Illustration Sega Nintendo

Greg Martin, illustrator of iconic games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, dies - The Drum looks back at his work

By Angela Haggerty, Reporter

January 12, 2014 | 3 min read

Illustrator Greg Martin, who was behind some of the iconic packaging artwork in the 1990s for Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man, Adventure Island and Flintstones computer games, has died.

A moderator on the Nintendo Age forum announced his death in early January.

The mod wrote: “Greg was the rare person who both worked in and was a fan of the work of others in his industry. I don’t think he ever lost that sense of wonder he had as a teenager for really great artwork, and he was a collector himself of artwork, movies, art books, and other things.

“Greg started his career at Hanna Barbera. He worked on projects relating to the Flintstones, Jetsons, Yogi Bear and the rest of the Hanna Barbera line up. It was no surprise then that he illustrated the packaging for the video games related to these properties later on – he already had perfected illustrating these characters.

“After Hanna Barbera, Greg worked for Nintendo and Sega and many other companies,” the mod continued. “He produced beautiful 24 to 30 inch airbrushed paintings that took nearly a week to complete.

“He was one of the very best and most prolific artists in this area and the list of well loved game boxes he had a hand in is incredible. He also worked on many other projects including teenage mutant ninja turtles, thundercats, and, early in his career, movie posters. In recent years, Greg had spent a lot of time painting plein air landscapes.”

Below is a collection of his work.