Any confirm from Kaneda's comments today about Franchi being out at Stern?!
Yes, he is most likely working for Deep Root designing all 15 games they will release at launch all of which will ship with complete code!
Hopefully my sarcasm rang through with this post.
Is he the one that bad mouthed Gomez and aired the dirty laundry? If so, wouldn't surprise me and I'd have fired him in that position. You make a comment like that and it's not likely the first time and someone like that is a cancer
Quoted from PinballTilt:Is he the one that bad mouthed Gomez and aired the dirty laundry? If so, wouldn't surprise me and I'd have fired him in that position. You make a comment like that and it's not likely the first time and someone like that is a cancer
What was said???
I doubt it, but if so that's not good considering Donnie is off doing the Carnival thing.. as much as I would like it, I doubt Zombie Yeti can do every game! Hope they pick up some other good artists out there if that is true.
Quoted from DK:What was said???
I think "bad mouthed" may be an exaggeration. He posted spec art for Beetlejuice and basically quoted George as saying that no teams at Stern were excited by the theme and therefore they wouldn't pursue it.
Either way there's thousands of other artists capable of producing amazing artwork for pinball machines. I don't really care who does it to be honest. He's replaceable.
Quoted from PinballTilt:Is he the one that bad mouthed Gomez and aired the dirty laundry? If so, wouldn't surprise me and I'd have fired him in that position. You make a comment like that and it's not likely the first time and someone like that is a cancer
Wasn't he a contractor? It's semantics, but it's not really firing someone if they don't opt to renew the contract or accept the proposal for work.
That said, Franchi did good work for Stern and it stinks to lose work. But if you're not going to be professional with how you discuss your business partner, then you can't be surprised that they don't want to continue the relationship. Good artists are not hard to find, even if it's a small subset of artists who view pinball as a passion project.
I figured that whole Beetlejuice post was orchestrated by Stern as a teaser to gauge interest and he was just playing his part
Franchi - good art. But man, that first podcast episode he released (whether you find it funny or not... or whether he was just being sarcastic) couldn't have made anyone at Stern very happy. They're trying to run a very public business that targets all walks of life. That little "eat my butt" diatribe lacked some professional class. If he is out, the ultimate timeline will probably never be known. But, one must wonder...?
Quoted from valgalder:I doubt it, but if so that's not good considering Donnie is off doing the Carnival thing.. as much as I would like it, I doubt Zombie Yeti can do every game! Hope they pick up some other good artists out there if that is true.
Why is everyone so hung up on having the same two or three guys doing the art for these games all the time? Getting some new artists involved once in a while is a good thing IMO. I don't personally care to see the same art styles over and over again anyways. Let's see what other artists can do.
Quoted from PunkPin:I figured that whole Beetlejuice post was orchestrated by Stern as a teaser to gauge interest and he was just playing his part
That seems way too elaborate for such little payoff. Stern could just make a burner account here and make a post with some ideas if they wanted to gauge interest. (And probably have done so in the past and will do so again)
Perhaps George stumbled upon "Clip2Comic" and realized they could pair a single intern with the app and do an entire playfield for a $1.99?
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clip2comic-caricature-maker/id876328355?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D8
I jest, of course...
Quoted from pipes:Either way there's thousands of other artists capable of producing amazing artwork for pinball machines. I don't really care who does it to be honest. He's replaceable.
But do they have the pinball talent?
Quoted from TreyBo69:That seems way too elaborate for such little payoff. Stern could just make a burner account here and make a post with some ideas if they wanted to gauge interest. (And probably have done so in the past and will do so again)
Quoted from pipes:Why is everyone so hung up on having the same two or three guys doing the art for these games all the time? Getting some new artists involved once in a while is a good thing IMO. I don't personally care to see the same art styles over and over again anyways. Let's see what other artists can do.
I agree, I just want to make sure we don't fall back to pre-dirty donnie, zombie yeti, art. It was bad for so long and we are still not that far removed from that time.. I would hope Stern recognizes people actually care about art to make the effort, but man.. WD, GOT, SW, ACDC, WWE, MUSTANG, etc etc. weren't that long ago. That's all..
anyway, yes, hire on some real artists! I'm all for it.
Quoted from chad:But do they have the pinball talent?
Doing playfield art is, imo, tricky. Some experience helps. But plenty of good artists would be up for the challenge. If you're working with a good company that knows how to make pins and can give you the kind of guidance and resources you need it helps.
Rob Zombie is a good example of fabulous backglass and cabinet art, not so great playfield art. It needs some understanding of what a playfield requires for sure. I dunno that I'll ever do another playfield again, but if I did I'd definitely learn from my own mistakes.
I don't know or care about rumors or podcasts. What will be will be. But I do think pinball has a minor 'art problem' in that the same wells get visited over and over.
This isn't a diss on any of the people who do pinball art. Nor do I wish them a lack of work or anything else. It's cool to see old favorites, and see new people grow. I think Zombie Yeti is a great illustrator. Franchi has a style that isn't my personal favorite, that photorealism thing he does is a real talent, I just prefer a little more stylization. For the right project he's a perfect fit though. I thought Batman66 was a really good match for his style for instance.
But, that said, it would be nice to see more variety in the artists to be a good match for the themes. Dialed In is a good example. Mom jeans guy didn't help the feeling of "old men designing a game for young people" vibe. There are so many people out there with skill, just seeing more variety would be cool.
My 2 cents.
I remember us all bitching aboot the "photoshop" days PF art and if I look at Beatles that's exactly what I see; a lunch box.
I would like to know what happened with John Youssi.. he did some incredible and iconic work in the past that fit pinball perfectly, with the illustrations and hand drawn art, and since the early 2000's mainly does generic looking photoshop art? what a waste!
Quoted from valgalder:I would like to know what happened with John Youssi.. he did some incredible and iconic work in the past that fit pinball perfectly, with the illustrations and hand drawn art, and since the early 2000's mainly does generic looking photoshop art? what a waste!
He works for JJP.
Quoted from valgalder:I would like to know what happened with John Youssi.. he did some incredible and iconic work in the past that fit pinball perfectly, with the illustrations and hand drawn art, and since the early 2000's mainly does generic looking photoshop art? what a waste!
Quoted from valgalder:I would like to know what happened with John Youssi..
see below
Quoted from Aurich:Dialed In is a good example. Mom jeans guy didn't help the feeling of "old men designing a game for young people" vibe.
Yes, I am aware he works for JJP.. I specifically mean, what HAPPENED to his art.. used to be so good and now is mostly generic and lame.
After the Betelgeuse fiasco, I wouldn’t doubt it.
Also, every recent release has that weird rainbow color wheel look to it regardless of the artist. Lots of rich reds, purples and blues for everything.
I really miss the graphics art styles the classics had.
The Munster's was the best thing Franchi has done for pinball. It's really well done and integrated well I think. Batman 66 fits his style too but other than that, I can't say Beatles was a masterpiece or Guardians just looks like generic photoshop art to me..
I'm not sure how Stern employees their artist. Dirty Donny seems to be a independent artist and probably free to roam.
Wonder what Franchi's deal is?
I'd love to see some women get into what seems to be an good old boys club. My tattoo artist would pwn some of these guys.
Seems like Franchi just can't keep his mouth shut about a variety of topics that amount to airing too much of the dirty laundry. I am sure Stern didn't appreciate a lot of that. Wouldn't be surprised if they don't give him another project.
Quoted from valgalder:I doubt it, but if so that's not good considering Donnie is off doing the Carnival thing.. as much as I would like it, I doubt Zombie Yeti can do every game! Hope they pick up some other good artists out there if that is true.
Don't forget kevin o connor. He killed it on black knight and kiss.
I feel like Franchi was pretty much done with Stern anyways and decided to "take a bow" as it were.
Seems like he's catching alot of flack for just being himself and I get the feeling that doesn't ride with him.
I'm sure he'll land on his feet, and hopefully he's not done with pinball altogether.
Was he the one who fake crushed the TWIPY (supposedly as a joke) in Dallas? I know some people on here with a bad sense of humor thought it was hilarious. I thought it was, at best cringe worthy and at worst was pretty disrespectful to Stern.
Quoted from Rondogg:Was he the one who fake crushed the TWIPY (supposedly as a joke) in Dallas? I know some people on here with a bad sense of humor thought it was hilarious. I thought it was, at best cringe worthy and at worst was pretty disrespectful to Stern.
That's him.
Quoted from Aurich:Doing playfield art is, imo, tricky. Some experience helps. But plenty of good artists would be up for the challenge. If you're working with a good company that knows how to make pins and can give you the kind of guidance and resources you need it helps.
Rob Zombie is a good example of fabulous backglass and cabinet art, not so great playfield art. It needs some understanding of what a playfield requires for sure. I dunno that I'll ever do another playfield again, but if I did I'd definitely learn from my own mistakes.
I don't know or care about rumors or podcasts. What will be will be. But I do think pinball has a minor 'art problem' in that the same wells get visited over and over.
This isn't a diss on any of the people who do pinball art. Nor do I wish them a lack of work or anything else. It's cool to see old favorites, and see new people grow. I think Zombie Yeti is a great illustrator. Franchi has a style that isn't my personal favorite, that photorealism thing he does is a real talent, I just prefer a little more stylization. For the right project he's a perfect fit though. I thought Batman66 was a really good match for his style for instance.
But, that said, it would be nice to see more variety in the artists to be a good match for the themes. Dialed In is a good example. Mom jeans guy didn't help the feeling of "old men designing a game for young people" vibe. There are so many people out there with skill, just seeing more variety would be cool.
My 2 cents.
Have to disagree on the Dialed In "mom jeans" comment as the artwork of the mechanic character and the mechanism itself represent a shift from traditional pinball art and mech design.
Eric from JJP just recently said on a pinball podcast how he's had women come up to him at shows to thank JJP for representing the mechanic as a woman and doing so tastefully versus how women have traditionally been represented on pinball machines. Good on JJP!
STERN or Gomez if your reading this check out Mike Fudge
https://www.mikefudgeart.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mikefudgeart/
images1NWFMQNN (resized).jpgmatt-leunig-e1521924704929 (resized).pngimagesFD9MWQBV (resized).jpgimages9QF5NS3G (resized).jpg222 (resized).png
Quoted from valgalder:I would hope Stern recognizes people actually care about art to make the effort, but WD, GOT, SW, ACDC, WWE, MUSTANG weren't that long ago.
Mustang playfield art could have been much better, but Camilo Pardo did a great job on the Mustang cabs and translites.
Quoted from pipes:Why is everyone so hung up on having the same two or three guys doing the art for these games all the time? I personally don't care to see the same art styles over and over again. Let's see what other artists can do.
Maybe, but don't mess with Elvira 3. It better be Greg Freres artwork on Elvira 3.
Quoted from littlecammi:Maybe, but don't mess with Elvira 3. It better be Greg Freres artwork on Elvira 3.
I think Brian Holderman could put a cool spin on Elvira.
8CD6B70B-3E6A-42B2-AAB2-72F4D4B996C9.jpeghttps://www.flylanddesigns.com/
Brian Allen gets my vote for next art package at Stern (or anywhere)!
Quoted from LoveNeverDiesGuy:[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]STERN or Gomez if your reading this check out Mike Fudge
https://www.mikefudgeart.com/
LOL Twiddle.
Call me when he does some artwork for Phish.
::EDIT:: Nevermind. He already has.
Quoted from kermit24:Seems like Franchi just can't keep his mouth shut about a variety of topics that amount to airing too much of the dirty laundry. I am sure Stern didn't appreciate a lot of that. Wouldn't be surprised if they don't give him another project.
Stern brings in freelance artists. Greg Freres, their Art Director, would handle the relationship between the artist and Stern Pinball. I'm sure he is aware of more artists than the ones we've seen recently.
As for Franchi keeping his mouth shut, note that he'll have an hour-long seminar slot at Pintastic New England in late June. We have no idea what he might say.
.................David Marston
Quoted from TheLaw:I remember us all bitching aboot the "photoshop" days PF art and if I look at Beatles that's exactly what I see; a lunch box.
OMG I had a Welcome Back Kotter lunchbox w/thermos that looked similar!
Signed,
Epstein's Mother
So many artists out there, glad they have used Donnie, Yeti and Franchi on the last few games and hope they continue with this style artists.
https://squareup.com/store/bryan-pedersen/
This guy does some cool stuff and looks like he did a portrait of Vid! I got the Slimer print at comic-con.
Quoted from TheLaw:I remember us all bitching aboot the "photoshop" days PF art and if I look at Beatles that's exactly what I see; a lunch box.
I'm not trying to take anything away from Franchi's abilities, but I couldn't agree more. The first thing I thought when I first saw BM66. Photoshop versus photo-realistic hand drawn art is not worth anyone's time to debate because it is so similar.
Quoted from PanzerFreak:Have to disagree on the Dialed In "mom jeans" comment as the artwork of the mechanic character and the mechanism itself represent a shift from traditional pinball art and mech design.
Eric from JJP just recently said on a pinball podcast how he's had women come up to him at shows to thank JJP for representing the mechanic as a woman and doing so tastefully versus how women have traditionally been represented on pinball machines. Good on JJP!
I think you're misunderstanding my comment, I'm talking about the kid with the phone in the art, not the mechanic sculpt. She's wearing overalls and is fine.
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