New Pedestal project

[spkywlnt73]

Hey guys, I'm helping a friend out with his pedestal cab, and thought I'd share a pic of the artwork. The design of the pedestal is the same as my Castlevania pedestal. Anyway, love to hear what you guys think of the direction we went with the artwork. Anyone who is familiar with Hyperspin will notice the shoutout to that amazing frontend!

[GregD]

Then please share it.

[spkywlnt73]

Then please share it.

oops!......Don't know why the pics didn't show up? I'll try again.

[Le Chuck]

meh, I'm not sold.  I loved your prior piece but this one doesn't do it for me.  Sorry. 

[wol-nz]

Obviously alot of work has gone into it. I think some great scenes here but I've never been a fan of Collages. I love the idea of incorporating hyperspin. I had a similar design for a control panel just need to scratch something out.

[spkywlnt73]

meh, I'm not sold.  I loved your prior piece but this one doesn't do it for me.  Sorry. 

I appreciate the honesty. Thanks Le Chuck!

[BobA]

Loved your first one but this one does not turn my crank.   

[spkywlnt73]

This is terrible, dude. 

Now,what do really think about it?

[Pinball Wizard]

Never seen your first one to base it off of that, but to me it ain't super bad, just not super spectacular. Biggest issue I have with it is that lack of a sense of the edge. To me any artwork that runs off the side make it seem to "kitted".

[kahlid74]

It seems a little cluttered.  I love collages but maybe a bit too much?  For me, it's got to blend.  Not Chuck Norris blend but genre blend.  Something about Donkey kong, sf and sonic on the same platform doesn't jive for me.

[spkywlnt73]

Alright, I honestly can't see why this is getting so much negative feedback! This was made for someone that wanted to see these paticular characters from different games/era's share the same scene together, and incorporate Hyperspin into the mix somehow. While I can appreciate the honesty, I can't imagine theres not someone in this forum that doesn't see what we were shooting for with this. I personally love the way it turned out! If I had it my way I would have tried to sqeeze a few more characters in there, but "to each his own" I suppose. 

[rablack97]

I see the idea...I think you have some graphic fading/mixing issues with your artwork.  It looks more like a bunch of pictures glued onto a piece of paper.

You have a ton of overlaps and your mixing text with graphics. Lose the Daphne and add a photo of Dirk etc.

I would also lose the system text and assimilate a popular game with that system.

I agree you have too much going on......It's like wearing Nike shoes with Reebok socks.

I see where your going with it, with a few adjustments it would look great.

More of a flow like the attached...Just my opinion

[Le Chuck]

I think a lot of us see this kind of thing all the time so it feels a bit dated. It is mechanically decently put together, somewhat dynamically integrated, but doesn't appeal to where a lot of us are trying to head in this hobby artistically.  If your friend likes the art then that is all that matters.  Tons of people would love something like that but you're asking a group of self proclaimed aficionados what they think so you're bound to get opinions that follow the trend of a somewhat insular group.  

I get where you're going, a whole package what's on the screen is mirroring what's on the CP kinda deal that ties it all together.  What I might do is leave the Hyperspin wheel and whatever emulator it is on is where you are drawing your character set from, so if your friend is a nintendo fanboy then gussy it up with mario and metroid type stuff.      

[Seith]

Look at Sonic's hands.  It's like an optical illusion.

[rablack97]

Le Chuck +1

Honest opinions only make you better, i got hammered a few times on my art work.

At one point i felt like i should go sit in timeout.

You can't please everyone but in the bashings you can also get some killer outlooks on your projects.

Or you can tell us all to F off and do it like you want.....

I started off with pic #1, got hammered...

Ended up with pic # 2 .......

So the bashing worked

[Vigo]

It looks fine to me, but I just am not a big fan of collages. I don't there that there are any collages, short of a few that were hand drawn, that has truly impressed me. In your artwork though, I really like the concept of the vector tie fighters in front of the movie death star. I think that would make a very cool theme on a whole blending the vector elements in a star wars scene. I vision a huge space battle scene where everything is sorta getting wiped into vector outlines, a few ships would be "mid-transformation".

[spkywlnt73]

It looks fine to me, but I just am not a big fan of collages. I don't there that there are any collages, short of a few that were hand drawn, that has truly impressed me. In your artwork though, I really like the concept of the vector tie fighters in front of the movie death star. I think that would make a very cool theme on a whole blending the vector elements in a star wars scene. I vision a huge space battle scene where everything is sorta getting wiped into vector outlines, a few ships would be "mid-transformation".

FINALLY! THANKYOU!

[yotsuya]

Ultimately, you should do what you want to do (or what your client wants). If you're happy with it, that's all that matters.  

Having said that, the best machines on this site have all had some sort of unifying theme. Your first pedestal is a fine example of that. To me, collages look really messy. Even professionally done ones, like the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga Reunion machines, just don't look right.

[spkywlnt73]

I see the idea...I think you have some graphic fading/mixing issues with your artwork.  It looks more like a bunch of pictures glued onto a piece of paper.

You have a ton of overlaps and your mixing text with graphics. Lose the Daphne and add a photo of Dirk etc.

I would also lose the system text and assimilate a popular game with that system.

I agree you have too much going on......It's like wearing Nike shoes with Reebok socks.

I see where your going with it, with a few adjustments it would look great.

More of a flow like the attached...Just my opinion

Well first off, its not my artwork. Another friend of mine took the time out of his day and did this for us, and I'm glad he did because I have very little experience with photoshop. And second, losing the Daphne and adding Dirk would've taking away from the whole Hyperspin feel that we were going for! Third, You say you agree it has too much going on, and then post a pic that has ten times as many characters! Talk about stuff looking glued on! And last but not least, how you know I was wearing Nike shoes with reebok socks?

[rablack97]

Dunno, I just walked out of the house with adidas socks and Jordan flip flops.

My point was in reference to the flow and graphics integration.  Yes i posted a pic with a crap load of characters, but look look at how they blend in with the background and it's just characters.

Vs.  Characters, a hyperspin wheel, and game screen shots all covered up by your peripherals.

I run hyperspin too as my front-end, the wheel doesn't bleed through the graphics, its either total frontal or in the back.

It didn't even dawn on me that was a hyperspin wheel till your brought it to my attention.

Maybe move the wheel toward the center and have the main bubble hit right where the track ball hits.  Just an idea.

Regardless what we say, it's your baby, you have to be happy with it.

Off to put on my striped tube socks and boots......

[rablack97]

Just read your Castlevania post.......

This one is blasphemy compared to that.

[eds1275]

I think it looks good. My only nitpickery goes to the star, ryu, mega man and whatever Sonic has in his hands, because they have a "3d" feel to them and everything else has a 2d feel, with the exception of the vector thing but that looks fine. I would actually recomend using a puzzle fighter version of ryu as the body to head ratio would match the other characters. And there are boatloads of cartoony mega mans out there.
Like I said I like it but there's always room for improvement.

[BobA]

+1 eds1275

I think that is exactly what was bothering me about the art.  2d and 3d mixed together.  I could not put my finger on it but you have.   

[Green Giant]

If I had access to a friend with photo shop experience like you do, I would do the following:


Darken the sky on the entire thing.  All night like with the tie fighters.

Lose the hyperspin wheel altogether.  Your monitor will show the wheel, no reason to repeat.

And lastly, make it a battle.....err more like a slaughter.  Have the tie fighters flying down and blasting all the other characters.  There are bound to be scared looking characters or people getting hit.