Skip navigation
NintendoAge
Welcome, Guest! Please Login or Join
Loading...

RIP Greg Martin - Seminal box artist of flintstones 2 and dozens more new pics will be added in the coming days

Jan 8, 2014 at 4:05:16 PM
vladictivo (112)
avatar
(Vladi ) < Lolo Lord >
Posts: 1707 - Joined: 12/31/2010
Mexico
Profile
Originally posted by: Bronty

I never noticed this before but I did just now and thought I'd share.   

Look at the orange circle.   There's clearly a blue maze wall there.

The top of it should be somewhere around the yellow circle, or at worst around the red circle.

Its not there.

He's purposely rendered only half the wall so that the focus of the image is squarely on the pellet.   If the top of the wall were there, it would get in the way.

So he's blended the wall into the blue background so smoothly that you don't even notice that the wall has no end and the sky has no beginning.

What a neat little piece of artistic trickery / sleight of hand.    

He's left out what's unimportant in order to manipulate our focus.   The direction that pacman and the ghosts are looking (up at the pellet) helps with that too.
 

A nice tribute to Escher and his impossible constructions.


-------------------------
  Keeping it custom: vladictivo.deviantart.com

Jan 8, 2014 at 6:15:30 PM
gsilverfish (0)
avatar
< Cherub >
Posts: 1 - Joined: 01/08/2014
Washington
Profile
This thread has been absolutely marvelous! I felt I had to set up an account just to say so. It was sad to hear the news in and of itself but to find out just how big a role Greg really had in my youth is really something, and seeing his whole body of work together (and knowing it was from one guy) gives me a whole new appreciation for it. I'm really blown away and wish that this could have come along while he was still around.

That said, I hate to distract from Greg in his own thread, but I am really curious--are there any other game cover artists who have "revealed" themselves? I know Marc Ericksen (famous for the Mega Man 2 "pistol" cover!) but it'd be great to be able to recognize other artists before they're gone.


Edited: 01/08/2014 at 06:19 PM by gsilverfish

Jan 10, 2014 at 2:44:09 PM
whatireallylike (0)

< Cherub >
Posts: 3 - Joined: 01/10/2014
Profile
I had to sign up just for this thread alone. I never knew of Greg Martin until a few days ago when I decided to google "adventure island box art illustrator" and I found out the sad news. I didn't know his name, nor that he did the covers for so many of the games I loved as a child. I always loved those covers as well, especially the Adventure Island ones. His take on Master Higgins is still the "real" Higgins in my head.

If anybody happens to be sitting on any of his other Adventure Island-themed illustrations I would be massively grateful. And thanks to everybody for filling this thread with so many awesome images!

Edit: I'd especially love if anybody had a hi-res version of this one:




Edited: 01/10/2014 at 02:47 PM by whatireallylike

Jan 10, 2014 at 2:55:48 PM
Bronty (65)
avatar
(Dan M) < Bonk >
Posts: 18758 - Joined: 11/27/2006
Canada
Profile
I love how you can tell the era that was done just by the geometric squiggles on the surfboard
 
DId you see the adventure island stickers I posted a few posts ago?
 
Also, someone on one of the sites that picked up the story asked about Whirlo and whether or not there was a cancelled US release.
 
I think that's pretty safe to assume not only that it was a cancelled US release, as he typically didn't do euro-only box art, but also that it was a cancelled US NES release.   He sent me a jpg of the full image once, and it looks like this.   You'll notice that its portrait (NES) not landscape (SNES).    Look at how much of the image they had to hack off to make a NES-intended image fit onto SNES formatting.   That's why the composition is so odd with the two heads you can barely see at the bottom and the floating volcanic island you can only see half of, etc.

They also reversed the image (mirror image).

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

WTB Cdn sealed black boxes, sealed Cdn first party titles.    I.e. the "mattel" Cdn boxes with both french and english.   Mainly black boxes, zelda, link, and tyson, but let me know what you have.    I am interested in anything I don't already have!



Edited: 01/10/2014 at 03:02 PM by Bronty

Jan 10, 2014 at 2:58:05 PM
Bronty (65)
avatar
(Dan M) < Bonk >
Posts: 18758 - Joined: 11/27/2006
Canada
Profile

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

WTB Cdn sealed black boxes, sealed Cdn first party titles.    I.e. the "mattel" Cdn boxes with both french and english.   Mainly black boxes, zelda, link, and tyson, but let me know what you have.    I am interested in anything I don't already have!


Jan 10, 2014 at 3:04:43 PM
Bronty (65)
avatar
(Dan M) < Bonk >
Posts: 18758 - Joined: 11/27/2006
Canada
Profile
Originally posted by: whatireallylike

I had to sign up just for this thread alone. I never knew of Greg Martin until a few days ago when I decided to google "adventure island box art illustrator" and I found out the sad news. I didn't know his name, nor that he did the covers for so many of the games I loved as a child. I always loved those covers as well, especially the Adventure Island ones. His take on Master Higgins is still the "real" Higgins in my head.

If anybody happens to be sitting on any of his other Adventure Island-themed illustrations I would be massively grateful. And thanks to everybody for filling this thread with so many awesome images!

Edit: I'd especially love if anybody had a hi-res version of this one:



that's a great image.   He told that it was done for a hudson ad promoting their line up at the time.   Anybody seen the actual magazine ad?

I think I have one more hudson line up type image on my home computer that includes higgins, although its not as nice an image as this one.   I'll look for that jpg later.

Also.  I remember him saying this image originally had bonk instead of bomberman on the lower left.   I guess they had him paint out bonk and replace with bomberman due to a shift in marketing strategy or perhaps release dates or  whatever. The original image had bonk smashing his head against that orange wall

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

WTB Cdn sealed black boxes, sealed Cdn first party titles.    I.e. the "mattel" Cdn boxes with both french and english.   Mainly black boxes, zelda, link, and tyson, but let me know what you have.    I am interested in anything I don't already have!



Edited: 01/10/2014 at 03:19 PM by Bronty

Jan 10, 2014 at 4:32:12 PM
whatireallylike (0)

< Cherub >
Posts: 3 - Joined: 01/10/2014
Profile
Yeah, I love that image. Would absolutely have that as a poster if I could.

I have to say, I'm shocked at how much finding out about Greg and his work has moved me these past few days. Pretty much every image in this thread brought back a vivid memory for me. I loved his style and I never even knew it was all done by one guy, let alone actually know that guy's name. It's been a really cool experience to dig through his work like this!

Jan 10, 2014 at 4:52:32 PM
Bronty (65)
avatar
(Dan M) < Bonk >
Posts: 18758 - Joined: 11/27/2006
Canada
Profile
here's that second hudson line up pic.   This one really is a "line up" as was done in the style of a lineup of suspects at the police station or whatever.



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

WTB Cdn sealed black boxes, sealed Cdn first party titles.    I.e. the "mattel" Cdn boxes with both french and english.   Mainly black boxes, zelda, link, and tyson, but let me know what you have.    I am interested in anything I don't already have!



Edited: 01/10/2014 at 04:52 PM by Bronty

Jan 10, 2014 at 5:21:33 PM
whatireallylike (0)

< Cherub >
Posts: 3 - Joined: 01/10/2014
Profile
These are amazing, thank you!

Jan 10, 2014 at 10:20:35 PM
buyatari2 (30)

< Master Higgins >
Posts: 8032 - Joined: 04/26/2008
United States
Profile
Promotional post card that Greg once sent me. The back is damaged. It was once attached to something.



Edited: 01/10/2014 at 10:40 PM by buyatari2

Jan 18, 2014 at 2:20:56 AM
Bronty (65)
avatar
(Dan M) < Bonk >
Posts: 18758 - Joined: 11/27/2006
Canada
Profile
bumpity




















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

WTB Cdn sealed black boxes, sealed Cdn first party titles.    I.e. the "mattel" Cdn boxes with both french and english.   Mainly black boxes, zelda, link, and tyson, but let me know what you have.    I am interested in anything I don't already have!


Jan 18, 2014 at 2:37:11 AM
Bronty (65)
avatar
(Dan M) < Bonk >
Posts: 18758 - Joined: 11/27/2006
Canada
Profile

























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

WTB Cdn sealed black boxes, sealed Cdn first party titles.    I.e. the "mattel" Cdn boxes with both french and english.   Mainly black boxes, zelda, link, and tyson, but let me know what you have.    I am interested in anything I don't already have!


Jan 18, 2014 at 3:05:16 AM
bunnyboy (81)
avatar
(Funktastic B) < Master Higgins >
Posts: 7704 - Joined: 02/28/2007
California
Profile
It is too bad more of the people who worked on these games aren't known. Hope they at least know what they did is still appreciated and collected!

Feb 24, 2014 at 2:03:43 AM
Dr. Bombay (0)
avatar
(David Pierce) < Cherub >
Posts: 2 - Joined: 02/24/2014
Utah
Profile
Originally posted by: Bronty

flintstones/ bewitched



I just joined the forum so I could comment about these phenomenal pieces of artwork that Mr. Martin had done. I wasn't aware that all these familiar works from my childhood all spawned from the same talented mind! How very sad that he has passed away.

I would love to know if this piece and the other one of Samantha, Fred, and Gazoo are for sale anywhere? I know of many Bewitched and Flintstones collectors that would love to have them in their collection.


-------------------------
Author of THE BEWITCHED HISTORY BOOK, the most comprehensive book about the most most magic TV series, Bewitched.


Edited: 02/24/2014 at 02:05 AM by Dr. Bombay

Feb 24, 2014 at 11:27:58 AM
Bronty (65)
avatar
(Dan M) < Bonk >
Posts: 18758 - Joined: 11/27/2006
Canada
Profile
Welcome and thx for the comments. Unfortunately Im not aware of any of his flintstones art being for sale anywhere.

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

WTB Cdn sealed black boxes, sealed Cdn first party titles.    I.e. the "mattel" Cdn boxes with both french and english.   Mainly black boxes, zelda, link, and tyson, but let me know what you have.    I am interested in anything I don't already have!


Feb 24, 2014 at 9:08:19 PM
Dr. Bombay (0)
avatar
(David Pierce) < Cherub >
Posts: 2 - Joined: 02/24/2014
Utah
Profile
Thanks for the quick response. And thanks for all the info and art from Mr. Martin!

-------------------------
Author of THE BEWITCHED HISTORY BOOK, the most comprehensive book about the most most magic TV series, Bewitched.

Apr 22, 2014 at 2:28:26 PM
Bronty (65)
avatar
(Dan M) < Bonk >
Posts: 18758 - Joined: 11/27/2006
Canada
Profile
Check out this link for all 48 of the TMNT covers he illustrated:

http://www.thetechnodrome.com/ima...

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

WTB Cdn sealed black boxes, sealed Cdn first party titles.    I.e. the "mattel" Cdn boxes with both french and english.   Mainly black boxes, zelda, link, and tyson, but let me know what you have.    I am interested in anything I don't already have!



Edited: 04/22/2014 at 04:02 PM by Bronty

Apr 22, 2014 at 2:34:17 PM
Bronty (65)
avatar
(Dan M) < Bonk >
Posts: 18758 - Joined: 11/27/2006
Canada
Profile
Thundercats:



























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

WTB Cdn sealed black boxes, sealed Cdn first party titles.    I.e. the "mattel" Cdn boxes with both french and english.   Mainly black boxes, zelda, link, and tyson, but let me know what you have.    I am interested in anything I don't already have!



Edited: 04/22/2014 at 06:50 PM by Bronty

Apr 22, 2014 at 3:41:51 PM
RetroMatt84 (0)
avatar
< Little Mac >
Posts: 81 - Joined: 04/16/2014
Ontario
Profile
What a fantastic artists! Covers of Sonic 2, Little Nemo, working on TMNT and Thundercats!! unbelievable
RIP Greg you will be missed.

-------------------------
    GAME OVER CLUB est. 2011 Reviews,Let's plays, pick-ups, "Tecmo Theather" Cut scenes from all around "the Retroverse!" Join in on the fun on YouTube today!    

Apr 22, 2014 at 4:33:53 PM
Max Vador (25)
avatar
(Maxwell Vador) < Eggplant Wizard >
Posts: 368 - Joined: 01/20/2014
Illinois
Profile
as long as he's not the guy that did the megaman 1 artwork...then RIP

Apr 22, 2014 at 7:09:04 PM
Bronty (65)
avatar
(Dan M) < Bonk >
Posts: 18758 - Joined: 11/27/2006
Canada
Profile

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

WTB Cdn sealed black boxes, sealed Cdn first party titles.    I.e. the "mattel" Cdn boxes with both french and english.   Mainly black boxes, zelda, link, and tyson, but let me know what you have.    I am interested in anything I don't already have!


Jul 19, 2014 at 8:10:10 PM
The Hero (426)
avatar
(Issa ) < King Solomon >
Posts: 3297 - Joined: 03/05/2014
Pennsylvania
Profile
May he rest in Peace!

Jul 19, 2014 at 9:09:17 PM
GamingSuperHero (24)

(Game Super Hero) < Eggplant Wizard >
Posts: 457 - Joined: 02/27/2012
Ontario
Profile
Had no idea he was the man behind all these masterpieces! Greg is a legend! Definitely an inspiration!

Jul 19, 2014 at 9:34:07 PM
Thunderblaze16 (76)
avatar
(Piero ) < King Solomon >
Posts: 4112 - Joined: 02/05/2012
Florida
Profile
Here's a higher quality photo of the Flintstones artwork for the Sega Genesis.


-------------------------
***Visualshock! Speedshock! Soundshock! Now is time to the 68000 heart on fire!***

Jul 20, 2014 at 1:48:43 AM
Bronty (65)
avatar
(Dan M) < Bonk >
Posts: 18758 - Joined: 11/27/2006
Canada
Profile
Thank you for posting that nice clear image. Much appreciated.

One of the people that attended the estate sale was kind enough to buy this binder for me. Mostly correspondence on flintstones projects, but there were these two pencil versions of that same cover in the binder also. You can see they went with one and didn't use the other.


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

WTB Cdn sealed black boxes, sealed Cdn first party titles.    I.e. the "mattel" Cdn boxes with both french and english.   Mainly black boxes, zelda, link, and tyson, but let me know what you have.    I am interested in anything I don't already have!