Blackbeard, Bloodheart and small crew minifig customs

[SirScottLego]

Ahoy,

I've been so busy lately but I had an itch to create... and create I did. Introducing my version of Blackbeard!

He has a custom face and torso made in Photoshop and I recently built my version of his ship "the Revenge" which I will soon post.

Also introducing his two custom crew mates "fleshpatch", and "leakyboot".

But why stop at one villian, in the world of SirScottLego "Bloodheart" was Blackbeard's onboard surgeon until he saw the lucre of the pirate life now he is death on the sea, and pirate in his veins....

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/steicher.../blackbeard.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/steicher.../freshpatch.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/steicher...s/leakyboot.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/steicher.../bloodheart.jpg

the complete custom pirate folder can be found at:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=207645

I hope to add the torso jpegs to the library soon.

[Hinckley]

Those are so cool! Great job! What do you use for decal paper?

[SirScottLego]

Thanks hinkley39, I found some adhesive photopaper and used a really great photo printer.

[Mister Phes]

There are great Sir Scott! Will you make the templates for these designs available or you keeping them to yourself? Or is that what you meant by "adding them to the library"?

[Brick Miner]

8-

[SirScottLego]

I'll share of course... they seem to be taking awhile to "get public" on brickshelf.

[Mister Phes]

8-

[SirScottLego]

Classic-castle.com has an excellent tutorial. I luckily have Photoshop and some background in the program. Finding the matte photopaper with an adhesive back was awesome.... otherwise a whole lot of patience.

For the tutorial visit

http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/articles/Torsos.html

There is a great download with the lego color palette to match the colors.

Thanks for all the encouraging words.

[Brick Miner]

yes, but how did you get the colors of your ink on paper to match the plastic so well...

for my custom stickers, i scanned one of each color brick i had, and printed test sheets of the scanned colors, for callibration purposes. after a couple rounds of color-matching i decided i was as close as i could get. but i still have slight color descrepencies... from these photos it appears you have none !!!

i tried using the official CMYK color processes that LEGO uses. and that result was even father off than my calibrated color test sheets. which was exprected because each printer will interpret the color information differently. so that is why i ask how you got them to match so closely ???

do share X-D

- BrickMiner

[Mister Phes]

I've been so busy lately but I had an itch to create... and create I did. Introducing my version of Blackbeard!

He has a custom face and torso made in Photoshop and I recently built my version of his ship "the Revenge" which I will soon post.

Also introducing his two custom crew mates "fleshpatch", and "leakyboot".

I like how you've gone the extra mile and actually printed your designs and applied them to mini-figures because its much better than posting the designs. We can actually see how good they look rather than just some digital image.

[El Bucanero]

Wow really good the quality looks the same as a normal printed torso, if lego makes a new pirate line, they should use these torsos

i like the white-pants-guy the best *y*

- BrickMiner

As for me, he really looks like a sailor!

[Hinckley]

yes, but how did you get the colors of your ink on paper to match the plastic so well...

Hey Brick Miner! My new buddy!

I had a similar problem at first. If you are using Photoshop make sure you set your solor sliders to CMYK, (print) instead of RGB(web) because sometimes you lose information in the conversion... and use the tutorial that sir scott suggested and just use the eye-dropper to match the colors from the psd.

Then, buy a really expensive laser printer. If you are using ink cartridges, chances are the printer is not "good enough" to print precise CMYK.

If this is stuff you've already done and I'm being patronizing, I apologize. Now get back to work on those Ghost Town MOC's!

--Mark

[SirScottLego]

I feel it's appropriate to give credit to "Iron Alchemist" a member over at the Minifig Customization Network for his work on a Jack Sparrow. This was the inspiration for Blackbeards attire. I'm a pirate but I do stick to a code...

http://www.minifigcustomizationnetwork.com/forum/2997

I should also mention... in the past I've printed off my decals at a FedEXKinkos or chain copy shop, they have great color printers and usually have Photoshop... Just don't spend much time because they charge for use by the second!

hinkley39 is right on the money with his comments, change mode to CMYK, my big color match problem is usually grey but everything else I think I've figured out... stupid Harry Potter figs!

[Captain Roger]

that pirates are really cool too! i love the blackbeard minifig...you are a master sirscottlego

[Brick Miner]

I had a similar problem at first. If you are using Photoshop make sure you set your solor sliders to CMYK, (print) instead of RGB(web) because sometimes you lose information in the conversion...

i design and draw in adobe ILLUSTRATOR. i only use photoshop for photo editing ;-) i would never attempt drawing in PHOTOshop !!! :-D

and yes, i use CMYK process. but thanks for jumping in with suggestions hinkley...

hinkley39 is right on the money with his comments, change mode to CMYK, my big color match problem is usually grey but everything else I think I've figured out.

ok, let me refine my question... do you use the official LEGO color guide at LUGNET for your color choices or do you use the MCN ??? because there are discrepancies between the two. or have you accumulated your own CMYK color guide as i have ???

here is an example of my dilema... color match conflicts are seen in the dark-red dress and brown shirt...

although im very happy with my stickers, im always looking for additional processes and info !!!

i really think it is just that my colors aren't saturated enough.

as hinkley said... printer problem.

- BrickMiner

[Mister Phes]

I should also mention... in the past I've printed off my decals at a FedEXKinkos or chain copy shop, they have great color printers and usually have Photoshop... Just don't spend much time because they charge for use by the second!

They're not a world wide printing chain as far as I'm aware, but from what I'm gather this business offers a professional printing service to the average person?

Thanks hinkley39, I found some adhesive photopaper and used a really great photo printer.

I'm in the market for a new printer so could you tell me more details about the one you used? Like manufacturer and model number?

[Bonaparte]

I would also be interested to know which printer model you used.

I have a HP Deskjet 5440 and it just can't match the red from lego.

At work we have a more expensive printer from HP (also a deskjet) but with the same problem.

Maybe I need a laserprinter?

[Hinckley]

I'm in the market for a new printer so could you tell me more details about the one you used? Like manufacturer and model number?

I use a HP color laserjet 4650dn. It's as big as my desk. I bought it refurbished from a non-profit that was down-sizing. I do graphic design so I needed it anyway. It works great for printing torso stickers.

[SirScottLego]

I used an Epson CX6600 all-in-one printer on the "finest photo" setting...

Best wishes in all your printing.

[Bonaparte]

Any of you still remember SirScottLego?

He has created some great ships and custom pirate torso's.

But sadly he disappeared from the forum (October of last year).

I must say that I miss his presence at the forum and have been thinking of sending him an email to check if he is alright. So finally I did! I hope he is well and didn't abandon his Lego hobby.

For those who are not familiar with his work: SirScottLego Brickshelf Library

[Cutlass Cole]

*wub* Those are awesome! *n*

But couldn't you just use a Hagrid beard for Blackbeard? ;-) >8-)

[Mister Phes]

How come you're giving them the thumbs down Mr Cole? You said they were awesome. I'm confooooooozed!

[SkaForHire]

tell him to come back! lol

he had such good creations... and i really want to make a bloodheart now! too bad i dont have a good printer

[Bonaparte]

tell him to come back! lol

Thats what I hope to achieve. Wait and see...

[El Bucanero]

How come you're giving them the thumbs down Mr Cole? You said they were awesome. I'm confooooooozed!

Maybe he is just mad because he can't do it himself? :-D (or can he??)

Is there anyone with Sirscott's email adress?

EDIT: I've sent him an email via the EB email system... Although the test email I sent to myself didn't arrive yet...

Mr Tiber