We're back and catching up!

Sorry it's been a while since I was able to blog last - things have been crazy with me being out of town for a month, catching an illness, and taking care of other things in life!  Anyway, Rather than blog about each figure I created, I will spend some time on the concepts I have been working on.

As might have been noticed, I like to make groups of minifigures.  I did a series of Aliens inspired Colonial Marines, Tron figures, The Outliers, Post-Apoc Orcs, The Underground Corporation, The Corporation, The Wanders, and others.  I do this as I do like to play with the minifigures I create (and am happy to say, for the most part, that all my figures retain the Lego moveablility and poseability), and want to have at least squads of four (although my newest group that I have been working on already has 16 members!).  So, here are some of the thoughts behind the recent figure groups I have been working on:

The most recent figures feature my exploration of "power" weapons, specifically within a fantasy context, although these weapons could very easily work as crossover items for a Warhammer themed figure, or alternate realities with modern weapons and "powered" swords.  Here are a few examples of what I have been working on:

Fire and Ice Ranger:

Wandering Orc Ranger:

Elven Warrior with StarSword:

Star Wars Pre Vizsla

Each of these figures was largely created with the primary focus on the figure being the weapon.  The Mandalorian is a figure I have been wanting to create for sometime, but didn't have the pieces.  I recently made an order at Unknown Artist Studio - (Unknown Artist Studio ), and one of the items he has is the above vibrosword.  I find his cloth items to be very professional and well done - the resin-cast items, such as the vibrosword, are done well but due to the resin, are obviously not as high quality as others who work in the ABS realm.  I did find that this sword was a little delicate - I was doing a little work on the sword and it broke in half.  Obviously I managed to fix it with a little super glue, but just know to treat them a little more delicately. 

The three fantasy era figures were created focusing upon blending colors for various effects.  I particularly like the Elven sword for some reason.  The biggest thing I have learned as I am continually attempting to refine my technique, is that taking time is important and don't be afraid to layer paint gradually.  The top three fantasy era figures all have at least 4 layers (not counting the black basecoat).



Tattoo's

I have also been spending more time with decals lately.  When I first started doing my figures, I focused largely on decals.  However, upon finding the work of JasBrick and others, I started shifting to painting my figures entirely.  Well, I've come full circle and am now doing both hand-painting and decaling on my figures.  I have started selling Lego arm "tattoo's" on my website - Family Bricks Website -and these are some of what I have been working on.

Blacktron Cyborg:

As I have mentioned before, I really love the Lego Collectible Figures.  Of Series 3, I really love the Cyborg Blacktron figure, but I felt he needed a little beefing up.  Add a little battle damage to the arms and torso using paperclips and paint, and then arming him with a BrickArms JFSR and laser-staff.  I had already done the modification to the JFSR, otherwise I would have used a trans-neon yellow tip rather than trans-orange. 



Winter Hunters:

I created this figure for a friend, and was surprised at how well it came out.  I used a feathering technique on this figure, similar to how I did the Post-Apoc orcs before, but I think it is really effective with the white/black color scheme. 


Tron Figures:

 

 

I recently saw the new Tron: Legacy, and was really happy with both the graphics, special effects, and story line.  I hadn't intended on jumping on the bandwagon of Tron figures, but after the movie I decided to bring my own version.  Obviously a lot of work on these figures depended on me drawing straight lines - and that is what took so long on these figures.  Although a decal might have been less time consuming, I also feel that it wouldn't look as good - I wanted a more 3-dimensional feel on the figure.  I used BrickArms prototype chakram discs, and and Arealight curved female torso (for Quorra), and I used an Unknown Artist trenchcoat for Flynn (with the opposite side painted by me).  I'm really happy with how these figures turned out!


The Outliers

I decided to do some playing around with post-apocalyptic figures again (I find I spend a lot of time in this theme, although many of these figures could also be sci-fi figs very easily).  I wanted to do some playing around with rust designs, and I have to say these came out really well.  I am keeping this technique to myself for the time being, but the coloring is simple enough:  As I have mentioned many times before - layering the paints is essential - don't rush through it.  Let each layer dry, and really plan.  Start with your darker colors, and then work your way up using less paint each time.

For the most part, this should catch me up.  I've got some really neat projects coming up (a female based group should be appearing on my Flickr soon), and I've got some really neat fantasy figures who combine what I have been doing on the "power" weapons.  As always, thanks for looking at my figures!