee Software | 1994 | MS-DOS. Xenophage: Alien BloodSport | Apogee Software | 1993 | MS-DOS. Robert Grace – Duke Nukem 3D | GT interactive | 1996 | Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Genesis, MS-DOS, Nintendo 64, PS2, PS4, Saturn, Windows, Xbox 360. Duke Nukem 3D’s unabashed stance of poking fun at/ paying homage to/ taking the piss out of popular culture up until the mid-90’s saw its box art deliberately take a stab at Don Ivan’s Doom cover (1992), but also various B-movie posters (see Army of Darkness, 1992). The games wild popularity saw it released on many different formats worldwide and under many different re-release packages over the years, the most standout being the Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition (1996). Rodney Greenblat – The all-round design and media master would lend his distinctive ‘whimsical and engaging’ art style to the early CD-ROM industry in the ‘90’s, where his flat and colorful characters complimented the pre-3D home computer scene perfectly. He would progress to character designer and overall art director for the hit series Parappa the Rapper (1996-2017) after being requested by the game’s lead musician to come onboard. This position of creative oversight would be a rare privilege for a western designer at the time, but Rodney has always been a well respected artist in the East. His style of art arguably suits Japanese taste, with its cheery, bright and somewhat simple look aping Japan’s Kawaii culture. It has led to a long history of him working for Japanese clients over the years. Outside of the Parappa series, Rodney was the creative force behind Major Minor’s Majestic March (MMMM, 2009), his final box art duties to date. Dazzleoids | Voyager Company | 1995 | Pippin, Windows. Major Minor’s Majestic March | Majesco Entertainment | 2009 | EU ver. | Nintendo Wii. Major Minor’s Majestic March | Majesco Entertainment | 2009 | NA ver. | Nintendo Wii. Major Minor’s Majestic March | Square Enix | 2009 | JPN ver. | Nintendo Wii. Parappa the Rapper (パラッパラッパー) | Sony | 1996 | JPN ver. | PS1. “In 1994 I was hired by Sony Creative Products, a licensing company inside Sony Music Japan. I was visiting their Tokyo office, and designing cute characters for printed products, clothing and toys. I designed a bored brown bear named PJ Berri, a cute precocious girl named Pony Pony, a blue fashionable cat named Katy Kat, and a super happy flower girl named Sunny Funny. Sony Creative was designing products with these fun characters. Little did I know in another Sony office, Matsaya Matsuura, a well know pop musician was developing a game for a brand new game platform called Playstation. He was already a fan of my artwork, and when he found out I was already working for Sony, he asked the people at Sony Creative Products if I would design the characters and world for his game. Of course I said yes. When I went to meet Matsuura’s team, they had already made a crude animation demo of the rap-music-simon-says-game using my characters from my 1993 CD-ROM Dazzeloids. Matsuura’s animation people loved the flatness of my work, and thought of creating flat characters who move around in a 3D world. I returned to New York and set about making sketches for the characters and world. I got word from Sony Creative that they wanted to put my colorful funky PJ, Katy, and Sunny characters in the game. Matsuura wanted the main character to be an upbeat, lovable slightly naive dog. I made several sketches and Sony Creative chose a dog with a pointed cap. Matsuura liked it too, and he had come up with a name for the game: Parappa The Rapper. “Parappa” is some kind of play on Japanese words that means “paper thin”. So Parappa was born.” Rodney Greenblat via whismyload.com. Parappa the Rapper (パラッパラッパー) | Sony | 1997 | EU ver. | PS1. Parappa the Rapper (パラッパラッパー) | Sony | 1997 | NA ver. | PS1. Parappa the Rapper (パラッパラッパー) | Sony | 2007 | EU ver. | Sony PSP. Parappa the Rapper 2 | Sony | 2001 | EU/ JPN ver. | PS2. Parappa the Rapper 2 | Sony | 2002 | NA ver. | PS2. Rodney’s Wonder Window | Voyager Company | 1992 | MS-DOS. Rodney’s Funscreen | Activision | 1992 | MS-DOS. Um Jammer Lammy | Sony | 1999 | EU ver. | PS1. Um Jammer Lammy | Sony | 1999 | JPN ver. | PS1. Um Jammer Lammy | Sony | 1999 | NA ver. | PS1. Ron Villani – Arkanoid | Taito | 1988 | NA ver. | Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS. Bubble Bobble | Taito | 1988 | NA ver. | Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Boy, MS-DOS, NES (EU/ NA ver.). Bubble Bobble Part II | Taito | 1993 | NA ver. | NES. Elevator Action | Taito | 1987 | NA ver. | NES. Legend of Kage, The | Taito | 1987 | NA ver. | NES. Renegade | Taito | 1989 | NA ver. | Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, NES. Steve Chorney – Chess | Texas Instruments | 1983 | TI-99/4A . Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard | Atari | 2005 | Windows. Football | Texas Instruments | 1983 | TI-99/4A.7 Risk | Parker Brothers | 1994 | NA ver. | Genesis. Sid Meier’s Civilisation III: Play the World | Infogrames | 2002 | Windows. Star Trek: The Next Generation - Echoes from the Past | Spectrum Holobyte | 1994 | Genesis. Total Eclipse | Crystal Dynamics | 1994 | 3DO, PlayStation. Steve Erwin – Batman Returns (バットマンリターンズ) | Konami | 1993 | JPN ver. | Super Famicom. Erwin’s artwork appears to have come from the same session that created the Batman Returns: The Official Comic Adaptation (1992). Erwin would join a small list of western artists who can claim exclusive Japanese cover arts. The European and North American versions would use movie stills from the film, as was common practice at the time. Steve Hendricks – Defender | Atari | 1981 | Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600/ VCS, Atari 2800. Haunted House | Atari | 1981 | Atari 2600/ VCS, Atari 2800. Night Driver | Atari | 1980 | Atari 2600/ VCS, Atari 2800. Othello | Atari | 1980 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Steeplechase | Atari | 1980 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Video Checkers | Atari | 1980 | Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600/ VCS. Warlords | Atari | 1981 | Atari 2600/ VCS, Atari 2800. Steve Huston – Body Slam! Super Pro Wrestling | INTV Corp | 1988 | Intellivision. Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess | Data East | 1989 | NA ver. | Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS. Drakkhen | Data East | 1989 | NA ver. | Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS. Mountain Madness: Super Pro Skiing | INTV Corp | 1988 | Intellivision. Super Pro Decathlon | INTV Corp | 1988 | Intellivision. Super Pro Football | INTV Corp | 1986 | Intellivision. Steve Peringer – Bugs Bunny’s Crazy Castle | Kemco | 1989 | Game Boy, NES. Final Fantasy Legend, The | Squaresoft | 1990 | NA ver. | Game Boy. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest | Squaresoft | 1992 | EU/ NA ver. | SNES. Leisure Suit Larry Greatest Hits and Misses | Sierra On-line | 1994 | MS-DOS, Windows 3.x. Shadowgate | Kemco | 1989 | NA ver. | NES. Super R-Type | Irem Amerian Corp | 1991 | NA ver. | SNES. Susan Jaekel – Susan would break into the video game industry through fellow Atari artist - and later husband - Rick Guidice, joining the debuting team of illustrators in 1977 when the VCS shipped. Her first cover, Basic Maths, would showcase a more stylised, cartoon look compared to the other launch box arts, with an appeal towards Atari’s younger gamers (her background was children’s book work). She would work with the company until 1980, producing the popular and enduring Adventure cover. All of her cover arts were designed using Dr. Martin’s dyes on illustration board and she is at present the earliest known female box artist. 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe | Atari | 1980 | Atari 2600/ VCS Adventure | Atari | 1980 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Basic Math (Fun With Numbers) | Atari | 1977 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Circus Atari | Atari | 1980 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Hangman | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Hunt and Score (Concentration) | Atari | 1978 | Atari 2600/ VCS. Tim Boxell – Having made his mark in the minds of a certain lowbrow segment during his underground comix work of the '70s (eg. Commies From Mars, 1973), as the following decade broke Tim Boxell aspired higher -- to commercial illustration work, for us notably including the covers of virtually all games published by Synapse as well as early covers to Atari 8-bit magazine Antic. Then he moved on to the world of film (eg. C.H.U.D., 1983) and departed our scope. Via Mobygames, 2010. Blue Max | Synapse Software Corp | 1983 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum. Blue Max 2001 | Synapse Software Corp | 1984 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Claim Jumper | Synapse Software Corp | 1982 | Atari 8-bit. Dimension X | Synapse Software Corp | 1984 | Atari 8-bit. Dodge Racer | Synapse Software Corp | 1981 | Atari 8-bit. Dough Boy | Synapse Software Corp | 1984 | Commodore 64. Drelbs | Synapse Software Corp | 1984 | Atari 8-bit, Apple II, Commodore 64. Fort Apocalypse | Synapse Software Corp | 1982 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Necromancer | Synapse Software Corp | 1982 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. New York City | Synapse Software Corp | 1984 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Panic Paranoia | Synapse Software Corp | 1982 | Atari 8-bit, Apple II. Pharaoh’s Curse, The | Synapse Software Corp | 1983 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, VIC-20. Protector II | Synapse Software Corp | 1982 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, TI-99, TRS-80. Quasimodo | Synapse Software Corp | 1984 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Rainbow Walker | Synapse Software Corp | 1983 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Sentinel | Synapse Software Corp | 1984 | Commodore 64. Shamus | Synapse Software Corp | 1983 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64. Shamus: Case II | Synapse Software Corp | 1983 | Commodore 64. Slamball | Synapse Software Corp | 1984 | Commodore 64. Survivor | Synapse Software Corp | 1982 | Atari 8-bit., Commodore 64. Zeppelin | Synapse Software Corp | 1983 | Atari 8-bit., Commodore 64. William L. Eaken – Dig, The | 1995 | LucasArts Entertainment | Linux, Macintosh, MS-DOS, Windows. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis | 1992 | LucasFilm Games | Amiga, MS-DOS, FMT, Linux, Macintosh, Windows. The well loved Fate of Atlantis saw LucasArts in-house artist Bill Eaken take the cover art reigns. The style is unmistakably a homage to Drew Struzan’s poster art, that Eaken pulls off with aplomb. Instruments of Chaos Starring Young Indiana Jones | Sega | 1994 | Genesis. Star Trek The Next Generation: A Final Unity | 1995 | Spectrum Holobyte | Macintosh, MS-DOS. Star Wars: Rebel Assault 2 – The Hidden Empire | 1995 | LucasArts Entertainment | Macintosh, MS-DOS, Windows. South American Ciruelo Cabral – Dragonheart: Fire and Steel | Acclaim Entertainment Inc. | 1996 | PS1, Saturn, Windows. Ishar 3: The Seven Gates of Infinity | Silmarils | 1994 | Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Windows. The third and final part of the Ishar series would see Argentine artist and dragon painter specialist Ciruelo Cabral lend his enviable talents. Named ‘Flying Dark Dragon’ the artwork was originally created in 1989 and first appeared on the front cover of one of the artist's own publications, The Book of the Dragon, 1991. Developer/ publisher Silmarils then bought the use of rights in 1994. Stylistically it comfortably bookended the other two excellent Tolkien-themed cover arts. Painted using acrylic on cardboard, its floating, dream like style of composition and use of cool colors can be found clearly inspired by the art of Roger Dean. Dean along with Moebius, and Frank Frazetta would play a big part in shaping the artist’s early creative approach. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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