Introduction
You may want to customize your arcade stick’s artwork for many reasons. One reason could be that you do not like the original artwork of a certain arcade stick.
Another reason could be that you would like something different, such as something that represents your personality and the games you play.
The Two Main Methods
You can customize your arcade stick’s artwork through two main methods:
- By uploading a PSD file to an online seller’s website when buying an arcade stick
- By inserting the artwork manually yourself
You can either obtain artwork by hiring a professional or put together the artwork yourself. First, you have to come up with the design. Then, you need to make sure it fits the template of the arcade stick you have in mind. Many templates are available on manufacturers’ sites or even fightstick-oriented sites.
Needless to say, make sure the joystick, buttons, and so on do not cover crucial elements of your art. For example, you do not want the joystick to cover a character’s beautiful face!
Inserting Artwork Manually
Question 1: Can your arcade stick handle custom artwork?
You can usually tell by seeing if there already is default artwork and checking if the top panel has plexiglass or something similar with removable screws holding it down. Artwork is usually just a sheet.
Another indicator is if the manufacturer’s site has a template available to download or, again, you may be able to find a template offsite. Furthermore, you may have seen your same arcade stick modded by someone else online, hinting that you can probably do the same.
The above is the best case scenario. An alternative scenario is that you have to stick your artwork up top in the form of something like vinyl.
Question 2: Will you or someone else design the artwork?
If you want to do it yourself, the simplest thing you can do is use your favorite image editing software to put together a design out of preexisting hi-res pictures.
Photoshop and GIMP are the best software options. Both software are similar & compatible, and guides are available for both software, such as for:
- Abstract shapes
- Blending modes
- Clipping masks
- Color changing
- Gradients
- Halftones
- Masking
- Textured backgrounds
Templates are often in PSD format, allowing them to contain multiple layers. PSD files are Photoshop files, and GIMP can also open them.
We recommend Photoshop because GIMP may struggle with CMYK, which Arcade Shock uses for templates. Any other software may present unwanted issues that do not exist within Photoshop and GIMP.
A good source of templates is Focus Attack. If your arcade stick is from a major brand and has swappable artwork, odds are that Focus Attack offers the template.
Focus Attack’s templates are in RGB, which is an image mode with no restrictions in color. The icing on the cake is that the templates clearly indicate the layers for printing.
Arcade Shock is another good option. Although their templates are similar in quality to Focus Attack, Arcade Shock does not provide an amount of templates to the sheer extent of Focus Attack. Moreover, since they are made in CMYK, the color palette is restricted somewhat due to their printing system.
Another source of templates is individual manufacturer sites, but the templates can vary in quality. Sometimes, you may have to contact a manufacturer to check if a certain template is not displayed onsite.
That said, do not hesitate to run your own search for a template you may have initially struggled to find. You may even find a template link on a forum.
Question 3: Does the artwork actually fit your arcade stick?
Make sure you layer the template on top of your artwork and turn colors from RGB to CMYK, which is a color scheme suitable for printing. Be aware that you may have to tweak the artwork’s colors to make them look like your original vision again.
Disclaimer: you have to use the provided color mode whether it is RGB or CMYK. Changing the color mode could mean that your artwork is not printed.
Optimally, your file should be a vector file that does not lose resolution as you zoom into it, but it is understandable that it is not always possible to produce a vector file as you may have incorporated fighting game or anime character renders into your artwork that have large but finite resolutions.
If needed, you can use waifu2x to upscale images while reducing compression, but as you may have imagined, this is not a perfect process. More specifically, smaller details may disappear or at least appear smudged.
Now, if your artwork is sprite-based, you can use something like Lospec to upscale the sprites, but if you are using preexisting media like character renders or backgrounds, opt for a PNG.
PNGs are near lossless in quality and rarely feature any type of compression, whereas JPGs require the utmost care about aspects like image size.
Moving on, print out a cheap black-and-white version with your regular printer, cut out the joystick & button areas, and put the paper on top of your arcade stick to see if the artwork fits.
Do a couple of practice sessions with a specialized knife and any hole puncher for joystick/buttons & screws respectively. Take into consideration the overprint layer, which is a border around the main layout that is a guide.
Always aim to extend your artwork to the overprint layer. That is mainly because the artwork may shift in a certain direction when printed, potentially causing visual issues if your artwork has a cutoff point where it would not be visible on the template.
If everything is good, it is time to submit your file to a professional printer or do it yourself if you have the proper equipment. Shops may set you back a couple of bucks, well, depending on where you live. That is why you have to make sure you follow any potential requirements:
- Some places may want the file as a PNG.
- Some places may want you to merge all layers.
- Some places may want the artwork without the template.
If a template does not exist, search for the dimensions of an arcade stick or measure it yourself to then create an appropriately sized canvas (if not slightly bigger).
You can even try to copy parts of layouts from different templates, such as the buttons, if you are unsure how to make them yourself.
Experiment with different types of paper, such as matte, to see how it looks under plexiglass. You do not want to overdo the glossiness as plexiglass already takes care of that for you.
The recommended average paperweight is about 225 gsm, which is much thicker than what the basic home printer usually works with. Clean your artwork & plexiglass before application to make sure there are no smudges and dust.
The Easiest Way Out
While we encourage you to take the plunge and try to go through the gritty process of designing custom artwork yourself, we also recommend starting out by simply ordering digital artwork and uploading it to an online seller upon checkout when buying an arcade stick. For that, you can hire one of our artists through our artwork service!