Apple II Bits

Like many of my generation, I got my start in gaming on an Atari console. The Atari 2600 was home to countless classic games, from Adventure to Indiana Jones to the notorious E.T. Whereas my Apple II had games that came on unremarkably labeled floppy disks, Atari’s games sported works of art on their boxes and labels, evoking worlds of excitement and intrigue far beyond the console’s ability to render.

The history, process, and impact of this art is detailed in a new book, The Art of Atari, released in October 2016. This hardcover coffee-table book features gorgeous blow-ups of published Atari creations, as well as concept art and early drafts. Many of the original artists were interviewed about their inspirations and workflows.

One such artist is Cliff Spohn, who gets a two-page profile on pages 70–71. Accompanying this spread is a piece of art that is decidedly un-Atari. Its caption: "Spohn’s illustration for an early Apple Computer manual. His artwork was personally commissioned by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs."

I’m unsure where this art would’ve originally been published; the only references to it that I can find on Google refer back to this very book. According to Spohn’s website, he "also did Apple’s first one or two instruction booklet covers", but I don’t recall having seen this artwork before, either.

UPDATE: Will Scullin cites this art as appearing on Jef Raskin’s Apple II BASIC Programming Manual, and Sean McNamara has proof:

https://twitter.com/apple2europlus/status/849408963225554949

Nonetheless, Spohn’s legacy could be felt even in recent years of Apple media. Spohn writes that "demand for my kind of illustration was and is slowly disappearing". But Apple II enthusiasts may remember that the style of Spohn and his contemporaries inspired the art for the Jason Scott documentary GET LAMP, as illustrated by Lukas Ketner.

Atari was the proving ground for many early computer pioneers, including Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Let’s remember the geniuses like Cliff Spohn that made them look good, too.

(Hat tip to Susan Arendt)