Voya Nui Etch a sketch version

There are many different art forms out there, one of the kinds that takes either a natural gift or a trained hand would be the etch a sketch. Many years ago when I received my first etch a sketch, I tried my hand at drawing cities, soon leading up to me drawing a funny little robot based off Matoro, one of my favorite characters (below).

In my boredom a few months ago, I decided to pick up my etch a sketch once more, and this time give my hand at forming the island of Voya Nui, surrounded by treacherous waters and mapped out with wonky letters that resemble computer-like connection. 
     Letters are rather complicated to form on an etch a sketch, and getting them centered is even more difficult, which is why the name Bionicle shrinks down to lower case letters near the edge of the board, ending with a barely noticeable "e". I had to do this dew to lack of space.

After taking a photograph with flash of my new Voya Nui sketch; it took very little time to crop, and adjust lighting. I love the result of gray blue from the adjusting, and as for the strange ripples that make the background appear as surrounding waters, those ripples are oddly enough part of my etch a sketch screen.

 (Above) my first Bionicle etch. At the time I didn't say it was a Bionicle, but it was certainly based off Matoro. I was embarrassed to admit my interest in the tale way back then, none the less it was inspiring me as an artists even then.  

This etch a sketch version of Matoro is sort of hieroglyphic in style, stiff but meaningful. Not sure why I put the cube, but I figure it has something to do with robots and fighting over certain objects of power in practically every type of story line. Who knows, maybe the legendary cube from Transformers landed in the Bionicle universe at one time.... they just figured out it was dangerous and launched it back into space. 

These two images are original versions of the etch a sketch photos. 

Editing did them justice in my opinion.

Family Gathering

 Back in 2010 I was in the mood to make a little Christmas themed scene revolving around characters of my invented role play series "Life of Lewa".  My first goal to making a scene of family and friends together on Christmas Eve, was to make a living room scene with a roaring fire and a festive tree. I set up this scene using Barbie furniture, doll house goodies, and found objects.

The scene below is the same living room, but I didn't feel it had enough light; so I sticky tacked a broken necklace holder to the ceiling, then sticky tacked a tea candle to that, and then hung pearls from it to make it look like a chandelier.

The dollhouse light in the corner is an actual miniature that works, and the fire is again a tea candle with red tissue paper surrounding it.

 (Above) The family gathers for Christmas Eve, cookies and egg nog for all to enjoy. The tree is brimming with shinny wrapped presents and toys of all kinds. Lewa and Venimbus sit together happily on the couch, Erozion and Kazikii chat the entire time, Harmose eagerly waits to get his hands on some cookies before the agori friend eats them all, and Moonbreeze talks to her sweet heart Sobrono over in the right corner near the tree.

I added in the lighting to their eyes, gives the picture more life than if I would have just left them as they were.

(Above) a bit of a closer view of the family gathering from the right side of the room. Venimbus is watching the silly kids fight over cookies.  Erozion discusses motorcycle builds with Kazi.

 The sunlight hit the side of my cupboard, resulting in a natural glow in Lewa's eyes. I like this picture for the gazing look Lewa seems to have, almost like something is bugging him, and he's thinking about it.

 (Above) a major close up of the cookie snatcher, and the aggravated face of Harmose.

(Above) our last close up of Moonbreeze talking to Sobrono. It kind of seems like poor Sobrono is cornered.

Hope you guys are having a great Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas and happy holidays. ^_~

Bionicle 2009 Gift Share

 

(Above) image taken in 2009, edited in 2012. "Gift Sharing".

 

[As Tahu sat on the cozy couch of this festive little living room, Pearllight came over and handed him a small package wrapped in red paper. "For you Tahu." Pearllight happily says. Tahu gently takes the gift with glowing eyes of appreciation. While Tahu enjoys his present, we pan over to a couple Agori locked in a game of chess, Venimbus (Lewa's wife) watching inquisitively from the side lines.]

I took this photo back in 2009 as a quick Christmas scene for the characters. Unfortunately the quality isn't the greatest, but I feel that adds to the sense of a real photograph taken my a camera man with unstable hands. It's only recently (today) that I felt the scene needed some adjusting, so I added some wall paper to the room through Photoshop, and adjusted the color a bit.

(Left) the scene before I added digital wallpaper. Figured it would be fun to share the before and after picture, since I can't decide if the after looks better or not.

 The tree of this living room actually lights up, and is filled with plastic candy canes and sparkling, little ornaments. The bottom is brimming with shiny wrapped gifts, a different color for each Bionicle figure and their element. The added touch of a fake tea light in the fire place with red tissue paper, adds the sense of a warm flame bringing comfort to the room. I think this scene is what the living room looks like when all have gone to sleep.

(Above) The Christmas tree corner taken with flash. Just to show you the details of the room. It doesn't have warmth to it when flash is on. (Below) the couch corner; a Barbie couch and table with decorative heart pillows and a doily. The rest of the room is filled with dollhouse goodies.

 Hope you enjoyed this little Christmas scene of 2009. Just felt like trying to redeem some of my old photography, hope I did okay. ^_~

Berix setting up for Christmas

 It's that time of year again, time to bring out the colorful decor, and spice up your spruce.
I've been reaching into old Bionicle Christmas photos from a year or two ago. Quite a few of them are poor in quality, but I feel with a little enhancement, they can be slightly redeemed with a little more background interest that gives them instant life.

In the above photo panel, Berix (with a different mask) is setting up for Christmas by hanging a wreath on the door. Again, I made a photo panel purely for easier online sharing. It also makes it easier to see all four images as a whole.

Below you will find each image on it's own, and I give more detail on each.


 (Above) this picture is my favorite out of the four, being that the background seemed to blend surprisingly well. I like the depth this image seems to hold, with the frosted woods, and lumpy snow. I was originally going to crop off the top part of the house, but it didn't look right without it, so we'll just say that the characters who slightly show on the balcony are helping decorate the upper floor.
    I also like the darkness with hints of light this picture has. It feels more like a real photo because of this (or at least to me it does).

 (Above) a closer view of Berix on the porch, to get a better view and feel like you're inviting yourself to the house. (Below) Even closer close up, showing a little more woods to the side lines, and indicating there's a slights slope to the surrounding yard of the house.

 (Above) a side line view of Berix hanging the wreath. Again, I love the feel of the background which didn't exists in this image. It seems to make the picture more inviting, and leads you up to the front door. I also added lights to the characters eyes.

(left) Original front of house image. Doesn't look as fun with a closet and shawl visible, which clearly show the set is a dollhouse and toys.

Porch lights are train station model lights, originally meant to be large street lamps for models.



(Left) front porch view before improved lighting and background. A little detail is that I used wire bead garland for the trees, and the wreath is made of pipe cleaners.











(Left) the even closer close up before the background was added. I feel the background added a little extra magic to the image, giving it that winter appeal. Oh and almost forgot to mention, the background was a desktop image adjusted to size and tweaked in light and color.








(Left) Side view. You have to admit the backdrop beats seeing part of my messy room. ^.^

Stay tuned for more fun Bionicle pictures yet to come. ^_~  Happy blogging.

Takanuva Lands on Earth

Takanuva meets Pearllight on Earth

Finally, this picture has taken me a whole year to get to, and I finally made it! :D It felt so good crossing it off my to do list.

As Takanuva fell through dimensions, his travels suddenly bring him to a world not even remotely similar to his own. He lands in a park on a walking trail during the Autumn, and meets a young girl who's awed by his size, and appearance. She happened to be taking pictures of the colored leaves of the forest, but this new opportunity couldn't be passed up, she had to get some pictures of this giant robotic being. Even in her fear, she was bold, and Takanuva gazed down at her with caring eyes, seeing she was quite silly, and kind for being someone he's never known, nor seen before... at least not anyone he can recall. To the girls sadness, Takanuva must leave, but her hopes are to meet him again someday.

This story clip is of Takanuva the first time he landed on Earth during his dimensional travels, which is why I mention of this in last post when Takanuva comes to Earth once more, a year later. Put the two posts together, this one and last, and they make sense combined. ^_^

Takanuva visits

 Here is a photo collection of Takanuva outside on my porch. Ever wonder what a Toa might look like if they stood on your back porch for a visit?...Well with some interesting camera angles, and a table to set your character on, you can get something that shows what that might be like.

This photo shoot was actually an extra thing I did while taking some photos for another project, and I took the opportunity to take a few interesting pics just because.

Being that the figure is standing on a table, and the shots are angled, is what makes him appear more monstrous than he really is. Basically an illusion, making Takanuva appear to be the giant robot he is. All photos were taken with macro, purely focusing on this giant figure before you.

I made the photo panel for a quicker view of all the photos... makes it easier to share on other sites.

 The picture above interests me because the angle of his eyes in the light; almost like an irritated look that implies he's tired of showing up in other worlds besides his own. It also has a sense of anger to it... wouldn't want to actually get that look from someone his size.

  

A journal entry from Pearllight

"One day when I stepped out on my porch during November, everything seemed perfectly normal on my planet...that is till I saw a glowing portal window form on the left side of my back porch. I've seen plenty of portals in my days, after all, I use them frequently when traveling through dimensions. Why one was forming on my world, other than my own, is what puzzled me. Before I was able to activate my suit, a large figure emerged.... and he didn't look friendly at first. I happened to be standing right in front him, trying not to tremble from slight shock. He had a look of anger, as if he were going to attack me, but in that moment my eyes must have showed him I was innocent, and non threatening. His mask looked quite familiar, couldn't quite tell why, that is till he spoke.... then to my shock I knew exactly who he was; Takanuva from the Matat Nui universe, which dimension of the universe he was from is what I didn't know. "I'm sorry to intrude little one.... just trying to find my way home." he said. I looked at him and gently smiled. "Say, haven't I seen you before somewhere?... You look familiar." he continued. I took an uneasy breath, having trouble believing this was happening. "Tak.... Takanuva... it's me, Pearllight." Takanuva stood back in puzzlement, "That can't be... Pearllight is.." he stopped in mid sentence; "Pearllight is... what?" I asked, with one eyebrow lifted. "She's...from Earth...you.... you mean I'm on Earth?" Takanuva stuttered. "Yep, the one and only" I answered. "Oh.... now I know where I've seen you! You were that tourist at that park I landed in, that young girl who wanted to take my picture." Takanuva said in realization. "Dah! How in Mata Nui's name did I land on Earth again... this isn't even remotely close to my dimension." Takanuva looked a little worried. "Well, it was only last year that you landed here... maybe I can help you get to your universe." I said. "How could you do that? You're just...." "Just what?..." I cut in, "just human?" Takanuva said nothing, just looked at me with confusion and distrust. I looked at him briefly, then looked at the ground and smirked. "Just trust me, okay... but before I help you on your way, can I do one thing?" "....What would that be?" he asked with slight unease in his voice. I grinned and revealed the camera I was holding behind my back. "Ah....you and the photos. All right, fine." He said with rolled eyes. At that point he wasn't so bad, granted I was still uneasy around him, but more photos of giant robots on my world are like candy. By the end of my snapshots, he became entirely comfortable, and looked strait at the lens. I think he enjoyed himself after the first few pics. After that I shook his fingers, thanking him for more pictures, and then told him to just turn around and look at the sky. He gave me a puzzled look, but did as said. Truth is I didn't want him to get the clue I was the Pearllight who has been in multiple versions of his universe.... security issues. Before he was able to blink, I opened a portal of my own, sending him back to where he needed to be. Last time we met, I wasn't able to help him, being that we were in a public place. And I can't believe he called me a tourist.... I'm a local. :/ If anything, he's the tourist, giant alien robot waltzing around on human soil."

Above (left) He was quite frightening at first. (Right) I love the angle of this one, seems to show more character in his eyes.

 Look at the camera Takanuva. I love the way his eyes glow in these two pics.

Hope you enjoyed the journal entry, last minute add in, and all the photos. ^_^

Lewa and Pearllight in Fall-flight

 Lewa and Pearllight in Fall-flight, 2009

  

Oh such a beautiful image this came out to be. Once more, an image from my favorite sketch book of 2009. It was a relatively quick sketch I did in a brainstorm of a day dream, felt like incorporating something seasonal with Bionicle. So I drew Pearllight and Lewa flying in the Autumn sky, Pearllight stopping to greet a passing Lewa, showing him her newest suit style, Lewa looking in admiration.

This picture was made back in the day when Pearllight was still going through prototype stages. I basically wanted to draw her, just didn't have a set look for her yet, so I drew whatever came to mind as appealing.

It's only recently that I colored the image (yesterday), and gave it a glowing background (created from a stock image, adjusted in color and shading). I wanted it to have that evening glow of Autumn, with that sense of a cool breeze and setting sun.

I love the way the leaves are in this picture, they really seem to give the image that extra bit of life.  

Just to give the image that extra bit of wonder, here is a little peep in story form of what the day dream is suppose to be like.

(A cool wind blew in the evening, the sky lit with gold from the setting sun. Off in the distance a slight, high pitched hum could be faintly heard; Lewa stopped briefly, wondering what it could be. As he hovered in the clouds, a figure suddenly flashed by, no sooner than to appear right in front of him, glistening in the evening light.  "Hey Lewa, what do you think!?" shouted Pearllight. Lewa didn't say a word, just gazed in admiration at the armor which mimicked the day time sky: light blue, with cloud white, and gold sun. "Ooo" is all that escaped Lewa's mouth. "Hehe, it's still in prototype stage, but I'm working on it." remarked Pearllight. Lewa shook himself a little, cleared his throat, and says, "It's...ummmm, I like it so far.... Care to go for a wind-flight?" Pearllight smiles, "Sure, why not, my plasma disks are working at full capacity." Pearllight gently remarks. Lewa grins, offering his hand; Pearllight smiles and shakes her head, "Nope, you'll have to catch me first." Lewa, smiling wide, and eyes glowing bright, quickly soars after a speeding Pearllight, off into the setting sun.)

(Above) original image before color. Done with pen.

Hope you guys enjoyed that little bit of story tid-bit, it's been awhile since I've written something story related, so I hope I did all right. ^_^

Pearllight with Berix

 Pearllight and Berix, ready for adventure, 2009.

An image made back in 2009, yet another picture from my favorite sketch book.

I figured it would be fun to have Pearllight and Berix together, preparing to go on an adventure. I made this picture based off an outfit idea; Pearllight's purple trench coat, worn with a gypsy skirt, coin belt, and long sleeved cotton shirt. She also carries her trusty travel bag, which holds all the supplies she needs for a long hike. 

At the time, I didn't realize how tall Berix might be, so I assumed he would be about as tall as a Matoran...later to find he's actually about as tall as Pearllight outside of her suit. So, size accuracy isn't exactly correct, but it's still cute regardless.

The only thing that turned out wrong was the angle of Pearllight's eyes. Originally she was suppose to be looking at Berix, but her eyes ended up looking forward, like she was directing Berix while looking at a camera.

And again, like many of my old pictures, the feet are mostly cut off....unfortunately.

Another detail I will add, is that I included the little bag Berix carries with him. Medium used for the picture: pen, colored pencil, marker.

I'm thinking about putting the figures onto a background sometime, just for fun. If I get to that, I'll be sure to post it in the future, and link back to original. 

Well, hope you guys enjoy, happy blogging, and have a great adventure. :D

Preston's Power Suit

 A recent image I've cleaned up from 2010 (ignore the mistake of me marking it as 2011 on the image.) I give to you, Preston Stormers power suit.

I designed this power suit long ago, for an old pal of mine who's building skills are incredible. He asked me if I could design a power suit that would make his characters look stronger; I took the challenge and used Preston stormer as the model for the idea. The final results were purely concept, and I drew the armor transparent to show where the real body of the character was placed. After this main design, I shared it with Gabe, who then took the idea and built models based off of it. The design is basically a heavy loaded exo-suit.

All MOC designs shared below belong to Gabe, I was the photographer, he was the engineer. These designs belong to him.

                                 Front                                                                                   Back

First power suit design is actually my favorite. Though not exact to my concept drawing, I actually like it better. He used Duncan Bulk for this one, with added Bionicle parts, and a GI Joe bullet strand for the machine gun. I also like his usage of pistons as leg support, makes the design have a very heavy feel to it.

(Below) second power suit, Nattily Breeze in exo-armor, which resembles my concept design more accurately.

 He actually built it so the character wasn't entirely part of the armor. And, like my concept drawing, this suit has the translucent helmet vizor which lifts up when the figure doesn't need it. I might add that this design isn't as loaded with weaponry as the first, it's actually a little more light weight, if that makes sense.

(Left) suit when vizor is up. (Right) back side of exo-armor

Both designs came out great in my opinion, and it helps that we worked as a team, resulting in two cool exo-suits.

I did mention that this blog was for Bionicle and other robot related subjects, including Hero Factory, and this is officially the first Hero Factory related post. Thumbs up for a first timer. ^_~

Hope you guys enjoy, there's much more to come in the near future, so stay tuned. :D

Jungle Agori Mask Design

 Lately I've been getting into my old sketch books from 2008/9/10. This mask design was made around 2009, and was one of the first sketches I did in one my most favorite sketch books. I didn't think about whether it was Matoran or Agori, but after looking at it again, I think it has more of an Agori feel.

This is a design I would likely use in the old role play series, "Life of Lewa". Likely just a local villager Lewa knows. Nothing fancy really, just a quick design that's somehow still pleasing for being so old.

I added plant life as a background, felt it helped pull the design together, make it seem less barren. I include the design without background below, more details can be seen on a flat surface, and I'd say the flat background is more of a concept view of the mask.

I have many other Bionicle sketched from my favorite sketch book coming this way, so stay tuned. Enjoy. ^_^

Female jungle bot design

Finally, this image has taken me several days longer than I expected. I had this urge to make a female character several days ago after browsing through Bionicle related art on DA. I just started drawing, didn't know where it would lead, didn't even know what color I was going to make her till I was done sketching.

At first I thought she would be blue, but as I drew, I knew she would make a perfect female jungle type, characters that exists specifically in the old role play series of mine, "Life of Lewa"....still pending to be written.

After adding in the double scythe staff for interest, that's when I decided she would officially be a jungle type. In the story, certain female jungle types are professional scythe wielders, and at one time in their history, served as very aggressive warriors, a trait that eventually wore off among the majority. 

The added background to the image isn't mine, again an image from the internet that I tweaked for my use. I feel it aids the figure marvelously.

 (Above) Main image without background. Unfortunately the crispness of the image was depleted since it had to be shrunk for the low resolution background. This just shows you how appealing the background makes her though.

(Below) black and white base images before color and background. Please ask if you wish to use the digital inked version as a coloring sheet.

 

 I prefer inking all my images digitally, leaves room for mistakes that are easily forgiven, unlike when using an actual pen. Above is the digitally inked version, and below is the pencil image.

Interested to see my work all in one place, please visit my Deviant art http://pearllight180.deviantart.com/

Cloud Flight

 Full lit illustration of Lewa Phantoka in flight. The above image I named "Cloud Flight", and I feel it best fits the base images lighting. Both illustrations contain the same Lewa picture, the backgrounds are the only difference. The image below is what I was going to settle with at first, but then I decided Lewa needed some vapor trails, so I added those in (above). The vapor trails seem to give the image more life.


The ones above seem to give a better sense of flight, and freedom to move around, not to mention aren't quite as abstract as the one below. I didn't make the background, just used a free desktop image which you can download here http://wallpaperstate.org/wp-content/gallery/ca_abstract/wallpaper-19822.jpg . I feel the cloud image matches the Phantoka theme better.

In the image below, I was going for a whimsical jungle feel, but I question if it's too whimsical for Lewa, being that he's a smooth, aerodynamic  robot, carrying weaponry... I still like the picture personally, just can't decide if it's entirely matching. I used several cheats for the background, and I don't own any of the images used to pull it off. I compiled several digital images together, all of them found through Google images... but since I'm not selling any of this art, I guess it's all right for me to use.

The thing I was going for was overhead lighting, and to me the picture below is great as a happy flight near the forest floor. Basically the feel of exotic plant life and pollen, mixed in with sunbeams shining through the towering trees above.