Custom Figures - Square Enix, Play Arts, Raylan Givens - Justified.

Towards the end of last year I did a lengthy review of my favourite tv show 'Justified'. As you probably already know I am something of a collector of merchandise, and if I can't get it, I'll make it. With Justified it was no different, I love the show, and as they do not sell and figures and the final season is on the horizon I decided to make my own. However I decided to up my game from Marvel Legends, as this was not super-hero orientated, I thought it would be a good idea to try something new. Firstly I looked into what other people had made.

For those of you who don't know, this is what the character looks like.

I decided to take a different approach, the actor Timothy Olyphant has a very particular stance as you can see from the first image, very western, cowboy, very casual rockstar. I wanted to capture this, so although they should no figures of the character, I wondered if they sold any figures of the actor, maybe in a different role. I found that he starred in the video-game-turned-movie Hitman. 

Although this move was awful, and Olyphant wasn't the best choice (However great he is) This is a role role that should go to the likes of Jason Statham and bruce Willis. However, having said that, they did sell a figure of Hitman from the recent game Hitman:Absolution, that did have a very familiar stance. 

I had the main body base, however I needed a figure from the same line 'Square Enix, Play Arts' that looked like Olyphant in the face, and that preferably had a pistol, a holster, a badge, bare hands, a likeness and a stetson cowboy hat. Despite being such a narrow search, I found what I was looking for, minus the hat. Nathan Drake from the same line. 

I then searched for the hat, I did remember seeing a film recently were the protagonist wore a similar hat, not the same iconic stetson, but similar enough for a 10 inch figure. The Long Ranger. 

Delighted, I then looked into weather they sold a figure of him, and they did, not in the same line, but roughly the same height, enough to take the hat anyway. The 7-inch Neca figure.  

With all the pieces I needed I decided to do a rough mock-up on photoshop before spending over £100 on something that was a risk. I liked the result. 

My next stage was the building, so I bought all the parts from ebay and waited for them to arrive. I then began the process I have successfully achieved so many times. 

I know, I'm like better version of Sid from Toy Story. With a smal paint job to turn the tie black, my work was complete. And I think I did rather well if I do say so myself. 

Custom figures - Drax the Destroyer

Last year my COP 2 practical 'Custom Figure Making' I found thoroughly enjoyable, and so decided to keep it going, I started by researching the character, and finding a good one that I think regular toy publishers did a bad job of. So I chose Drax the Destroyer.

His fist incarnation looked bigger, stronger, more intimidating, with alot more purple and more hulk-like in size.  -

I then looked at how the character is currently drawn, and how he looked in the recent movie 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. I feel every interpretation was alot larger and more muscular than the Marvel Legends figure above suggests.

I decided mix all of these designs together into something I liked that incorporated everything I liked about the character. The I started work, I firstly found a decent figure to start with, I chose the House of M Hulk figure, as I knew I could change it easily with little work, for the best result. 

I then started to remove the white tattoo's using a scalpel and stanly knife, I started with the face, then the back, arms and torso, being carful to only carve away the necessary parts, and not go too deep as to keep the this layer of green paint beneath the white.    

I then painted the trousers black using masking tape to cover the areas I didn't want painting and black spray painted the rest. Lastly I used a red sharpie to add his tattoo's and added him to the rest of my collection from last years work. I am very happy with my outcome and intend to keep this practise going. 

'JUICE' Leeds Met Poetry Slam.

Over the summer I was asked to film a live event for the Leeds Met English Literature student's final poetry slam reading 'Juice'. I was happy to oblige and said I would. I booked all the necessary equipment out of the Av suite without much hassle to my surprise. Liam Cooper set up all the camera equipment and settings and taught me about the white balance and focus, and helped whenever it went wrong, I filmed and recorded the sounds and held the boom mike independently and it was all going to plan, until about  half way through the performance the batteries died, I had asked for batteries but I was told I had to buy my own as the college did not loan them out in the sound recorder, I thought this was suspicious as I was sure I used them before, I decided not to argue the matter, knowing i did not know as much about camera work, being a beginner. This I now know is untrue, and I should have been given re-chargeable batteries and a charger, as normal batteries die in an instant in the sound recorder. I had to stop the performance to run out and get more and used the time to empty the SD card onto my Mac. After re-laying this information back to the Av suite I was told  'yeah, thats a shame, that.' This just about finishes my run with the Av suite, and I can safely say that I have had a major problem that has damaged my project every single time I have used it, I would not recommend it to anyone. This has assured me that I will be avoiding film work as much as possible with whats left of my time at Leeds College of Art, as I will not risk my degree on the unpredictability of the Av suite, and have instead decided to focus on comics for my Extended Practice module. A disappointing waste of the £25,500 I have spent attending the course, to now veer off to do a subject they do not offer much support in. After halting the production, embarrassed and trying to salvage what I could, I imported the files over and emptied the memory on the SD cards. I then continued to work until the performance was complete, and edited it together in Premier Pro.

Presentaion - Work over summer.

Over summer I have dealt with various family issues, from crisis teams to courts, least to say, it wasn't the best summer. However it did not stop me from doing my research for my dissertation, only slowed me down. I've had an idea brewing for a long time, its appeared in a few of my projects, from my Game Level Brief, to my Game art and Machinema brief, and even in my Live Project brief. It's been something I wanted to explore but have never had the time to do so, to give it the attention it deserves. So I knew I wanted my dissertation, and COP 3 to be a question that can serve in depth research for the project, and something that I could carry on into Extended Practise, maybe even after my time at university if it flourishes the way I hope it will. The Question I chose before summer was 'How real life influences the creation of fictional worlds.'  planned to read and watch all of Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and the Silmarillion, as well asV for Vendetta and many more. I chose these because I knew there were many historical scenario's that influenced their creation.  However soon into this research it all began to feel a bit familiar and formulaic, as my essay last year was entitled 'How real life has influenced comics over the years'.

Soon after realising how similar this was I decided to change my question as I knew I would soon get bored of my current question. I looked at some other questions that would fit as suitable reaserch areas to the larger play I had in mind, and settled on 'Should comics be more sensitive when dealing with real-world subject matters? I looked into violence, feminism, mental health, homosexuality and addiction finding good examples of when each subject is shown respectively, and appallingly. I then asked for feedback and the main response I got was narrow it down. So I've been thinking about it and have chosen 'How is depression displayed in comics and graphic novels?' although I expect my research to stretch this subject to mental health. Although I am exited to look into this as it is a close subject that means alot to me, I also already know I do not want to produce a practical piece as the 'Remorse' film I made last year, as it was hard enough to do once. You can see the slides from my presentation below.