This is the story of illustrator Mark Ferrari, whose artwork was so good it forced Lucasfilm Games to figure out how to make a graphics technique called dithering compress to fit on floppy disks — in the process winning awards and triggering the use of dither in the wider games industry — and who pioneered the use of two background illustration tricks that gave the illusion of animation. He became world-renowned for his colour cycling and palette shifting techniques, which could be used to make a single computer illustration appear alive.

You can see a collection of Mark's artwork — including his coloured pencil illustrations as well as his computer graphics — at his website markferrari.com.

Gary Winnick has some of his past work viewable at garyart.net.

Thimbleweed Park is available for nearly every current computer and game console. If you buy the iOS version through lifeandtimes.games/thimbleweedpark, I'll get a small cut of the sale price.

Music Credits:

• Evan Schaeffer - Tulip Poplars, Anthem, and Big Tree from the album Glow, and Mantra and Graze from the album Big Spash
• Lee Rosevere - Sad Marimba Planet, More On That Later, Southside, and What's Behind the Door from the album Music for Podcasts 4
• Kai Engel - Seeker, Run, and Denouement from the album The Run
• The ending from Loom
• And a few bits of my own stuff

The Life & Times of Video Games on the Web and social media

• Website: lifeandtimes.games
• Twitter: @LifeandTimesVG
• Instagram: @lifeandtimesvg
• YouTube: lifeandtimes.games/youtube
• Patreon: lifeandtimes.games/patreon

Please remember to subscribe and to leave a review on iTunes. A small donation of a few bucks a month on Patreon would go a long way, too, and it'd get you a bit of cool bonus content here and there on a private podcast feed.

Tags: graphic adventures, colour cycling, deluxe paint, dithering, art, gary winnick, loom, lucasarts, lucasfilm, mark ferrari, palette shifting, scumm, seize the day, thimbleweed park, illustration