Artwork opinions

[orchidius]

Hi there,

I'm in the artwork stage of my first build right now, and I would appreciate some feedback on what I've got so far .

It's going to be a cab with some nice curves, much like Epyx' Aliens cab (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=96465.0). It will also feature the side circles. The side circles are basically a sandwich of 2 pieces of plexi with a piece of artwork in between. The circles will be backlit with RGB LEDs, so any color backlight is available there. The marquee will be backlit with a basic bathroom CFL tube.

The general theme of the cab will be somewhat futuristic. The idea is that humankind inhabits a new planet that looks much like planet earth.

* For the both circles on the side I found some characters made by an artist on CS. It might be hard to see, but both have quite some (retro-)game details in them, find them?
http://img696.imageshack.us/i/abelandhismonkeykanebya.jpg/
http://img813.imageshack.us/i/laylat.jpg/

* For the marquee I found two different landscape sceneries and put the name of the cab "Arcadius" (referring to the new planet earth and my nick) and I used a Halo-like font. My issue with the first one is that even though it's very nice, it's rather dark and it doesn't really go with the lighter characters on the side. What do you think? The second one is better in that aspect, but I think it looks a tiny bit cartoonish and I'm not very happy with the plain black lettering (tried a couple things, but didn't really find anything I like).
http://img339.imageshack.us/i/terranovabewerkt.jpg/
http://img692.imageshack.us/i/pandorabewerkt.jpg/

* For the CP-overlay I'm having a dilemma... I found two nice images that were actually of a high enough resolution to use on my CP. I wanted some sort of city scene for the CP. I found one really dark "futuristic" city scene, and one lighter one of a city after a nuclear explosion. I'm a bit scared that the darker "futuristic" artwork will be too dark and won't go with the rest of the artwork very well. I also think it has a "ominous" atmosphere that doesn't go well with the rest. What do you think?
http://img262.imageshack.us/i/cpdark.jpg/
http://img257.imageshack.us/i/cityruins.jpg/

[drventure]

Yeah, i'd have to agree about the CP, the first pics seem a bit 70's retro future, but the pandora stuff and the nuclear future don't seem to fit well.

I think you'd have a good shot at an interesting cab going with those first 2 images. Maybe doing some disco tinged fonts for the CP (but weathered hard). something like that maybe?

[SammyWI]

Well, the guy has a Nintendo logo on his bat and the girl has a Mario necklace.  Not sure if there are any more but those are going to be pretty tiny if you want people to notice them on the cab.

Both of the darker images look like they will go better with your futuristic theme, especially if you're set on the side characters.  The darker Marquee would be fine when lit, I think.  The darker CP image, I'm not sure.  Maybe if you used more of the upper right section where it's brighter?  Just a thought.

[orchidius]

Well, the guy has a Nintendo logo on his bat and the girl has a Mario necklace.  Not sure if there are any more but those are going to be pretty tiny if you want people to notice them on the cab.

Yes, there's more . And I'm not really worried about the size of them, the circles are about 30cm in diameter, and the characters will be filling almost all of that space. And even if they're too small, I still know as an inside joke, and both characters also look really cool imo.

Both of the darker images look like they will go better with your futuristic theme, especially if you're set on the side characters.  The darker Marquee would be fine when lit, I think.  The darker CP image, I'm not sure.  Maybe if you used more of the upper right section where it's brighter?  Just a thought.

So you think the darker marquee goes better with the side characters then the lighter one? I'm not really worried about the lighting of the marquee, but more of the general atmosphere that hangs around it. That's most important, it has to fit the side characters somewhat.

Yeah, i'd have to agree about the CP, the first pics seem a bit 70's retro future, but the pandora stuff and the nuclear future don't seem to fit well.

I agree that the nuclear CP and the pandora marquee don't go together really well (only the colorschemes match better then the terranova one imo), but what would you settle with? Go with the nuclear CP and the terranova marquee? Or use the pandora marquee and the dark CP? Or do you have anything else up your sleeve?

I think you'd have a good shot at an interesting cab going with those first 2 images. Maybe doing some disco tinged fonts for the CP (but weathered hard). something like that maybe?

I wasn't going to put any lettering on the CP, just one piece of artwork. That's why it needs to be strong and it has to speak for itself mostly. What's your take on the dark CP? I'm affraid it will just become nearly invisible when in a darker room (seeing that the entire cab is also black). The CP won't be backlit ofc, but I do have electric ICE buttons. No trackball.

[drventure]

I wasn't going to put any lettering on the CP

Ah, well, that's just a very different look than what I was picturing in my head. No big deal. In that case, I think it'd be tough to match up the nuclear wasteland CP with the pandora image, or that girl with arrow image. The guy with bat image could work though...

[orchidius]

Well, what did you have in mind? Maybe it's worth making some changes in my original plan