Southtown MVS Art - Extremely Poor!!

[Mikonos11]

Hi Jerry Spaghetti!

Thanks to you and others for your comments on this restoration! Believe me, it's nothing special compared to others I do!

Let's talk about the cover you're showing me, Jerry Spaghetti. That cover doesn't look original at all. Rather, it looks like a cross between the original cover, a Japanese cover, and the typical stereotypical English cover, where you can see a pattern that repeats from one cover to the next, varying in certain colors.

Let's see some images I have of the original Magician Lord AES English box:

Original "Magician Lord AES English Box" photos.

"Metal Slug Box Cover" (NAZCA) scanned file in restoration process.

Are you really interested in a custom cover? Honestly, in my opinion, it looks like it could be quite improved.

Cheers!

 

[Akira99]

In case anyone wants to try it out, I've restored the cover of "Magician Lord Neo Geo AES Cover" (SNK) and I'll show you everything in detail. I did it for fun!

*Download the screenshots because they're in Full HD, like all my work. If you just look at it as posted, you won't see all the details.

"Magician Lord Neo Geo AES Cover" (SNK) artwork file restored by Zona Arcade and Mikonos (screenshot 1).

Details in "Magician Lord Neo Geo AES Cover" (SNK) artwork file restored by Zona Arcade and Mikonos (screenshot 2).

Details in "Magician Lord Neo Geo AES Cover" (SNK) artwork file restored by Zona Arcade and Mikonos.

Remember, the main key is in the restoration!

Cheers!

I totally agree that the 'main key is in the restoration' because in my previous job as a designer, I had to do alot of retouching (using Photoshop) of artwork, product photography and photo realisitc compositing and cg compositing. It's great work that you are doing and if you ever need any help than let me know?

Also for scanning in artwork into Photoshop if possible I would scan it in at 16bit instead of 8bit, as 8bit can show you 16.7 million colors which is good but 16bit can show you 281 trillion colors, which will give you better print quality for the final result.

 

[jerryspaghetti]

Hi Jerry Spaghetti!

Thanks to you and others for your comments on this restoration! Believe me, it's nothing special compared to others I do!

Let's talk about the cover you're showing me, Jerry Spaghetti. That cover doesn't look original at all. Rather, it looks like a cross between the original cover, a Japanese cover, and the typical stereotypical English cover, where you can see a pattern that repeats from one cover to the next, varying in certain colors.

Let's see some images I have of the original Magician Lord AES English box:

Original "Magician Lord AES English Box" photos.

"Metal Slug Box Cover" (NAZCA) scanned file in restoration process.

Are you really interested in a custom cover? Honestly, in my opinion, it looks like it could be quite improved.

Cheers!s

Something like the image I posted would be fine.

 

[Mikonos11]

I totally agree that the 'main key is in the restoration' because in my previous job as a designer, I had to do alot of retouching (using Photoshop) of artwork, product photography and photo realisitc compositing and cg compositing. It's great work that you are doing and if you ever need any help than let me know?

Also for scanning in artwork into Photoshop if possible I would scan it in at 16bit instead of 8bit, as 8bit can show you 16.7 million colors which is good but 16bit can show you 281 trillion colors, which will give you better print quality for the final result.

Hi Akira99!

Nice to meet you!

Scanning and working with 16-bit files isn't very practical, as you know. Not only are the files larger, but design programs have a hard time applying effects and retouching with this color depth.

On another note, as you may also know, digital printing, which is what designers typically work with (few design and print at the same time), both offset and plotter printing, and both in CMYK mode, significantly limits the ability to capture all the colors we see in 8-bit RGB.

This battle is currently lost in printing; LED panels are a very different story.

I have a project in which I need help with, but I don't think you'd like it. I've been thinking about creating a space with the best images of the original classic arcade cabinets, retouching the cabinets to digitally repair them and enlarging the images with artificial intelligence to offer the best possible image gallery, but it's a total pain.

When I was standardizing the images to 800x600 pixels and publishing the galleries of several arcade cabinets, the most advanced artificial intelligence programs appeared, which do a good work in a good number of cases, and my joy was dashed.

Cheers!

 

[Mikonos11]

Something like the image I posted would be fine.

I'm happy to redesign the cover image you're showing me in high resolution.

I can add countless extras to the print to give it a touch of whimsy, such as using white ink and printing on metallic, iridescent, chrome, or metallic vinyl.

If you're not interested in these additions, let me know by email so I can give you a price estimate. If you're ok with it, I'll design, print, and send it to you, subject to your prior verification.

Mi mail:

midasororey@yahoo.es

Cheers!

 

[jerryspaghetti]

How much for just like the image I posted but in high res?

 

[Mikonos11]

Very impressed with your restoration of the Magician Lord cover and you’re 100% right that the most important step is the restoration.

The only thing that would need adjusting is the NEO GEO LOGO should be at the top of the spine with a little coloured stripe.
See pic below.

If you have printing facilities and can take orders for artwork let us all know. Or if you just want to provide artwork files some kind of price list would be good.

Thanks man

That's better in my email, Jerry!

It's neither elegant nor nice to talk about money, and there are always people who have an opinion on the subject, even if it's unrelated.

Cheers!

 

[jerryspaghetti]

Thought it might be better to tell people what the cost is if you’re selling something.

Pm me the cost then mate

 

[Mikonos11]

No, it's not better, dear Jerry!

I don't have your email. Write to me and we'll get this topic off the forum so there are no problems.

This thread will continue to be about designs, restorations, and even printing results, something much more innocuous.

Cheers!

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Yeah, come on dear Jerry, be more elegant!

Where’s your whimsy, huh?!

This is a shock box cover we’re talking about for goodness sake, that can’t just be addressed openly. Email only… obviously.

 

[Mikonos11]

This is exactly what I'm talking about, ChrisBEANS. When talking about money publicly, it doesn't matter if it's a lot or a little. Even the smallest word can be misinterpreted, intentionally or unintentionally, and there are always people who find it upsetting.

We take the word "elegant" from one paragraph and the word "dear" from a different paragraph, and subordinate them in a cleverly crafted sentence that conveys a slightly different meaning. Both words have been said, they're written there, you can check! What's the problem with what you said and what I repeated?

That's why I say, Chris, if you could please respect my wish not to talk about money when it comes to me.

------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, I'm always looking for new restoration experiences, and this is the first time I've restored AES snare drum covers. I think it's a wonderful experience and that enthusiasts deserve better service and quality in their reproductions.

For my part, I've never had a problem showing my work in depth, and I'm available to any fan who wants to restore their covers and show them publicly. I know there are people who enjoy observing restoration work, just as I do, showing the before and after.

By the way, I'm working on a new printing method called "portable silkscreen." The ink is suspended between two transparent carrier papers and has white ink to opaque the underside and another, more adhesive layer so you can stick the design anywhere, even on curved or right-angled surfaces. The screen printing is so strong that it can't be peeled off. It's so strong that the paint can't be removed and is wash-resistant. It's only possible to remove it with chemical or physical stripping, like old screen printing.

In fact, yesterday I picked up the first color chart with 570 colors I designed so I can start working with this method. I'm very excited!

I think this system is going to be a revolution in our arcade and pinball hobby!

 

[jerryspaghetti]

@Mikonos11

Thanks for the offer but it’s become more hassle than it’s worth just to get a price from you.

Must have been 10-20 messages between here and the PMs. You told me to PM for a price and then told me to bring the conversation to the thread for everyone’s benefit and now want to quote me via email for something that’s worth less than £10 to me. It’s totally non productive.

With all due respect, this is a UK based arcade forum and the majority of members on here want a direct answer to a direct question. These MVS covers, of which there are 150+ potentially should cost you the same to clean up/photoshop so the price for the art should be the same for any of the 150+ products.

It’s not clear what you are trying to sell? Are you a print shop or are you selling PDF files?

The community is interested in restoring and preserving these games and as such a lot of the art etc has become open source. You have no commercial rights to the images/branding/logos etc but if you want to sell them then just set up an online shop and sell them. This convoluted/obscured way of dealing with members will only aggravate people.

I believe you are trying to do something good and your work speaks for itself. Do yourself and everyone a favour and listen to the advice that we’re trying to give you.

I only mention the fact this is a Uk based forum as I believe there may be some misinterpretation of what is and isn’t polite in our culture. We preferred nice black and white transactions.

You have something we want. How much is it? Ok that’s a good price what’s your PayPal address and I’ll pay you. The end.

 

[Vamino]

 

[Mikonos11]

@Mikonos11

Thanks for the offer but it’s become more hassle than it’s worth just to get a price from you.

Must have been 10-20 messages between here and the PMs. You told me to PM for a price and then told me to bring the conversation to the thread for everyone’s benefit and now want to quote me via email for something that’s worth less than £10 to me. It’s totally non productive.

With all due respect, this is a UK based arcade forum and the majority of members on here want a direct answer to a direct question. These MVS covers, of which there are 150+ potentially should cost you the same to clean up/photoshop so the price for the art should be the same for any of the 150+ products.

It’s not clear what you are trying to sell? Are you a print shop or are you selling PDF files?

The community is interested in restoring and preserving these games and as such a lot of the art etc has become open source. You have no commercial rights to the images/branding/logos etc but if you want to sell them then just set up an online shop and sell them. This convoluted/obscured way of dealing with members will only aggravate people.

I believe you are trying to do something good and your work speaks for itself. Do yourself and everyone a favour and listen to the advice that we’re trying to give you.

I only mention the fact this is a Uk based forum as I believe there may be some misinterpretation of what is and isn’t polite in our culture. We preferred nice black and white transactions.

You have something we want. How much is it? Ok that’s a good price what’s your PayPal address and I’ll pay you. The end.

Well, you sent me a PM asking for something and I gave it to you, if we discussed that cover before you attached it because I wanted to clarify, for everyone's benefit, that what you were showing me was something custom, not original.

Now you want that custom file in high resolution, and I said I'd be happy to do it for you if you email me. It's as easy as that! You weren't interested in following the instructions because you wanted me to publicly give you a price, and I refuse for the reasons I've explained. There's no problem or commitment.

Let's talk now about what you think things are worth.

For example, one person can restore the cover of an AES game box in 20 minutes, or it can take him hours or days. Does it take the same amount of effort? Think carefully before answering this question for yourself!

A file can be printed at a simple copy shop on 90gsm matte paper. Or it can be printed on 150gsm polyester paper, which has a glossy finish. On the other hand, It can work at 6 inkjet passes or you can request the highest-quality offset printing, injecting the maximum amount of ink to achieve deep colors. Do you think this is worth the same? Again, work it out for yourself.

As you can understand, it's very exaggerated to arbitrarily say that something has to be worth so much. As a general rule and to conclude, a restoration of an original, like an AES box cover, will always cost less than a custom AES box cover, because the restoration of an original may be of interest to many more people, while a custom cover may only be of interest to one person.

Cheers!

 

[Vamino]

If you're willing to pay £90, I'd like to try it and have a public critique of the result.

In case anyone wants to try it out, I've restored the cover of "Magician Lord Neo Geo AES Cover" (SNK) and I'll show you everything in detail. I did it for fun!

@Mikonos11

Thanks for the offer but it’s become more hassle than it’s worth just to get a price from you.

Must have been 10-20 messages between here and the PMs. You told me to PM for a price and then told me to bring the conversation to the thread for everyone’s benefit and now want to quote me via email for something that’s worth less than £10 to me. It’s totally non productive.

With all due respect, this is a UK based arcade forum and the majority of members on here want a direct answer to a direct question. These MVS covers, of which there are 150+ potentially should cost you the same to clean up/photoshop so the price for the art should be the same for any of the 150+ products.

It’s not clear what you are trying to sell? Are you a print shop or are you selling PDF files?

The community is interested in restoring and preserving these games and as such a lot of the art etc has become open source. You have no commercial rights to the images/branding/logos etc but if you want to sell them then just set up an online shop and sell them. This convoluted/obscured way of dealing with members will only aggravate people.

I believe you are trying to do something good and your work speaks for itself. Do yourself and everyone a favour and listen to the advice that we’re trying to give you.

I only mention the fact this is a Uk based forum as I believe there may be some misinterpretation of what is and isn’t polite in our culture. We preferred nice black and white transactions.

You have something we want. How much is it? Ok that’s a good price what’s your PayPal address and I’ll pay you. The end.

Well, you sent me a PM asking for something and I gave it to you, if we discussed that cover before you attached it because I wanted to clarify, for everyone's benefit, that what you were showing me was something custom, not original.

Now you want that custom file in high resolution, and I said I'd be happy to do it for you if you email me. It's as easy as that! You weren't interested in following the instructions because you wanted me to publicly give you a price, and I refuse for the reasons I've explained. There's no problem or commitment.

Let's talk now about what you think things are worth.

For example, one person can restore the cover of an AES game box in 20 minutes, or it can take him hours or days. Does it take the same amount of effort? Think carefully before answering this question for yourself!

A file can be printed at a simple copy shop on 90gsm matte paper. Or it can be printed on 150gsm polyester paper, which has a glossy finish. On the other hand, It cans work at 6 inkjet passes or you can request the highest-quality offset printing, injecting the maximum amount of ink to achieve deep colors. Do you think this is worth the same? Again, work it out for yourself.

As you can understand, it's very exaggerated to arbitrarily say that something has to be worth so much. As a general rule and to conclude, a restoration of an original, like an AES box cover, will always cost less than a custom AES box cover, because the restoration of an original may be of interest to many more people, while a custom cover may only be of interest to one person.

Cheers!

I'm always amazed at the interactions between Mikonos and perspective buyers.

Mikonos being open to public critique and doing it for fun is a nice concept.......But, from an outside perspective, the whole process seems similar to buying a new car from a dealership.

Mikonos offered his services from out of nowhere, Jerry didn't ask ask if someone can make some art better than the one in the blurry picture, Mikonos offered to do it for fun! Then Jerry is being quizzed on what optional extras he wants......custom one of a kind art, 6 inkjet passes, 150gsm polyester paper, offset printing etc etc.

And finally Jerry is then being asked what he thinks that effort is worth.

Lord have mercy.

 

[Mikonos11]

I'm always amazed at the interactions between Mikonos and perspective buyers.

Mikonos being open to public critique and doing it for fun is a nice concept.......But, from an outside perspective, the whole process seems similar to buying a new car from a dealership.

Mikonos offered his services from out of nowhere, Jerry didn't ask ask if someone can make some art better than the one in the blurry picture, Mikonos offered to do it for fun! Then Jerry is being quizzed on what optional extras he wants......custom one of a kind art, 6 inkjet passes, 150gsm polyester paper, offset printing etc etc.

And finally Jerry is then being asked what he thinks that effort is worth.

Lord have mercy.

It's obvious you skimmed too quickly, and it's obvious you've been trolling for a couple of messages now.They were simply argumentative examples.

For my part, I'm available to anyone who has something interesting to contribute to the conversation, or if they want to make any restoration or customization requests, via email! I'm always looking for more extreme challenges regarding restoration and printing.

By the way, just as I'm going to work with "portable screen printing," I'm also going to start working with fluorescent inks. My next project will be the "Discs of Tron Control Panel Overlay" (BALLY) with blacklight-reactive fluorescent ink.

This means that all these new printing technologies can be applied to AES covers or any other decorative arcade or pinball piece.

Cheers!

 

[Vamino]

It's obvious you skimmed too quickly, and it's obvious you've been trolling for a couple of messages now.They were simply argumentative examples.

For my part, I'm available to anyone who has something interesting to contribute to the conversation, or if they want to make any restoration or customization requests, via email! I'm always looking for more extreme challenges regarding restoration and printing.

By the way, just as I'm going to work with "portable screen printing," I'm also going to start working with fluorescent inks. My next project will be the "Discs of Tron Control Panel Overlay" (BALLY) with blacklight-reactive fluorescent ink.

This means that all these new printing technologies can be applied to AES covers or any other decorative arcade or pinball piece.

Cheers!

I can add countless extras to the print to give it a touch of whimsy, such as using white ink and printing on metallic, iridescent, chrome, or metallic vinyl.

By the way, I'm working on a new printing method called "portable silkscreen." The ink is suspended between two transparent carrier papers and has white ink to opaque the underside and another, more adhesive layer so you can stick the design anywhere, even on curved or right-angled surfaces. The screen printing is so strong that it can't be peeled off. It's so strong that the paint can't be removed and is wash-resistant. It's only possible to remove it with chemical or physical stripping, like old screen printing.

In fact, yesterday I picked up the first color chart with 570 colors I designed so I can start working with this method. I'm very excited!

You have entered this thread and basically aggravated the person you were 'trying' to help.

What conversation were people having here before you offered your one of a kind bespoke services? Pretty sure the conversation was about an online company who provided a forum member some terrible Magician Lord art.

And what does Discs Of Tron and Bally reactive light art have to do with blurry Magician Lord art? Nothing at all.

If trolling the OP and going off topic was your intention, then well done, today you win the internet.

 

[ZedEx48K]

Mikinos, there's no denying you do good work, but time and again your practices for selling or sharing artwork come into dispute, I would suggest you learn to be transparent, open a web shop, or just shut up at this point, when you pop up there always ends up with some form of discord!

 

[Mikonos11]

Mikinos, there's no denying you do good work, but time and again your practices for selling or sharing artwork come into dispute, I would suggest you learn to be transparent, open a web shop, or just shut up at this point, when you pop up there always ends up with some form of discord!

I prefer to maintain my fan status so I can decide whether or not I have time for certain requests.

Transparency doesn't have to do with what I find a pleasure, a challenge, and fun, but with the simple business side.

I like to be selective and offer my help if something interests me and helps me gain more experience.

I don't see controversy. For me, anything that has to do with a monetary transaction shouldn't be on a regular forum for the reasons I've already explained. You may share my opinion or not, but you have to respect it, in any case.

---------------------------------------------------------------

On another note, I also want to work with console cardboard boxes. That is, I want to have the experience of making the outer box and restoring the artwork, and the inner box, like those of the Super Nintendo.

I also thought it would be great to restore and make the instructions.

I've also wondered why the boxes can't be made entirely of polyester. That way, they'd never deteriorate (they couldn't break), the creases would never wear out, they could be washed with water, and a host of other advantages.

No one has done it yet! Why?

 

[eccentric-nut]

No one has done it yet! Why?

From my own point of view, I would rather have original cases and manuals, instead of reproductions, the value lies in originality where possible when it comes to physical cartridge collectors. However I am sure at the right price point some may wish to beautify otherwise poor cartridges boxes.