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Description: Box art painting by Patrick Ho for Battletoads / Double Dragon, released for the NES, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, and Sega Genesis. Year: 1993 Image Area: 19" x 16.5" image area on 22"x20" Crescent cold press No. 100 heavy weight illustration board Image Source: original Condition: excellent

Patrick Ho is an American illustrator, concept artist, and toy maker with more than 30 years of experience in the video game industry, during which he was responsible for creating the box art for multiple iconic titles including Joe & Mac and for the Battletoads series. Patrick began his career as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer in 1989 after graduating from San Jose State University. Citing a love of the sci-fi and fantasy genres, much of Patrick's illustration work centered around packaging and advertisement art for video games. Between 1991 and 1999, Patrick worked on numerous projects through San Francisco bay area-based design firm Beeline Group, Inc., who counted Data East, Tradewest, and THQ among its clients. Beeline was especially prolific in the video game industry, and under art director Brian Balistreri created or contributed to the package design for literally hundreds of video games between 1986 and 2004. Beeline leveraged numerous freelance artists, like Patrick Ho, Marc Ericksen, Frank Cirocco, and Greg Winters, and to keep up with demand, in some instances multiple artists worked on a single project. Steve Lang in particular played a pivotal role creating layouts and compositions for game art that other illustrators would paint, including for Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, for which Patrick Ho then did the final. From 1991 through 1994, Patrick would paint the box art for more than a dozen titles through Beeline. Released within a month of each other, Patrick recalls Crystal Quest and Arcus Odyssey as his first video game works, each of which he both designed and painted. While Patrick was responsible for the full design for some of the titles from start to finish, with greater creative input, in other instances he was simply hired to execute the final illustration and was supplied photocopies of the final drawing created by another artist as reference to work from. Depending on what was needed, Patrick would incorporate any requested edits to the drawing or composition and would often create a color rough, painting directly atop copies of the provided reference—such as for Valis, Joe & Mac, and Battletoads—before proceeding to the final. In the mid-1990s, while continuing to work as a freelancer, Patrick’s ties to the video game industry led him to break into the development side of the industry as a concept and texture artist. After positions with Gizmo Gypsies, where he worked on the edutainment title The Little Wizard, and 989 Studios, where Patrick worked on The Mark of Kri, Patrick transitioned to Daybreak Games / Sony Online Entertainment starting in 2000. At this point, he appears to have largely left freelancing behind, going on to work for SOE for more than 15 years, where Patrick did extensive work on Everquest. More recently, Patrick worked for NantGames on the mobile geolocation fantasy RPG MythWalker. Patrick’s non-game illustration work included projects for marketing agencies, product packaging, magazines, indie comics, and trading card game companies. Of note, he illustrated four cards for Magic: the Gathering in the Urza’s Destiny set as well as traditional art for the Shadowrun and Dark Age TCGs. Digitally Patrick illustrated cards for the EverQuest: Legends of Norrath TCG and Star Wars Galaxies TCG. Fun fact: Patrick Ho was high school classmates with fellow video game illustrator John Zeleznik. OVGA has included below Patrick Ho’s full known video game box art catalog: Crystal Quest (Data East | Game Boy | Sept. 1991) Arcus Odyssey (Renovation | Sega Genesis | Oct. 1991) Valis (Renovation | Sega Genesis | Dec. 1991) Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe (Konami / Mirrorsoft | DOS, Amiga, Genesis | Dec. 1991) Elf (Ocean | DOS | 1992) Joe & Mac (Data East | NES, Game Boy | 1992) Nail ‘n Scale (Data East | Game Boy | 1992) Mr. Do (Ocean | Game Boy | Nov. 1992) Tumble Pop (Data East | Game Boy | 1993) Battletoads (Tradewest | Genesis, Game Gear | Mar. 1993) Battletoads in Battlaniacs (Tradewest | SNES | 1993) Battletoads Double Dragon (Tradewest | Genesis, Game Boy, NES, SNES | 1993) Commander Blood (Mindscape | Windows | 1994) Road Rash 64 (THQ | Nintendo 64-EUR | 1999) digital Destruction Derby 64 (THQ | Nintendo 64 | 1999) digital; Patrick's layout used for 3D design by another artist During his work for Beeline, sometimes Patrick was only hired to do sketches rather than final illustrations. As the use of CGI/3D art was becoming more popular, those artists sometimes lacked layout and composition skills, and Patrick’s art director would often ask Patrick to come up with compositions for the 3D artists to base their renders off of. Though Patrick’s designs and layouts were not used for the final box art, he worked on Armored Core (1997), Rugrats: Studio Tour (1999) Tomba 2 (1999), and Tonic Trouble (1999). Patrick also created what would have been the U.S. box art for THQ’s Shaolin (released in Japan as Lord of Fist) though the U.S. release was cancelled. For Shaolin, Patrick drew the character lines traditionally then scanned them to arrange, color, and finish digitally in Photoshop. Patrick took this same approach for his art for Road Rash 64, which was used for the box art in Europe as well as for the manual cover and pack-in poster in the United States, in addition to advertising usage. Patrick began incorporating these digital techniques after his transition to art roles in game development. Beyond box art, Patrick also did limited arcade and magazine work. Through Beeline, Patrick did the arcade marquee artwork for TAD Corporation’s 1992 Wild West-themed arcade run-and-gun shooter Heated Barrel, distributed by Fabtek. The next year in 1993, Patrick created what may have been the earliest U.S.-created artwork for the Samurai Shodown franchise, illustrating 12 separate character illustrations used for the arcade bezel art as well as some promotional usage. On the magazine side, Patrick created the cover art for the March 1995 issue of PC Gamer magazine, featuring Aliens, as well as a couple of interior pieces for feature articles, including one for Flashback.

Description: Mike Butkus designed a number of packaging concepts for Sega's Alien Syndrome for Nintendo Wii and PSP (2007). This concept art by Mike Butkus informed the design of a pre-release promotional poster insert (illustrated by Tyler Kirkham) for the game that was included in issue 214 of Nintendo Power in April 2007. Year: 2007 Image Area: 7" x 11" (on 17" x 14" tracing paper) Image Source: Original Condition: Excellent

Description: Famitsu Weekly Issue 240 (July 23, 1993), featuring Susumu Matsushita’s artwork of Street Fighter II’s Chun-Li alongside Famitsu’s mascot Necky the Fox dressed as Ryu. Year: 1993 Image Area: 13.5 IN x 18" IN Image Source: Original Artwork Condition: Excellent

Description: Original key image for the Pandora’s Box collection. Mike used graphite pencil and additional techniques for the artwork. Year: 2023 Image Area: 13” x 20” Image Source: Condition:

BIO: Sandra S. Rush is a freelance ink artist and illustrator from Poland known for her dark fantasy and dark romanticism artwork.

Description:Choplifter III Super Famicom Box Art Year: 1994 Image Area: Image Source: Condition:

Description: This is an ink drawing created by Sandra Rush inspired by the Legacy of Kain series. Sandra digitally colored the piece. It was licensed for use on merchandise as part of the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver Official Prequel Graphic Novel: The Dead Shall Rise Kickstarter Campaign. The image was featured on T shirts and prints as part of the recent reboot of the series. Year: 2023 Medium: Fineliners (Ink) on Art Paper Image Area: 11.55 x 16.41 IN Image Source: Original Condition: Slight crease through paper, otherwise in great shape.

Description: This illustration was produced for the Renovation box art of Battle Mission for the Sega Genesis. The game was a first person rail shooter, very little was ever released about the game before being cancelled.The painting was published at a trade show advertisement for the game. Year: 1990 Medium: Acrylic on board Image Area: 15.75 x 22.75 IN Image Source: Original Condition: Very Good

Description: Box art for the fishing title Sun Spo Fishing Keiryuu Ou. Year: 1994 Medium: Acrylic on board Image Area: 15.5 x 21.5 IN Image Source: Original Condition: Very Good

Description: Box art for Sim Ant on the Super Famicom in Japan. Was also used on the FM Towns and Sharp X68000. Year: 1992 Medium: Acrylic on board Image Area: 23 x 12 IN Image Source: Original Condition: Very Good

Description: Original Box Art for Populous on the Nintendo Game Boy. Also known as Populous Gaiden in Japan. Art was used in Japan only. Year: 1993 Medium: Acrylic on board Image Area: 28 x 19.75 IN Image Source: Original Condition: Very Good

Carl Critchlow is a British fantasy and science fiction comic illustrator known for his character Thrud the Barbarian and for contributing numerous card illustrations for Magic: The Gathering. Carl has had a long career in comics dating back to the early 1980s, and though his early work consisted of black and white ink drawings, he began using color and producing fully painted pieces in the 1990s, including for a handful of pieces for video game packaging documented below. OVGA has included below Carl Critchlow’s full known video game box art catalog: Hexx: Heresy of the Wizard (Psygnosis | DOS | 1994) Ecstatica (Psygnosis | DOS | 1994) Shadow of the Beast II (Psygnosis | Sega CD | 1994) Sea Legends (Ocean | DOS | 1996) Carl also created the packaging art for the unreleased Psygnosis game Superhero, which was set for release in 1993 and may have been Carl’s first project with Psygnosis. The game was mere weeks from release, but a police raid on the development office restricted access to the computers with the files until 1998, ultimately killing the project.

Description: Koga’s illustration of an ’80s anime-style starfighter battling a giant, mech-like Godzilla clearly draws on Japanese pop culture. He also created the game’s title artwork. Year: 1991 Medium: Oil/Acrylics on board Image Area: Width x Height IN/CM Image Source: Original Condition: A few spots of foxing, otherwise in great condition

Dev Madan is an American illustrator with a career spanning over 35 years in the video game and comic book industries. Early career contributions included illustrating the iconic box art for Super Nintendo RPGs Breath of Fire and Final Fantasy III. He is perhaps best known for his role as the art director and character designer behind the Sly Cooper trilogy for Sony Entertainment, where he was responsible for the series' distinctive cel-shaded aesthetic. This biography is adapted in part from an extensive and engaging interview Dev Madan did with Breath of Fire fansite Dragnier in August 2024. Attending the Art Institute of Seattle positioned Dev geographically for a variety of roles and opportunities in the still nascent video game industry. As Dev recounts in his interview with Dragnier, said in the context of his Breath of Fire artwork, video games didn’t necessarily have their own built-in audience. While he compared comics to games in possibly having overlapping demographics from a marketing perspective, Dev also commented that video games were at that time considered to be a small part of the toy industry. While Dev might not have known quite the extent to which video games would explode into the mainstream, the positions he pursued laid a foundation for a long and successful career in the industry. In January 1990, Dev’s first position out of art school was with Taito Software working on in-game artwork for the NES game Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, while also handling some level design. Dev recalls also starting work on The Flintstones and The Jetsons games, but the studio shut down shortly after Indiana Jones shipped in 1991. While he would then continue to develop his portfolio and pursue freelance work with advertising agencies in addition to submitting comic work to publishers, his video game journey continued with Humongous Entertainment. Helping launch the company with Ron Gilbert, Dev served as an animator and background artist for iconic edutainment titles, including early entries in the Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, and Fatty Bear series. He also illustrated the package art for a handful of those games. Dev Madan’s box art illustrations for Square Soft RPGs in 1994 would bring his art into households across the United States. Even retro gamers and video game art collectors who may not yet know Dev’s name, certainly know his work. Dev created the box art for Breath of Fire, released in August 1994, followed by the package and advertising art for Final Fantasy III (the U.S. release of Final Fantasy VI), released in October 1994. Recognizing the cultural significance and impact of those games and his paintings, Dev has a dedicated page on his website for each game where he showcases the original artwork. Dev credits his work illustrating the Breath of Fire box art as one of his first freelance jobs and the one that pretty much kicked off his freelance career. Although Breath of Fire was developed and published by Capcom in Japan, in the United States, Square Soft handled the game’s English localization and promotion due to Capcom USA's lack of experience with text-heavy role-playing games. Accordingly, Square Soft was responsible for the game’s U.S. package art and contracted a Seattle-area design firm (identity unknown) through which Dev picked up the assignment. Dev recounted that expectations were low for the title, which led to a budget for only a single image that would then be used as both the box art and for the advertising campaign. Aiming to adapt the game for the North American market, the design firm opted for an American comic book aesthetic, which included adding comic book-style text blocks and speech bubbles to the promotional ads. Dev recalled the whole Breath of Fire job took about three to four weeks and was fairly routine: he submitted thumbnail sketches, followed by a tight pencil sketch, before moving to full paints, which were done atop final inked lines. Dev airbrushed with transparent inks to lay in the base colors and additional thin washes of gouache or acrylics for small shadows. Airbrushing with transparent inks allowed him to preserve his original black, inked lines. It wasn’t until the final painting was turned in on the day of the deadline that Dev was asked to adjust the sky from a mid-afternoon blue to the more dramatic sunset colors in the final image. With the painting due to go to the production house that same day for scanning, and with Dev not having time to return to his own studio, he ended up needing to crash an airbrush class at his old school. Borrowing a student’s supplies, Dev made the corrections (using opaque inks to cover up the bright, blue sky) and was able to return it to the agency within an hour. Dev’s website notes that the final painting measures 14 1/2" x 11” on Bristol board and includes a number of preliminary images. As a result of Dev’s work on Breath of Fire, which Square Soft believed had an impact on the game’s positive sales, Dev was brought back for Square’s next game scheduled for release: Final Fantasy III. Square wanted the imagery to look different from Breath of Fire, so to sell them on what he had in mind, Dev shied away from his standard comic linework and instead leaned more on the airbrush and paints. Dev’s “try out” image or study—the head of a blue demon with ear piercings, a mouth of sharp teeth, and a tongue sticking out complete with excess saliva—was a “little too edgy” but showed Dev could deliver the kind of illustrated look they wanted. For Final Fantasy III, Dev leaned into the airbrush and gouache paint but also leveraged more opaque paints with colored pencils to sharpen details. Spraying a fixative between paint layers allowed Dev to even out the coverage and seal the colors, while providing a nice tooth for the colored pencils and white highlights. His actual final box art painting is quite small (13 1/2" x 8 3/4"), and while Dev’s work looks quite simple on the published box, as if it were just the character Mog on a painted background, the original reveals the “background” to actually be the purple shadow of a looming monster. As Final Fantasy III had a larger budget and was a full advertising campaign, Dev painted a spot illustration of Mog used on the back of the box as well promotional art featuring an in-your-face group of monsters in a style closer to comic art but still painted. Although Dev found very early involvement in the video game industry coming out of art school, including through freelancing, he has made some of his most significant impacts on the industry from the development side. Dev’s pivotal work on the Sly Cooper series contributed to Sly Cooper being considered one of the “Big 3” mascots of the PlayStation 2 era, alongside Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank. As the series’ Art Director, Dev did not only defined the game’s signature look, he helped create an interactive cartoon where the characters and environments felt hand-illustrated yet lived-in, a world where the characters’ personalities were deeply reflected in their designs. Since completing the Sly trilogy in 2005, Dev has undertaken a number of major leadership roles in gaming, including serving as Creative Director at PopCap Games for the Plants vs. Zombies franchise and as Art Director at Final Strike Games for the 3v3 shooter Rocket Arena. He also founded Loose Cannon Studios, where he led the art direction for the 2009 title Tornado Outbreak. More recently, Dev served as Director of Art at Toys For Bob for the 2023 release Crash Team Rumble. Additionally, Madan contributed his veteran artistic skills to the 2022 revival Return to Monkey Island, further cementing his legacy as a versatile and enduring creative force across both classic and modern gaming. Outside of gaming his illustration and comic client list includes Disney, Funko, Wizards of the Coast, Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, The Seattle Supersonics, Image, Marvel and Dark Horse Comics. At DC Comics (1993–1999) he worked on titles such as Plastic Man, Judge Dredd, and Batman Adventures as well as launched the creator-owned title Young Heroes in Love. OVGA has included below Dev Madan’s full known box art catalog: Putt-Putt Joins the Parade (Humongous Entertainment | DOS, Windows, 3DO, Macintosh | 1993) Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon (Humongous Entertainment | DOS, Windows, 3DO, Macintosh | 1993) Fatty Bear’s FunPack (Humongous Entertainment | DOS, 3DO | 1993) Fatty Bear’s Birthday Surprise (DOS, 3DO, Macintosh, Windows | 1993) Breath of Fire (Square Soft | SNES | 1994) Final Fantasy III (Square Soft | SNES | 1994) Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo (Humongous Entertainment | Windows, Macintosh | 1995) Dev also worked on the box art for Taito’s Sonic Blast Man II for the Super Nintendo. Dev was responsible for the box art layout and comps but according to Dev, the art was ultimately redone internally by the publisher for the final product. An early set of inked lines that Dev did (before it was redone by the publisher) appears in some thumbnails and ads for the game ahead of its release.

Kirk Henderson is an American illustrator responsible for creating the box art for the Sega Genesis game ToeJam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron. Kirk also created a lot of the background and environmental art for the game, which was created traditionally and then digitized for in-game usage.

Description: Year: Medium: Oil on canvas, Acrylic on board, Mixed Media Image Area: Width x Height IN/CM Image Source: Original, Transparency, Online, Etc Condition:

Bio:

Description: Brutal: Paws of Fury is one of the largest, most beautiful paintings in my collection. Mark's detail is astounding and his distinctively distorted but realistic style is perfect for the comedy of a cast of anthropomorphic fighting animals. Year: 1994 Medium: Image Area: big! Image Source: Original Condition:

Description: Published by Crystal Dynamics for the Sony PlayStation in November 1996. The first game in the series that spawned the Legacy of Kain Blood Omen and Soul Reaver Series. The game was later ported to PC a year later which used a digital art. A port to the Sega Saturn was also planned and almost complete but was never released. The game has recently been re-released digitally on several platforms including the Playstation network and as a bundle for the evercade console. Year: 1996 Medium: Oil on Stretched Canvas Image Area: 15" x 24" Image Source: Original Condition: Excellent