In addition to the Control Panel Overlay I also need side art as my cab did not have this fitted when I purchased it. I can only presume it was damaged and removed at some stage as I found remnants of it under the monitor mounting bolts.
I had purchased a Quarter Arcade screen printed reproduction about 15 years ago and it had been in storage since then. Unfortunately the pre matt (the protective sheet the covers the artwork) had fused itself to the print and was impossible to remove on one of the pieces. The other side was better off but the matt had still fused to all of the edges. I managed to remove it from the main art only to reveal printing errors where the ink had not been applied correctly.
Thinking I would replicate the art, as it was supposed to be the best version made (now unavailable too) I scanned it and used a colour sensor to sample multiple colour locations and then average out the results to get good information I could use.
Colour swatch of what i thought at the time where correct colours, but as it turned out not....
After doing all this work and more research it became evident that the Quarter Arcade version was not all that good and the black line layer was applied way to thick which lost detail and made the image look less refined.
Full Quater Arcade scanned artwork. Very thick black lines hide detail. Incorrect colours.
The original art was produced using an 8 colour lithography or screen process where different coloured areas of ink were applied to a white adhesive backed substrate with the final black outline and edge colour covering up all the joins. In a number of areas dot patterns were used to simulate different shades.
For instance the orange layer of the fire surrounding the DRAGONS LAIR text was also printed as a dot pattern over the knights face and hands to create a skin shade. The yellow edge to the fire was printed with smaller dots over the backpack, trousers and helmet to create another shade. The quater arcade version has these features but the detail in the actual black line drawing has been lost.
I also found the original EPS file of the side art that was used to print the Limited Edition run as well as pretty much all other offerings at this time (Ebay and artwork repro houses versions).
Internet EPS version, better detail but incorrect colours and features and lots of rounded wavy vector lines.
After reviewing the EPS it became clear that it too was compromised in both detail, accuracy and colour rendering.
While it has more detail the the QA version it had still either been auto traced in photoshop or done in a rush as the vector curves are sloppy and not refined. A pink colour has been added to the hands and face and an off white colour applied to the clothing rather than use dot patters like the original. A shadow below one of the coins at the bottom of the art is also missing.
Having gone to a lot of trouble to restore my cab I wanted to have the best art on it that I could.
So I decided to do my own.
I started working with a guy in the states to scan his original side art and I then combined the scans to create a hi resolution version of the art. I then drew around the edges of the black by hand to capture extreme detail of the lines. After that we colour sensor scanned the original to get a correct colour reference to work to and those areas were filled in layers.
Here are a few comparison examples:
Inernet EPS (current available version/ limited edition print) to the left, note incorrect pink skin colour and helmet/ backpack. Very smooth vector shapes with little detail vs new trace image to right. Loads of line detail and correct coloured dot positions as well as correct colours.
Internet EPS to left, new trace to right. Again loads of extra detail in the right image and correct dot pattern around the eyes.
Intenet EPS to left has very wavy, rounded lines that do not define the text correctly. New trace to right defines the letters correctly.
Internet EPS left, new trace right. Correct detail reflected in the new art to the right as it was intended.
I had purchased a Quarter Arcade screen printed reproduction about 15 years ago and it had been in storage since then. Unfortunately the pre matt (the protective sheet the covers the artwork) had fused itself to the print and was impossible to remove on one of the pieces. The other side was better off but the matt had still fused to all of the edges. I managed to remove it from the main art only to reveal printing errors where the ink had not been applied correctly.
Thinking I would replicate the art, as it was supposed to be the best version made (now unavailable too) I scanned it and used a colour sensor to sample multiple colour locations and then average out the results to get good information I could use.
Colour swatch of what i thought at the time where correct colours, but as it turned out not....
After doing all this work and more research it became evident that the Quarter Arcade version was not all that good and the black line layer was applied way to thick which lost detail and made the image look less refined.
Full Quater Arcade scanned artwork. Very thick black lines hide detail. Incorrect colours.
The original art was produced using an 8 colour lithography or screen process where different coloured areas of ink were applied to a white adhesive backed substrate with the final black outline and edge colour covering up all the joins. In a number of areas dot patterns were used to simulate different shades.
For instance the orange layer of the fire surrounding the DRAGONS LAIR text was also printed as a dot pattern over the knights face and hands to create a skin shade. The yellow edge to the fire was printed with smaller dots over the backpack, trousers and helmet to create another shade. The quater arcade version has these features but the detail in the actual black line drawing has been lost.
I also found the original EPS file of the side art that was used to print the Limited Edition run as well as pretty much all other offerings at this time (Ebay and artwork repro houses versions).
Internet EPS version, better detail but incorrect colours and features and lots of rounded wavy vector lines.
After reviewing the EPS it became clear that it too was compromised in both detail, accuracy and colour rendering.
While it has more detail the the QA version it had still either been auto traced in photoshop or done in a rush as the vector curves are sloppy and not refined. A pink colour has been added to the hands and face and an off white colour applied to the clothing rather than use dot patters like the original. A shadow below one of the coins at the bottom of the art is also missing.
Having gone to a lot of trouble to restore my cab I wanted to have the best art on it that I could.
So I decided to do my own.
I started working with a guy in the states to scan his original side art and I then combined the scans to create a hi resolution version of the art. I then drew around the edges of the black by hand to capture extreme detail of the lines. After that we colour sensor scanned the original to get a correct colour reference to work to and those areas were filled in layers.
Here are a few comparison examples:
Inernet EPS (current available version/ limited edition print) to the left, note incorrect pink skin colour and helmet/ backpack. Very smooth vector shapes with little detail vs new trace image to right. Loads of line detail and correct coloured dot positions as well as correct colours.
Internet EPS to left, new trace to right. Again loads of extra detail in the right image and correct dot pattern around the eyes.
Intenet EPS to left has very wavy, rounded lines that do not define the text correctly. New trace to right defines the letters correctly.
Internet EPS left, new trace right. Correct detail reflected in the new art to the right as it was intended.
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