Game art copied from elsewhere

[Ersh]

Jim Steranko is a very accomplished comic book author, though that doesn't rule out he used a reference of some sort. The use of reference material is common in all fields but there are some artists that do without.

If you're using a reference it's for angles, perspective, lighting and the sort. They should match, that's why artists use them. For an example, you don't look at a hand from one perspective and draw it in an another, if you were then there would be no point in having a reference.

Of course people also use references for how to draw the design of things (cars, clothes etc.). But spotting those sources are hard as any picture of said item could've been used.

[8BitAG]

The Maltese Falcon is certainly the major influence, with Mary Astor inspiring the female character. I believe that the male character is pretty much a self-portrait.

[Ersh]

Yes, I can see that as an influence as well.

[8BitAG]

The Maltese Falcon is certainly the major influence, with Mary Astor inspiring the female character. I believe that the male character is pretty much a self-portrait.

Certainly that's the opinion of Michael Gonzales:

"For a moment I just stared at him, as the man himself flashed me one of his trademark Kodak smiles. With his jet black perfect hair, G.Q. wardrobe, sunglasses and spit-shined boots, he was iceberg smooth. “How you doing over there,” Steranko said in his world’s greatest showman voice. I shyly glanced at him and back at the Chandler cover when I suddenly realized that the picture of that mean streets private dick was actually a self-portrait."

https://crimereads.com/the-groundbreaki ... -steranko/

[Rorthron]

As [mention]Audionautas[/mention] pointed out in the cover artists thread, the first Return to Eden cover looks like it was based on (or inspired by) an image of ROM the Spaceknight.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

This cover from Zeppellin. The main soldier image reminds me of an historial pic of one of the israeli-arab wars in the XXth century (Yom-Kippur, etc).



I've tried several times but found nothing. I'm sure I've seen that pic before about that conflict.

Anyone thinks the same?

[Packobilly]

The amount of information you show at one time is overwhelming!

In the 1980s, copyright was not as strict, apparently...

[toot_toot]

I think it might have been an issue of Retro Gamer, or maybe it was a website, but Bob Wakelin went into detail on the inspiration for his game covers, including the reference images he used. He was quite open about taking it from other sources as I got the impression the covers required a fairly quick turnaround, so he was happy using other source material.

I had the opportunity to meet him at a retro gaming event and he was really great, very glib and down to earth. He seemed to be amazed that people revered his artwork when it was just a paying job to him, but I told him that I usually bought an Ocean or Imagine game just based on his artwork. Ocean would typically start advertising a few months in advance with a lovely full page advert for a game, then the game would be released into the shops usually before it had been reviewed. But you were so hyped up for the game that you bought it anyway. That meant I bought a couple of real stinkers like Highlander, but it was still worth it for the cover! I also remember being really disappointed when I finally saw Miami Vice in the shops and the cover wasn’t the Bob Wakelin artwork as in the advert, but just a photo instead, so I didn’t buy it. Glad I missed that one!

[Rorthron]

The cover of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is unsurprisingly cobbled together from various movie posters. It looks likes a repainting of the same scenes, rather than a direct cut and paste.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom cover



Raiders of the Lost Ark movie poster



Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom movie poster



‘The Hero is Back’ movie poster for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom



Details









The picture of Kate Capshaw does not quite look like an exact copy. It might have been tweaked by the artist, but most probably is copied from a slightly different image.



I haven’t worked out the source for the scene on the bottom right.

[Ersh]

Nice finds!

I think this promo photo of Kate Capshaw was the reference here:



Also I found the bottom right reference on a promo leaflet seen here:

[Rorthron]

Nice finds!

I think this promo photo of Kate Capshaw was the reference here:



Also I found the bottom right reference on a promo leaflet seen here:

They look like the ones.

[Rorthron]

As i mentiond in the cover artists thread, the cover of Deus ex Machina was, according to Mel Courcher, based on an image he took of a woman he met outside the Automata office, Nina von Palisanderholz:



Mel Croucher tells the story here (p 46):

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... eQLppVrTeP

[Alessandro]

Well since she was photographed on purpose for the game cover, I wouldn't call that "copied from elsewhere"

By the way, "von Palisanderholz" means "(made) with rosewood" in German. The surname sounds fabricated. A quick search on Google did not make anyone come up with that surname.

[Rorthron]

Well since she was photographed on purpose for the game cover, I wouldn't call that "copied from elsewhere"

If the image was used as a reference, then strictly I suppose it is still "copied", but you're right that it is a different case from the others in this thread. In any case, it seems more likely to be be a modified print of the photo than a painted copy. I just thought it was interesting, anyway.

By the way, "von Palisanderholz" means "(made) with rosewood" in German. The surname sounds fabricated. A quick search on Google did not make anyone come up with that surname.

Yes, thanks for the detail. It sounded made up to me. I have a suspicion that the whole episode might have been "embellished" in Croucher's account.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

[mention]MarkRJones1970[/mention] tweeted this today:

https://twitter.com/MarkRJones1970/stat ... 65984?s=20

I'm sure it's been commented before, it's one of the clearest examples of copying-art

[Rorthron]

I was looking at this cover art:

Fallen Angel (Screen 7) cover art



I noticed that the guy in the beret looked a lot like Jean-Claude van Damme:



Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a matching image. Perhaps there is a matching still or poster somewhere, maybe from Bloodsport or Kickboxer, which came out shortly before Fallen Angel.

Then I noticed the guy holding a gun, who happens to look remarkably like the figure in the Bronx Street Cop (Mastertronic) loading screen:

Bronx Street Cop (Mastertronic) loading screen



I overlaid the images and checked the dimensions. There is definitely a common reference; the faces and hands match exactly. Either they share a common source, or one is copied from the other. I haven’t been able to identify a source image, though. I wondered whether it might be from Lethal Weapon or Lethal Weapon 2, but didn’t get anywhere.

There is a good chance the other figures are copied, too. The prone figure reminded me of Rocky II, but the closest I could find was this image, which isn’t close enough:

Still from Rocky II



While I was looking at this, I also noticed that the inlay for Bronx Street Cop bears a likeness to Charles Bronson:

Bronx Street Cop (Mastertronic) cover / Still of Charles Bronson from Death Wish 3



The image above is pretty close. It could have been a reference, but the resemblance isn’t close enough to say it was.

Can anyone else recognise the references?

[Rorthron]

Sports Hero Loading Screen



Photograph of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Munich Olympics,

[briefer]

[cmal]

I wonder if the Stamper brothers were Yes fans...

[Ashley Pomeroy]

This cover from Zeppellin. The main soldier image reminds me of an historial pic of one of the israeli-arab wars in the XXth century (Yom-Kippur, etc).



I've tried several times but found nothing. I'm sure I've seen that pic before about that conflict.
Anyone thinks the same?

It stands out because you'd expect the chap to have a beret, not an old-style tin helmet without any camouflage netting on it.

It immediately put me in mind of this famous image, specifically the chap on the right:


Although obviously the poses are different. In fact there isn't much in common at all. The Argentine soldiers in the Falklands War also had plain metal helmets - they were US army surplus - so I wonder if the cover artist went through a book of then-recent war images and picked one that fit the bill.

And is the game Para Assault, or Para Assault Course, or Para Assault Course Simulator? It gets longer the closer you get to it.

[Ashley Pomeroy]

Title drawing for Chapter Eight of How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way

Flash Gordon cover

Mastertronic's artists also seem to have used the same basic idea as inspiration for their version of Black Crystal, although the posing of the hands makes me wonder if they were thinking of the alien from Alien:


The artists were presumably Words & Pictures Ltd, who did all of Mastertronic's covers from the period. They seem to be still going:
http://www.wordsandpictures.co.uk/

According to Companies House that business incorporated in 1981, so it's presumably the same company, although I imagine the actual artists have moved on since then:
https://find-and-update.company-informa ... /01601145

Flicking back through this thread I almost laughed at loud at Podder, because it's so cute:

[Evil Genius]

These Eagles look familiar



Naughty naughty



And the stripes and frame possibly adapted from Atic Atac

[Alessandro]

Advert for Nightmare (Exclusive Software), taken from Sinclair User 87, June 1989:



Guns 'n' Roses, Appetite For Destruction (original cover art by Robert Williams):

[Ast A. Moore]

Oh, good find! I’ve never seen this artwork. I only remember the cross with the band members’ stylized faces on it.

[patters]

Oh, good find! I’ve never seen this artwork. I only remember the cross with the band members’ stylized faces on it.

The image above was inside the album's inlay. I believe it was the original cover image for the album but it was deemed too explicit. That was certainly the schoolboy rumour at the time.