The VGS Original Game Art Thread

[supergamboy | 61]

Hi all, I've been around VGS a bit here and there, mostly in relation to a Genesis CIB contents spreadsheet I (used to?) maintain. But I'd been on NA/SA under the username molotovwars and then supergamboy (Korean name for the Genesis/Mega Drive).

In any case, along my collecting journey I went from collecting CIB games to sealed games to now collecting original video game art. It was topics on NA/SA that first exposed me to game art. I think most of us back then will remain the long thread dedicated to Greg Winters (of Mega Man series fame), first guessing the artist and then identifying all of the many many titles he illustrated. Another memorable thread was on the passing of Greg Martin (Sonic, Pac-Man, Flintstones, Adventure Island), and if I recall that story got picked up across the internet, all linking back to NA. A lot of minds were blown when a sealed Stadium Events was part of the trade for the NES painting for Panic Restaurant.

Those threads taught me a lot so I figured I'd start up some kind of thread to share some my own art and for whatever conversations and questions this thread leads to!

Here's a big, beautiful painting I haven't yet shared elsewhere. Top dimension is over 30" I think. Mark Fredrickson's painting for Brutal, released for Genesis, Sega CD, SNES, and other systems.

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by supergamboy

[supergamboy | 61]

Hmm, let's see if the image quality is better by linking to an image-hosting site versus the attach file option on VGS

Looks much better. I'll update the primary image in the first post

Edited January 7, 2023 by supergamboy

[Gloves | 11,791]

1 hour ago, supergamboy said:

Hmm, let's see if the image quality is better by linking to an image-hosting site versus the attach file option on VGS

Looks much better. I'll update the primary image in the first post

Yeah we have the VGS upload compressing files down to web view appropriate sizes, since hosting images costs money. If you wanna share full resolution images, using an external hosting service like Imgur is definitely the way to go. 

[GPX | 1,370]

The amount of detail in the OP art is amazing! I own this game in Megadrive and SNES versions but never really appreciated the art until seeing this original painting, particularly the level of detail! Thanks for sharing! 
 

 

[supergamboy | 61]

Mark Fredrickson's paintings are really really exceptional. Here are two other close-ups! And below I'll link to another one of his game works.

Mark also did Tail 'Gator for the Game Boy, but since its such a rare box not a lot of people have even seen that image before! And even if you had the printed box is so small that its probably hard to see all the wild action going on.

Tail 'Gator painting: https://www.originalvideogameart.com/original-video-game-art/tail-gator-game-boy-box-art-r459/

Edited January 9, 2023 by supergamboy

[Bronty | 187]

Gorgeous piece

[Tanooki | 4,936]

Agreed very nice, and thanks to that link I find there is a really wicked website with the original art collected on it by people who are ok sharing it.  There are some real fine pieces to view there.

[supergamboy | 61]

21 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Agreed very nice, and thanks to that link I find there is a really wicked website with the original art collected on it by people who are ok sharing it.  There are some real fine pieces to view there.

Pleased to hear you like the site, man! Its a site I help out with, uploading some of my own art and curating a lot of the artist biographies, but the genesis of it all was @ibrahim_uk!

Ibrahim launched the site late last year after working it for more than a year. Testing and refining daily as we hone the vision and see how users interact with the site. Gonna keep working with collectors to add their art as we build the site as a resource! 

Among the pieces on the site, I particularly appreciate the art for games that were ultimately unreleased. For the most part that "art" generally went unseen, relegated to a small thumbnail in a game preview, at best.

Here's the art for the unreleased NES game Drac's Night Out:
https://www.originalvideogameart.com/original-video-game-art/unreleased-drac’s-night-out-nes-box-art-r423/

 

[Tanooki | 4,936]

I loved it for years and years when Bronty would roll out some one off like those all largely art.  Concept art, box art, magazine and ad stuff, in super high resolution very clean to capture all the detail.  A few I'd snap up and use as a wallpaper or print on a standard sheet of paper and stuff on my office when I was in office on the wall.  To see a place finally capturing these things and with more images zoomed even deeper into the sections is nice.  I had at one point lost that copy of the Dragon's Lair wannabe movie poster piece it's fantastic.

I'm not sure if he's be cool with it or not, but have you ever tried to get a hold of Drew Struzan?  He does movie posters mostly, but he also doubled for the game art for the various Indiana Jones games like Fate of Atlantis and he had it for free up on his site with large clean images to explore for fun as examples, allowed purchases of the stuff when allowed by the studios too.  Having some Lucasarts art up there would be sweet.

[supergamboy | 61]

One thing we're working through on the site is a balance between adding images to the site (so that people find it or want to frequent it, or sign up and use the forums) and keeping it collector-focused. 

The Dragon's Lair piece is a great example. It original sold on Heritage Auctions (link) but the image on OVGA was actually uploaded by the owner, which is what we want: actual users sharing their art and helping form a community for those that are curious to join and ask questions.

But your mention of Drew Struzan is a good one. A "Drew Struzan" Facebook account (official but not actually Drew posting) shares his work and Galactic Gallery handles original art sales, so lots of logo/text-free images of his work around, including for games. Those could be added to OVGA's gallery, but we don't want internet images to crowd out the images owned by users.

So in any case, where we've landed is to 1) prepare a written biography for an artist like Drew and lay out their game work so that OVGA is an information resource, then 2) we might add to Additional Images some examples of that artist's work (generally avoiding when we know the owner of a given piece) without crowding the gallery. So after your mention of Drew I added one of his Indiana Jones images and one for Star Trek SNES.

Link to the OVGA bio for Struzan: https://www.originalvideogameart.com/video-game-illustrators/drew-struzan-b-1947-r194/

[Tanooki | 4,936]

Those are two very good pieces, though I think of the Indy stuff he went all out best with Fate of Atlantis as that one is just iconic of the era, the franchise, and of the lucasarts stuff that isn't Star Wars.

[supergamboy | 61]

You mean this one?

That's actually not Drew's work! If you notice off to the right side there are the initials "BE" for Bill Eaken (William L. Eaken), but definitely still an awesome painting.

[Tanooki | 4,936]

Hmmm thought it was, doh... and yes, it's incredible.