Sold the Kronos Cab, now the Sini-Cade Begins! - Art suggestions???

[Games001]

Here's something I put together this eve with a little bit of time and caution as my skills with PhotoShop suck.

Any suggestions on this attached marquee (for a Cab that will be Black/Dark Blue with buttons and trackball in deep red)?

Thanks all

[Games001]

70 views and no comments or opinions?  I guess it's ok then. 

[Ginsu Victim]

kinda hard to look at. The blue on red is distracting.

[Games001]

When I shrunk the image down to fit here, from it's 7x28 original size, it seems to have deepended the red and softened the blue.  Too much contrast between the two?

[Ginsu Victim]

Makes me think of using 3D glasses.
The original sinistar is the reverse (red letters with blue in the background), but it isn't harsh on the eyes.

[Games001]

Less brutal on the eye this way?

[Ginsu Victim]

The background itself is doing you no favors.

The "Beware, I LIVE" is hard to read....in particular the word BEWARE.

I don't think the fusion background is right for this marquee...

[Games001]

Finding background art that will go well with both the endless line of MAME games plus fit the SiniStar feel is WAY NOT easy.

I have nearly thousands of backgrounds I would use for a 'drak, evil' MAME machine, but none of it is of any resolution I could use.  once the marquee goes beyond 2x4 everything breaks up far too much due to image expansion.

And I am no vector artist.

[rotheblog]

What is this font?  This is something you have hand drawn correct?  Why not use an existing font that gives you the effect, or use an existing font that gives a similar effect that you can then adjust.  There are a lot of design considerations put into the style of fonts, and although the average eye can't pick them out, the average eye can tell when a font is bad and this one does not look good.

Have you been through any of the many free and really extensive free font websites?

[Games001]

Actually this is a font called Swamp Thing, much like Karloff or others of it's kind out there.  I have no idea how to build a font set, else I would have made SiniStar style letters from the start.

Maybe I am beating my head against the wall trying to use a MAMEish background with a SiniStar font.  The two just may not meld well.

[rotheblog]

Well, you are familiar with the Sinistar marquee...

http://www.rotheblog.com/2007/11/arcade/acquired-sinistar-marquee/

And this is an actual font...maybe you should try to replicate the original marquee really well, and then tweak the design from there since this is an established composition.  Use some perspective on the lettering, keep the color flat and add a hard solid drop shadow, etc...

[Games001]

I have trying to find the actual font, what's it called?

[rotheblog]

You won't be able to find that font, I can just about guarantee that it is hand drawn...

I meant to use the font you chose, and use perspective to make it appear similar where it tapers towards the middle.

[Games001]

Ahhh.