Awesome Hand Rendered Atari Computer Concepts
Atari 900 Concept
Atari 1200 Concept
Atari 2600 Concept
I really love these old school hand rendered Atari computer concepts by Industrial Designer Regan Cheng. The repeated streaking caused by the marker’s nibs can be intentionally controlled to create a wide range of different textures from wood, to stone, to textured or glossy plastic. It looks like Regan was exploring some really exciting Computer Archetypes back then!
By 1981, Atari’s home computer division began looking into replacements for the aging 400/800 line of computers. Several types of systems were conceptualized and in the end it came down to two routes. One was called the A-300 project which involved a new series of Atari computers which would work as modules and plug together to form a complete computer system. The second was an evolution of the A-300 project that shed all of the expansion and modular design for a low profile, high tech computer system which became the Atari 1200XL Computer System.
Check out the cool modular A-300 concept below.
Ah the nostalgia! I’m now really inspired to break out my old box of well used markers and broken pastels. Aren’t you?
PS: This is the kind of exploration work you would use my Iteration Book for!
Via: Color Cubic and The Atari Museum.
John Frangella
September 21, 2010 at 9:57 pmAmazing renders of the vision behind the computer product. Can’t wait to see the next generation mobile technologies.
John
Carl
September 20, 2010 at 10:02 pmIt’s so hard to imagine that these were done in 1981; the drawings were so forward-thinking. Did you notice that the first sketches have a monitor/screen setup that resembles the current iMac? Crazy. Also, I love the ones that have the rendered drawing, and the smaller line drawing in the corner. So clean. I think with presentation renderings these days, many designers go overboard with different angles, and photo-realistic renderings. Is that really necessary? What’s necessary is communicating the design, and these simplistic renders do that job very well.
Rene
September 20, 2010 at 8:24 pmNow we have computers to design more computers. Although I enjoy these renderings, I can imagine my boss / program managers giving me crap for wasting my time if I tried to do this at a job. 😀