Blue Crew-Marine's Scheme

 An image inspired from Life of Lewa, episode six "Marine's Scheme" It's a scene where they just get past the guards after disguising themselves as water guards of Marine's palace, pretending they caught  Marine and are returning her to her bedroom chambers.

 A few pointers on the set up. I borrowed some sample floor tiles and used that to create my hall floor, then set up my trusty cardboard wall prop, draped some pretty fabric over the back, and did my photo shoot. Unfortunately with lack of room and supplies, I can't create full backgrounds that hide the kitchen table and wall, tomatoes, and colander. This is where digital work comes into play; I used an Arabic tile image for the walls, and simply kept my tile floor, added in some shading, and turned my characters blue. 

The original shot (left); you can see how much has been changed. I also went ahead and experimented with angles (right). The second one said comical for some reason, like that moment of Ashton saying, "Tahu, what are you doing?"And Tahu would say, "Posing".

 I also went ahead and took a picture without Tahu in the way. It looks nice, but in order for the scene to be accurate, I needed all four figures squeezed in somehow. So I chose the first image, and have left the other angles raw.

The only details I left out of the image for the sake of time was adding palace garments to the figures, and cuffs to Marine.

Through the Universe

Through the universe, that moment of wonder when time slows down as you fly through a celestial gateway that leads to another alternate, another world, another time. Don't hold your breath, you can still breath, even though space and the galaxies surround you, sparkling past as you speed through a bridge, a protective field that shields you from the outside, while still showing you the beauty and wonder that lies before you. All these worlds, all these alternates, tied together by electrical bodies like beads on a net, connected, yet individual. Let yourself soar, another world awaits you.

This is how I imagine alternate dimension travels and gateways to be, specifically the kind my character Pearllight journeys through.  Who the character in this scene is, not sure, maybe someone who asked to be sent home to some world they originally came from, and were granted the opportunity. (Perhaps a story idea will come later). :P

I do think the character will be a woman, element, most likely a mix of some kind 

(that's what I have so far).

The original image, as you can see just above, was some quick sketch made a long time ago. I always thought it was interesting, then I wondered if I could actually complete the piece. The character and their expression made me think of a portal jump, like they were flying through some kind of worm hole and their eyes are both enchanted and longing, amazed that what they're experiencing is even possible, and striving to reach the other side to their home world. (Pretty sure originally I was just sketching an air type on some sky blue, trying to make a flight scene, and never finished it).

Completed scene is composed of overlay color to the figure, three different background images for desktops, and additional lighting with added lens flair.

All Alone

All Alone. Oh this image (first time try at water reflections), I love it.

Just a small clip, a story bit that was never mentioned in the episodes of LoL involving Marine and her two week fleeing from her own palace, but can be assumed to have happened. Enjoy the mini side line story just below. ^.~

A week and half had passed, Marine had trekked the forest, stumbling through the brush and avoiding the familiar, but constantly longing for home and the right to discover mysteries untold of what her mother, the queen of Tajun, had been doing with the palace workers. Where were they taken, why did they displease the queen, why was she not aloud to ask questions? Her sadness began to deepen, and her feet grew tired. All around her she found her element as rain poured down, making vast puddles in a forest clearing. Marine sits on the wet ground in the rippling puddles as rain falls on her, her palace garments muddied and wet, hanging from a tree not far from herself. She curls up and places her head to her knees; who would help her? who would be willing to look past reward and believe her claims? That something wrong is happening in her palace and she needs help finding out what. As rain fell around her, she felt like letting her eyes do as the skies, and release the rain from within herself, yet tears refused to fall. "Am I all alone?" she mutters in sad longing, "Mata Nui..help me." she whispers.

Marine's Strength Kindgdom Poster

Marine's strength, one of many poses from the Marine MOC Panel. The pose reminded me of one of those Roman body builder statues (hence the name Marine's Strength). I can see this piece being used in Marine's kingdom as a tapestry or painted Miro, a tribute to the strength of their princess and all the more reason they love Marine. Again, I used the symbol which reminds me of Aqua Magna, and added the touch of green pearls on a sea side story backdrop.

Marine Nouveau

I just had to make a Nouvea scene of Marine. Since I had remaining pictures that were lone snapshots in the full collection, I went ahead and made art pieces displaying just them. I'd say this piece resembles what might be a stained glass window in Marine's palace, or just a fancy image to display Marine and her simple beauty.

The flower vines and swirling marble like center piece/floor decoration are Nouveau motifs I compiled together. I chose these motifs because they reminded me of the palace gardens purely water based and lily pad like. The marble like center piece reminded me of a planet, Aqua Magna to be precise. I liked this idea, and then a story background surfaced. This symbol could be a representation of Aqua Magna, the origin and wonder of Tajun's restoration when the moons were reunited. The Tajun water kingdom keeps Aqua Magna moon in memory, as a reminder of their past history and what Mata Nui did to make their land whole again. The black circle border, inspiration of surrounding one circle with more circles (something common in Alphones Muka's work) is actually a compilation of Kiina's symbol from the Bionicle series. I simply took the symbol, repeated it, and alined the tails of each manta ray so it connected as a continuous hoop frame. A little bit of Nouvea, and a little bit of Bionicle made to look Nouveau (perfect balance). :P

Marine MOC Panel

This is Marine, Princess Marine. The basic panel above is to show her MOC from different angles, with and without palace garments. Marine is an old figure, and has existed since late 2009; my inspiration for her character was purely inspired off the original single person Alegria contortion act from Cirque Du Soleil, hence the flexible build and crazy contortion poses.

Image displayed above is a clip from the contortion scene of Alegria. This contortionist and her amazing flexibility, combined with the enchanting song of Cirque, was an immediate inspiration for Princess Marine. The very scene in Alegria sparked the idea of  royalty and aquatic themes. Note the resemblance of Marine to this contortionist, specifically the blue helmet being very much like the blue hair of this performer. It's unfortunate I'm unable to find the original performance of this highly inspirational scene, however, there is a double contortion act I can find which is close enough, and still retains the original song of the performance, called Taruka, just below.

Marine was in fact the first humanoid type build I ever tried, and also the first MOC I ever gave a flexible middle to, which I was very happy about. Her original MOC build was much stockier when first made. I didn't have the pieces at the time to improve upon her, and it's not till later that I was inspired to make her a contortionist and princess, then her structure was improved, made smaller, and made flexible. The cloth, keys, and jewelry were always an element of her character, it's not till 2010 did I come up with a story for why she had keys and wore pretty clothes. Her true history formed during the age of LoL development, and I invented the idea that she was a guardian, princess, and gate keeper of a water palace in Tajun.