RIP Greg Martin. Also Sonic the Screensaver

[Opa-Opa]

With the passing of Greg Martin, the guy who did the box art for the US versions of the Genesis Sonic games, I caught myself looking at those old wallpapers from that Screensaver that came bundled with Sonic & Knuckles Collection for the PC. There were some art there by him, most of them Genesis and Game Gear box art, but most of them follow a completely different style, one that I always preferred, actually. Any ideas who the other artist might be? I'm assuming it's from Sega of Japan.

[G.Silver]

In case anyone wants more Greg Martin: http://www.gregmartinstudio.com/

I hadn't seen this site before he died. After it's pointed out it seems obvious that one guy did all those covers (his non-Sonic ones are generally better imo) but I sure never had the thought that Sega basically just had one go-to guy for so many covers.

[Opa-Opa]

I was as surprised as you. He was an animator for Hanna Barbera so it seems like a no brainer that his covers for the Flinstones games are so good. I've always noticed most of those covers (especially the cartoon vhs ones) had a similar style, but I thought it was that, a style and not someone's style.

[G.Silver]

More pictures (and a write up from someone who actually knew him) here. Even Time Gal!

http://nintendoage.com/forum/messagevie ... did=117907

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Astonished that he was responsible for the Sonic Labyrinth, it being, y'know, on-model. His Felix the Cat and Super Bonk are superb as well. What accounts for the rest? Seriously, honest question. (not to harsh on what was likely a very nice man)

Any ideas who the other artist might be?

I've been asking this for literally years! I'm only confident that a vast majority of them were by one person, as evidenced by his distinct--but lamentably illegible--signature.

There are some that are unaccountable, since they are both unsigned and from a different timeframe; being ones that are Sonic 3-onward and non-game-specific (evidenced by double runged gloves and Knuckles).

[G.Silver]

What accounts for the rest? Seriously, honest question. (not to harsh on what was likely a very nice man)

I think it has to do with provided character guides. The thing that nearly all the really successful boxes (in terms of character accuracy) have in common is they come from franchises that would have been very specific about how the characters should be portrayed, whereas the others were likely a lot looser, or didn't care, or might have provided minimal resources (if any). In Bonk's case he doesn't actually look like the in-game Bonk, but he does look spot-on to how he was portrayed in NEC's US advertising, which is to say, pretty good! Meanwhile Super Bonk is pretty much spot-on, somebody must have just given him different reference. In the link I posted they mention working under absurd deadlines, so I doubt he had any time to do research on the material ahead of time.

Another recent example of this (did we talk about it here?) was when the artist behind the MegaMan 2 cover revealed the reason why MM has a hand-held gun on the box. If you look him up he's actually got some really entertaining interviews up, I'd love to read more from/about box artists from that period (or anytime, really).

[G.Silver]

It turns out there's a lot more art in that thread! Page 3 has pencils for some of his Sonic covers: http://nintendoage.com/forum/messagevie ... did=117907

[Jingles]

Ah, Knuckles and Sonic are performing the traditional Mushroom Hill jig, I remember that part of the game well.

[Esrever]

Considering how on-model all the other characters he drew were (Disney, Hannah Barbara, Looney Tunes, Pseudo-anime), I'd imagine Martin could have drawn Sonic to look like any character model sheet they gave him.

But of course, SEGA of America didn't like the character art Sonic Team produced for Sonic 1... and at that point, I'd be surprised they had an alternate internal model sheet of their own at all. I wouldn't be surprised to hear Martin had to come up with the final US design himself, after being shown some of the Japanese art and in game assets and then given a bunch of notes about how SEGA USA wanted him revised.

By the the time Triple Trouble and S&K came out, SEGA of America had newer model sheets that they were happy to use for the characters, and that's around the time Martin's Sonic also starts to look like that. (Sometimes exactly.). I wonder if SEGA created the designs by themselves and just gave them to him, or if he was at all involved?

[Dr. BUGMAN]

But of course, SEGA of America didn't like the character art Sonic Team produced for Sonic 1...

This is more or less what I was driving at in my first post. I recall reading other instances of artists given little time and resources, but I thought maybe Sonic's case was different since that so much of the game's appeal was the emphasis on the characters that SoJ had to have provided material. Then you look at Sonic CD's US cover and notice how spot-on Metal Sonic was and how spot-on Sonic wasn't. Clearly someone was cherry-picking. Not that I was accusing Mr. Martin (who I must stress meant no offense!).

Though I wonder, since his Fang the Sniper is so accurate, does there exist a character sheet for him!?

[Esrever]

I wonder if he WAS referenced from the Japanese artwork, in lieu of anyone caring enough about the character to provide an alternate design?

The whole model adherence had gotten pretty bizarre by that time. I mean, at the same time they got Martin to switch to drawing the revised Sonic, they ALSO got him to start using the "Adventures of Sonic" Robotnik design. I mean, it was weird enough to see him on the Triple Trouble box. But they even got Martin to rework his existing Genesis Spinball cover to include him, alongside the updated Sonic. That implies there was a decisive, mandated decision to use that version of Robotnik line-wide... it just never came up on a mainline console Sonic title, since he was never on another cover.

[big_smile]

Though I wonder, since his Fang the Sniper is so accurate, does there exist a character sheet for him!?

Back in 2003 there was a Sonic character model sheet floating around that had all the classic characters on it including Fang.

I've never found a source for it, and I can't seem to find a copy of it anymore either....

[Malchik]

I actually like the American Sonic. My favorite being Greg's Sonic CD rendition.

I can understand Sega of America's decision to westernize Sonic. Akira Watanabe's Sonic just wasn't a typical nineties cartoon character. At the time of Sonic's conception, Japanese animation was still heavily reflective of styles utilized by early American comics/cartoons. Greg's Sonic fit the nineties American scene much better.


Too bad about Greg. I actually feel nostalgic about when games/movies/music utilized actual artwork and weren't just photoshopped photos and graphics.

[Wombatwarlord777]

As much as I like the Japanese Sonic box arts for their relative simplicity, I also liked a lot of Martin's work. Sonic CD was already mentioned, but I also like his work for Sonic 1. My preference Sonic 2's box art is really a toss up between the assembled Japanese design and Martin's artwork.

It's a damn shame that I'm only finding out about the extent of Martin's work after his death. There have always been box arts of his that I've been fond of, especially that for some of the Pac-Man and DuckTales games. He sure had an incredible range as an artist.