1st Draft of my CPO

[QuarterJunkie]

Hi all,

I just started playing around with Illustrator and this is what I have so far. Please critique and don't worry, you won't hurt my feelings! I have not added anything for the joys yet, and I just added the buttons, etc. for visual reference...Thanks for your input..

[waveryder]

Thats pretty nice! I would soften the halos around your buttons a bit though I think they curve a bit to sharply. But very nice lot of potential there. My £0.02

[QuarterJunkie]

Thanks for the suggestion. How's this look?

I really wanted to find something to surround the trackball that would really be the focal point of the panel, like a dragon clutching a crystal ball or something, but I keep coming up empty... Any ideas?

[waveryder]

Ive done the dragon round the trackball thing before, it can be effective. I dont think it would work for you in this case as the other images on your panel are "cartoony" If you can say what kind of character images your going to use its a lot easier to come up with ideas. I did a trackball panel a while back for a sonic fan that had Dr. Robotnic with his hands around the trackball. I used an image from the Sega CD extras that had him at that pose. It fit the panel simply because all the images were in the same vein. Isolate what characters your going to use and then the rest tends to come all on its own. My £0.02

[QuarterJunkie]

Thanks waveryder,

I thought long and hard about a theme for my cab and finally came to the conclusion that the whole reason I became interested in this hobby is because of my love for all the 80's games... So I guess any characters from that era would work, I just can't find anything that would work around the ball. I'm willing to pay $$ for a great solution!!

My Favorites from the era--

Burger Time
Mr. Do
Tutankham
All the Donkey Kong's
Jack the Giant Killer
Joust
**Sigh** Ahh the good 'ol days!

[Neverending Project]

What about something incorporating the dragon from Dragon's Lair? The side art is available in vector form at the Arcade Art Library. I imagine you could use the top half of the dragon and modify the flames so they are more in a circle around the TB.

But I still think it would look out of place if the only other characters on your CP overlay are Donkey Kong and Pacman. Maybe you could also include some more characters from other classics, including Dirk/Daphne to tie it together?

[somunny]

I'm willing to pay $$ for a great solution!!

If you moved DK Jr. up into the upper-middle of the cpo, it wouldn't take much to add onto the vine and have it curl around the trackball.

IMO, you should also replace one of the DK/girl graphics with something else.  Give the panel a little more variety.

[QuarterJunkie]

somunny,

I think I may try that with the vine (as soon as I sharpen my Illustrator skills)...I'm also taking your advice and giving some variety.

Now tell me, does this look like a lot of cool action, or is it just plain busy? I do like how Bowser is bouncing all the PacMan pills around...

EDIT: I forgot to ask about the white clouds under the red buttons...Keep or go?

[waveryder]

Depends on your buttons, if your going to use translucents or ice buttons forget the glow around the buttons. My £0.02

[QuarterJunkie]

Depends on your buttons, if your going to use translucents or ice buttons forget the glow around the buttons. My £0.02

No. To stay with the "cartoony" theme, I plan to stick with bright solid red and blue buttons. I fumbled around long enough to get the vine copied (poorly by the way and probably would've taken you guys a minute!) Oh well, here is the latest... I'm still wondering if this is too much, as I usually believe less is more...I guess this case may be an exception. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

[waveryder]

I like it. I dont think its too busy, I think all of the characters compliment each other. I define a busy control panel as lots of dissimilar styles of art. I think your control panel is "happy" and reflects your genuine enjoyment of the early arcade games. I could happily play on this control panel on a daily basis and know I've done it the right way!

[QuarterJunkie]

Thanks waveryder for those kind words!! I would like to share my work with anyone who is interested in making a multi panel such as this. What would be the best way to make this available on this site for people to use? I should mention that my cp dimensions are 16 X 35.5 . My Illustrator file is about 3Mb.

Someone with more than a few days experience with Illustrator may want to look at the artwork and clean up after me...

[waveryder]

I'd leave it as an illustrator file, simply as there are so many programs that support the format. Just zip it up with winzip or equivalent before you post it.

[rotheblog]

I would like to see that you have fully explored your options for the background, instead of just a simple light to dark blue gradient....I know some people like simple, but it is just such a large area to work with.