Droids Custom Madine: Finished colors!

by Bill Cable
on 2024-11-06, 09:40:11

I got to work on finishing up the art for my Droids Custom General Madine, and it went very well.

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Started on Madine, then moved on to the Commandos. Next up was the MTV-7:

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Pretty happy with how that turned out. Made ample use of some splatter brushes. Got some nice depth to it, too. My final job was the background:

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I kinda cheated on the sky - I took a photo of the sunrise a couple days ago that I liked quite a bit, so rather than hand-drawing the sky I just applied some filters to that photo.

Right now I'm targeting assembling these customs the weekend of November 16th. I explored the possibility of having Beggar's Canyon Toys make my future customs, but I'm not sure that's going to happen with Madine. After attempts to finalize a deal went nowhere, it seems they're just too busy right now. No hard feelings... just don't want to tie myself to anything that might get delayed.



Regal Robot shows off their rod

by Bill Cable
on 2024-11-06, 09:26:04

Regal Robot has just revealed details of their upcoming extremely unique replica of Belloq's Ceremonial Staff!

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It will be available on November 12th in two great editions - a 100 piece limited FULL STAFF REPLICA with Paul Freeman signed plaque and the STAFF HEAD ONLY in a timed edition.

You can find full details and photos here: https://regalrobot.com/news/indiana-jones-belloq-staff-prop-replica/



Droids Custom Madine: Initial colors!

by Bill Cable
on 2024-10-30, 08:10:52

I finished blocking out the base colors over the past week. It seemed appropriate to begin with the beard

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The process is pretty tedious - using the Polygonal Lasso tool to trace around the line art, then the Paint Bucket to fill it with color. Each color is a new layer so I can quickly select only the area I wish to work on at each step. With the beard finished, I blocked the rest of Madine.

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Making each color its own layer is a lot of work, and makes blocking even more difficult. To prevent overlap I need to deselect the colors I've already filled before using the paint bucket. But since they're all their own layers, I need to switch layers for every single deselect action. With over 40 layers in this specific piece, that's a lot of swapping!

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So there are Madine's Commandos colored in. I selected these guys from a group photo/screen grab from the Battle of Endor. And my selection criteria was this - who has the best facial hair to compliment Madine's legendary battle beard?

Nik Sant (now famous as also maybe Captain Rex) was one obvious choice. The other two I chose were deep in the background. They probably have names from the old CCG cards, but I don't feel like looking them up.

Next up was painting in the MTV-7:

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All that was left after that was coloring in the background elements:

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Now things are ready to get started on the "real" art. Check back for updates next week!



Now available: Regal Robot's Ishi Tib

by Bill Cable
on 2024-10-30, 07:47:04

The latest replica in Regal Robot's Archive Collection is the Ishi Tib Concept Maquette. The classic character from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is part of our Star Wars Archive Collection, a continuation and expansion of our work creating authentic replicas with impeccable lineage.

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This maquette was the first step in designing the Ishi Tib alien species. With hands-on access to the original film artifact and high resolution 3D scanning, our team crafted a faithful recreation of the concept maquette for this classic creature from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

At approximately 6" tall (including the wood display base), each is cast in solid heavy resin. 100% made in the U.S.A., every replica in this edition is meticulously hand painted by the artists in our New York studio, making each a unique tribute to the artistry involved behind the scenes of our favorite films! The maquettes are hand packed in a gloss black box with die-cut foam insert and COA, and double-boxed for shipping.

Order here: https://regalrobot.com/custom-star-wars-busts-statues/



Droids Custom Madine: Finished art!

by Bill Cable
on 2024-10-23, 09:41:26

It's been a productive week! Enjoy while I take you step-by-step through my progress. As I stated last week, I wasn't super happy with Madine's hair. So to begin, I fixed the hair, and added a couple of his Howling Commandos.

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It was a decent ...

Click here to read the WHOLE story!



Droids Custom Madine: First pencils!

by Bill Cable
on 2024-10-16, 08:56:09

On Monday I began work on my next Droids Custom: General Madine!

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I'll admit, I was pretty much stumped when I tried to come up with an idea for Madine's artwork. I'd already done a stellar rendition inspired by his most famous (and only) scene from ...

Click here to read the WHOLE story!





The Protocol-osseum's newest resident: LEGO 3PO!

by Bill Cable
on 2024-10-02, 09:01:30

While it only took a handful of nights to assemble (I was hungrier for more), I'm happy to present my newest 3PO addition: LEGO C-3PO!

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It's a pretty decent likeness, and I had a lot of fun with it, but I do have a couple things I'd change. First off - the base is a bit too small for the height of the statue. It seems a bit top-heavy. And I fear it might fall forward kinda easily, as he leans forward a bit. He's just not entirely stable...

The second issue is more of a missed opportunity. Scattered throughout the build are chromed gold and silver parts, and they look fantastic. And in the instructions, all the non-chromed gold pieces are marked with little sparkle marks. That leads me to wonder if, at some point, this set was gonna feature all chromed gold parts. If it had, the statue would be far more spectacular.

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Overall I give it a big thumbs-up. It's a worthy addition to my collection. Now I just need to find a place somewhere to display it.



LEGO Creature Cantina COMPLETED!

by Bill Cable
on 2024-09-25, 08:39:57

I'm happy to present my fully-assembled LEGO Mos Eisley Cantina (75290) in all its glory.

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The set includes the main building, two small out-buildings, two vehicles, and an awesome Dewback.

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Click here to read the WHOLE story!



Droids Customs: Next project decided!

by Bill Cable
on 2024-09-18, 09:11:41

I've been on a fairly regular schedule with my Droids customs - one in the winter, one in the summer, one in the fall. So it was about time to figure out which one I'm doing next...

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After I counted my stockpile, I pretty much had around 8-12 of each of them (8D8, Nein Nunb, Klaatu Skiff, Nein Nunb, and DSD). None were close to the total I need, so there wasn't a frontrunner. After thinking about it, I decided to go with General Madine. It's been a long time since I've done a human Rebel, and I didn't want to go back to Jabba's Palace or with a droid so soon after the last ones.

I don't think anyone out there had the stockpile to sell me 13 loose, complete Madines, so I went to eBay. There were tons of them available. And I discovered the prices for loose Vintage appear to be fairly inflation-resistant! Where most things seem like they've doubled in price since COVID, loose Vintage Madines have barely budged.

I got another pressing project that's taking up my art time at the moment, but I hope to get started on this one by the start of October. Stay tuned!



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