Better Art 101 -Top Ten most common Art mistakes

[rikitiki]

INTRODUCTION
I thought Id start a thread on FAQs and also pointing out the 10 most commonly made mistakes in recreating Arcade Artwork .
As well as helping to point out remedies and recommendations for fixes.
This is to hopefully help guide everyone in a better direction and understanding to get better results when printing this art.
The majority of files Ill be showing examples of are from various online sources AAL, VectorLib, etc.

Its also important and helps to understand how the artwork was originally printed.
ALL arcade art BITD was either SILKSCREENED or OFFSET Printed.
Silk screening was the most common (Donkey Kong, Centipede)
and offset was generally only used for more photo-style printing like say Spy Hunter and Tron SideArt.
Today most reproductions and ALL custom/1-offs are done digitally either Laminated inkjet or Solvent Inkjet.
Not exactly the same its like comparing apples and oranges but done right you can get some pretty good results

The one thing to point out is some of these problems do come from exporting your graphic to other extensions
like say an AI file to PDF if you exporting options are not properly set in any exported format  this could give you all kinds of mixed results and issues
Ill
 be updating and including lots of reference pics
its alot of content and area to cover and will try to continue to update daily.

[rikitiki]

Number 10

Picking a Color Pallet and sticking to it.

Reserved for future content

[rikitiki]

Number 9
SIZE DOES MATTER


Reserved for future content

[rikitiki]

Number 8
OUTLINES -GETTING RIGHT TO THE POINT
Reserved for future content

[rikitiki]

Number 7
"Bleed" can mean different things .
and its always best to contact whoever is doing the printing for their recommendation.

 are you just wanting extra "bleed" as to allow you extra wiggle room for installation?
if thats the case youd want to size that accordingly to how much overage you actually want to work with
then add the follwing...
typically art should almost ALWAYS have a bleed (Id recommend 1/8") for printer trimming
So for example if you want the piece cut to size at lets say its a cpo 12"x24" your outside dimensions should be 12 1/8" x 24 1/8"
this does not mean you simply enlarge the graphic over all to that larger dimension
just the art that goes to the edge.
For example:
INSERT PIC1

For things like Sideart that are cut to a specific shape and the art/colors go to the edge of the cut line
again the art should extend pass the "cutline" aprox 1/8"-1/4" to allow for a slight margin of shifting in the plotter cut.
INSERT PIC2

[rikitiki]

Number 6
RGB vs CYMK??

[rikitiki]

Number 5 Feelin alittle Mello Yellow

Reserved for future content

[rikitiki]

Number 4
WTF!
WHAT THE FONT!
Reserved for future content

[rikitiki]

Number 3
AUTO FILTERS BAD-RASTERS

Reserved for future content

[rikitiki]

Number 2
WHITES
2nd to black the wrong white will yield terrible results in printing
WHITE VALUES ARE ALWAYS
RGB- 255 255 255
CYMK 0 0 0 0



Selecting colors including white trying to match through various substrates (glass, old and yellowed poly carb) will give you nothing but troubles
not just with white but notice how all colors now appear to be greyed as a result when correcting

[rikitiki]

Number 1
The most common of all problems Ive seen in these files is BLACK
its rarely BLACK or is a mix some are black and some elements are not
what is a bad black?
If you've ever got a print back and wondered why isnt my black truly Black its muddy kinda greyish and spotty and not pure black color
here is why?

its very important to understand the difference in Black when digitally printing.
Never assume your default pallet is really black no matter what program your using
Ive seen palettes change same pallet, same program, different values in different computers
 with the only variable being different windows versions.

But ALL Black elements in the graphic should all have the same value
Raster CYMK or Vector based Black is
C-0%
Y-0%
M-0%
K-100%

In raster RGB the Values should be set at R0 G0 B0

[shponglefan]

Looking forward to this. 

I also wonder if it might be worth having something similar related to art design, particularly of CP art. 

[segaleeroy]

Looking forward to this. 

[Fallen_Veteran]

Definitely watching this thread with great anticipation!