Real Bezel art - awaiting a triumphant return?

[Vigo]

I love bezel art, and it is easily a very catching feature on classic cabs. Space scenes, monsters, cockpits and heroes facing off with villains surrounding the monitor is gripping stuff, yet, it is still uncommon for scratch built cabs to feature it. I don't think it was ever popular on the mame cab scene, with exception to collage cabs or designs mimicking classics . Solid black is clean and polished, and bezel art is hard due to shape constraints. People want big monitors without much trim. I get it.

As art has progressed, I can think of a few good examples of bezel art starting to crop up. Do you think bezel art will be on the return? Am I he only one who thinks it would be a cool trend?

[Rick]

I agree with you. I definitely love when all of the artistic parts "mesh", and for me, bezel art is part of this. That's certainly one of the reasons my first two bartops were Galaga and Galaxian, and why they included the bezel art.

[n3wt0n]

I hope you are right Vigo! I love bezel artwork. It can really tie a cabinet together.

[Le Chuck]

I have some early 80s cabs in the works that make use of original bezel art, which isn't the same.  Tons of builds here use the classic bezel art either because they are dedicated refurbs, dedicated scratch builds, or multi's in a dedicated (all those nintendo cabs) - I think it's great, there have been a few builds here that have used custom bezel art, Maxigriffamusadodd's MvsC Revolution, Aurich's Deep 6, Pixel Hugger's Mission Control (in a manner), and others I'm sure.  Didn't Opt2Not design some custom bezel art for several of his commissions?   I even put a very rudimentary form of bezel art on the Notre Dame build I did this winter. 

Oh, and doi, Space Base.  That's my bezel art opus. 

[yotsuya]

I'm with you on bezel art. I love to see real art that fits.

[Generic Eric]

I hope you are right Vigo! I love bezel artwork. It can really tie a cabinet together.

See also: Rugs

I like art.

As far as it making a comeback.  I hope so. 

Its all based on the person, some people have a vision, some don't.  Some can't express their ideas.

[Rick]

Its all based on the person, some people have a vision, some don't.  Some can't express their ideas.

This is the truth. I'm not artistically inclined, but I do try to express my ideas - usually to Opt2Not and Malenko - and let the experts do the job right!

[Malenko]

This is the truth. I'm not artistically inclined, but I do try to express my ideas - usually to Opt2Not and Malenko - and let the experts do the job right!

Im not even in the same ballpark as Opt2Not.   I can recreate and fake, that man is a real artist.


But I agree with bezel art, I think it ties it all together just like the aforementioned rug.

[JDFan]

I'd agree with the bezel art making it look much better - but truthfully I think what will eventually happen is that as monitors drop in price more people will start going to active bezels as part of the actual screen - Figure if you can get a slightly larger screen with a 1/2" bezel on the actual hardware and then cut a 1/2" channel in the sides of the cabinet so just the actual screen fills the screen opening using active bezels that can change with each game would be even better (then add in a second ultra widescreen for the marquee and keep the side art generic or theme based rather than specific game based and you'd have a great looking setup.

Just imagine a setup like the BLIP build that had the screen countersunk so the monitor bezel was hidden and the visible screen filled the entire bezel area with a larger monitor and used active bezels to match the game being played like the Marquee does. 

[opt2not]

I love bezel artwork, especially when it really ties in the theme of the cabinet. 

My favourites are:
Xevious


and

Radarscope

[Generic Eric]

I think active bezels will come to pass one day.  Random flashing lights on a Gorf bezel, kinda like what we saw on the TV show, Star Trek.

[pbj]

We've already got bezel art in the MAME layouts for you hipster weirdos that insist on a 4:3 image on a 16:9 screen.

 

[bulbousbeard]

[bulbousbeard]

I think active bezels will come to pass one day.  Random flashing lights on a Gorf bezel, kinda like what we saw on the TV show, Star Trek.

MAME's artwork system already supports this.

[lamprey]

I think active bezels will come to pass one day.  Random flashing lights on a Gorf bezel, kinda like what we saw on the TV show, Star Trek.

MAME's artwork system already supports this.

Sure does. Not perfect, but does the job pretty well.

[bulbousbeard]

I think active bezels will come to pass one day.  Random flashing lights on a Gorf bezel, kinda like what we saw on the TV show, Star Trek.

MAME's artwork system already supports this.

Sure does. Not perfect, but does the job pretty well.

You can have animation in MAME's artwork system, too. See how the artwork system was used to display the inputs for this game:

[lamprey]

Yeah, the Neo Geo "bezel" updates as you add coins and the Gorf one lights up as you increase rank etc.. I don't have any pics of those yet. still waiting for the rotary 360's so I can finish off my cab!