Did something simple. Traced bitmap then put it into Photoshop, added the band and text. Posted this more as an example on what's acceptable in SOTW
I like the live trace use here. Though, in my personal opinion, LT should be more exaggerated, and use less levels. If I wanted to go for the realistic look, I wouldn't use live trace (though I know youre just using this as an example for the SOTW). I think using a detailed LT is a bit counter-intuitive to the effect it creates (if that makes any sense at all). I guess I either like it to be raster, or, if vectorized, exaggerated. But that's neither here nor there, and definitely just my personal preference. Is the SOTW for vector art only? If so, I'd love to see some badass gradient mesh work. Other than that though, the text looks a bit off. I can see you were going for the perspective, but it looks like its arched a bit as well, and seems a tad unnatural. I really like the colors though. They work really well.