The Space Crab Wars - Custom Space Crab
My biggest project so far is finally finished! Or maybe not biggest but definitely the longest. 7 long weeks it's taken me to finish this beast. It's not even big but the task was a beast.
The Space Crab Wars is the first show I was invited to and from the second I had the invite I knew I wanted to make something very special. I know that it is a good idea to stay within one set style as a designer. But if I can't progress in my work then I see no point in creating, so I really wanted to step out of my box and do something out of the norm. The Space Crab platform allowed me to do so. It took me a long long time to figure out what to do with it but when it finally came to me I knew it was right.
It all started with a sketch of her head in a helmet and then I just went on from there. I think the first thing I decided on was the colour scheme. I knew exactly what I wanted with the dessert cammo and the contrast of her pink hair. I like the mix of masculine and feminine and I think it softens the whole "war" theme going on.
It was hard though, not to make her to cute and to maintain the masculine part of it. I did work on the paint of her face for a very long time to get it right.
The Bunny Side of Things
Now then.... This was the unplanned side of this Space Crab that I, in the end, put most of my work in to. I weren't supposed to use the helmet at all. In fact I was about to throw it out and then this thing popped up in my head. Now for some reason I didn't sketch it out, I just started building this thing without any references or sketches at all. I'm sure it would have saved me allot of time if I did plan it better. But I just went on with it.
This is the first vehicle I've ever made and getting all the parts together took a very long time. All the bits are made out of Super Sculpey but as the Space Crab helmet is hard plastic it's not oven safe so I had to do the details and put the Sculpey bits together with Epoxy. Epoxy.... where do I start. I do love it as it is extremely strong and opens up many opportunities that I wouldn't have had with just Sculpey. But it is very messy and hard to work with, plus that the long curing time just prolongs things even more. Saying that, I could not have made this little dude if it weren't for the Epoxy. So yes I have developed a little love/hate relationship with Epoxy.
I also found it hard to find the right accessories for him, like the wheels. I managed to get the ones I wanted in the end, and also had to wait for them for about 3 weeks as they came all the way from China! And I'm not even going to tell you about the paint. Let's just say I had to wait a long time for that too.
In the End
I completed these two customs with an enormous feeling of satisfaction! Not only did I push myself but I also feel that I've created something that I can be very proud of and I think it will be a great addition to our European Team. There is some awesome customs from my Team in general and I really wanted to do my very best to make them proud of me. I hope we take home the Victory in November as I think it would be a great achievement for the EU Toy Scene! And I want to thank Jon-Paul Kaiser for personally choosing me to be part of his team of awesomeness!!! GO TEAM EU!!!!