Drinks With Jack Featuring Art Leads Jeremy Packer, Steven Martin & Chuck Ernst (Part 1)

Stern Pinball·video·7m 28s·analyzed·Dec 29, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.024

TL;DR

Stern art leads discuss roles creating pinball machine visuals at Expo panel.

Summary

Jack Danger hosts a 'Drinks with Jack' panel at Pinball Expo featuring three Stern Pinball art leads: Jeremy Packer (recently inducted into Pinball Hall of Fame), Steven Martin (Production Art Manager), and Chuck Ernst (Video Art Director). The discussion covers their roles in creating artwork, animations, and visual elements across Stern pinball machines, with emphasis on Jeremy's transition to art director overseeing other artists, Steven's quality control work with vendors, and Chuck's video/animation direction. The tone is humorous and self-deprecating, with banter about the challenges of managing artists and licensers.

Key Claims

Jeremy Packer was inducted into the Pinball Hall of Fame
high confidence · Jack congratulates Jeremy for induction 'last night,' Jeremy confirms it happened, though he jokes 'The list is so short they let me in.'
Jeremy Packer transitioned from drawing on games to art director role overseeing other artists
high confidence · Jeremy states: 'I used to just actually draw stuff on the games and uh and then they're like, "It's too much of that. Stop it." Uh, so now I'm art director and I help other artists uh do that very thing.'
Jeremy Packer is mentoring new artists to Stern and expects results within about a year
high confidence · Jeremy: 'So uh so now I'm going to help uh bring other artists into the fray and and uh hopefully within about a year or so, you'll start seeing some of the fruits of that labor.'
Steven Martin has worked as Production Art Manager for 12 years
high confidence · Steven Martin: 'Production art manager doing it for 12 years.'
Steven Martin attends press checks and vendor visits to ensure quality of playfield and backglass printing
high confidence · Steven describes attending press checks, approving ink and sheen, checking for marks and scratches, and ensuring correct density of backglasses.
Chuck Ernst started at Stern without a clear title until Greg Ferris helped him establish 'Video Art Director'
high confidence · Chuck recounts conversation with Greg Ferris who questioned his title and then helped him establish business cards with 'Video Art Director' title.

Notable Quotes

“The list is so short they let me in.”
Jeremy Packer @ ~0:45 — Self-deprecating humor about Pinball Hall of Fame induction, establishing comedic tone
“I used to just actually draw stuff on the games and uh and then they're like, 'It's too much of that. Stop it.'”
Jeremy Packer @ ~1:30 — Describes transition from artist to art director due to overextension
“Some say too much.”
Jeremy Packer @ ~2:20 — Acknowledges community criticism about his extensive involvement across games
“It's going to be easy and everyone's going to love it. The schedules are great. Very flexible.”
Jack Danger (describing how Jeremy recruits artists) @ ~3:15 — Humorous commentary about misleading new artists about job conditions
“I'm very lucky. I'm very fortunate. I've been able to work with a lot of uh great designers, a lot of great team members, uh on a lot of great games, and now I get to touch them all.”
Jeremy Packer @ ~4:00 — Shows gratitude and enthusiasm for mentoring role despite earlier complaints
“Blockers are uh very important when you're doing a playfield to uh hold back the light and make sure sometimes you want the light to go through on letters, sometimes you want to block it so it's easy for reading.”
Steven Martin @ ~5:45 — Technical explanation of playfield art production details
“Everybody here thinks they're an art director anyways.”
Chuck Ernst @ ~7:30 — Humorous observation about title inflation at Stern/pinball industry
“I just put Supreme Commander of the Universe and then they were like, we can't confirm this.”
Chuck Ernst @ ~7:50 — Running joke about making up titles on business cards

Entities

Jeremy Packerperson Steven Martinperson Chuck Ernstperson Jack Dangerperson Greg FerrispersonStern PinballcompanyPinball Expoevent

Signals

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community_signal: Stern Pinball conducting public education and community engagement through 'Drinks with Jack' format at industry events, featuring behind-the-scenes art/animation team
high · Jack Danger hosts panel at Pinball Expo day three featuring art leads discussing their roles and processes in accessible, entertaining format
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design_philosophy: Technical playfield production involves deliberate artistic choices about light blocking and insert visibility, indicating sophisticated coordination between art direction and mechanical design
high · Steven Martin explains 'blockers are uh very important when you're doing a playfield to uh hold back the light' and describes case-by-case decisions about light transmission on inserts
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community_signal: Jeremy Packer extensively involved across playfield, cabinet, and backglass artwork but acknowledging community feedback about overextension ('Some say too much')
high · Jack notes Jeremy touched 'cabinet, playfield, everything' and Jeremy responds 'Some say too much. That's fair. I I agree.'
?
personnel_signal: Jeremy Packer confirmed as head of Stern art department with mentoring authority over other artists and vendor coordination
high · Jeremy describes role as 'art director' with responsibilities for 'management working with licensers, working with the team in particular, the game designers' and 'help other artists uh do that very thing'
?
personnel_signal: Jeremy Packer transitioning from hands-on artist to art director/mentor role, mentoring new artists into Stern with expected results within a year

Topics

Pinball art direction and visual design processprimaryStern Pinball organizational structure and rolesprimaryQuality control and vendor management in playfield productionprimaryArtist mentorship and onboarding at SternprimaryAnimation and video content for pinball machinessecondaryJeremy Packer's Hall of Fame inductionsecondaryIndustry humor and workplace culture at Sternsecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— Lighthearted, celebratory tone throughout. Jeremy Packer is honored with Hall of Fame recognition. All three panelists express appreciation for their work and colleagues. Self-deprecating humor from all participants creates warm atmosphere. Some hints of stress regarding overwork (Jeremy's comments about being overextended) but framed humorously rather than bitterly.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

What's up, Pinball Expo? Thank you for coming here to the Stern booth day three with Drinks with Jack. I'm joined on stage by three wonderfully talented gentlemen. You'll have to guess which before ever. Um, we starting on the right here, we got Jeremy Packard, Steven Martin, Chuck Ernst, I'm Jack Danger, and these gentlemen are responsible for the uh art and animations that you'll find on your Stern pinball machines here. Gentlemen, how you doing tonight? Fantastic. I was really good about 7 minutes ago, though. Congratulations to Jeremy for the induction into the Pinball Hall of Fame last night. Pinball for the inductee. Yeah. The The list is so short they let me in. You know how short it was? I'm not in it. Is it true? Is that true? Yeah. I I'm not better. Get Rob over here. We got to fix this immediately. I got a plaque for you. We just got to scratch the scratch off. Like I said, uh, these gentlemen are responsible for the art and the animations that happen on the game. Jeremy, I'm going to start with you. What the heck do you do and how did how how did you get here? Well, I like to answer it in reverse, which is what don't I do? Very true. I think we I think we've tried to kill you several times and it hasn't happened yet. It's true. No. Uh Uh well, I used to just actually draw stuff on the games and uh and then they're like, "It's too much of that. stop it. Uh, so they so now I'm I'm art director and I help other artists uh do that very thing. Um, until I get really sad and then hopefully get to do another game again. I don't know, maybe. We'll see what happens. Um but uh yeah, no it's a lot of uh a lot of management working with licensers, working with the team in particular, the game designers, you know, the guys who who make the game, you know, like they're kind of difficult sometimes. I'm kidding. They're not here to enjoy that. But um uh so yeah, it's a lot of just coordination. And it's a lot of taking years of experience and trying to turn it into something that uh hopefully you guys don't go online and um complain about. Skittles. Anybody? No. No. SK. Don't say don't talk about Skittles. That's why. No. Taste the rainbow. Yeah. Kind of. Uh yeah. So Jeremy uh you may have seen a lot of his work. Um like Godzilla being one of like the best machines out there. He drew all of that fine art. Deadpool, Foo Fighters, X-Men, a lot of his like style is put into those, but also like directing everything that's going on there. But like Cabinet, Playfield, everything like you're you're touching all that stuff. Some Some say too much. That's fair. I I agree. Just too much. So uh so now I'm going to help uh bring other artists into the fray and and uh hopefully within about a year or so, you'll start seeing some of the fruits of that labor. We call that misery loves company. It's funny. It's funny when you talk to an artist who really wants to be in pinball but has never done it before and then you uh to get them involved and and lure them. I mean uh to help them along, you lie to them. It's going to be easy and everyone's going to love it. The schedules are great. Very flexible. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. You get to draw whatever you want all the time. Artistic freedom. No considerations whatsoever. Uh and don't look in that. Don't look behind that curtain. Just Just keep drawing. Yeah. So, it's kind of fun now because I get to make people sad like people used to make me sad. I'm kidding. No, actually, uh I'm I'm very lucky. I'm very fortunate. I've been able to work with a lot of uh great designers, a lot of great team members, uh on a lot of great games, and now I get to touch them all. Uh okay, moving on to Stephen Martin. Uh Stephen Martin, how's it going, brother? I'm doing good. Thank you, Jack. So, uh, what do you do and how did you get here? Production art manager doing it for 12 years. I work on, um, pretty much every game, uh, playfield, anything, back glass. I get the art to the vendors, make sure it's printed correctly, right lighting, if not boost the colors, this and that. But, uh, yeah, we work with a lot of great people, a lot of great artists, and, um, just getting the art to finish. So, uh, like I've seen when, uh, playfields come in and stuff, you'll actually go out to vendors to like see how things are done, maybe approve certain things, like maybe an ink looks wrong or like a sheen is incorrect, like you're out there, you're like the first line of defense to make sure those things are looking good. Yeah. Um, so I'll go to uh press checks, make sure when the first one comes off the line, like let's say for a play field, make sure it's uh everything's in the right spot, there's no extra like marks here and there. um make sure the um back glasses are uh correctly uh at the right density and um make sure there's no scratches. You know, first line of uh quality control. I often see you do stuff like with inserts and stuff like that. What are what are you doing on the playfield when you're doing that? I see you like so a lot of times when we have type or uh characters that go over the inserts, we put a blocker just to hold the light back and so that that character doesn't look like it's lit through on the playfield. So blockers are uh very important when you're doing a playfield to uh hold back the light and make sure sometimes you want the light to go through on letters, sometimes you want to block it so it's easy for reading. Um but for the most part uh you know it's give and play with the blockers. what's best uh for the playfield. Each game is different. Well, thank you, Stephen. Now, we're going to move over to uh the gentleman to my right, Chuck Erns, who is the uh the boss of the things that move on the screen, I think, is your title. Uh Chuck, who are you and what do you do? You know, I first started at Stern, Greg Freres is the was the studio art director, and he comes up to me, he goes, "What are you?" And I'm like, "What?" He goes, "Somebody said art director, but that can't be cuz I'm art director." Oh, there was a fight. It wasn't a fight. He's just like, "Did they give you a title?" And I went, "Uh, no." I said, "So, I just like video art director." And he's like, "All right." And then, and then he had you give me business cards. He just put whatever you want on there. Everybody here thinks they're an art director anyways. I mean truly like before I even started at Stern, I was able to get some business cards from Stephen Martin here that just said like senior director of drinking, trolling, and meme development, right? And you still got those, right? You sort of make up your own title at certain pinball. It's pretty great. I I did put Supreme Commander of the Universe and then they were like, we can't confirm this. For the record, I have no business cards. Yeah, you're right. That That is true. He doesn't work here. We walk it [singing] all. We walk it all.