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[ Retro GIF of the Week ] Delicious Strawberry

March 1st, 2013 by Benj Edwards

Amiga Strawberry Art 1986 Retro GIFClick to see other views of this image: [ Original Size ] [ 2X Zoom ] [ 4:3 Ratio ]

It’s hard to believe that an artist created this delectable representation of a strawberry using only tiny digital squares in a mere 16 different shades. Whomever made it did so in 1986 on a Commodore Amiga: the signature date, image dimensions, color depth, and color resolution all point to those facts.

Obviously, due to its age, this image did not originate as a GIF. CompuServe introduced the first GIF standard in 1987.

I know of three other works by this same artist (all signed with the same signature), and they’re all amazing. I’ll probably post them in the future, but for reference, those other works depict a stylized lion head, a pair of feminine human lips, and a “Liquid Light” logo.

But I can’t quite read the signature. It looks like it starts with a “K.” Can anybody out there help me find this artists’ name?

[ Update: 03/06/2013 – Gino in the comments identified this image as the work of Kara Blohm, a well-known Amiga font and graphics artist who is now sadly deceased. Thanks, Gino! ]

[ Wondering what a GIF is? Read the introduction to this column. ]

Retro GIF of the Week Fact Box
Source File Name: STRAWBRY.GIF
Oldest Known File Date: January 21, 1993 – 2:43:32 AM Eastern
Source File Format: GIF – 87a (non-interlaced)
Dimensions: 640 x 400 pixels
Color Depth: 4-bit (16 color)
Color Resolution
(palette size):		 12-bit (4096 colors)
Origin Platform: Amiga
Derived From: Unknown
Creation Date: 1986
Artist: Kara Blohm
If you know more about the origin of this image, please leave a comment.


This entry was posted on Friday, March 1st, 2013 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Art, Computer History, Regular Features, Retro GIF of the Week, Vintage Computing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

5 Responses to “[ Retro GIF of the Week ] Delicious Strawberry”

  1. SirPaul Says:
    March 1st, 2013 at 7:16 pm

    I have always loved the Amiga’s colors. Very vibrant and wonderful. You can do a lot with its limited palette.

  2. XCALIBR8 Says:
    March 2nd, 2013 at 9:20 pm

    This reminds me of a simpler time. The good old days of tiling images for wallpaper in Windows 95.

  3. Gino Says:
    March 5th, 2013 at 11:35 pm

    Thanks for posting that beautiful strawberry!

    It looks like the work of noted Amiga graphic artist Kara Blohm who has sadly passed away. Kara was quite talented. Her Amiga artwork is very distinctive. If I get a chance I will try and locate additional artwork.

    Kara discusses the strawberry as one of her first projects before creating fonts for the Amiga.

    http://www.amigaforever.com/classic/karacd_karaintro.html

    She was famous for her colorful Kara Fonts and AnimFont packages. AnimFonts were used in programs such as DeluxePaint. When played, a gold beveled font, for example, would shimmer.

    http://www.amigaforever.com/news-events/friends/

  4. Benj Edwards Says:
    March 6th, 2013 at 1:20 pm

    Thanks, Gino. I’ve updated the post to reflect your new information.

  5. Judy Blohm Gorian Says:
    January 5th, 2015 at 6:35 pm

    Benj Edwards –
    I am Kara Blohm’s oldest sister. You mentioned that you have three other works by Kara, besides the Strawberry. Is there any way that I could get a copy of them? When Kara passed away in 2004, we knew little about retreiving some of her work on her computer. Eventually, it was all lost; since we could not figure out her passwords. Anything that you can do will really be appreciated; especially after ten years have passed. Thank you!

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