How Atari Box Art turned 8 bit games into virtual wonderlands

[128bytes]

http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/19/4716444/how-atari-box-art-turned-8-bit-games-into-virtual-wonderlands

 

Go there right now - incredible article with some incredible web design. Then let's discuss

 

 

A snippet:

 

 

 

 

The cover for Adventure on the Atari looks nothing like the title it’s promoting. The game itself is essentially made of a series of rectangles, with a few blocky enemies prowling around, while the main adventurer is simply a square. You’re forced to imagine the fantasy world you’re meant to be exploring. But imagining it is a whole lot easier thanks to the vibrant artwork of Susan Jaekel. Because of her painting on the cover of the box, you knew that you were actually venturing through a hedge maze with three huge dragons lurking inside. It filled in the gaps left by the game’s rudimentary graphics — and Adventure was far from alone.

The original Atari featured a wealth of games with box art that was quite a bit more imaginative than the “grizzled man holding a gun” template that’s so popular today. The concept of playing a video game in your house, on your television, was still in its infancy in the late 1970s, and Atari needed a way to market its games. One solution was to commission intricately detailed covers that sold the idea of a game much better than any simple screenshot could. “The game-playing experience wasn’t 100 percent of the experience,” says Tim Lapetino, an artist and designer currently working on a book about the history of Atari cover art. “Part of what made the world complete was the artwork that conjured up this other place. I wasn’t sitting in my living room anymore; I was on this desolate planet or in space. And it was mostly because of that art.”

 

Edited September 19, 2013 by 128bytes

[+Allan]

I would love to see some interviews with these artist and what artwork they did like what was done with programmers for 2600 Connection newsletter. There a snippets of quotes but they left me wanting to read more about each artist.

 

Allan

[fiddlepaddle]

Games at the dawn of the video game era were so primitive that imagination was REQUIRED to make anything resemble real life. Back then, hyperbole was applied as a matter of course to virtually every computer game and TV game, even pre-2600 games like TV Tennis/hockey/hand-ball/etc, which wasn't really much like any of those games in real life. Attaching "reality" gave consumers something to latch on to.

Edited September 19, 2013 by fiddlepaddle

[VectorGamer]

Space Invaders was always my favorite box art. Too bad the article didn't cover that one.

[Bakasama]

I think the Super Breakout art with the shirtless dude seems to be the better one now.

 

The Space Invaders box art, when I look back at it, looks like a Boston Album cover.

Edited September 19, 2013 by Bakasama

[128bytes]

I even have fond memories of the Pac-Man box art -- I tried so hard to follow the narrative of the artist's rendition of the all-yellow "ghost quartet"!

[CatPix]

Videopac and even Interton VC 4000 artworks are pretty amazing too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I mean, even the game system box art :

 

 

I like overall how all those covers look like sci fi covers from the 70's.. Which is what those games are mostly.

[+Gemintronic]

I hope someday someone comes up with a tutorial on drawing Atari box art.

[+cvga]

Space Invaders was always my favorite box art. Too bad the article didn't cover that one.

 

It's one of my favorites also...

[AtariDude]

Yes. The artwork on those game cartridges were classics. They were little miniature works of art.

[jaybird3rd]

I've always felt the same way about those classic Atari box paintings:

 

I always thought the Atari artwork in particular was intriguing, and yes, I knew even at the time I saw my first game (when I was about six years old, in 1982) that I couldn't expect the game to look like the box art. For me, the paintings on the packaging served as a visual aid to prime my imagination ... perhaps that's one reason those games were so immersive for me; they were engaging my imagination on multiple levels. Just look at everything that's going on in the 2600 Missile Command artwork, for example. I'd say the same about the early Mattel Intellivision artwork, which used a similar visual style, although I didn't see those games until much later.

My favorite type of Atari art has always been the elaborate "montage paintings" that were used during the Warner era ... the audiovisuals in the games themselves might have been relatively simple, but the artwork provided dramatic mental images that I always enjoyed superimposing onto the games as I played them ... the best game graphics I've seen since still can't measure up to the visuals that I saw in my imagination ... my favorite cover of all is Missile Command.

Some people like to criticize [the Atari box paintings] because they don't reflect what the game really looks like, but in my opinion that criticism misses the point.

 

My favorites among the Atari 2600 boxes are the Berzerk, Defender, Missile Command, Star Raiders, and Vanguard boxes. I also have a soft spot in my heart for the Brain Games, Breakout, and Super Breakout box art, even though the latter two in particular seem to get a lot of criticism. Aside for a plain old screenshot, how else would you visualize what's going on in the Breakout games?

Most of the above was written in response to some obtuse comments to the effect that the Atari box art was "ridiculous" because it "had nothing to do with the gameplay" or "didn't really look like the game". In addition to being literal-minded and unimaginative, I still think that criticism totally misses the point of what the box art was intended to do. I'd love to have some high-quality poster-sized prints of those paintings, especially the ones listed in my third quote. Marvelous artwork.

[BSA Starfire]

Great article, thanks for sharing.

[Foxsolo2000]

Slot Racers was my favorite Atari box art, still love it to this day. Imagine how i felt though when I finally got a copy of the game and plugged it in

Edited September 23, 2013 by Foxsolo2000

[Serious]

Slot Racers was my favorite Atari box art, still love it to this day. Imagine how i felt though when I finally got a copy of the game and plugged it in

I love this stuff as well. I have a small Tumblr that I post/repost classic Atari box art and manual art on.

[oldskoolgaymer]

I'm intrigued by the book that was mentioned. I'll have to keep an eye out for that.

[lapetino]

It's one of my favorites also...

Nice! Is that a print or the original artwork?

 

BTW, I'm Tim Lapetino, quoted in the article. We are working on the book, as well as some other, larger projects related to the art of Classic video games. I will definitely keep you all here at AA posted on developments on all of this.

Edited September 29, 2013 by lapetino

[+cvga]

Nice! Is that a print or the original artwork?

BTW, I'm Tim Lapetino, quoted in the article. We are working on the book, as well as some other, larger projects related to the art of Classic video games. I will definitely keep you all here at AA posted on developments on all of this.

It's the actual picture that was on the wall at Atari headquarters. I bought it and Asteroids a long time ago from a former Atari employee that was moving and didn't have room for them. I don't know what is considered original artwork. It's not a painting.

[PFL]

^

It is gorgeous. I love that old school sci-fi thing. I suppose it's too big to scan?

[lapetino]

It's the actual picture that was on the wall at Atari headquarters. I bought it and Asteroids a long time ago from a former Atari employee that was moving and didn't have room for them. I don't know what is considered original artwork. It's not a painting.

I think what you have is a large, high-resolution printing of the piece, with a nice matte on it. Similar to what Jim Huether has of Steve Hendricks' Warlords image (see down below in this article: http://www.digitpress.com/library/interviews/interview_jim_huether.html). Though Jim thought it was an original. It isn't. How large is the piece? And would it be possible to scan? I'm curious to see the detail level on it, as I haven't been able to get slides or negatives of that piece. It's beautiful. Can you say who the Atari employee was? We're continuing to try and track down more people to interview for the book. If you want to keep that person's name out of the thread, feel free to PM me.

 

Thanks for sharing!

[+cvga]

^

It is gorgeous. I love that old school sci-fi thing. I suppose it's too big to scan?

Thanks! Yeah, it's pretty big.

[+cvga]

I think what you have is a large, high-resolution printing of the piece, with a nice matte on it. Similar to what Jim Huether has of Steve Hendricks' Warlords image (see down below in this article: http://www.digitpress.com/library/interviews/interview_jim_huether.html). Though Jim thought it was an original. It isn't. How large is the piece? And would it be possible to scan? I'm curious to see the detail level on it, as I haven't been able to get slides or negatives of that piece. It's beautiful. Can you say who the Atari employee was? We're continuing to try and track down more people to interview for the book. If you want to keep that person's name out of the thread, feel free to PM me.Thanks for sharing!

I'd estimate that it's about 3 feet by 3 feet including the matte. I bought it and Asteroids about 15-20 years ago. Unfortunately I don't have or recall the name of the person that sold them to me. I know he had worked at Atari, was moving, and wasn't planning on taking them with him. I believe he was going to sell them locally (in California) but I talked him into shipping them to me in Ohio. It still gives me goosebumps to think that they were actually hanging on the walls at Atari years ago. I keep hoping that I'll see a picture from back in the day with one of them in it!

[Buyatari]

I think what you have is a large, high-resolution printing of the piece, with a nice matte on it. Similar to what Jim Huether has of Steve Hendricks' Warlords image (see down below in this article: <a data-ipb="nomediaparse" data-cke-saved-href="http://www.digitpress.com/library/interviews/interview_jim_huether.html).%20Though%20Jim%20thought%20it%20was%20an%20original.%20It%20isn" href="http://www.digitpress.com/library/interviews/interview_jim_huether.html).%20Though%20Jim%20thought%20it%20was%20an%20original.%20It%20isn" t.%20how%20large%20is%20the%20piece?%20and%20would%20it%20be%20possible%20to%20scan?%20i'm%20curious%20to%20see%20the%20detail%20level%20on%20it,%20as%20i%20haven't%20been%20able%20to%20get%20slides%20or%20negatives%20of%20that%20piece.%20it's%20beautiful.%20can%20you%20say%20who%20the%20atari%20employee%20was?%20we're%20continuing%20to%20try%20and%20track%20down%20more%20people%20to%20interview%20for%20the%20book.%20if%20you%20want%20to%20keep%20that%20person's%20name%20out%20of%20the%20thread,%20feel%20free%20to%20pm%20me."="">http://www.digitpress.com/library/interviews/interview_jim_huether.html). Though Jim thought it was an original. It isn't. How large is the piece? And would it be possible to scan? I'm curious to see the detail level on it, as I haven't been able to get slides or negatives of that piece. It's beautiful. Can you say who the Atari employee was? We're continuing to try and track down more people to interview for the book. If you want to keep that person's name out of the thread, feel free to PM me.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

 

The Warlords print that you might have seen at the CGE museum is one of a few vintage copies of this Warlords image. I think there are at least 2 others that I have seen which have also been on the marketplace in the past 10 years. They do look great but they are all prints. In recent times Hendricks also sold modern prints of anything he did in any size you wanted.

[Buyatari]

I don't know what is considered original artwork.

 

When people refer to original artwork most mean the artwork which was hand rendered by the original artist from which all future mechanical copies (prints,cels,gameboxes,posters and ads etc) have derived. It can a skectch or a painting or any other type of media. These days most images are created on computer and no "original" exists other than arguably a digital file.

[R.O.T.S]

Yeah good times back in the day when we had to refer to box artwork and use our imaginations to help visualise what we could see onscreen,same for all retro systems really but i think the atari 2600 has some of the best examples simply because of the size of the boxes.Not quite the same feeling years later when looking at a game cassette inlay cover ,

Edited October 12, 2013 by R.O.T.S

[lapetino]

Hey, all. Another interview I did on the topic: http://www.edge-online.com/news/the-art-of-atari-the-masters-who-brought-early-games-to-life-by-filling-in-the-blanks/