who drawn the amiga kikstart disk on 1.x?

[gilgamesh]

That lady worked on a lot of games. A Matt Chat is technically possible.

[cosmicfrog]

thats a good idea !!!

we need see more of a female perspective, someone tell matt

so why has draw the hand and disk in etch a sketch then ?? first do that then say its badly drawn

[gilgamesh]

Speaking of a female perspective
http://www.youtube.com/user/blacklil...10/S9hNnDHFy1c
(evil crossposting, I know)

[cosmicfrog]

thanks for that gilgamesh, must have slipped me by that 1
"the sexiest thing a woman can have is confidence" so true

[T_hairy_bootson]

I have changed my avatar back in honour of Sheryl's epic work.

[Retro1234]

It was practical -You turn the Amiga on it doesnt go into Basic or DOS and shows you need to insert a disk.

[desiv]

I decided to do a test. My wife (who for some reason isn't interested in most of my older computers??? :-) hasn't used an Amiga or seen it boot from floppy.

I showed her the pic and asked her, "If you saw this on a computer screen, what would you think?"

She said that she'd look for a disk called Workbench to insert into the computer.
Sounds like it accomplished it's task.
(Note: She is very computer literate, just not retro-literate.)

desiv

[deicidal]

Originally Posted by desiv

She said that she'd look for a disk called Workbench to insert into the computer.
Sounds like it accomplished it's task.
(Note: She is very computer literate, just not retro-literate.)

desiv

What would happen if you didn't have a work bench disk?

[cosmicfrog]

Then its Hammer Time

[desiv]

Originally Posted by deicidal

What would happen if you didn't have a work bench disk?

Is that a rhetorical question?

desiv

[deicidal]

I could always ask my gf what would she think to do, but i already know the answer she'd ask me.

Hi. I'm Sheryl Knowles and I've just discovered this website. I can answer some of the questions posed in this thread, if anyone is still interested.

I was the first Amiga artist, hired to help design the look and feel of Amiga graphics. Jack Hager (not Hayer) was the second artist hired; he'd been a colleague of RJ's back in Chicago. When we had enough work that we decided to divvy up the chores, Jack became Amiga's art director, while I worked on product design.
I did almost all the original icons, the original fonts, and the icons on the back of the "white" plastic case, as well as designing Graphicraft (which RJ programmed). Plus a lot of illustrations just to show off what the Amiga could do. And I did most of the testing for the Amiga art tools and printer usage.

There are two things you need to know about our early working conditions. One: there was no art tool on the Amiga before Graphicraft. We did every single illustration in the manuals, every "show it off" illustration that appeared in magazines or trade shows, and every practical graphic (i.e. the icons and fonts), pixel by pixel, with no tools other than being able to choose a color and place the pixel. No line tools. No fills. No shape tools. Two: We had no way to save our art work. So once designed, it had to go straight to the programmers to be coded in. I used a LOT of graph paper. Or, if it was an illustration, we had to photograph our screens and send that photo to the publisher needing it. Believe me, once Graphicraft was done, our jobs were so very much easier!

The boot disk that is the main topic of this thread was drawn by me holding it in my left hand and laying down the pixels with my mouse using my right hand. I am right handed. It was not intended to be a literal illustration of the disk or how to use it. It was simply an icon to represent the need to use a disk. The drawing was limited in size and in the number of pixels that could be used, by the programming requirements of the time. All of which should explain why it's a bad drawing. But it was deemed a sufficient icon.

[Jope]

Thanks again for the magic, Sheryl. :-)

[indigolemon]

Thanks for the clarification Sheryl, and thanks for your part in the Amiga story too

[siyllad]

Thanks Sheryl it is my earliest and strongest memory of my first Amiga.

[Predseda]

I LOVE these fragments of Amiga history! Thank you Sheryl.

[Total Eclipse]

Wow, a great insight. Thanks Sheryl for taking the time to provide that info.

[drHirudo]

[ovale]

Hello Sheryl,
That boot image means a lot for me too.

I have a question, it was told that originally the Amiga wasn't a RGB machine, it was a luma chroma machine like the 8bit Atari computers. Only after Commodore acquisition it was converted in a RGB machine. History says that Jay Miner contemplated the possibility to drop the Hold and Modify graphic mode but he did not.

Do you remember how it was that Amiga before the RGB convertion? I suspect it was a Luminance YCrCb with 4 bit per channel. Do you remember something about it.

Thanks,
Ovale

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by SKnowles

Hi. I'm Sheryl Knowles and I've just discovered this website. I can answer some of the questions posed in this thread, if anyone is still interested.

Of course! Welcome and thanks for your iconic work. You might think the disk is "badly drawn" but I disagree, and I am really happy to exchange some words with you.

It was not intended to be a literal illustration of the disk or how to use it. It was simply an icon to represent the need to use a disk. The drawing was limited in size and in the number of pixels that could be used, by the programming requirements of the time. All of which should explain why it's a bad drawing. But it was deemed a sufficient icon.

It's more than sufficient, it's perfect!

And I always thought of it as "here is the disk you need" and not "insert the disk this way". I think the graphic is perfectly clear, and the first time I saw it, I thought it was amazing.

All the work you did for the Amiga is greatly appreciated, you and Susan Kare helped shape the imagery of personal computing, and are both great influences in my work. Thanks again.
I also love the graphics on Street Sports Basketball and California Games. Did you do only the AMiga versions or also the C64 ones? How about Road Rash and Desert STrike, especially the later? The graphics on Amiga were very different from the Megadrive versions.