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Stippled Hand

September 30, 2014

Just playing around some more with non-photorealistic rendering in Blender.

I really like the look of old scientific illustrations. This seems pretty close, but I need to work on that banding. Larger version.

Minimate Skeleton Sketches

January 9, 2014

Apart from a cancelled Skeleton Crewman from the Calico Jack pirate line and a handful of Ghost Rider and Red Skull heads, there really hasn't been a study of the Minimate skeletal structure. About time that changed, don't you think?

I've wanted to make these images for quite some time. Of course the concept is inspired by the Freeny Lego cross-section poster Micro Schematic from several years ago. In the process of digging up that link just now I found many more 'dissected' pop culture figures, from My Little Pony to the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. I didn't realize so much work had been done in this vein. Always room for one more right? Thankfully, I think my take is unique enough that I won't be branded a hack.

The hardest bit to get a handle on were the feet. They kept coming out clunky and thick. But I came to accept that, realizing that Minimate feet are clunky and thick by nature. The hip bone took some effort too. It was tough trying to get a natural looking (and functional) construction to fit inside a Minimate crotch piece. I did enjoy figuring out how to fit a fibula/tibia and radius/ulna into the legs and arms respectively. Though they did have to get turned around a bit.

I think I'm going to be doing a lot more with this concept... musculature, nervous system maybe. I'll probably have to modify things a bit. In some areas the bones are right up against the Minimate 'skin' leaving no room for other tissues. So it goes...

Oh, and yes, this conclusively proves Minimates have four fingers (including the thumb).

JP1000 & Friends #2

August 24, 2009

Shortly after the first illustrated JP1000 ep was 'published' I started working on the second. Using the lessons I learned from the first image, I think I came up with a pretty good looking second one.

Things are a bit simpler, there's not as much going on in the background. The big change was the addition of shading. It's not perfect by any stretch, but it's a learning process not a learning... uhm... jump to... perfectness.
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