A trip back to 1982. A 1UP classic...

There's not much to report in game news. I'm trying to figure out why they call Cliffy B. "Dude Huge" now. What's that about? He seems like an average size guy to me. Looking forward to Gears of War 2, well at least my brother is. I'm still waiting to see something that piques my interest for the Xbox 360, especially since the new Hulk game wasn't as well made as the previous one. I did find something rather awesome, or kind of sad, depending on your point of view. My brother found an old catalog in the doctor's office while waiting for a checkup, he took it home to share with me. The electronic game section was so amazing that I had to scan the pages in.

The Hartman Catalog Showrooms seem to be no more. I searched online and in the phone books and it looks like they closed shop a while back. These pages were taken from their 1982 catalog. Good gravy! Were some of you even born then? I was 8-years-old at the time and sure-enough, have fond memories of the handheld electronics. Some of the manufactures disappeared along with the arcade crash of the 80's. For a while some of the electronic handheld games were better than the consoles. I remember seeing the Pac Man 2 game and wondered if the handheld version fell in canon with the Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man titles.

Yes, even as a kid I was obsessed with the order and relationships between videogames and sequels. What was the plot and purpose of Pac Man 2? Would the blue and black color scheme replace the yellow and blue of the arcade cabinet? Were these new ghosts chasing Pac Man, were the mazes really going to become horizontal rather than vertical? These things fascinated me. Talk about a kook in the making!

The 3D Dungeons & Dragons game by Mattel fascinated me. My uncle and cousin each had a copy of the LCD D&D game from the year before. The various handheld titles were expensive for the time. Considering we had a couple of led lights in place of a real screen and no memory worth measuring, these titles were the cornerstone of technology and warranted the price tag. The most expensive game in the lineup was the Mattel Computer Chess game. It cost $119 in 1982, if you figure inflation that would be around $250 today.

The idea of having a single handheld game system that had interchangeable cartridges was a pipe dream. Each handheld game had to have a theme and custom-built input. Just like their arcade counterparts. Maybe someday in the far future, in the time of Buck Rogers, would we ever see such technology that allowed for a universal portable gaming device. Seven years later, practically another half of my lifetime, we were introduced to the Gameboy. The era of limited portable gaming was over.

The consoles at the time were pricey and underpowered, by today's standards. The most expensive of these, the Intellivision was $329 in the catalog. If you figure inflation that is like spending $700 today. The Odyssey and 2600 would have been around $425 in today's currency. Suddenly the PS3 doesn't seem so pricey anymore. Parents had to scrape and save to get those items in time for Christmas. My parents made a lot of sacrifices getting the 2600 to my brother. Being the only kids on the block that brought the arcade home was worth it. I have yet to find a person that owned one or two of these systems back in the day and did not have warm memories of them. Most of my generation here on 1UP, and a lot of the editors past and present, they can recall similar stories. The Atari 2600 forever changed us and gave us something to look forward to at the end of the day.

It is very interested to think about how far we have come in 26 years. The three major console developers highlighted in the catalog, Atari, Magnavox and Atari are no longer major players in the game. Even the name of Atari carries little value in the market today. It's kind of sad in a way but the memories of those rare handheld systems and early consoles will forever remain special to us gamers. Before I get all weepy I'll get back to work. Later today I have a live jazz performance. If the weather cooperates then I might have some video for you tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed and let me know what you were up to in 1982... that is if you were even born yet. If you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Rad surf designs, or trying to emulate my cartoon heroes...

Earlier this year I talked about emulating my artistic heroes when I draw certain subjects. For example I said when I draw skateboarders I try and capture the skeleton imagery of Vernon Courtlandt Johnson (VCJ), the illustrator behind the Powell Peralta “Bones Brigade” art. When I draw basketball players I try and capture the energy and lanky proportions of the painter Kadir Nelson. Like many artists out there I have a ton of influences, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. When I draw cars I have many influences from the pages of CARtoons magazine. Steve Austin (not the wrestler) is an amazing cartoonist. It’s one thing to render a realistic car, but to make a caricature of it takes much more work. You have to capture the lines, and stance of each car. You have to make them easy to identify to the audience. 

Mr. Austin can do this with any vehicle, make, and model. His lines are clean, and the ability to draw each car from every angle is astounding. Steve, is an artist that follows closely in the steps of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth (RIP), Ed “Newt” Newton, and Dave “Big” Deal (RIP). These were artists who were able to create a career turning cars into works of art. In my honest opinion there are very few people that can create art at this level. Joe Borer is another such person. What separates his work from the previously aforementioned legends is that his cars are always in the middle of the action. They have weight, they have movement. The tires are glued to the road, at the same time the rubber is separating from the wheels. Even when his cars are standing still they look like they’re ready to peel off the page. 

 

Mr. Borer approaches his vehicle art in the same way an animator does characters. They have to be fluid, dynamic, and filled with personality. Joe is able to “stretch and squash” his cars with the ease of the best Disney cartoonists. For anyone not used to cartooning trying to make a car look flexible is very difficult. After a lifetime of drawing it’s something that I cannot do easily. That was the thing about the artists that I grew up studying. They made everything look so amazing. One of the most underrated artists in my book was Shawn Kerri. She was an impeccable cartoonist, but also an accomplished painter. She could render realistic scenes, as easily as she could caricature people. Sadly she died young, but not before producing some of the best CARtoons issues ever. 

 

In the action sports world there was only one other artist that I could compare to Ms. Kerri. His name is Damien Fulton. He is the artist behind the comic strip Radical Rick, as it appeared in the pages of BMX Plus magazine. Damien had very expressive cartoons, but whose BMX bikes, and races were rendered with a bit of realism. When he painted his characters, sometimes for the cover of the magazine, they were beautiful works of art. I would try my best to emulate Damien’s attention to detail when drawing BMX bikes. His poses, his understanding of the culture was super deep. Studying his panels made me a better artist. It helped me understand the history, and movements behind BMX. The same lessons went for every cartoonist I followed. 

Not all of the artists I enjoyed studying were as prolific as those in the pages of CARtoons magazine, or BMX Plus. Some of the art was seen sparingly, like VCJ’s designs for Powelll Peralta. Only when a new skateboard was released, perhaps a few a year, would I see a new rendering by VCJ. I poured over the designs in the skateboard magazines, as I couldn’t afford to actually buy the decks. Other art that inspired me was seen on soft goods, like tee shirts, hats, and the occasional sticker. Pop fashion for the early, and mid ‘80s was a mix of action sports culture. Surf, skate, and BMX all had a hand in influencing the look, and feel of the generation. Colors were bright, and some of the hottest labels had created their own mascots. Surf line Maui and Sons had a shark man mascot. Other brands like Airwalk, Rip Curl, Billabong, and Gotcha worked hard to create their own branding as well. 

Mascots on ‘80s clothing became very en vogue. It turned out that Disney, and Warner Bros. did not have a monopoly on the market. Arguably the king of the era was an artist named Steve Nazar. A company called Town & Country Surf Designs, out of Pearl City Hawaii was looking for an artist. In the early ’80s Steve showed them his original cartoon characters, many with a heavy surf vibe, and the rest as they say was history. Steve’s original characters, including Joe Cool, Thrilla Gorilla, the Kool Kats, and the tiki-headed Wave Warriors were instant hits. 

 

Nazar’s designs, went on the brightest shirts imaginable. These mascots were often seen in many humorous situations. Their shirts, stickers, and other goods were sold, and seen, seemingly everywhere in the decade. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t see the art in magazines, at school, the playground, or even at church through the ‘80s. This repetition of imagery in multiple shops made sure that the brand was becoming recognizable in every market. It was a win-win for the small company out of Hawaii, and the artist just trying to pay some bills. The characters were not only popular with the surf crowd, but with just about every demographic. Anybody could wear the shirts, and everybody knew who Thrilla Gorilla was. 

The mascots were so well known that LJN created a game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Think about that for a moment. The majority of early console games were either ports of an existing arcade game, or they were based on a sport. Licensed games came from comic book, or movie franchises. This title was based on the art from tee shirts. The game was well received by most audiences. It let players compete in both skateboard and surf competitions. The control took a little used to, but before long most were able to breeze through the courses, and perform some radical tricks. The game demonstrated that a solid idea, with great visual storytelling, could be enough to get a video game made. Although Steve Nazar didn’t program, or animate the game, his characters were as well received as the biggest mascots of the era, including the Mario Bros. and Mickey Mouse. T&C would end up getting a sequel, called Thrilla’s Surfari. This game was more of a platform adventure, where Thrilla had to fight angry natives, and giant weird monsters in order to save his girlfriend Barbi Bikini. He still surfed, and skated, just not in competition. 

 

Just as the characters had hit the big time the partnership between Mr. Nazar, and T&C would end less than amicably. The parent company in Hawaii decided to take their art in a different direction. Since they did not own the rights to the characters they went with other, more generic, surf looks. The characters were sadly without a home for 30 years. Many would ask T&C why they didn’t have a line of retro shirts, but they never wanted to revisit the era that really helped put them on the map. A few years ago Nazar decided to bring back all of his designs, and launch a small company called Thrilla Krew. He reprinted just about all of the classic characters on soft goods, and stickers. He was very careful to remove the trademark T&C yin-yang symbol from his new products. 

 

Which actually takes me to some designs that I have been working on over the end of the summer. Since the pandemic started I have been very busy, at work, and at home. My job has me working out of the house, and at the same time I have been taking care of a few family issues. I have had zero time, to write, record, or post any new blogs. As you can tell. I’d hit a creative road block, as the pandemic, and political climate were draining. I looked back at the artists, and movements that inspired me. I remembered Steve Austin, Joe Borer, and Shawn Kerri. I longed to see new art from Damien. But more than that I was missing the mascot characters from T&C Surf Designs. I was wondering what would it be like if they had a new video game. How would their levels work out? What new challenges could I come up with. 

 

As I was planning out a sequel to the game I began sketching out ideas for monsters attacking the characters out of the surf. That in turn inspired me to create tee shirt designs that were in the style of Mr. Nazar, and those early designs that I fell in love with. After several weeks of illustrating little bits at a time I finally completed these drawings. I may still do more in his style, featuring his characters, but for now I’m happy to bring you these cartoons. 

 

I want budding game designers, artists, and creatives to remember the power of storytelling. When people can see great art, including cartoon characters, and imagine a narrative then you're doing something right. If you're struggling with a piece, or are having some writers block just look at what your influences did. See how they made things work. Take it apart, and try to emulate it. You'll then have a better insight on how visual storytelling works.

Whether you’ve never heard of these characters, or whether they are like old friends I’d like to get your feedback. Is there an old video game that you wish had a remake? Would would you like to see if you were the producer. Or how about this if I were to design tees like these would you be interested in buying them? Would you like to see me take another crack at cartoon art? Are there long lost characters that you’d like to see get a come back? I’m interested in hearing from you! 

I do plan on recording more episodes, as the holiday season rolls up. I may have some time open up, which will allow me more creative breathing room. It would be much welcome, as this summer has been a pressure cooker. For now please enjoy these illustrations, and let me know what you think. 

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