Castlevania Dungeon Forums
The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => General Castlevania Discussion => Topic started by: Abnormal Freak on January 02, 2011, 04:25:11 PM
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So, who did this illustration anyway? Judging by the drawing style, I take it it's the same person who did the US covers for Contra III, Castlevania III, the SNES Turtles in Time, and this TMNT game (http://www.flickr.com/photos/terrible2z/3828208996/#), among a number of others.
Really curious to know the artist's name.
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I love the older box art, everything looked like something off of a rock/metal album. Dracula's Curse and IV especially.
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I wonder if the very same person did the Bloodlines cover too?
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There's a distinct air of quality to the box art from CVIII and IV, and also Bloodlines. There's lots of details on the screen and you can tell the artist knows what they're doing, since not only are they action poses, but the artist draws multiple characters, enemies, positions, and even architecture. Hell, CV3's box art is Trevor on the Clocktower fighting a skeleton! I mean, that's kinda greatly accurate, if you think about it. It really made the gamers use their imagination when they got to the clocktower in the game and had to fight such baddies.
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I always loved the CV III and Super CV IV Box arts. They are both really great quality and actually do depict the games well. If anyone finds out who did these, I would love to see other non-game art they've done, if any.
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This makes me think of a time when you actually bought games depending on the cover. There was no internet, no gameplay trailers, and sometimes even no reviews available before the games were already out in the store. All you could do was look at the artwork on the cover, and the screenshots, and then decide! Castlevania did a great job with the covers in this regard. While I prefer Ayami Kojima I really don't think her covers sell the games like that. They're just pretty to look at.
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This makes me think of a time when you actually bought games depending on the cover. There was no internet, no gameplay trailers, and sometimes even no reviews available before the games were already out in the store. All you could do was look at the artwork on the cover, and the screenshots, and then decide! Castlevania did a great job with the covers in this regard. While I prefer Ayami Kojima I really don't think her covers sell the games like that. They're just pretty to look at.
I really miss this time.............. :'(
Todays covers, aren't of these quality.......having memories from game boy black & white..........games.........
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Castlevania needs to go back to that artstyle where everything was action-oriented and the dudes looked like...dudes.
-X
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Castlevania needs to go back to that artstyle where everything was action-oriented and the dudes looked like...dudes.
-X
Castlevania 3DS should use the older art style for the box art. I think that would be pretty great to see.
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I wonder if the very same person did the Bloodlines cover too?
I always assumed it to be the same dude. Guy's got kind of a wonky style, but I like it—ultra-detailed and manly.
This guy deserves millions of BJs (BJs for me) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvcohzJvviQ#).
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I always wanted to find a nice size poster of the CV IV box art, nothing like that seems to turn up on ebay. :-\
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there is actually two diff variants of the art. I remember seeing a variation of one where SImon has his hairdrawn in a different pose, uses a leather whip andsomeother changes
I assume Konami told him to change it to make it more accurate.
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcastlevaniadungeon.net%2FImages%2FScans%2FSCV4%2Fgp91-cv4.jpg&hash=ea2f4e0c67f2245e9b63e29aa174acdf)
Whereas most 80s/90s boxart sucks for being too realistic, the konami american contra and cv ones are actually good.
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The name of the mystery artist has been revealed :-X.
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I have a sneaking suspicion that stuff wasn't done by Japanese people. I think the more awkward stuff like the JP SCV4 box art was, however. Wasn't the Mega Man 1 U.S. box art done by Americans? I remember hearing that on a documentary, but I could be wrong.
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Well, considering it's US box art, I think it's safe to assume it's drawn by US artists.
Stephen Poole, eh? I wonder if that is the artist's name or if the name is that of the writer of the article.
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I definitly prefer the redone art over the Simon pic above. His hair was done better and his whip was a morningstar, chain as opposed to the leather one.
-X
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What "redone" art?
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I definitly prefer the redone art over the Simon pic above. His hair was done better and his whip was a morningstar, chain as opposed to the leather one.
-X
Same here. The hair shown in the ad always bugged me when I was younger.
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I have a sneaking suspicion that stuff wasn't done by Japanese people. I think the more awkward stuff like the JP SCV4 box art was, however. Wasn't the Mega Man 1 U.S. box art done by Americans? I remember hearing that on a documentary, but I could be wrong.
Other than the ambigious anime designs like Sonic and Mario, japanese boxarts are actually a recent trend that occured in the late 90s. Before that, videogame companies would use american artist to grab the attention of the gamers. This was before anime was mainstream, so having anime characters on artboxes back then wouldn't attract people to the title.
Konami is one of the few companies that had good US boxart. I don't think any of their us designed boxart were bad. Even their Goemon turned out cool. Capcom, unforuntately didn't
They mostly used US art back in the 90s. Even their post Megaman 3 covers were done by americans. They just alter bits of megaman's face to make it more western.
However, not every artboxes back then were good. A lot of the US boxes were terrible since the virtually all characters were drawn in a realistic adult style. I think a lot of people complained, which promopted the companies to use the japanese covers.
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What "redone" art?
He is referring to the final art.
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I also loved the barbarian Belmont ilustrations, but such themes are not adaptable today..it shall stay within it's classical era. I think Kojima creates stunning illustrations which makes CV unique, hope she will continue with the CV illustrations.
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To be honest, Barbarian Belmonts were never actually era appropriate...
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To be honest, Barbarian Belmonts were never actually era appropriate...
But way cooler..
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Barbarian Belmonts are always going to be my favorite Belmonts.
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barbarian belmont is the way to go!
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(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fth07.deviantart.net%2Ffs70%2FPRE%2Fi%2F2010%2F288%2F7%2F0%2Fsimon_belmont_by_weirdgreencat-d30si68.jpg&hash=3ee2c09af83883c5676e9133718de456)
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Now that's...a Belmont!! ;)
-X
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Dude those arms are so big i bet he couldn't scratch his nose...
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Resurrecting this thread because someone elsewhere was wondering the name of the Turtles in Time artist. Just checking to see if it's confirmed yet to be Stephen Poole or if that's the author's name of the GamePro article where that early Castlevania IV art appears. Stephen Poole is the name of an editor at GameSpot (and later Edge magazine) as I found reviews from the late '90s, so it's possible he wrote for GamePro in the mid '90s.
What would be a delicious bit of weirdness is if the artist really is Stephen Poole and it's the same guy who writes gaming articles and reviews.
Either way, I'm REOPENING THIS CASE :O because there's yet to be any concrete evidence of the artist's name.
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Castlevania needs to go back to that artstyle where everything was action-oriented and the dudes looked like...dudes.
-X
I didn't actually mind the art style from the Lords of Shadow artist(s). There was always this fantastical yet masculine element to them that I just find really appealing.
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To be honest, Barbarian Belmonts were never actually era appropriate...
Not much is era approriate in the CV series. Never mattered to me, though. Barbarians are badass. Besides, imagine if we got a CV where the characters were more dressed along like these:
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fworld4.eu%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2Ftraditional-ethnic-costumes-41.jpg&hash=57bd980f1f859157788f4150ab502592)
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I didn't actually mind the art style from the Lords of Shadow artist(s). There was always this fantastical yet masculine element to them that I just find really appealing.
I actually like the LoS artstyle as well. It's about the only element of that game that appeals to me.
Resurrecting this thread because someone elsewhere was wondering the name of the Turtles in Time artist. Just checking to see if it's confirmed yet to be Stephen Poole or if that's the author's name of the GamePro article where that early Castlevania IV art appears. Stephen Poole is the name of an editor at GameSpot (and later Edge magazine) as I found reviews from the late '90s, so it's possible he wrote for GamePro in the mid '90s.
What would be a delicious bit of weirdness is if the artist really is Stephen Poole and it's the same guy who writes gaming articles and reviews.
Either way, I'm REOPENING THIS CASE :O because there's yet to be any concrete evidence of the artist's name.
Stephen Poole eh? I'm not familiar with the name and it's a shame that he didn't sign the artwork he did for the early part of CV history. But I'm pretty sure he did lots of CV art, specifically CV III, SCVIV, Belmont's revenge and Bloodlines. I dare-say that his style was popular enough that the ones whom did the official cover art for Rondo of Blood copied his work, but added an anime twist to it. Either way it worked well. I'd like to see more of that kind of art because back in the day it was DA BOMB!
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i said it before but ill say it again: im dying for a cv game to adapt this artstyle
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv119%2Fc0mbat%2FBooklet20Front.png&hash=43cd7bc56c005d0655dbe2d5f4ec7a1f)(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv119%2Fc0mbat%2FBooklet20Back.png&hash=2084cacec172b483a06a0d07d0c32266)
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Yes, not bad for an art style... but not in the cover, I guess. I can´t imagine that art in the cover, in the videogame stores....
...But for the in-game art style, yeeeahhhhhh 8). I can imagine that Dracula in a Dark Chapel stainglass, or the Belmont in a Normal Chapel... Talk about Chapel/Antichapel :P
Also, the art style in the CVIII makes me a CV fan since the first time I see it, when I was a child, back in the 90s. Think of "love at first sight" (the same could pass with Deadly Towers, but when I played that game, there was soooo desilusional :-[).
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Not much is era approriate in the CV series. Never mattered to me, though. Barbarians are badass. Besides, imagine if we got a CV where the characters were more dressed along like these:
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fworld4.eu%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2Ftraditional-ethnic-costumes-41.jpg&hash=57bd980f1f859157788f4150ab502592)
I'd play the fuck out of an era appropriate Castlevania.
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Stephen Poole eh?
Definitely not Poole, unfortunately. I asked around and someone posted, "Stephen Poole is indeed the name of the article author. Back during my time in the game industry I tried to find out his name from Konami, but nobody there knew who it was either."
Someone showed up to the Technodrome Forum showing off some artwork from the artist but so far hasn't revealed the artist's name. Here's the penciled version of the Turtles in Time cover art that he posted.
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.comicartfans.com%2FImages%2FCategory_25234%2Fsubcat_46449%2Fturtles.jpg&hash=08b01d24f1050a221a4df692f7b8170d)
He's got an impressive collection of original art, including this pre-release Castlevania III poster for Nintendo Power. (http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=448825)
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It's the same artist who worked on Resurrection. He says so himself in that interview on the Dungeon.
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This interview? (http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/features/orduyan.html) Nothing in there about doing anything for Konami prior to a baseball game from the late '90s. I also don't believe that the guy who drew this
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vgmuseum.com%2Fmrp%2Fcv-res%2Fart-sonia.gif&hash=a8084b2c994350472a0e088a26e1c2df)
is the same guy who drew this
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnintendookie.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F04%2Fcontra-iii.png&hash=fa8064272b4f6fddf3e957321368ba5d)
One is a master of structure. The other...well...
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.orduyan.com%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Ffull%2FPrtgns%2Fv2_v3.jpg&hash=b813a0cd5f2ee3682721cb1b9a59d626)
yeah. I'd be embarrassed to see this in an 8th grader's sketchbook let alone the head of a game's art department.
Q. What do you think of series artist Ayami Kojima?
A. Nothing really. She's okay, she can draw.
Something he himself is clearly incapable of.
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Woops, I meant this article:
http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/features/magscans/CVResurrectionEGM.jpg (http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/features/magscans/CVResurrectionEGM.jpg)
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There's a distinct air of quality to the box art from CVIII and IV, and also Bloodlines. There's lots of details on the screen and you can tell the artist knows what they're doing, since not only are they action poses, but the artist draws multiple characters, enemies, positions, and even architecture. Hell, CV3's box art is Trevor on the Clocktower fighting a skeleton! I mean, that's kinda greatly accurate, if you think about it. It really made the gamers use their imagination when they got to the clocktower in the game and had to fight such baddies.
Out of all the illustrations the artist did, Bloodlines is innaccurate. Where's the gargoyle, 4 handed sword wielding demon, armored thin man and Elizabeth showing up her bare legs as shown in the boxart? NONE!
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I really liked the way Elizabeth Bartly was done on the american box art. Wild and sexy.
http://www.16bitaudiophileproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/CastlevaniaBL.png (http://www.16bitaudiophileproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/CastlevaniaBL.png)
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I would love to see this mystery answered some day.
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Woops, I meant this article:
http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/features/magscans/CVResurrectionEGM.jpg (http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/features/magscans/CVResurrectionEGM.jpg)
Interesting. EGM might have been smoking the crack pipe, or maybe someone from the CV IV team was acting as a sort of producer. It's certainly not much to go off.
All signs point to Greg Orduyan not being the box artist. I'd be really damn surprised if that happened to be the case, but it just doesn't stack up. Different way of drawing and nothing about it mentioned on his portfolio on his website.
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This interview? (http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/features/orduyan.html) Nothing in there about doing anything for Konami prior to a baseball game from the late '90s. I also don't believe that the guy who drew this
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vgmuseum.com%2Fmrp%2Fcv-res%2Fart-sonia.gif&hash=a8084b2c994350472a0e088a26e1c2df)
is the same guy who drew this
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnintendookie.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F04%2Fcontra-iii.png&hash=fa8064272b4f6fddf3e957321368ba5d)
One is a master of structure. The other...well...
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.orduyan.com%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Ffull%2FPrtgns%2Fv2_v3.jpg&hash=b813a0cd5f2ee3682721cb1b9a59d626)
yeah. I'd be embarrassed to see this in an 8th grader's sketchbook let alone the head of a game's art department.
Q. What do you think of series artist Ayami Kojima?
A. Nothing really. She's okay, she can draw.
Something he himself is clearly incapable of.
I'm pretty humble when it comes to other artists. I usually find the best in their work and admire it for what it is. I'm in no way a flawless artist, myself, but the picture of Sonia and that "Belmont" in crystal armor.... I think I could fuckin' take this guy!! ;)
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All signs point to Greg Orduyan not being the box artist. I'd be really damn surprised if that happened to be the case, but it just doesn't stack up. Different way of drawing and nothing about it mentioned on his portfolio on his website.
Might be a long shot mate: I'm sure Google Images can do an image search based on a file/image upload. Would uploading a cropped part of a cover image (with no text, just raw art) maybe give you a match to a non-gaming/artist portfolio site? Might be an avenue to try!
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Looks like the name of the artist is probably Stephen Peringer. That's what people on the Internet believe, including one who claims he flipped through a library book of '90s video game art where most of the SNES boxes were attributed to him. The resume on his website (http://www.peringer.com/) mentions he did freelance for video game companies at that time. Sadly, there's no mention of Konami on his site or examples of illustrations for them, but the biggest thing that makes me think that maybe this is the guy is he did the box art for Super R-Type (featured in his online portfolio), and despite being airbrushed, the head of the monster on it has a similar look to the kind of monsters on the Konami boxes, particularly the two-headed dragon from the cover of Castlevania IV, or the dinosaur from Turtles in Time.
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.gamefaqs.net%2Fbox%2F3%2F5%2F1%2F51351_front.jpg&hash=280bb1ec85e6c482caa107c4087232b2)
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Felder-geek.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F10%2Fsnes-s_castlevania4.jpg&hash=3728cab7a86a16f81ba4c2d17be93822)
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.giantbomb.com%2Fuploads%2Foriginal%2F9%2F93770%2F2234857-turtles.png&hash=79983565a9fea7ab34606aba576c80f2)
Based on that little detail, and that some people are convinced it's him, it would appear that Stephen Peringer is the artist.
Now hopefully he'll reply to my email and tell me whether he is or not. ;)
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its not peringer.
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Bronty, you perpetual tease; will you ever disclose who the artist is?
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actually I already sent you a pm on that.
Btw, I posted pics in another thread that you might enjoy
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btw, you must have seen the same old posts spreading the same misinformation that its peringer that I once saw.
I don't know what peringer told you, but when I asked him years ago he said YES he was the konami artist - except he never worked for them a day in his life. He did a couple illos for KEMCO not KONAMI and he doesn't know the difference!
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Heard the name from an Instagram post which led me to Googling it and seeing discussions on forums. I never did hear back from Peringer.
That alternate cover sketch for Castlevania IV is great; the artist has a great sense of action and composition. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before you can make the name public. I've wanted to know for so many years.
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Thanks a lot and yeah, he was/is super talented. Stay tuned. Next year (for the reasons mentioned in my pm).
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Castlevania needs to go back to that artstyle where everything was action-oriented and the dudes looked like...dudes.
-X
^THIS. I've mentioned this elsewhere, but I really don't like Kojima's artwork for Castlevania. With a few exceptions.
The US cover art seems reminiscent of Dracula's Curse. Not sure if that was intentional.
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The US cover art seems reminiscent of Dracula's Curse. Not sure if that was intentional.
I've always presumed the US covers for 3 and 4 to be by the same artist, hence the similarity.
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So the mystery will actually be solved, hmm? Could someone PM me the details as well?
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I'm really interested in who this artist is now.
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Thanks a lot and yeah, he was/is super talented. Stay tuned. Next year (for the reasons mentioned in my pm).
I would be interested in receiving a PM about this subject too.
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(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FBOPDjLk.jpg&hash=8d14d79343bd787eaac2d4dcbb56ad8d)
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^^I LOVE the Phalanx Cover! It's such a Non-Sequitur!
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I just noticed that Dracula is in the artwork. At first glance I thought he was riding a boat. Heh.
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I don't remember that Nintendo Power poster for Castlevania III. Any idea what issue that was in? Either way, whoever the actual box artist ends up being, I also loved his work back in the old days. He (or she) did just about the only good job of "Westernizing" Japanese IP successfully.
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I'll take a PM with some info. Whoever this guy was, he was really great. The box art for SCVIV stuck in my head since the first time I saw it. It is extrodinarily memorable.
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I would be interested in receiving a PM about this subject too.
Me too, if you're willing to send one, bronty.
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FBOPDjLk.jpg&hash=8d14d79343bd787eaac2d4dcbb56ad8d)
Random thought: they could've made it weirder by putting the old guy on a toilet.
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I've always presumed the US covers for 3 and 4 to be by the same artist, hence the similarity.
that's correct.
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So the mystery will actually be solved, hmm? Could someone PM me the details as well?
sorry guys, I meant I will share it next year, publicly. I can't get into that in a pm right now. Sorry - but I will reveal as part of a larger reveal of more previously unknown info when the time is right! :) So hang in there! Will be lots of neat info shared. Hopefully I can make an announcement about the project within six months or so.
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I don't remember that Nintendo Power poster for Castlevania III. Any idea what issue that was in? Either way, whoever the actual box artist ends up being, I also loved his work back in the old days. He (or she) did just about the only good job of "Westernizing" Japanese IP successfully.
#14
Here's a link from the CV Dungeon database. Different artist but very talented as well.
http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/features/magscans/atlas/CV3Poster.JPG (http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/features/magscans/atlas/CV3Poster.JPG)
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sorry guys, I meant I will share it next year, publicly. I can't get into that in a pm right now. Sorry - but I will reveal as part of a larger reveal of more previously unknown info when the time is right! :) So hang in there! Will be lots of neat info shared. Hopefully I can make an announcement about the project within six months or so.
It's ok. We can wait. Heck, we're used to waiting. :)
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sorry guys, I meant I will share it next year, publicly. I can't get into that in a pm right now. Sorry - but I will reveal as part of a larger reveal of more previously unknown info when the time is right! :) So hang in there! Will be lots of neat info shared. Hopefully I can make an announcement about the project within six months or so.
..bump :)
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..bump :)
He (and by "he" I mean Abnormal Freak) already done this on another thread. (http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php/topic,8756.0.html)
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Thanks!
God damn that has been impossible to track down, and the best I could find from thorough google-fu was this particular thread which I remember reading a couple of years ago, too.
Gotta go delve into that thread you linked now.