Tempest Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 I was just contacted by Kirk Kenyon whose father did the artwork for Submarine Commander, Asteroids, Missile Command, Battlezone, Jungle Hunt, and Realsports Soccer. He found my Art of Sears page and wanted to let me in on some information behind the 'Scary Submarine Commander' on the cover. Kirk was in fact the model for the submarine commander and he has some pictures showing him modeling for the cover. I just thought I'd share them as he sends them to me. He also told me that the ship on the Asteroids cover was made out of a Buck Rogers model kit. http://www.atariprotos.com/other/sears/artofsears.htm 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeekDragon Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Awesome. How cool is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cambouis de l'Atari Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 I always loved the Asteroids one 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Fantastic!Thanks for sharing, Tempest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schitti Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Nice to know. Thanks for sharing the information with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 13, 2018 Author Share Posted June 13, 2018 I added the three other pictures he sent me. I can't ever look at that label again without thinking of him holding an umbrella. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 I think its incredible that this was still being saved and that they came forward to share it with us! Those pics are so cool man. I dont know anything about art or photography, but I never knew the artwork used a real photo as part of its design. So interesting to see this. And for the record, I never thought of that guy as scary, in fact I always thought he looked like a real captain; super serious, and looked like a bad ass! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 13, 2018 Author Share Posted June 13, 2018 And for the record, I never thought of that guy as scary, in fact I always thought he looked like a real captain; super serious, and looked like a bad ass! He said he was going for 'steely eyed' which I guess is a better description. All the descriptions on my Sears page are supposed be non-serious so to a child, I'd say he looks scary. Personally I always thought he looked a bit like Captain Gregg from The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 16, 2018 Author Share Posted June 16, 2018 Here's another piece Chris did for Atari. It's a label for Defender that was ultimately not used. 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 Wow, LOVE it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Finally, a Sears label variation for Defender! ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 18, 2018 Author Share Posted June 18, 2018 I have no idea if that was the plan or not. I think it was just rejected artwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScarySubCmdr Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 With regards to the photos of me posing as a steely-eyed submariner, those are polaroids, just a sampling of the many photographs I inherited from my dad when he passed away in 2012. Back before digital cameras, a polaroid camera was a commercial illustrator's favorite tool for capturing quick reference photos of models (often co-workers, friends or family) posing for an illustration. It was a little disillusioning for me to find that even the best artists prefer to have an actual model to use as a reference when drawing a figure, and the polaroid camera provided a great way to take instant snapshots for later reference. My family photo collection includes many polaroids of my family members in rather odd poses - crawling across the floor, holding a box of breakfast cereal with a somewhat manic expression or, as in this case, holding some prop and assuming variety of expressions. Funny story: One of my dad's fellow illustrators took dozens of photos of hands opening a food package for use in creating an illustration for a client. When he submitted the finished illustration of a pair of hands opening the food package it made its way all the way through the add agency, past the art director to the client before anyone noticed that the illustrations depicted two right hands, instead of a left and a right. D'oh! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ventrra Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Here's another piece Chris did for Atari. It's a label for Defender that was ultimately not used. Alt_Defender_2600.jpg I honestly like this artwork better than the artwork that went onto the actual cart label. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
up2knowgood Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 I honestly like this artwork better than the artwork that went onto the actual cart label. Have to agree with you there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 On 6/12/2018 at 7:33 PM, Tempest said: I was just contacted by Kirk Kenyon whose father did the artwork for Submarine Commander Nice! Looks like you had a brain-o on the Submarine Commander page: Quote ...Although the captain may look a little scary, he is in fact modeled after the artists son Kirk... As mentioned above, the artwork was modeled after Chris, the artists son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 17 minutes ago, SpiceWare said: Nice! Looks like you had a brain-o on the Submarine Commander page: That's what I get for trying to update my page while on a conference call. I'll fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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