Decals and Printing, Decals: Advanced Application, Advanced Waterslide Decal Application, Tips and Tricks for Application, Rendering and Virtual Customization
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION2: WHY LIVE IN THE BOX? by Jared K. Burks, PhD by Jared Burks, K. BOX? THE IN LIVE WHY CUSTOMIZATION2: MINIFIGURE presents About the Book If you enjoyed Minifigure Customization – Populate Your World! you will love this sequel, Minifigure Customization2 – Why Live in the Box? MC2 takes a more advanced spin on the hobby by introducing more complex techniques, and building on the techniques introduced in the first book. MC2 covers the gamut of topics and techniques used to alter the lovable LEGO® minifigure into any character you can imagine. The topics in MC2 spiral down the path of customizing the collectible minifigure series through complete custom figure creation, including: tutorials on virtual customization, decal design in a theme and advanced decal application, custom part modification and creation (including 3D printing), advanced painting techniques, lighting figures with LEDs or EL wire, tips on minifigure displays, and digital photography tips to capture your custom figures in the best light. The essential tools The author, Jared K. Burks (known online as Kaminoan), used to create custom figures are also identified and updated. One has created thousands of custom figures. He has been of the highlights of this book is the gallery of custom minifigures creating them for over 15 years and writes a regular from various expert minifigure customizers, where they share their column on the subject for BrickJournal magazine. His favorite tips and tricks. Why live in the box? Populate your world work has also been featured in several other magazines with any alien, superhero, historical, action, horror, or science-fiction and books including Standing Small: A Celebration of 30 figure you can “Just imagine!” Years of the LEGO Minifigure. 1 82658 00033 2 TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING ISBN-13: 978-1-60549-052-6 ISBN-10: 1-60549-052-0 5 1 0 9 5 TwoMorrows Publishing $10.95 in the US Raleigh, North Carolina ISBN-13: 978-1-60549-052-6 9 781605 490526 Minifigure 2 Customization WHY LIVE IN THE BOX? T able of Contents Dedication ................................................................................2 9. Photographing Minifigures Take Care of your Camera Phone/Device, Lighting, 1. The LEGO Collectible Minifigure Series: Lighting, Lighting! The Closer to Your Subject, the A History and What it Means to Customizing ............3 Better, Stabilize Your Camera Phone/Device, Adjust 2. What is Customizing? .........................................................6 the Settings, Apps are Awesome, But Apps Don’t do the Trick, Computer Photo Editing: The Basics, Color 3. Collectible Minifigure Customizing .............................8 Enhancing Options, DIY Light Tent ...............................68 4. Customizing Toolbox Update ......................................10 10. Minifigure Gallery 5. Designing Art for LEGO Figures Yi Wong, Dave “Geoshift,” The Clone Factory, Kyle Raster vs. Vector, Color, Minifigure Art Design Guide, Swan, Mark Brockway, MINGLES,Nathaniel Ng (Natsty), Remember Your Printer,Templates, Advanced Theme NickGreat, Silentmaster 005, Michael “Xero_Fett” Design, How to Get Art on a LEGO Minifigure, Decals Marzilli......................................................................................74 vs. Direct Printing, Waterslide Decal Film: Technical Information, Decals and Printing, Decals: Advanced Application, Advanced Waterslide Decal Application, Tips and Tricks for Application, Rendering and Virtual Customization ......................................................................15 6. Paint, Dyes, & More Part Prep, Sharpies, Paint, Dyes, Another Perspective from Iain Heath, Spray Can Application Tricks ...........28 7. Custom Parts & Accessories: Modification Cloth, Paper, and Film, Tools, Anti-Fraying, Printable Fabric, Creating Your Own Printable Fabric, Tips, Modification, Proper Cutting Techniques, Hat Head, Hair Shortening/Helmet Modification Steps, Hair Alteration Steps, Advanced Modification, Basic Sculpting and Basic Molding, Advanced Hair Alteration Steps, Ear Mold Creation, Tips and Tricks, General Modification Tips and Tricks: Adhesives, Sculpting, The Basics, Types of Media: Polymer Clay, Epoxy Putty and Wax, Sculpting 101. Design Suggestions for Creating Custom Hair, Tips and Tricks, The Wrap, Tips and Tricks, Wax Sculpting, Pressure Molding and Casting, Silicon Rubber Molds, Silicon Rubber Characteristics, Mold Design, Pouring he Mold, Pressure Casting, Resin Characteristics, Coloring Resin, Filling the Mold, Wrap up, Proto-Casting, Vacuum Forming, Basics, Vacuum Forming Small Parts, Creating a Vacuum Forming Mold, 3D Printing, Grey Market Accessories ..............................................................33 8. Displaying Minifigures and Creating Lighted Display Pieces Creating Display Figures and Customizing Display Cases with Light, Step by Step Lighting of the Lightcycle, Lighting Minifigures and Displays, Adding Sound .......................................................................................62 Photo by Jared Burks. LEGO® Collectible Minifigure Series: Chapter 1 A History and What It Means to Customizing The first minifigure In 1932, Ole Kirk Kristiansen began making wooden LEGO toys. lineup. Godtfred Kirk Christiansen (Ole’s son) submitted the patent for the LEGO brick in 1958. 1974 saw the birth of the LEGO figure and in 1978, the minifigure, as we now know it, was created. By this time, Ole’s grandson, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, was running the LEGO Group. Since then, the population of the minifigure has eclipsed 4 billion, making it the world’s largest population group. Since 1990, LEGO has also allowed this tiny figure to take on a wider range of expressions: typically on the reversible double-sided heads we get the bonus expressions of brave, bold, or frightened. (For more on this trend, you can read the following: http://bartneck.de/publications/2013/ agentsWithFaces/bartneckLEGOAgent.pdf.) I, for one, am grateful for this diversity in expression. In 2010, the biggest change to LEGO since 1978 occurred: the debut of the Collectible Minifigure Series. It is this series that altered the double-sided expression heads, giving a wider range of expressions on a single side of the minifigure head. This was expanded with the various superhero licenses with DC and Marvel. The Collectible Minifigure Series also started The blind bag packaging for many a personal hunt for that one special figure. This hunt the Collecible Minifigures. has been recently intensified with the addition of very rare Mr. Gold in Collectible Minifigure Series 10. Initially the collectible minifigure packages featured bar codes, making identification easy, however LEGO quickly rectified this and replaced bar codes with small round indentions referred to as bump codes. It didn’t take LEGO enthusiasts long to crack these bump codes either. Today the LEGO customizer typically blindly feels the package for that special minifigure element that sets the figure apart from all others. As a result, all of the series minifigures have supplied customizers with a new and diverse palette of parts, accessories, and hairpieces, which are all highly desired. This influx of parts, especially hairpieces, Right: Barcodes for Seris 1 has been exactly what customizers have needed. I believe it minifgures. was critical that LEGO tackle a project of this nature as the Below: Bumpcodes for a later aftermarket for custom parts continues to grow with new minifigure series. businesses opening all the time. As such, LEGO is really starting to understand the power of the minifigure, which is evident when one examines the new LEGO sets, license properties that LEGO has secured, and the swag merchandise that feature a unique figure (books, movies, video games, etc.). These unique figures can even be virtual; several video games have offered exclusive in-game characters with pre-order. I believe the reason behind this power is due to the fact that the level of detail in the “standard” figure has dramatically improved. LEGO is finally making accessories that resemble their actual items, 3 Chapter 2 What is Customizing? I continually ask myself this question. The reason I ask is to push the limits of the answer; the only way to do this is to think about the limits created in the hobby. So I ask, “What is customizing?” Let’s think about what I am really asking in this question. I believe this question is twofold. The basic question I am asking is, “What is art?” The secondary question is, “What is minifigure customization to me?” After researching and thinking about the question, “What is art?” for some time I found many answers. I am not sure which answer is correct, I believe it is likely different for different people as art is personal. However, many of the answers I come up with and I find through research all share the same foundation. The basic answer I can give for art is that it contains both form and content. The definition of art when searched on Google is: Art /ärt/, Noun 1. The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture... “the art of the Renaissance” 2. Works produced by such skill and imagination. Art contains form and content created by imagination through the use of skill. While this simple sentence defines art and how it is created, it is a very complex thought. It also speaks to what is customizing. Since the purpose of this book is to help the readers develop the skills to create the form and content these