Mini Mayhem - updated Feb. 23

[Stingray]

Just thought I'd throw this out to see what you guys think about it. I wanted my cab to have a classic arcade "feel" to it, without using the artwork from any specific game. I also wanted to incorporate classic Mini Coopers, since those are my other major obsession. I like the style of Galaga cabs, and as you can see what I've done so far is very much Galaga inspired.

I think the marquee is pretty close to being finished. The side art still needs some work. I'm working up a CPO, but am haven't gotten really far with that yet. I'll also eventually do a bezel and some art for under the coin door.

Marquee:



Side Art:



I know the side art needs another color in the area radiating out from behind the Mini, I don't know what color to go with though. Whatever color I choose will probably have to be used in the marquee too, to tie it all together. I'm pretty sure I'm going to add a MAME logo somewhere on the side art as well.

This is the cab that it's going on:



Any and all feedback is appreciated.

-S

[patrickl]

Ha, ha, I love the artwork. Mini's are cool.

The sideart might be a bit dark though?

[sTyLeS]

Stingray, if you're looking for another color, why not go with the Galaga green? I mean, you've already got the same design, and green always goes really well with blue...

[Stingray]

Patrickl, I agree. It does need some more color, but I haven't really figured out how to approach this.

sTyLeS, I have to admit that green is a color I hadn't really considered. I may give that a shot this evening.

-S

[greywolf22]

Stingray,

Love the artwork it looks really great.

[BobbyG66]

Green might be nice, Try yellow also. The yellow will pick up the yellow "Flash" that is above the "a" in Mayhem

I like the black and white lines under the mini. Kinda looks retro, Austin Powers-ish, very fitting for the mini.

Good job on the lettering.

Very original design overall.

[Pixelhugger]

Stingray- That's super groovy! I absolutely LOVE it!! Excellent, excellent job!

[Stingray]

Yellow seems like a good idea too. I hadn't thought about the yellow in the "flash". Thanks for the compliment on the lettering. I started with a font called Mr. Earl, but it's pretty heavily modified. I'm very happy with how that part turned out.

-S

[nipsmg]

hah that's awesome  
I love the artwork.

The blue does look really good on the cab, BTW.

--NipsMG

[Stingray]

And once again. I'd like to thank you for pointing me toward the source for blue t-molding. I had no idea there were actually places that specialize in the stuff! The blue looks much better than black would have, and once I get this blue-centric artwork on it, I think it's really going to look nice.

-S

[Minwah]

Great work Stingray!

I like the original Galaga artwork and yours captures the style nicely...I think the Mini's appearance fits in great too.  I agree with BobbyG66, give the yellow a try for the background to brighten it up a touch...

Unfortunately my Mini is having a bad time atm: just got a new tyre (got a nail in it), a new windscreen (damn stonechips) and fixed the exhaust (it fell off).  Now the little bugger won't start (battery is getting drained all the time)  It's severly hampering progress of my cab too

[Stingray]

Yeah, those little suckers do tend to be troublesome! Lucky for me mine is just a sunny day toy. I have another (reliable) car for my daily transportation.

I spent last night working on the cab, so I didn't get a chance to try the additional color suggestions.

-S

[Minwah]

Yeah, those little suckers do tend to be troublesome! Lucky for me mine is just a sunny day toy. I have another (reliable) car for my daily transportation.

I spent last night working on the cab, so I didn't get a chance to try the additional color suggestions.

My Mini has bucket seats etc. and is only really meant for 'driving', but I've been using it to transport tools + sheets of MDF lately, and apart from falling to bits it's done very well...

Post back your pics when you've finished the artwork

[Stingray]

Okay, I'm going totally off topic here, but I'd love to hear how you managed to transport a sheet of MDF with a Mini!  

-S

[patrickl]

Okay, I'm going totally off topic here, but I'd love to hear how you managed to transport a sheet of MDF with a Mini!  

He, he, yeah really! tell us Are these sheets mini sized? I guess if you put a full size sheet on the roof you'd get the "Mini Mayhem" cab theme

About the buttons. Is the CPO gonna be black all over? Or do you have white (or lighter colored) "patches" where the buttons go? Cause if so then the black buttons might work just fine.

[Stingray]

I haven't really gone very far with the CPO layout yet, but so far it is primarily black with the Galaga style border in blue. Lighter colored patches where the buttons go seems like a good solution. I'll try that when I get back on the artwork. Last few nights I've been concentrating on the building part more than the art design part.

And wandering back off topic again, a full sheet of MDF is 4x8 feet. A Mini is right about 4x9 feet. I want to see pictures!  

-S

[patrickl]

Did you replace the swooping Galaga bugs on the CPO with "swooping mini's"? If so, do they have sheets of MDF attached?  

[Stingray]

I still haven't done any more design work, was busy last night with a "brain transplant" (see my other thread in the projects section). The plan is to replace the bugs with swooping Minis, though. At lease if I can make room, my panel is pretty crowded.

I think I'll leave the MDF sheets off though.  

-S

[Minwah]

He, he, yeah really! tell us Are these sheets mini sized? I guess if you put a full size sheet on the roof you'd get the "Mini Mayhem" cab theme

LOL, OK so yes they were mini-sheets really - 3"x2".  But fitting that in a Mini with fixed bucket seats and no roofrack is pretty tricky!

[Stingray]

I've been known to remove my passenger seat in order to fit large items in the Mini.  

-S

[Witchboard]

Reminds me of a picture I saw one time.  Looked like a gremlin or pinto with a lot of sheets of MDF on the top and the back axle busted.  That car was going nowhere.

Back on topic:  I like your artwork.  I'm not that original so I'll probably be going with the typical side art.

[Stingray]

Okay here's the CPO. The blue lines and circles are just there to show where the bends and holes will be, they won't be there when it gets printed. Any opinions?



here's the panel to help you visualise how this fits:

http://www.stingrays.dk/arcade/cp03.jpg

Working on the side art now.

-S

[Stingray]

Revised side art:



-S

[menace]

that looks really great--you should send MINI the file--maybe they'll throw a roof rack your way for the great work!

[Stingray]

Being that MINI is now owned by litigation happy BMW, it's more likely that they would sue me!  

Here's a quick Photoshoped "concept picture" of the cab with the artwork in place:



-S

 

[patrickl]

OMG, that looks so cool!

Maybe to stick with the Galaga theme you should also give the kickplate the "rays" like the ones that come from behind it in the sideart.

[Minwah]

Well played Stingray!  I think the control panel will look great, it's nice the way you have done it 'all around' and not just on top.  Also, the sideart looks perfect now, with more colour added

OT I agree, BMW would be less than interested.  IMHO they're ___! (edit: toned down!)

[patrickl]

BTW, what did you do with the mini? It looks more like linedrawn art now than before. At least it looked like a picture of a blue mini to me before and now it looks like lineart. This new look fits better with the retro like appearence of the rest (or again, maybe I'm just imagineing things and nothing changed but the color).


ps. You're makeing my head spin with all the threads you have going on

[Harakiri]

Great art! Love the style!


Did you made the fake finish in photoshop!? That looks almost real! Congrats!  

[Stingray]

Minwah, I agree with your assessment of BMW.

Patrick, it's the same picture of the Mini. I drew it in Illustrator. The colors are toned down a bit in the finished version.

Fiend, yes, I made applied my artwork to a photo of my cab in Photoshop.

Thanks for the compliments guys!

 

-S

[patrickl]

You do need to change the kickplate though    Snap the mini section out of the sideart and extend the lines to a box shape. Really, it will make it look even cooler  

[Generic Eric]

OOOHHHH

I like the yellow!

[BobbyG66]

Stingray, that looks awesome!

Glad to see you use the yellow, helps bring it to life.

I agree with Patrickl work on the kickplate graphic and you're done.

Enjoy your nice cab!

[Stingray]

I intended to do the rays in the kickplate graphic, but I got lazy and left them off. Sounds like the opinion is to put them on. I'll do that next chance I get.

I appreciate all the feedback.  

-S

[Pixelhugger]

Wow Stingray! That looks fantastic!   The CP is particularly impressive....but then so is the vectorization of the Mini. I really really like the consistency and theme-ing. With a consistent look like that, you've really got to skin a front end to match    Sprechen zie Emulaxian?

[Stingray]

That would be a really good idea, but I'm using a Mac as the guts of this cab and MacMAME has one built in front end and that's all you get.

Thanks for the compliments though. Vectorizing the Mini took most of an entire day. If you're interested, this is the photo of my car that I traced:

http://www.stingrays.dk/Mini/images/MiniOKC.jpg

-S

[Pixelhugger]

Ooops that's right. Although )p( is planning a Mac version of Emulaxian which, when available, would be flat out amazing on your cabinet. The Mac interface is fantastic, especially under OSX - but there's nothing like feeling you're on a dedicated arcade machine.  

[patrickl]

Amazingly, that car is even cooler than the cab  

BTW, I see you got the idea for the yellow lines from that picture  

[BobbyG66]

Looks like it's parked sideways in a parking spot. Could probably fit three in there.

Must be alot easier finding a parking space in the city!

[Stingray]

Pixelhugger: Although )p( is planning a Mac version of Emulaxian

I didn't know that. That would be very cool indeed on this cab!

Patrickl: Amazingly, that car is even cooler than the cab

Thanks! It took a lot longer to rebuild than the cab did though: http://www.stingrays.dk/Mini/

BobbyG66: Must be alot easier finding a parking space in the city!

The great thing about a car this size is that if you park right in the center of a parking space (nose in, not sideways like in the picture) the cars on both sides of you can open their doors all the way and not touch it. No door dings!

-S