Who did the box art for Sid Meier’s Civilization?
August 7, 2020 2:48 AM Subscribe
The cover image on the box for Sid Meier’s Civilization might be the most iconic box art of the DOS era of PC gaming, so I figured finding out who made it would be a cinch. When I went to MobyGames two candidates seemed most likely, Laurie Baker and Moshe Milich, credited with illustrations and package design respectively. The former, presumably not the famous architect of the same name, has no other credited work I can find, and nothing the latter is credited with resembles the Civilization box art. Who made this image?
If anyone has that knowledge, I bet the Digital Antiquarian would know who.
posted by conifer at 7:08 AM on August 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by conifer at 7:08 AM on August 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
Seconding the Digital Antiquarian. This seems like the kind of question he'd be interested in, so it's definitely worth reaching out to him.
posted by crazy with stars at 10:13 AM on August 7, 2020
posted by crazy with stars at 10:13 AM on August 7, 2020
Response by poster: Okay, so it seems that the image was created for a Ramesses the Great exhibit at the Mint Museum in Charlotte. Which makes sense, because it’s so different from other video game box art.
Still no closer to finding the illustrator.
I’ll send an email to someone at the Mint Museum.
posted by Kattullus at 1:09 PM on August 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Still no closer to finding the illustrator.
I’ll send an email to someone at the Mint Museum.
posted by Kattullus at 1:09 PM on August 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: The finding aid for the archive of the Ramesses the Great exhibition mentions a few items that use the image of the coffin in profile, including a “mini-poster”, which seems a likely source for the image.
Hopefully I’ll hear back from someone at the Mint Museum archives.
posted by Kattullus at 1:54 PM on August 7, 2020
Hopefully I’ll hear back from someone at the Mint Museum archives.
posted by Kattullus at 1:54 PM on August 7, 2020
Best answer: I did some Googling for "Charlotte skyline paper sculpture" and "Mint Museum" and I think I found it:
Sally Vitsky (her agent's page with some very similar work)
which led to her workbook page which includes this museum art piece.
The Civilization artwork looks like a slightly different photo, maybe photoshopped a bit to add highlights, of the same artwork.
Also here's her own website and Instagram.
I wonder if she knows she created one of the most iconic pieces of video game packaging...
posted by mmoncur at 8:38 PM on August 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
Sally Vitsky (her agent's page with some very similar work)
which led to her workbook page which includes this museum art piece.
The Civilization artwork looks like a slightly different photo, maybe photoshopped a bit to add highlights, of the same artwork.
Also here's her own website and Instagram.
I wonder if she knows she created one of the most iconic pieces of video game packaging...
posted by mmoncur at 8:38 PM on August 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Thank you, mmoncur! That is the image, indeed!
I crudely added the attribution to the Wikipedia page for the box art so that the information is readily available somewhere. I’ll put the attribution elsewhere, when I think of good places.
posted by Kattullus at 11:07 PM on August 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
I crudely added the attribution to the Wikipedia page for the box art so that the information is readily available somewhere. I’ll put the attribution elsewhere, when I think of good places.
posted by Kattullus at 11:07 PM on August 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: As far as I can tell, Vitsky has never been credited with making the box art for Sid Meier’s Civilization. I looked at all the old game documentation I could find, as well as googling my heart out, and nowhere are the two linked.
It’s incredible how an artist’s name can vanish, even from such a famous piece of art.
posted by Kattullus at 4:02 AM on August 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
It’s incredible how an artist’s name can vanish, even from such a famous piece of art.
posted by Kattullus at 4:02 AM on August 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
Contact her and make sure she knows!
If the work was commissioned by the museum, it's possible they held the rights to license it to Microprose without telling her, and did so.
There's also some, er, other possiblities that would be rather dramatic.
posted by automatronic at 12:07 PM on August 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
If the work was commissioned by the museum, it's possible they held the rights to license it to Microprose without telling her, and did so.
There's also some, er, other possiblities that would be rather dramatic.
posted by automatronic at 12:07 PM on August 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: What I’ve found so far is that it was commissioned for the International City Management Association annual conference, held in Charlotte in 1988.
And you’re right, I should contact her.
posted by Kattullus at 12:42 PM on August 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
And you’re right, I should contact her.
posted by Kattullus at 12:42 PM on August 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: She confirmed that it was her work. She was happy that it had been attributed to her, and that so many people like it.
posted by Kattullus at 8:07 AM on August 9, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 8:07 AM on August 9, 2020 [8 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
The illustration looks to be a paper construction. Given that architects in the past regularly constructed paper models of buildings for presentations, I wouldn't entirely discount that it was, in fact, that Laurie Baker. He was, according to the LB website, a quite prolific artist, creating, among many other things, collages.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:29 AM on August 7, 2020 [2 favorites]