Opinions... What makes good art?

[Crazy Cooter]

What makes "good" art?  I'm making some stuff and have quite a few ideas and need to weed out some.  As far as arcade-like art, what makes it good?  I'm finding some of my stuff looks "cartoony", some looks "comicy", some "arcadey".

This is for completely original work btw, but references to existing art is fine for critique.

Bold colors?
Fat lines?
Detail work?
Vector-looking?
Realistic?
2-d vs. 3-d?

Let's hear what you think.

[Pixelhugger]

All of this is subjective and this is all my opinion... take it or leave it but IMOHO it all starts with a strong type design for the cabinet's "name." The type should feel like a logo. Experiment with different typefaces until you find something that feels right for your theme. Kern it... either reduce the space between the letters or expand it until it feels balanced. Otherwise the type can feel like it came from a word processor instead of a designers head. Don't rely on plugins and filters to give your type personality. It should stand on it's own in black and white. Then add the bells and whistles. If you throw filters at it before you've finished the type design you'll be too distracted by the textures/dimensions/colors to see if what you have at its root is well designed. I usually spend an hour or two looking for the right type. There are thousands and thousands of great typefaces online for free. Start a collection. Often the right look depends on the actual letters in the name. One name may look great in a certain type, while another will look awkward.

Try to keep a cohesive theme. Pick a color palette and try to design within it. Keep an eye toward symetry and balance and pay attention to how well you are filling the space available.

Personally I like lots of gradients and offset strokes/outlines and borders. Vector art, to me, almost always looks more professional since logos are generally designed as vectors to be easily recognized and easily reproduced/printed.

Just my 2 cents.

[Bones]

I find every image can benefit from more lens flare.

[Crazy Cooter]

Nobody else?

I've actually been doing quite a bit of research on "color design".  I never realized how complex (but simple) it is.  I always wondered why I liked some colors together, but others were terrible.

The advice on the kern adjustment is very true.  Once I changed that, the text seemed 1000% more "custom" even though it said the same thing.  It totally takes away the homebrewed feeling.

Lens flare = realistic & 3d only... doesn't it?  I'd like to see any interesting plugin's combo's whatever you guys have seen.

[Felsir]

To complement Pixel's comment, choose your font carefully. Make sure it matches the "theme".
See attached picture: the words in the left column don't match the font, words on the right do. A "blacksmith" is usually associated with tough, hard work, a script font doesn't feel right. If the same font is picked that seemed right for "Blacksmith" is applied to "Frankenstein", a gothic or horror font might work better. Same thing for a word like "Spaceman" and "Fantasy".
Note that this is only an example, there might be better fonts out there that suits your need (and taste).

Colours is another thing that can make or break a graphic. Usually you are looking for contrasting colors, this prevents the image from becoming bland or dull. However, don't overdo it: don't use too many different colors, it makes the image distracting. Usually one base colour and two extra colours do well on a cab.

Next, stay in theme for the whole cabinet. If you are using straight lines in your sideart, do so in the marquee and CP. If you plan to use character art, make sure those are in the same styles (don't mix anime characters with marvel comic style characters).
Try to make the artwork work as one whole image. Many cabinets feature "collage" style artwork. Most of those cabinets look like (artwise) like a lunchbox with randomly pasted stickers on them. If you want a stylish cab, pick the character you like the most or pick a bunch of characters within the same style and make a design with your selection. The trick here is to keep it clean and not overcrowd.

IMHO, the coolest cabs feature their own set of artwork. This gives the cabinet the feel that it could be a cab that <insert favorite manufactorer here> could have made. Better to have a cab look like a specialist than a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none.

note that a lot boils down on personal taste wheter you think a cab has fabulous artwork 

[Crazy Cooter]

Colours is another thing that can make or break a graphic. Usually you are looking for contrasting colors, this prevents the image from becoming bland or dull. However, don't overdo it: don't use too many different colors, it makes the image distracting. Usually one base colour and two extra colours do well on a cab.

I found this website that automates some of the color selection:
http://www.easyrgb.com/harmonies.php

Now suppose we take the example color R:255 G:171 B:32 (orange).  All the color except black and green are on the "Harmony Chart".  Black always looks good (IMO), the green doesn't "flow" well.  If you cover the green, it looks great, if you cover the blue and tan, it doesn't look so great.

Any other sites or anything that help?  What about plain old graphics?  Arrows, blocks, etc?  Just follow the lead of the text?

[Crazy Cooter]

Forgot to add:

Is it generally better to use the same hues as the background as filler and use a different color as highlights?  In the example above, I personally like the tan box with the blue trim better than the blue box with tan trim.

[Felsir]

I found this website that automates some of the color selection:
http://www.easyrgb.com/harmonies.php

good find! Adding this one to the FAQ as useful resource.

[Frosty]

I'll take Pixelhugger's and Felsir's comments (which are right on) and add that you're actually creating your own brand with the cabinet, and that should be the focus of your work.  Sure, it's not easy.  Everything needs to connect and compliment the other--from font choice to colors to artwork 'look and feel'...

Stick to a few principles and you should be fine.  As those guys have mentioned, consistency is very important.  Apply the same colors and fonts across the board, and you're halfway there to establishing a 'feel' for your cabinet.

Avoid the temptation of clutter:  Keep it simple: clean lines, plenty of 'white space' and no more than a few objects for each area you're working on.  Keeping your work symmetrical also adds to the air of professionally-designed artwork.

Personally, I would try to avoid raster artwork with a bunch of filters added for effect.  Because, unfortunately, that's exactly how it comes out looking.  Vector artwork, although more labor-intensive, almost always results in a superior-looking image (and a much smaller file size for your printer <grin>).

[WunderCade]

EasyRGB.com is a great resource for matching computer monitor RGB values to industrial paint codes. They deserve a medal.

[hng]

Before you even start with colors and fonts, you need to have a theme. If you look at all the different cabinets that people have made, you'll notice that the ones where the people picked a SPECIFIC theme usually came out the best. Once you have your theme, the artwork kinda just flows naturally.

If the name/ theme of your cabinet is good, the artwork should come easy. After you finish with a design, take half of the "stuff" away. (text, fonts. graphics, effects, colors). Like people have said, try to limit to 3 colors.  Also only use 1 font family. Nothing worse than every piece of text being in a different font.

For example, there is the Seattle Seahawks cab... the graphics and colors were dictated by the actual logo. But the guy who made it didn't just cut out a logo and paste it on. He took the time match colors (paint, print and buttons), and conservatively use artwork. It is the little details that make the big difference.

Then there are other cabs where people use EVERY font on 1001freefonts.com, and a picture of every arcade character, throw in some crazy space background... it would look better if they used macaroni and gold spray paint.

and for the love of God...

NEVER, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, USE COMIC SANS

http://bancomicsans.com/home.html

[Veinman]

Another thing to keep in mind with regard to color- will your cab mostly be played at night? Depending on what light is in the room, certain colors may not show up well, etc. You may also be incorporating lights in the cab, under buttons, etc.

Punchy contrast is usually good, and was pretty common since these things are supposed to attract attention.