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.