Art of the Week

This week's piece is a little different from previous selections. Instead of pulling some artist's masterpiece off the inter-webs absent of context, I decided to jump into the catacombs of video game advertisements in an effort to link the two. One of my favorite things about older games, looking back, is seeing the concept or box art of a game compared to the actual in-game graphics. Case in point, this ad for Golden Axe II on the Sega Genesis:

Sega Advertisement from 1992

This was the box cover to the Mega Drive version of the game, painted by fantasy artist Boris Vallejo.

These days, a character's concept art often looks more or less like the end product. Not so for our 16-bit protagonists. It's intriguing to see what the developers envisioned these worlds looking like, and what their technology would actually allow. Obviously, we've come a long way.

For more of artist Boris Vallejo's work, check out his page here.