Artist Greg Horn gets serious with SAM, and Miami’s “Flash”

Comic book cover illustrator Greg Horn, best known for his work on Elektra and Emma Frost for Marvel Comics, has had a busy year in the video game industry: and there’s no let up in sight. Several new projects have found their way to his digital easel from the world of video games.For game publisher 2KGAMES, Horn was recently commissioned to paint an incentive illustration for the SERIOUS SAM 2 video game. The art work was distributed as a pre-sell limited edition print available only through GAMESTOP/ EB GAMES stores.

As a bonus, the entire run of 8,000 prints was signed by the artist. “When 2K said “limited”, I was thinking in comic book terms, like maybe 500 signatures or something. I should have known-- the video gameindustry is a different ballgame altogether… 8,000 signatures!! Luckily, any comic artist worth his salt has developed a nice quick signature for just these occasions. AND of course it pays to have a short name.” Greg continues his sports-related work, this time for EA SPORTS with a painting of Dwayne Wade of the NBA’s Miami Heat. The artwork will run as a print ad for EA GAMES’ NBA LIVE 06, scheduled to hit stores this month.

“This was too much fun, especially since The Heat is my favorite basketball team! I was excited to get the offer to do more NBA work, but I about went through the roof when I heard it was Flash. It was a new challenge too: they asked me to draw him in schematic/robot form to matchthe commercial campaign they are running now on tv. It was kinda likedrawing the directions for a model airplane!”

Horn’s previous sports paintings have been highly visible projects including the Allstate sponsored US Olympic basketball team poster, and the Lebron James “The Chosen One” billboard campaign for Nike. This ad will follow suit with print runs in the Oct-Nov publications of Sports Illustrated on Campus, Stuff magazine, Official XBOX Magazine, Game Informer, Electronic Gaming Monthly, SLAM, DIME, and XXL. For European game producer HIP GAMES, Greg has just finished the packaging art for two of their upcoming video games: GHOST WARS and CITY OF THE DEAD (a follow up piece to last month’s print ad, this time featuring special effects legend Tom Savini as a zombie fighter.) “I was planning on painting him with his crotch gun from “Dusk till Dawn”, but I figured it would never get past the censors.”

Greg has also provided some weapons designs for the game. “ I have invented several new wondrous contraptions designed explicitly for destroying zombie brains, but I have to give credit to my wife for the “brain syringe"... yeah, she’s a real sick chick. Maybe the most fun, though, is a cover for MAD Magazine: The 50 Worst Things About Video Games. “ I grew up laughing with this mag… I almost ripped open my appendix stitches reading it once! It was an awesome feeling to play in the same sandbox as the greats like Jack Davis, Wally Wood, and “the man” Sergio Aragones. Anyway it was fun to draw Chun-Li throwing up, and Sam Fisher weeping... I mean, you have to buy the mag just to find out what could make THAT guy cry?”

Greg Horn got his start in the video game industry creating covers for Future Network USA’s best-selling magazines PCGamer and PSM. He was also the regular cover artist on The Official XBOX Magazine for nearly a year and a half. In all, he has illustrated over 40 video game related projects.

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