Paul Faris is an illustrator and art director with twenty years of experience working with arcade pinball and video games.
Faris was originally a high school coach and teacher who created fine art pieces in his spare time. In 1975, at the age of 26, he was contacted by Bally to join their new in-house art department. After turning them down twice, he eventually agreed; Paul quickly established himself with a clean, attractive style and balanced composition, and was soon promoted to Art Director in 1977. At Bally, his artwork appeared on many of their popular games, including Evel Knievel, Eight Ball, Playboy (Bally), Paragon, Xenon, and Centaur.
In 1985, he left Bally and started Paragon Studios, Inc., a small art gallery and studio in Wheaton, Illinois. He remained active in arcade gaming, however, developing pinball and video game artwork for Game Plan, Data East, Taito, and Sega Pinball.
In 2006, Paul Faris was inducted into the Pinball Expo Hall of Fame. Today he lives with his family in Illinois.
Paul Faris' artwork has appeared on the following games:
- Night Rider (Bally, 1976)
- Evel Knievel (Bally, 1977)
- Lost World (Bally, 1978)
- Playboy (Bally, 1978)
- Paragon (Bally, 1979)
- Future Spa (Bally, 1979)
- Space Invaders (Bally, 1980)
- Xenon (Bally, 1980)
- Centaur (Bally, 1981)
- Andromeda (Game Plan, 1985)
- Double Dragon (Taito, 1987)
- Pyros (Taito, 1987)
- Chase H.Q. (Taito, 1988)
- Operation Thunderbolt (Taito, 1989)
- The Phantom of the Opera (Data East, 1990)
- Thunder Fox (Taito, 1990)
- Back to the Future (Data East, 1990)
- Batman (Data East, 1991)
- Checkpoint (Data East, 1991)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Data East, 1991)
- Hook (Data East, 1992)
- Sonic Blast Man (Taito, 1993)
- WWF Royal Rumble (Data East, 1994)
- Tattoo Assassins (Data East, 1995)
- Zombie Raid (American Sammy, 1995)
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Sega, 1995)
- GoldenEye (Sega, 1996)
- Vacation America (Chicago Gaming, 2003)
Paul Faris' life and work demonstrate the following tropes:
- Creator Cameo/The Cameo: Paul Faris sometimes inserts himself and/or his family members into his artwork.
- Both Lost World and Paragon depict Faris as the barbarian warrior and his wife as the accompanying maiden.
- In Back to the Future, Faris' son was the model for Marty McFly, as Michael J. Fox wouldn't allow his likeliness to be used.
- Paul's daughter served as the model for Christine in The Phantom of the Opera
- In an indirect example, Bally artist Dave Christensen drew Faris in the crowd for Captain Fantastic.
- Rated M for Manly: A recurring theme in many of his pieces.
