Artwork

The Artwork. The control panel overlay, marquee artwork, and side art are what personalizes and makes the cabinet stand out. I looked at a bunch of artwork for sale and for free all over the net. Some were very well done and could be had for a decent price. I figured if I was going to do this I was going to do it right so I decided I wanted original professional artwork.

The Space Station...

The Space Station was the local arcade at the mall I lived near growing up. At least before they closed it down due to excessive drug trafficking. This was a real arcade complete with arcade smells (i.e cigarettes) and sounds (you know so loud you can't hear the guy behind you bitching because you never die playing Galaga. Hey that was my game. Couldn't play Dragons Lair worth a damn but Galaga, that was my thing. But I digress again.) Anyway, the kind of arcade that wasn't yet overun with kid games like Skee-Ball and Whack-A-Mole. Nope no "redeem your tickets for plastic prizes" booth in this place. So I knew my cabinet had to be named for this arcade.

Well you kow my name is Simon, and I like to do drawings...

I am a decent pencil and paper artist, but designing original graphic art on a computer was not going to be done by me. I had an idea in my head of what I wanted it to look like but I knew I needed some professional help (with the artwork I mean). So over at the BYOAC message boards I found some help from a kind soul who goes by the name Frostillicus. Money well spent. Taking my rather unarticulated ideas of what I wanted, he designed a marquee and control panel overlay that turned out perfect. If you are in need of quality artwork, I would point you in his direction. Thanks again Tom. He sent it all to me on a cd and I had it all printed off at the local Kinkos. Be real specific with these guys what you want and how you want it. I printed out two copies of the marquee and put one behind the other so the flourecent light behind the marquee wouldn't wash out the colors when lit up. The marquee was covered with plexi-glass and held in place by my homemade marquee retainers (two corner strips of metal painted a matte black).

Marquee Artwork

Control Panel Overlay Artwork