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- ART ATTACK -
ART DIRECTION, INDUSTRIAL DESIGN, FLOOR PLAN DESIGN, CONCEPT ART, 3D MODELLING
Art Attack's focus is on creating themed experiences and environments for venues, malls, and family entertainment centers. Using a combination of carved and printed props, large scale graphic theming, and specialized lighting and fog effects, Art Attack can transform any space into somewhere truly special.
I was fortunate enough to work at Art Attack as a Designer for 5 years before becoming Art Director for 2 years. I successfully lead over 40 excellent projects to completion during my time as Art Director. These varied greatly in size and budget, ranging from $5,000 - $500,000 in cost, and each project received the full passion of the Art Attack team.
One of the last exciting projects I worked on at Art Attack was an 80's retro arcade themed laser tag for Ripley's Super Fun Zone (Ripley's Believe It or Not) featured above.
Highlights of this project included 2 arenas balanced for combat between 2 teams, or a single combined arena balanced between 4 teams when the fabric curtain wall was pulled back.
This arena also featured high resolution printed and backlit props, pod rooms, a refined process for printing on fabric, and many additional interactive sensors and targets for extra combat features.
ART DIRECTION
Art Attack's focus is on creating themed experiences and environments for venues, malls, and family entertainment centers.
Using a combination of carved and printed props, large scale graphic theming, and specialized lighting and fog effects, Art Attack can transform any space into somewhere truly special.
As Art Director I was responsible for organizing the work schedule for all art department projects, assigning tasks to staff according to strengths, and managing projects from start to finish.
I was also still responsible for regular design duties like concept artwork, layout design for our attractions, and the creation of working drawings, 3D models, milling machine files, vector artwork, and high resolution print artwork.
Designs we produced had to not only be visually appealing, but also functional, durable, and all elements must be easily shipped and fit precisely onsite.
This required regular communication and collaboration between design and production teams, clients, engineers, laser tag companies, and salespeople.
We also had many repeat customers that were so happy with our work that they would place orders with us for every new location of their businesses, like The Canadian Brewhouse and Scene 75.
THE CANADIAN BREWHOUSE
- INUKSHUK -
DRAGON'S TALE MINI GOLF
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EXAMPLE - SCENE 75
(COLUMBUS, OH)
Scene 75 Columbus is the one of the largest projects Art Attack ever completed, including our largest multi-level laser tag arena. It featured the installation and theming of 6 major attractions from Art Attack:
- The Lost Island Laser Tag
- Voyage Through the Sea Mini Golf
- Immortal Jungle Mini Golf
- Gold Mine Laser Maze
- The Vault Laser Maze
- Time Freak
Each attraction was themed to immerse the players in their surroundings, and the mini golf and laser tag included a variety of new features Art Attack was bringing to the market at the time:
- Themed projections integrated into the attractions
- High resolution printed graphics
- Rope and fake plants integrated into the props and spaces, painted to glow under black light conditions
The laser tag arena was of special note due to how complex the design was. The space was spilt into four zones: A green zone, a red zone, and a yellow zone on the bottom level, and a neutral zone (mezzanine).
The arena featured multiple interactive props with fog and lighting effects, including three home bases and a crashed plane centerpiece overhanging the mezzanine.
Special gameplay effects could be triggered from various sensors and electronics spread throughout the arena, and the mezzanine could reach all three team zones and featured shoot through grating for more complex combat.
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EXAMPLE - AZTEC JUNGLE THEME
Part of the standard sales and design process at Art Attack was to supply initial concept drawings for products that would be sold and produced for clients.
Over time we developed standard concept packages that featured our most popular props and themes.
This would allow customers to either pick a theme that had already been created, or choose to create new props at an additional cost.
As we created new props that were more popular, we would replace older props in our concept packages, and when we updated our Aztec Jungle Theme, many of my designs were used to replace old props.
Concept drawings were drawn to scale, generally in three-quarter view, and were required to be dimensioned, include any extra details like gameplay or lighting effects, and had to be designed with future construction in mind.
When creating custom concepts, we would sometimes create split testing variations for a customer to choose from, based on the feedback they gave us.
When a concept was approved for production, working drawings with additional construction details were produced and sent to the production team.
This included: front, back, and profile drawings with more detailed dimensions, details and drawings of any additional materials (like wood or metal frames), milling machine files, vector files for stencils, and decals for logos.
EXAMPLE - SPACE ADVENTURE
(APEX ENTERTAINMENT)
One of our most popular themes at Art Attack was Space Adventure. This theme got a major update during my time as Art Director.
Inspiration for modernizing this theme came from iconic Sci-Fi universes like Halo, Starcraft, Starship Troopers, Alien, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
This mini golf theme showcased Art Attack's high end features, including:
-Beautiful high resolution wall graphics, printed with UV ink on fabric
- Pulse glow curbing (mini golf curbing with LED lights inside)
- Fake plants and LED lights integrated into the props
By now, we had also incorporated our wall graphics concepts into the prop concepts to give customers a better idea of what a completed space would look like.
Time permitted, would also do 3D mockups of our spaces in Google Sketchup, place 3D models of our props in the space, and use our wall graphics as textures to fully flesh out an area.
Space Adventure became our most popular mini golf theme once installed, and was selected for two more locations soon after.
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