Atari Game Art info needed

[lost]

Hello,

I have been looking for information on certain artists whose work has appeared all over the Atari 2600 packaging. One artist (at least I think it is one artist) in particular appears on games like Warlords,Black Jack,Break Out, and Dodge 'em.

 

Actually, any information on any of the artist would be great.

[videotwit]

I find this topic greatly interresting as well. Surely someone out there must have some info on these illustrators and artists.

 

Besides my Atari 2600 collection, I have a small yet fairly impressive art collection (works on paper by European and American 20th century artists from French Post-Impressionism to Pop Art). I'd love to have a piece or two to tie these 2 collections together (and some nice artwork to hang in my "Atari room")

 

Has anyone ever seen an original? Heard of one? I'd love to hear even the tiniest speck of info that anyone has ever even heard!

[lost]

The closest thing I have come to original Art wason the Atari Historical Society (I think that was the name of the website), however I have not been able to get onto the site lately. I remember seeing the original Bezerk cover there.

 

The only other leads I got was from page 2 of the Missle Command Instruction booklet. There is a small illustration with a signature. The first name is Steve but I can not quite make out the last name. (Handrick,Handrich,Hendrich,etc...) I checked out numerous spellings online but to no avail.

 

There is also a signature on the cover of Surround, but it is too small to see.

 

-Chris

[Tempest]

The Atari Historical Society is at: http://www.atari-history.com

 

Curt Vendel (who runs the AHS) may know who some of the artists were.

 

Tempest

[lost]

Cool. The web site still does not come up for me but it is probably my browser. I will try again in the next couple of Days.

 

I think I discovered the Artist responsible for the Box Art to Black Jack.

 

I just noticed a "Guidice" signature on the box.

 

Rick Guidice is an artist mostly known for his NASA paintings during the 70's. He did all those Colony Space Station Pieces.

 

I am pretty positive it is the same guy.

 

If anyone has any knowledge on this artist or any other Games that display his Art please let me know.

 

-Chris

[Tempest]

Hmm... The site's not coming up for me either. It's probably because Curt is in New York (Staten Island I think) and they're obviously going to be experiencing power outages and cable problems. It should be up in a few days I imagine.

 

Tempest

[Curt Vendel]

Hi guys,

 

I'm here at work in Weehawken, NJ right now. Power to a section of a major switching station is down and I've been getting reports from my network engineers checking with our network communications peering partners (companies that share off of the Exodus backbone like Sprint, Excite and so forth) that ConEd is working on the problem, power may be restored by 6pm tonight and communications should then be restored to the DSL POPs up and down the entire east coast, for right now, the Atari History Site server, mail server as well as other domains which were given free webhosting space are unavailable at this time since my net routes through the affected switch, sorry for the inconvenience.

 

Matt: As for name of artists, many have their names and artist studio's on many of the artwork pieces I have in the AHS archives, I will try to post the names this weekend for everyone's use. However, please use retraint when searching for and contacting these people, best to send and email and not dig up their phone numbers and such.

 

 

Curt

[Tempest]

So stalking them is out? Darn it! I wanted to dress up as my favortie Atari character, show up on their doorstep and demand that they sign my body.

 

Tempest

[Curt Vendel]

Matt,

 

Okay there.... whatever you've been drinking... your cut off dude!!!

 

 

Curt

[lost]

That would be great if you could pass on that information. I would be in your debt.

 

I also discovered another artist (which was not that hard once you own the game)

 

GUS ALLEN. From such package art as Ms. Pac-Man and Dig Dug.

 

Cant find any other info on him either.

[videotwit]

I spent a good part of this weekend researching the subject of Illustrators who did work for Atari (as well as other companies manufacturing games for the 2600). I so far have a database of better than a dozen people who I am trying to check out. Some of the names on my list are quite interesting!

 

I'm going to work on it again tonight, and will post a list here sometime soon.

[lost]

A Dozen?!

Wow! I have been trying to get names for about a month and only game up with maybe 7 total. I am in awe of your sources.

 

I will be looking foward to that list.

 

 

-Chris

[videotwit]

OK. I guess the list was over two dozen.

 

If anyone had additional information to add to this, please let me know. I've marked items I wasn't 100% sure of with a question mark (?). Mostly these are names I had hard times reading because they had been reduced in size so much from the originals.

 

Who knows, if people think it is important enough, we might have the start of a new FAQ here (The Atari Label Art Illustrator FAQ?)

 

-----------------------

 

Illustrator: Gus Allen

Notes: N/A

Games: Dig Dug (Atari), Ms. Pac-Man (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Burrell

Notes: N/A

Games: Centipede (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Chano

Notes: N/A

Games: Math Gran Prix (Atari). Moon Patrol (Atari), RealSports Soccer (Atari), SwordQuest: Earthworld (Atari), SwordQuest: FireWorld (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Dele(?)

Notes: N/A

Games: Maze (Sears Tele-Games)

 

Illustrator: C. Dellore

Notes: N/A

Games: The Official Frogger (Starpath / Arcadia)

 

Illustrator: Derrott(?)

Notes: N/A

Games: Phoenix (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Enright

Notes: N/A

Games: Outlaw (Atari), Slot Machine (Atari), Slot Racers (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Rick Guidice

Notes: N/A

Games: Basic Programming (Atari), Blackjack (Atari), Casino (Atari), Street Racer (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Steve Hendrickson

Notes: N/A

Games: Defender (Atari), Haunted House (Atari & Sears Tele-Games), Night Driver (Atari & Sears Tele-Games), Othello (Atari & Sears Tele-Games), Steeplechase (Sears Tele-Games), Video Checkers (Atari), Warlords (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Hiro

Notes: possibly Hiro Yamagata

Games: E.T. The Extraterrestrial (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Steve Hohigh(?)

Notes: N/A

Games: Golf (Atari)

 

Illustrator: T.(?) Holt

Notes: N/A

Games: RealSports Tennis (Atari), Pole Position (Atari), Solaris (Atari)

 

Illustrator: S. Jaekel

Notes: Could be Susan Jaekel

Games: Adventure (Atari), Circus (Unknown Pirate - Same as Circus Atari by Atari), Circus Atari (Atari), Fun With Numbers (Atari)

 

Illustrator: J. Kelly

Notes: N/A

Games: Dodge 'Em (Atari), Maze Craze (Atari - Instruction Manual Only), Peles Soccer (Atari), Raiders of the Lost Ark (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Steve Kenyon(?)

Notes: N/A

Games: Asteroids (Atari), Battlezone (Atari), Jungle Hunt (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Kim

Notes: N/A

Games: Yars' Revenge (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Livingston(?)

Notes: N/A

Games: Maze Craze (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Ryan Murray

Notes: N/A

Games: Combat (Atari)(?)

 

Illustrator: Norman

Notes: N/A

Games: Space Invaders (Atari)

 

Illustrator: R.M.Q.

Notes: possibly Ralph McQuarrie - the famous Star Wars concept artist and illustrator

Games: Vanguard (Atari)

 

Illustrator: S. Right(?)

Notes: N/A

Games: Flag Capture (Atari)

 

Illustrator: D. Smith

Notes: possibly the 80's computer book illustrator "D.J. Smith"

Games: Super Baseball (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Cliff Spohn

Notes: Born in Portland, Oregon, in 1946, Cliff Spohn was raised in the small town of Tigard, located on the outskirts of Portland. He attended Riverside City College and later San Jose State University, where he received a degree in Graphic Design. After graduating, Spohn remained in the San Francisco Bay area doing freelance illustration for various clients, including Apple Computers, Atari, ABC Television, the NFL and several magazine publications. Spohn moved to Shelton, Connecticut, where he continued his freelance career. He added to his client list Reader's Digest and Sky, the Delta Airlines monthly inflight magazine. He was commissioned by that publication to paint 94 portraits of CEOs. Spohn has also created portraits for Sports Collectible and collector's plates for the Bradford Exchange. The artist lives and works in Shelton with his wife and two daughters.

Games: Air Sea Battle (Atari), Backgammon (Atari), Basketball (Atari), Bowling (Atari), Brain Games (Atari), Breakout (Atari), Football (Atari), Home Run (Atari), Human Cannonball (Atari), Indy 500 (Atari), Miniature Golf (Atari), Starship (Atari), Super Breakout (Atari), Surround (Atari), Video Olympics (Atari)

 

Illustrator: Greg Vance

Notes: N/A

Games: Gunslinger (Sears Tele-Games)

 

Illustrator: Greg Vodue

Notes: N/A

Games: Sky Diver (Atari)

 

Illustrator: E.W.

Notes: N/A

Games: Dark Chambers (Atari)

 

Illustrator: M. Wilman(?)

Notes: N/A

Games: Kangaroo (Atari)

 

Misc:

**Crossbow (Atari) - signed towards the bottom, but a treasure chest & the Dwarfs' legs. Signed to the left of the Dwarfs' left leg, dated "'83" to the right of that same leg.

[lost]

Sweet.

 

Now another question. I am sure Atari owns rights to the Illustrations. Did they also keep the originals?

 

I was just thinking about that and wondering if it would even be possible to get prints or Originals from the artists?

 

Nevertheless this gives me some stuff to go on. I thank you for the list.

 

-Chris

[videotwit]

I've tried contacting most of the illustrators on the list requesting information about their illustrations. You might want to hold off for a couple of weeks so they're not deluged with requests.

 

I will pass any information when I hear back.

 

If anyone has anything to add to the list, or has a better grasp on the spellings of some of those names, I'd appreciate that information.

 

And for Curt- Would it be possible for you to find out what the signatures say on the pieces the Atari Historical Society owns? Thanks in advance!

[lost]

You got contact information too?!?!

 

You rule!

[videotwit]

I have so far contacted about 6 different people. Not all of them are the illustrators themselves, but are gallery representitives or agents (either past or current).

 

I'll report back as soon as I hear anything (hopefully I will). I've only gotten 1 responce so far from an agent who just said he is going to "look into it" for me.

[videotwit]

I just heard back from my first contact. Unfortunately I learned that it is NOT Hiro Yamagata who did the E.T. label. Back to the drawing board on that one, I guess...

[nexus6]

Did you know who's the artist of the Missile Command boxart?

[bennybingo]

Did you know who's the artist of the Missile Command boxart?

 

[lapetino]

Hiro Kimura did the ET cover art, and George Opperman did the artwork for Missile Command.

 

And YES, this is an old thread resurrection!

[nexus6]

Hiro Kimura did the ET cover art, and George Opperman did the artwork for Missile Command.

 

And YES, this is an old thread resurrection!

Thanks!

This thread is worthfull enough to be resurrected

[Laemeur]

Worthfull enough to be resurrected twice, I say.

 

I was admiring the artwork for the 8-bit computer version of Asteroids the other day, and I'm darned curious about who the painter is. On the linked image the signature is almost legible. Looks like "chris K burger" or maybe that's "sugar", or ...something -- but Googling around is proving fruitless. Anyone know the artist, or have a better guess at the name?

 

[Laemeur]

Ah, I think I've solved it. That's "Kenyon", isn't it? On both the list videotwit provided and other lists of freelancers I've seen who worked for Atari, there's a "Steve Kenyon", but if you look at the art for Battlezone, it's the same surname signature as that Asteroids piece, only the initial is "C", not "S". I don't know where the name Steve came from, but I think it's actually Chris Kenyon that I'm looking at.

 

Now, if only someone could tell me who the wiz behind the Space Duel coin-op art is!

[Laemeur]

...

The only other leads I got was from page 2 of the Missle Command Instruction booklet. There is a small illustration with a signature. The first name is Steve but I can not quite make out the last name. (Handrick,Handrich,Hendrich,etc...) I checked out numerous spellings online but to no avail.

 

-Chris

 

I've found this out to be Steve Hendricks. Small gallery of his work here: http://www.highmarkdesigns.com/designerphotos.shtml, and some more drawings can be seen under the illustration link at FineLine Graphics.