What do you think about my art work? Don't hold back!! (photos included)

[80sarcadegames]

Please note, I am a complete amateur with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.   
Tell me what you think.   

Side art and then marquee is below:

[yotsuya]

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.

[80sarcadegames]

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.

I didn't think I would get reactions that bad so quickly!  LMAO!!

 

[yamatetsu]

This is waaay too busy. Like "throw a stone at the hornet's nest" busy. There is no discernible theme, it's just a bunch of characters thrown together, plus some graphic elements sprinkled all over the place. The characters are drawn in different styles, their placement makes no sense whatsoever.Take the marquee. 'Frogger' seems to sprint towards some Centipede mushrooms, Mario is navigating a Pacman maze whilst balancing on a barrel, the Moon Patrol vehicle is chasing Donkey Kong.
The sideart. There is so much going on that I don't know where to look first, so I end up not looking at it at all.

I suggest looking for a simple, coherent theme, it's not necessary to put every video game character known to man on the cab. You can do wonders with simple color themes and just stripes.
Oh, and lose the name. You cannot go more generic that naming the cab Multicade (except for naming it 'Generic', of course). If you can't think of a suitable name, just ditch it. There is no rule that a cab has to have a name.

Finally, I suggest taking a look at the I completed my project! I posted a pic and a link to my project thread, you can find a lot of great builds there, perhaps some of them might inspire you.

[yotsuya]

FWIW, that was my initial reaction, and you did say don't hold back.

[80sarcadegames]

This is waaay too busy. Like "throw a stone at the hornet's nest" busy. There is no discernible theme, it's just a bunch of characters thrown together, plus some graphic elements sprinkled all over the place. The characters are drawn in different styles, their placement makes no sense whatsoever.Take the marquee. 'Frogger' seems to sprint towards some Centipede mushrooms, Mario is navigating a Pacman maze whilst balancing on a barrel, the Moon Patrol vehicle is chasing Donkey Kong.
The sideart. There is so much going on that I don't know where to look first, so I end up not looking at it at all.

I suggest looking for a simple, coherent theme, it's not necessary to put every video game character known to man on the cab. You can do wonders with simple color themes and just stripes.
Oh, and lose the name. You cannot go more generic that naming the cab Multicade (except for naming it 'Generic', of course). If you can't think of a suitable name, just ditch it. There is no rule that a cab has to have a name.

Finally, I suggest taking a look at the I completed my project! I posted a pic and a link to my project thread, you can find a lot of great builds there, perhaps some of them might inspire you.

Thanks for the constructive criticism.

I guess I was inspired by this (see link regarding which page it comes from)
What are you thoughts about the lack of order in this one??? 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,153856.0.html

[markc74]

This one works a little better because it's using the flyer images. They're all a similar size and it's a constant throughout the sideart so it looks almost like a wall that's been fly postered. That said - the marquee and CPO still lets it down IMO.

Either way - it's not a style I'd ever look to replicate but if it's what you want to go for the flyer route looks better. Doing decent montages is hard, especially with so many different art styles.

[yotsuya]

No, personally, I think that looks terrible as well. Too too busy. Pick a THEME, then run with it!

[yamatetsu]

What yots said. It's not as chaotic as yours because of the rectangular shapes, but it's still too busy. Plus, the CPO and the marquee don't match the sideart stylistically and it has a generic name to boot. So nope, I don't like that one either.

I can think of only one cab that uses collage type artwork well, abevigodasson's First MAME Cabinet Build. 



He uses just a few characters, they are tied together by the outlines and there is no riot of colors. That said, I still think that his cab would have looked better without it, but that's another story.

[Titchgamer]

Nope... gives me a headache (honestly ime not joking!)

I agree with Yot, pick a theme and run with it.
Collage art rarely works well unless you put some major thought and effort into it.
And then its usually a case of less is more.

[05SRT4]

I like the top 1/4 portion then I just get lost after that.

[pbj]

Paint your cabinet black and then print a bunch of vide game art on Avery labels at work and do a collage on the sides.

[mebronx2000]

i absolutely love it! 

[Mike A]

 

[yamatetsu]

80sarcadegames : You left a white space in the d of Muticade that should be made transparent.

[vwalbridge]

Paint your cabinet black and then print a bunch of vide game art on Avery labels at work and do a collage on the sides.

+1

[80sarcadegames]

Paint your cabinet black and then print a bunch of vide game art on Avery labels at work and do a collage on the sides.

+1

Noted!! Good catch!! 

[80sarcadegames]

What do you guys think of Keith Ruston's cabinet side art?   

His cabinet is where I got the idea for the Asteroids side art as the background.



http://keithruston.com/wp/category/arcade/

[yotsuya]

I don't like it for the same reason I don't like many collages. Too many clashing art styles.

[mike boss]

I get it, everyone likes what they like.
I don't want to say that some people know art and others don't.
But it seems (to me) that people that know art or design like a neat, tidy, clean theme.
People that don't know as much about art, design, or composition like to THROW everything onto a project.
I HATE (personally, with all due respect) multicade, 100 characters, no clear solid theme.
HATE HATE HATE - I think most people get it, it's multicade, it's sooo many things in one.

In the end less is more.

I know I personally cant stand when I need to create multicade themed layouts as the composition just goes to sh*t....people want characters everywhere. Stick with two or three favorites.

I think one of the worst things on the image you included is you then put the full DK JR sideart on the bottom.

[Shekel]

In the end less is more.

This never makes sense. More is more. And he doesn't need more on that cab.

I only like original cab art. Marquees and all the other stuff was there to sell the game to you and make you wanna play it. That's cool if you want to make a restoration, but if you have a multi-cab at home, it doesn't need any of these things. Reminds me when I was kid and used to cover everything in stickers, including the fridge.

[Hawkeye71]

Some people like busy, some don't. You should see my shirts.

On 'busy' standards it's very good I think.

[Titchgamer]

What do you guys think of Keith Ruston's cabinet side art?   

His cabinet is where I got the idea for the Asteroids side art as the background.



http://keithruston.com/wp/category/arcade/

This I wouldnt have on my cab but does work better.

The reason being its more structured.
DK, Q bert etc are stood on something not just floating in the air etc.

Still to much going on really but took a few things off and would work well I think.

Just my opinion like...

[Titchgamer]

In the end less is more.

This never makes sense. More is more. And he doesn't need more on that cab.

I only like original cab art. Marquees and all the other stuff was there to sell the game to you and make you wanna play it. That's cool if you want to make a restoration, but if you have a multi-cab at home, it doesn't need any of these things. Reminds me when I was kid and used to cover everything in stickers, including the fridge.

Less is more makes perfect sense.
It means you can have a better effect with less.

More bang for your buck so to speak.

Shot of vodka vs a shot of beer.

[Mike A]

I would give my opinion, but a bunch of people get sand in their mangina whenever I don't like something.

[opt2not]

Jesus H Christ burn it with fire 

[pbj]

I think you ought to go with something classy like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Lightning-Marble-Self-adhesive-Contact/dp/B01N0SFAN6

[adder]

more consistency in contrast

ps. and replace the kong gfx with something to match the 'theme' of the rest of the artwork       ...and make the blue colour found at the bottom-right of the cab, much darker, or black, so it fits with the rest of the cab which has lots of dark/black going on (also add some gfx there as it looks a bit 'empty' there...)   ..and also i would ditch the '1941' and possibly the defender logo too

[morton]

The Keith Ruston example has some good principles at work that make it mesh a bit better than the OP's...

- The Ruston one has the characters interacting with the background/structure, so they tie in better to the image. That said, the Space Invaders monster looks a bit plopped in there, but he always does.

- The names of games... lose them. They don't blend well or mesh. That tiny 1941 grabs my eye far too much. If you like 1941 that much, try to get the plane art from one of the various 19XX titles. As much as a plane in space would look weird, it would look MUCH better IMO.

- No full side art from games, just take elements. The composition of a full piece of side art ignores all of the other elements, whereas when you pick just a part of the art, you can select images that blend together - something the Ruston one does fairly well.

- Art Styles... not all of the art is done with the same style etc - so they tend to look more like a collage than a coherent piece of art. This is my biggest hinderance to designing any multi-cade art - lots of ideas, but making them look like they were drawn together is tricky without actually redrawing them.

That said... art is subjective too... if its for you, go with what feels good. There is definitely some great side art out there, and plenty of examples to follow... your basis on the Ralston one is good, as it is one of the better ones I have seen. I hope this progresses well for you, as i love seeing someone make something with their own twist when possible.

[mahuti]

On the Ruston example, the lines of the girders are kind of carried through on the lines of the rings, and that gives the whole thing a little cohesion. The diagonal lines give it some dynamism. The blue blends to black, and the blues carry through the whole in that whole bottom corner moving to the black. It's not perfect, there are some odd elements out, but for what it is, it's a pretty good example.

I don't know if Ruston is a trained designer, but whether on purpose or on accident he's done a few things that move it toward the territory of a professional composition.

[harveybirdman]

Only way a collage works is if the characters are all done in one style and it works as a single unit.  I wish I had bookmarked the one time I ever saw it done well but just like my lazy ass dude never finished his build thread.