It should be noted that there are minor lettering and black outline differences between each of the three original playfield manufacturers that Bally used back then, Lenc Smith, Sun Process, and Thomas A Grant.

Here's one page showing some of the color differences between playfield makers, but if you look close enough, you'll see that the thickness of the outlines, and the blacks in general are thicker on one than the other.

http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa147tafcomparesptag.html

I was looking for the other pages that showed the specific differences in some of the inserts in the upper area of the playfield. The ones in particular I know of that changed between playfield makers was the Jackpot insert text, as well as the Lite Star and Super Jackpot. The versions I've seen vary in that the letters are smaller and aren't keystoned(or angled/warped). It's really hard to describe without a picture, but I know I've seen it before, and it might have even been here on Pinside. I just can't find it right now.

But, with all that said, I think those other companies got updated screens from Bally at some point to more closely match the letter style of the one you're using as a template. But original variants exist, much like all the variations shown on that one page I shared above.

I'm a graphic designer by trade and have worked in flexographic printing, screen printing, and other media for a very long time. I know all about this stuff. I'm not taking a shot in the dark here.

It's clear from that page I shared, that not only were colors slightly off from one playfield maker to the next, but they also had different screens as evidenced by the rug in front of the ramp and lots of other details that are simply missing from the Lens Smith playfields. It's safe to say that there possibly were multiple black screens and Lens Smith was most likely missing one, if not more.

Artwork gets updated all the time during production runs. Changes get made midstream due to unforeseen complications during production. Multiple, multiple, multiple sets of playfield screens got made during the years of production. There was never just one set sent to each of the playfield manufacturers. I'm sure they got a new set every month or so due to the sheer number of playfields that were being made. Screens get damaged, lost, and just simply wear out with use. Case in point: At one point during production, one side of the cabinet artwork printing screens got damaged. Since they were cranking these games out like crazy, they just used the other side's graphics on the both sides until replacement screens got made. This resulted in a series of games that had the same artwork on both sides of the game, meaning one side had Thing flicking the ball towards the player and the other side he was flicking towards the back of the game.

Just because I couldn't find a picture of the lettering difference on the JACKPOT, LITE STAR, and SUPER JACKPOT inserts, doesn't mean those differences don't, or didn't, exist. I know what I've seen. I noticed it because I'm an artist and those differences stick out to me immediately.

Alright, well, I did happen to find one picture, finally. I have no idea who made this playfield and how early or late a model it is, but it does show some different lettering like I was mentioning. But this is even different from what I remember seeing. What I remember seeing is where those three inserts have text that is straight, and not keystoned on one side like the final product we are all familiar with.

Inserts (resized).png

My point was that, originally, the playfields coming out of each of the different original playfield manufacturer's factories were different. It's obvious that they used different, or fewer, black screens. While the more obvious differences between the 3 companies were some colors, there were other differences as well, as evidenced by the lack of rug detail and black circles around posts and lights, as shown on that webpage I sent earlier. As for the playfield in the picture, the custom parts on it have nothing to do with the way the inserts look. The entire playfield is not custom, just the parts going on it. Like I said in my post, too, I don't know when this playfield was made, or who made it. But your average joe isn't just going around making a playfield whenever they want.

As for what I've done, artwork-wise, in the pinball world, I can't really say. I live in the US where certain people hold the licenses on some of the games I've redone artwork for and I choose not to divulge what I've done and who for. Granted, I've not sold or profited off said artwork, so I've not infringed on any license, but I still will never really do anywhere near as much as you do because if it ever became known, I could be sued into oblivion. It's also part of the reason why I don't even talk about the amount of work I've done. With that said, the one thing I've done that most people already know about is the apron artwork for TAF. I spent over 50 hours making that art an absolutely perfect reproduction of the factory art.

I understand and can appreciate your time and effort with redoing the artwork you do. You just need to know that one example of something is not the only factory correct way something might have been done. Also, you have the luxury of being somewhat out of the legal reach of those that own the licensing for certain companies. I don't have that ability, so therefore I don't take on anywhere near the amount of work that I'd like to do.

I have to say, it looks like the playfield you're working on is a Sun Process. If you had a Lenc Smith made playfield to work from, your black lines would be thinner and you'd still be correct, but only for the LS made playfield.

The fonts were the easiest part, as I'm sure you know. It was the fine tuning of the other stuff that took the most time. I'd finish the vines/chains, then go back over them a couple days later and notice something a little off. Also, the same for the lightning. I went back over that many times to make sure it was absolutely perfect. When reproducing artwork, I always take breaks from it and revisit it with fresh eyes as there's always something you'll either miss or gloss over due to spending too much time on something else in the artwork. I don't use any image processing software or any tracing software as a starting point. It's all individually drawn nodes over a scanned image of my personal TAF's apron.

As for screen printing the apron, the hardest part is locking the screen down to the apron without stretching it since it's an uneven surface. You'll most likely have to build a frame for the apron to sit in that is level with the top of the apron to ensure that the screens don't stretch at all. I'm unsure as to how the aprons were originally printed as it could have either been screen printing or something else called tampo printing. I can see it being tampo printed because of how easily the ink wipes off with very little effort. That's pretty typical for tampo printed inks of the early 90's. Also, the colors are Pantone spot colors. That'll make it easy to match as you can just buy the exact colors you need. Printing from a different source, even a massive industrial grade digital press, will result in the colors being slightly off. Your delta-E(representing your color accuracy, but you knew that) with the spot colors is zero, of course. But on a digital printer the delta-E can be close on one color, but way off on the others. Spot colors don't always convert to CMYK very well, as I'm sure you know.

As for the colors, you'll need a screen for black as well. I'm sure as you studied the artwork on the apron, you saw that the outlines and other areas of the vines/chains had a layer of black on them. I know the artwork can be screen printed without that black layer, but to be 100% correct, it needs to be there. Plus, it helps with the trapping of the other colors. Trapping is a printing term for where colors overlap. If you're able to, hiding the trapping under black outlines is ideal since it darkens the black even further(since black is typically printed as just the Key color). But if you use a full process black, that uses all four colors, it'll be the same density and richness of black regardless of what it's printed over. I'm sure they used a process black for the apron because the color doesn't waiver from how dark it is over the vines/chains to the outlines, it's consistent.

By the way, I found the source image for that playfield image I shared earlier, it's actually a brand new Mirco playfield. So it's not someone's custom insert job that they did themselves. Just further proof that what you interpret what you see is not always what they truly are. As to why Mirco's artwork is off, I can't say. It's a licensed product so there should be zero reason as to why it's wrong, but it is. Same thing for his TZ playfield, it's missing text on the door panel.

Well, I vectorize everything because I know that even though it may not look it by the way the images were printed on the cabs and aprons, they were done in and by computers. Granted the artwork is still hand drawn by the artists, but the output is still done by computers. The artists either drew them in the computers using a pen device, or they were scanned and converted to vector art. Then, when color selecting and separation took place and screens were made for those colors, they used a rip environment that separated those vectored images by color and made a screen for each individual color that was called out. Furthermore, vectored artwork doesn't get blurry with size scaling as where raster images do.

Back then, and even now, with screen printing, you'll never get the super sharp edge that a vectored image produces. You would have to direct print onto the substrate for that. The resolution just isn't there with screen printing simply because of the screen itself. But that can actually work in your favor. Even with a vectored image, upon screen printing it, it'll still have that nice softer edge that makes look a bit more "organic".

As for fonts, I don't think I've ever used a font that didn't need fixing or reworking. I know that fonts "drift" over time, too. A font that we use today might have the same name as it did 30 years ago, but there will be differences with vertices, kerning, spacing, and who knows what else. Usually I'll find one that is about 90% close and just fix what else is needed to make it identical. I know no font will be perfect, so I always expect to have to fine tune things, or even hand draw the letters I need.

I've done other apron work for people here on Pinside that I'd love to show you, but I don't want to get myself in trouble with any license holders.

I never said they couldn't. RIP environments can separate spot colors and/or process colors regardless of what's called out in the artwork. I think this is just a misunderstanding due to translation.

I can't speak for the movie industry and what they did for their posters, I'm only talking about the pinball industry and the capabilities, devices, and processes they used in the 90's.

Oh, I know all too well that there are many aftermarket pinball/arcade places that have very low quality reproductions of original artwork. It really makes me mad and sad as it really would've only taken them a little bit more time to get it right and sell a product that's 100% correct and accurate.

Since these are just for you, and you're most likely printing them out at/on your normal printer, it's probably not an issue. You may have already done it, but, one thing I typically suggest when it comes to printing artwork that has outlines where their thickness is critical, is to outline the strokes. Different programs and printer software handle strokes differently and they can slightly change them by making them thinner or thicker(I've seen both happen). Sometimes, just opening up the file on another computer can affect the stroke thickness. That's why I would always outline the stroke as a way of making sure that the thickness never changes at any point. Most of the stuff I was printing had to go through three computers, in both Mac and PC environments, so I needed to be certain that the artwork didn't change when going through each of the different systems and their different processing software.