Paul Faris is an illustrator and art director that has worked on arcade, pinball, and video games. Paul is best known for his pinball work for Bally and his arcade and home console work for Taito.
In 1975, Bally started a new in-house art department; Paul joined Bally shortly afterward. He was promoted to art director at Bally in 1977. At Bally, Paul’s artwork appeared on many of their popular games, including Evel Knievel, Eight Ball, Playboy (Bally), Paragon, Xenon, and Centaur.
In 1985, Paul left Bally and started Paragon Studios, Inc., a small art gallery and studio in Wheaton, Illinois where he remained active in the development of gaming artwork, expanding beyond Bally to work with Game Plan, Data East, Taito, and Sega Pinball.
With an American division based in Illinois, Taito frequently hired local firms and artists. Paul’s relationship with Taito appears to have begun with arcade art for Double Dragon in 1987. Paul's arcade work for Taito crossed into creating box art for the company. OVGA has included Paul’s Taito box art catalog below:
- Toki (NES, 1991)
- Panic Restaurant (NES, 1992)
- Power Blade 2 (NES, 1992)
- Cadash (Sega Genesis, 1992)
- World Beach Volley: 1992 GB Cup (Game Boy-EUR, 1992)
- Sonic Blast Man (SNES, 1993)
- Super Chase H.Q. (SNES, 1993)
Beyond the above box art, Paul did numerous additional illustrations for Taito arcade flyers and full page ads for console games for which he often did not illustrate the box art. Paul commonly included his signature in these ads, aiding in the identification of his extensive Taito catalog.
Pinside includes a full list for all of the pinball machines for which Paul was a member of the design team.
In 2006, Paul Faris was inducted into the Pinball Expo Hall of Fame. In 2018, at the age of 71, Paul was inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA), following 36 years as a wrestling coach. Paul and his wife, Jan, have lived in the same house in Wheaton, Illinois for over 40 years. They have 3 children and 9 grandchildren.
Paul Faris
