Over the past month, we’ve been working with 5 members of the PosterSpy community to create scroll-stopping, bespoke artwork to promote the new ATARI 2600+ console. Initially, our public call out garnered over 120 applications for this paid commission and Scott Balmer was one of the chosen artists based on his fantastic portfolio.
Kevin’s poster is the third of five to be revealed, with others being shared across November in the lead up the console’s release.
Here it is!
What made you apply for the ATARI commission via PosterSpy?
I was drawn to this project since I felt that my art style would fit well with Atari’s retro games such as those that appeared on the 2600 after exploring a similar video game poster concept based on Tetris that I had made recently as a personal project..
How did you find the experience working on a PosterSpy commission?
It’s been great working with PosterSpy on this project from start to finish. I have done similar projects that had the same stages and requirements so I roughly knew what to expect while working towards getting the best concepts out of this project’s poster design.
What was the biggest challenge when creating your piece?
I think it was picking the different pixel elements to represent the games that would also be recognisable as being from the 2600 and to have an affinity close to Atari. I spent some time looking at screenshots of each game and picking what would feel distinct to the 2600 while working well with the dynamics within the poster.
There’s also trying to add the quirks that the 2600 is known for on how it draws its graphics so I wanted to make sure that I could faithfully recreate this through the pixel elements in the poster.
Did the final piece turn out how you initially planned?
I think it did, I was planning to incorporate as much of the 2600 and its legacy as a dynamic celebration and the cultural impact that Atari had made with the original 2600.
I also wanted to capture the discovery and creativity that the game designers went through when creating their games by integrating their pixel creations into the final poster design.
How does it feel to be part of the ATARI legacy?
It never really crossed my mind while working on this that it could become a part of Atari’s legacy but it feels great that I had a chance to make something to celebrate the 2600 with the new release of the 2600+.
What inspired your design?
I was thinking more in line with how artists used to create the box art for Atari and other platforms back in the day where they were usually shown a screen shot of what the game looks likes and then sent out to create a visual representation of the game from what was essentially a bunch of pixels arranged on a screen.
Like the artwork found on Super Breakout featuring the astronaut with the game being reflected on his visor and also a mixture of old arcade cabinet designs from that era played a role in coming up with my overall poster design.
