The Art of Kevin Bayliss: Killer Instinct

In the 1980s and 1990s, video games often used illustrators, painters, and 3D modelers to portray what the perfect version of their games would look like. Key Art, also known as a "key visual", is the main piece of artwork that is used to represent a type of media and is used on posters, print ads, television, and sometimes even box art for the product.

Once the Key art is developed, especially for these older video games, it is meant to represent the ideal form of the project and to the keep the team of artists all focused on targeting the same end result.

There are numerous examples of this throughout gaming's history, both good and bad, that are as memorable as the games themselves.

The famed Nintendo, turned Xbox/PC developer, Rare, is known for their Silicon Graphics Workstation renderings from their Nintendo-era games, particularly the Donkey Kong Country series. This iconic imagery was not only created to help sell the game, but also to build anticipation among readers of gaming magazines like Nintendo Power and others as they eagerly awaited the game's release. Part of what made Rare's artwork so impressive and memorable to many, was that it went a few steps beyond Key Art, and often would tread into the realm of concept art that expanded on the idealistic, if not impossible at the time, look of what the game could be.

Rare's Kevin Bayless is responsible for much of the remarkable work that emerged from this key Nintendo developer. Joining the company in 1987, he is credited with redesigning Donkey Kong and creating Diddy Kong. His credits include games like Wheel of Fortune (1988), California Games (1989), Time Lord (1990), and Battletoads (1991). He later created characters for Killer Instinct (1994) and its sequel, Killer Instinct 2 (1996).

Bayless's incredible designs and renderings have produced some of the most beloved 3D-modeled artwork of the 1990s. So, let's take a moment and celebrate his contributions by looking at some of the outstanding artwork he developed for the over-the-top, iconic characters of the early Killer Instinct games!

Killer Instinct:

Killer Instinct 2:

There is nothing like the early 3D renderings of the 90s, and Kevin Bayless's work masterfully combined style and technology to create this stunning set of images! Many of these images come from strategy guide scans, while others are lower resolution by today's standards. Kevin once mentioned on Twitter that the max resolution was under 1000px at the time, so some of these might never see the light of (internet) day without dedicated scanning or digital restoration.

Kevin, if you're reading this, let's talk archiving!

Now, if this scratches and itch of nostalgia and you're interested in Kevin's current artwork or behind-the-scenes information about Rare's fan-favorite games, he's absolutely worth a follow on Twitter, Instagram, or even watching his streams on Twitch. He is a great follow and I encourage you to see what he is up to at any given moment!

Meanwhile, if you're nostalgic for some ULTRA awesome music from the Killer Instinct games, give the episode of barSILENCE about Killer Instinct a listen for plenty of supremely killer tunes by Graeme Norgate and Robin Beanland!

Cheers friends! See you around the internet and FIGHT ON!