Tonight Writers Block Live passed one million pages viewed, only 35 days after the site launched. To celebrate, I decided to have a little trivia contest. I happen to be going through some old files this evening and came up with the perfect puzzler: this image of a frog. The first person to correctly identify the image, including its source and original purpose, will receive the fabulous prize of a $10 iTunes Music Store gift certificate.
Update – Apparently this is harder than I thought. Here’s two clues: I believe the image is from 1987, and it has something in common with this image -
We have a winner – Jim Everson gets the prize. The frog was a sample image created in 1987 for SuperMac’s excellent, but nearly forgotten, painting program called PixelPaint. Even today I’m amazed how good it looks for a 256 color image.
The second image is called Iceworld, and it was created by Ron Cobb, as an entry in a PixelPaint art contest. Ron was already a well known cartoonist and production designer at the time, but went on to even bigger things.
I put up the full images for anyone who’d care to glimpse into the ancient past of Mac graphics:
Supermac Frog
Iceworld by Ron Cobb
http://www.dinosaur.org/teefr/chap06.html
Adobe Illustrator started in 1987
Illustrator was my guess too. Both images look like vector illustrations.
Isn’t it the image used by apple to showcase the color quickdraw routines used with the introduction of the Macintosh II ?
Well Mike,
As the last post is hinting, I’m guessing that the image was a sample illustration that came with some new (at the time) vector based graphics application for the Mac that was included to show off the applications abilities. If I had to guess I’d guess that the application was one of these (with my highest rated guess first, etc.).
1) Canvas
2) MacDraw (or MacDraw II or Pro or whatever)’
3) Freehand
4) Illustrator
J.T.
John – I would have guessed you’d know this one, but nope, it’s none of those.
These illustrations were part of the HyperCard software that Apple introduced in August 1987.
Sorry, no cigar. HyperCard was black and white only in those days.
Has it got something to do with the Mac II, the first mac with a colour display?
Was it used with the introduction of the first color apple?
It is reminding me of my old Performa 6320cd… Is it part of The Writing Center (name?), a bundled word processing application, maybe the cover box or something?
clip art from claris works
I seem to recall those images being used, not with a vector package, but an old paint package. Were they for Studio8 or Pixelpaint?
Showing off the Mac IIs colour display?
Or showing off GIF downloads on the internet?
Jim – You’re right; it was PixelPaint!