The legendary videogame box art of Greg Martin

Any illustrator or designer who was partial to a video game or two when they were growing up will have been influenced by the artwork of videogame illustrator Greg Martin.

Born in Boulder, Colorado in 1956, Martin began his career at animation studio Hanna-Barbera, where he sat just a few desks away from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, working on cartoons like The Jetsons and the Flintstones. He also contributed to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Thundercats.

Martin later turned to videogame art, hand-painting 24- to 30-inch illustrations for countless titles, including the early Sonic and Pac-Man games, Flintstones 2, Jetsons, Bonk’s Adventure, several Adventure Island games and many more. In the days before YouTube or the web, box artwork was often the only way you'd know what a game looked like before buying it, so his work had huge impact.

Sadly Nintendo Age has announced that Martin recently passed away. Here, we pick some of our favourites from his much-loved illustrations, including his work on the Pac-Man series as well as a few Sonic the Hedgehog classics. Let us know if they evoke any memories...

[via Nintendo Age]

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Did retro game art inspire your work? Let us know in the comments box below!