Game art copied from elsewhere

General software. From trouble with the Banyan Tree to OCP Art Studio, post any general software chat here. Could include game challenges...
User avatar
R-Tape
Site Admin
Posts: 6353
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2017 11:46 am

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by R-Tape »

Rorthron wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 10:00 pm Now that I've got your attention, any chance of fixing the links?
Apologies. I'm on mobile. I've done a couple of pages and will do the rest tomorrow.
User avatar
Rorthron
Dynamite Dan
Posts: 1644
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:35 pm

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Rorthron »

R-Tape wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 10:16 pm
Rorthron wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 10:00 pm Now that I've got your attention, any chance of fixing the links?
Apologies. I'm on mobile. I've done a couple of pages and will do the rest tomorrow.
No need to apologise. Thanks.
User avatar
Rorthron
Dynamite Dan
Posts: 1644
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:35 pm

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Rorthron »

The Steven Seagal image in IK+ was traced earlier in this thread, but I've also tracked down a Chuck Norris image in the cover.

IK+ cover (Hit Squad release)

Image

Cover of 'Black Belt' magazine, September 1988

Image
User avatar
Juan F. Ramirez
Bugaboo
Posts: 5102
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:55 am
Location: Málaga, Spain

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Well spotted!
User avatar
Rorthron
Dynamite Dan
Posts: 1644
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:35 pm

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Rorthron »

By the way, does anyone know how the artists copied the art in a predigital age? Did they use a pantograph to produce a sketch, then paint over it?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantograph
User avatar
Juan F. Ramirez
Bugaboo
Posts: 5102
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:55 am
Location: Málaga, Spain

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Rorthron wrote: Tue Oct 09, 2018 6:32 am By the way, does anyone know how the artists copied the art in a predigital age? Did they use a pantograph to produce a sketch, then paint over it?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantograph
hehe, simple but effective! :)
Bizzley
Microbot
Posts: 124
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2017 10:47 am

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Bizzley »

Rorthron wrote: Tue Oct 09, 2018 6:32 am By the way, does anyone know how the artists copied the art in a predigital age? Did they use a pantograph to produce a sketch, then paint over it?
In my experience they just started drawing on the Spectrum screen, usually with Melbourne Draw, without any aids. Seeing Mark Jones accurately draw outlines a pixel at a time via the keyboard was impressive. I don't think any talented artist would have used a pantograph, it's just too clunky for accurately reproducing small images.
"He made eloquent speeches to an audience consisting of a few depressed daffodil roots, and sometimes the cat from next door."
User avatar
Rorthron
Dynamite Dan
Posts: 1644
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:35 pm

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Rorthron »

Bizzley wrote: Tue Oct 09, 2018 12:48 pm
Rorthron wrote: Tue Oct 09, 2018 6:32 am By the way, does anyone know how the artists copied the art in a predigital age? Did they use a pantograph to produce a sketch, then paint over it?
In my experience they just started drawing on the Spectrum screen, usually with Melbourne Draw, without any aids. Seeing Mark Jones accurately draw outlines a pixel at a time via the keyboard was impressive. I don't think any talented artist would have used a pantograph, it's just too clunky for accurately reproducing small images.
I'm sure you're right for loading screens, but for the cover art there must have been some method for copying the images from the sources mentioned in this thread. A pantograph is the only one I can think of. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
User avatar
Joefish
Rick Dangerous
Posts: 2042
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 10:26 am

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Joefish »

You can use a grid; draw a grid of squares on a clear plastic sheet and lay it over the original.
Draw a square grid in light pencil on your drawing paper, and reproduce the outlines and then details using the grid lines as a guide.
This method also helps you scale things to the size you want.

There's also a trick of looking through a sheet of glass at the work you're doing, and having it partially reflect the image you want to copy. But you have to sit very still and only use one eye to make your sketch line up with the ghostly reflection of the original, so I've never got it to work.

For my ZXArt screens I crop and scale an image down to 256x192, enhance the edges and contrast, then scale it up by 9/8 to 288x216 and delete the duplicated pixels. That leaves me with individual 8x8 squares with white or black pixel lines in-between.
I use that as a guide to the detail I can achieve in each character square, and the original full-size image as a guide to layout and colour.
But then I start with a blank screen with a character grid, paint in roughly the attributes I want to use, then draw in the detail pixel-by-pixel
User avatar
Ersh
Manic Miner
Posts: 480
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:06 pm

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Ersh »

Drawing with the aid of a grid has been used for hundreds of years and is still in practise today, especially when doing larger work. It's a pretty easy method once you get it down.

Edit: Joefish was quicker. :)
User avatar
Kweepa
Manic Miner
Posts: 311
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2018 6:14 pm
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Kweepa »

Photocopy + lightbox.
That's how my brother did this sort of thing :)

EDIT: Of course getting it into the game is another trick, which is what you were asking. Derp.
User avatar
Rorthron
Dynamite Dan
Posts: 1644
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:35 pm

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Rorthron »

A coincidence?

Movie poster for Ninja III: The Domination (1984)

Image

Advert for The Last Ninja, by System 3

Image

Details:

Image

Image
Last edited by Rorthron on Mon Oct 15, 2018 2:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Rorthron
Dynamite Dan
Posts: 1644
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:35 pm

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Rorthron »

Movie poster for Ninja Terminator (1985)

Image

Cover of Ninja Commando, by Zeppelin Games

Image
User avatar
Juan F. Ramirez
Bugaboo
Posts: 5102
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:55 am
Location: Málaga, Spain

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Rorthron wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 2:25 am Movie poster for Ninja Terminator (1985)

Image
It seems they're not ninjas, just a couple of guys wearing raincoats :lol:
User avatar
Juan F. Ramirez
Bugaboo
Posts: 5102
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:55 am
Location: Málaga, Spain

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

And the "deadly ninja weaponry" note as a lure is just brilliant!
User avatar
Rorthron
Dynamite Dan
Posts: 1644
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:35 pm

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Rorthron »

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 6:11 am It seems they're not ninjas, just a couple of guys wearing raincoats :lol:
Yes, more like Anorak Terminator!
malczx
Drutt
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:06 pm

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by malczx »

Freeway Fighter book cover:

Image

Podder ZX Spectrum game inlay cover:

Image
User avatar
djnzx48
Manic Miner
Posts: 729
Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2017 2:13 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by djnzx48 »

This doesn't count as copied game art, but it also happened the other way round for the re-release. Notice how the drivers have been edited out.

Battlecars inlay (1984):
Image

Freeway Fighter gamebook (2005):
Image
User avatar
Juan F. Ramirez
Bugaboo
Posts: 5102
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:55 am
Location: Málaga, Spain

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

When I saw that Free Fighter cover, the first thing it came to my mind was the Stainless Steel inlay, apparently not much to do with it, but I see a guy with a gun, a girl in black and a red car, all in a deserted plain... maybe 'strongly' based on it?

Image
User avatar
5MinuteRetro
Manic Miner
Posts: 755
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:21 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by 5MinuteRetro »

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: Tue Oct 16, 2018 8:59 am When I saw that Free Fighter cover, the first thing it came to my mind was the Stainless Steel inlay, apparently not much to do with it, but I see a guy with a gun, a girl in black and a red car, all in a deserted plain... maybe 'strongly' based on it?
Separated at birth: Ricky Steel and Towers of London's Donny Tourette!


Image
Retro stuff, real quick
YouTube: http://bit.ly/5MinuteRetro
Twitter: https://twitter.com/5MinuteRetro
User avatar
Juan F. Ramirez
Bugaboo
Posts: 5102
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:55 am
Location: Málaga, Spain

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Satan (Dinamic, 1989):

Image

Strong resemblance with Charlton Heston in 'The Ten Commandments':

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049833/me ... 1050655488
User avatar
Rorthron
Dynamite Dan
Posts: 1644
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:35 pm

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Rorthron »

Good spot! That's definitely the source.
User avatar
Rorthron
Dynamite Dan
Posts: 1644
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:35 pm

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Rorthron »

It's a pretty ironic choice of image, given the title!
Ralf
Rick Dangerous
Posts: 2279
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 11:59 am
Location: Poland

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Ralf »

It's a pretty ironic choice of image, given the title!
Really? The game is called Satan but you don't play as Satan. You play as a hero who has to defeat Satan. And the inlay shows this hero.

He's even wearing the Jewish star of David ;)

One thing is not obvious to me. Do we have one hero or two heroes here? If it's one hero then does it mean that he can transform magically from a warrior to a mage? :?:
User avatar
Juan F. Ramirez
Bugaboo
Posts: 5102
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:55 am
Location: Málaga, Spain

Re: Game art copied from elsewhere

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Ralf wrote: Thu Oct 18, 2018 10:19 am
It's a pretty ironic choice of image, given the title!
One thing is not obvious to me. Do we have one hero or two heroes here? If it's one hero then does it mean that he can transform magically from a warrior to a mage? :?:
According to the instructions, "the forces of evil have taken over the world blah blah blah... only a warrior can stop this nightmare but he must first turn into a mage as the mission of destroying the evil forces are only reserved to a mage". I don't remember there was two characters in the game and the instructions doesn't say anything about it. It seems he starts the game as a warrior mage.

I'd have prefered a ninja mage instead of a warrior mage, definitely. It'd have been cooler! ;)
Post Reply