[ Retro GIF of the Week ] The Feminine Eye
December 10th, 2012 by Benj Edwards
Click to see other views of this image: [ Original Size ] [ 2X Zoom ] [ 3X Zoom ]
This eye is more than meets the eye. You probably can't see it at this size, but click on the "3X Zoom" link above and you might notice a face and what might be a shoulder (or a six-fingered hand) reflected in the pupil of the eyeball. Neat detail.
Unlike many GIFs that circulated back in the day, this one is signed — twice, in fact. In the upper left, we see a small box containing stylized letters spelling "The Mage." In the lower right, we see "A.H."
I've seen other GIFs with the same resolution and color depth signed "A.H.", so I assume that is the artist. "The Mage" might have been the name of a BBS that happened to tag the image, or perhaps is was simply an alias of A.H.
When combined with its 320 x 200 dimensions, its odd 5-bit / 32-color color depth reveals that this image was created on an Amiga. That means it is likely that it did not originate as a GIF file, and that it could be older than the 1992 file date. But until I find an older source of the image, I won't know for sure.
| Retro GIF of the Week Fact Box | |
| Source File Name: | EYE2.GIF |
| Source File Date: | August 6, 1992 |
| Source File Format: | GIF - 87a (non-interlaced) |
| Dimensions: | 320 x 200 pixels |
| Color Depth: | 5-bit (32 color) (Amiga OCS) |
| Origin Platform: | Amiga |
| Derived From: | Unknown |
| Creation Date: | Unknown |
| Artist: | Avril Harrison (Updated 12/11/2012) |
| If you know more about the origin of this image, please leave a comment. | |
December 10th, 2012 at 5:36 pm
I'm pretty sure this is from an Amiga demo. I'll poke around.
December 10th, 2012 at 5:56 pm
A.H. is Avril Harrison, a noted video game artist who created most of the pack-in sample art for EA's Deluxe Paint for Amiga.
Quick DPaint image search:
http://is.gd/ozXObC
He created artwork for a number of games, apparently including the Monkey Island series. A discussion here tells more:
http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?/topic/248239-the-best-amiga-art-artists/
December 10th, 2012 at 6:11 pm
Awesome, Blake! Somehow I thought you'd know who
heshe was. I seem to recall you identifying some vintage Christmas art a few years ago too.December 10th, 2012 at 6:28 pm
The most famous single image of A.H.'s digital career has to be the then-impossibly perfect looking Deluxe Paint King Tut.
http://i.imgur.com/vsF4N.gif
December 10th, 2012 at 8:07 pm
Insightful posts and comments like these are precisely why I ♥ this blog! I am experiencing major Amiga flashbacks right now. I'll always fondly remember learning about 4096 colors in HAM mode for Deluxe Paint!
I didn't know who Avril Harrison was before despite having seen a lot of his work in my tender years… now to pursue some more!
December 10th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Thru Blake's link I learned that Avril Harrison is female, and found more of her creations in this well-organized (in theme!) treasure trove of classic Amiga art: http://amiga.lychesis.net/
Now my eyeballs are going to be glued here for the next stretch of hours.
December 10th, 2012 at 9:06 pm
I guess that makes sense, Torley, as Avril means "April" in French, and it is usually a female name — in the US at least.
That King Tut image is amazing, Blake, and it is so famous from that Deluxe Paint cover that I wasn't going to touch it (even though I do have it as a GIF file).
It's fun what we've been learning from this study of GIFs so far, isn't it? More fun is definitely yet to come.
December 11th, 2012 at 8:54 am
I spent many hours creating images on the 64 and Amiga. A lot of us used to post images on Compunet and I was thrilled at the age of 14 to be asked to do the loading screen for a motorcycling racing game, name of which escapes me.
Unfortunately I've lost all of the 64 images I created, sigh. Last year I did find a couple of unfinished Amiga images I worked on with Deluxe Paint but that's all I have left.
http://retrocosm.net/2011/02/08/amiga-1200-liberated-from-loft/
Avril Harrison's King Tut was the gold standard!
December 11th, 2012 at 9:24 am
Wow, did not know Avril was female. I guess that makes sense. (Ms. Lavigne, etc…)