Iconic Ocean Box art artist Bob Wakelin passed away

We, “retro” enthusiasts, know well that time goes too fast and we are all aging at the same speed, but we never can expect when someone in the retro scene passes away. This morning I learned through many UK gaming outlets that Bob Wakelin has passed away. He was mostly known in UK and the rest of Europe where Ocean has a strong presence, but we, here at the other side of the pond, must have seen many of his work for sure if we have a slight interest in retro gaming. You can see many of his amazing artwork here in this article published last year.

While doing a bit of research for this post, I found this interview on RetroGamesMaster where he talks about his beginnings at Ocean, demystifies the belief that he created the iconic logo for Ocean, and mention his, at that time, work illustrating book covers for a series called Sea Quest.

Bob passed away last night, after a long and hard fight against leukemia. He will be missed.

Author: Paulo Garcia

2 thoughts on “Iconic Ocean Box art artist Bob Wakelin passed away

  1. Box art is something I’m slowly start to appreciate now but didn’t really enjoyed in the past – the game itself was my main concern then. While most of us now never will see box art again (“box art? is this a dlc for my downloaded game?”), it’s a topic that gains slowly more and more attraction e.g via game art books now.

  2. Damn, that sucks. He was one of my art heroes back in the 8-bit and 16-bit days. Lots of his work was exhibited in magazine ads every month in the 1980s and 1990s. RIP, Bob. Your work will live on.

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