Mazin

LEGO Pirates boxes - backgrounds

Recommended Posts

Hey guys

Was wondering... does any of You know if it is possible to download those lovely background pictures used on classic Pirates boxes somewhere? Or if there are any similar ones to be found on the internet that I could get? Wanted to photograph my MOCs and was about to try make my own background somehow, but it hit me that those might be available somewhere...

There's been plenty of these pictures, so maybe one lucky colector did put his hands on them :sweet:

6271_Imperial_Flagship.jpg

Trading_post.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't think photos of just the background have been released.

Back in those days the LEGO Group built dioramas to photograph the sets and backgrounds against, opposed to these days where the backgrounds are digitally edited in later.

So therefore, the backgrounds would have to be photographed separately (without the set) for such images to exist.

Possibly, tests shots of this nature were done but there would have been no reason to ever release them publicly.

I'm writing entirely hypothetically here so I could be wrong, but it would be great to have them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah... it's obvious... but there's always something that might leak or maybe someone caught it when they were throwing this stuff away at Lego.

I think that one member of Eurobricks even got one of these artificial islands used in dioramas this way, am I right? :look:

On the other hand there might be someone who copied these backgrounds himself for his own mocs and might share it :wub:

It's surely possible to do in Photoshop... I am just still not very good at it. Well... will try and share my work for interested later :blush:

Anyway... I just love them and could make a good use... but I guess most of Eurobricks members have the same feeling :sweet:

Shame they don't make these dioramas the old way... digital ones are not bad... but it's just not the good old Lego it used to be...

Edited by Mazin

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think that one member of Eurobricks even got one of these artificial islands used in dioramas this way, am I right? :look:

That's news to me...

It's surely possible to do in Photoshop... I am just still not very good at it. Well... will try and share my work for interested later :blush:

The closest anyone has come to doing this is a fellow who goes by the name of Brick Miner. (Thread here but images appear to be long gone.)

He managed to replicate the style of the box art on the Western themed sets by taking samples of the background then vectorising it and expanding upon it.

The Western theme box art however, is stylistically different to the Pirate box art you've shown as examples, and easier to replicate.

You'd need a lot of time and patience to pull that off effectively with the Classic Pirate box art!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
That's news to me...

I'm pretty sure someone posted it here on Eurobricks, maybe it was Lugpol... couldn't find it.

'

The closest anyone has come to doing this is a fellow who goes by the name of Brick Miner. (Thread here but images appear to be long gone.)

Thanx for the hint! Guess I'll write to him... :sweet:

He managed to replicate the style of the box art on the Western themed sets by taking samples of the background then vectorising it and expanding upon it.

That's exactly what I was planning to do :sweet: I'm not much of an artist to paint those backgrounds myself... :wink:

The Western theme box art however, is stylistically different to the Pirate box art you've shown as examples, and easier to replicate.

You'd need a lot of time and patience to pull that off effectively with the Classic Pirate box art!

Hopefully will do it well! I wasn't necessarily thinking about those backgrounds I posted in the topic. There's so many of them. Byt I admit these two caught my attention especially as they really show much of this background. :sweet: Using other themes might be a good idea too... I really want my pictures to have this carribean feel :wub:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Good luck! If you manage to do so please show them, plain color backgrounds for MOCs can use improvement!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Guess I'm gonna get to work then :sweet:

Sure, I'll post them as soon as I'll accomplish my honorable quest :wink:

BTW... do you guys know in what size should these backgrounds be printed to use in dioramas?

Guess simple A4 will be too small even for tiny sets. :sweet:

Edited by Mazin

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

About a month ago I started to work on this, but I'm not satisfied about the current result, so I'm going to keep this project active and I will release a background when I'll consider it a proper background.

post-32406-0-92045000-1352939190_thumb.jpg

Phes was right. At that time Lego created real scenes just as they are created in museums for exhibits.

The mountains or the islands we see in these boxes in the first plan were for real, and only the sky was a drawing.

I'll finish this job, but I need more materials to do it.

I don't have BSB, SES, EF or ITP Box so someone who has any of these, can contribute.

I need hi-res photos with a resolution of over 3000 pixels.

They need to capture the front box perpendicular to the center of the image and without using the flash.

If any of you will share such pictures, I will share the final result.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow... for a moment I thought that that this is an official set! :sweet: Good job on that :thumbup:

Yeah... This is something I want to do... but I'm gonna photograph the set traditional way, here everything except the toy is added digitally. This ship is very nice btw... would say it has more charm than SES :sweet:

but am I wrong or these sails are digital too? they don't look real on this picture :wink:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow... for a moment I thought that that this is an official set! :sweet: Good job on that :thumbup:

Yeah... This is something I want to do... but I'm gonna photograph the set traditional way, here everything except the toy is added digitally. This ship is very nice btw... would say it has more charm than SES :sweet:

but am I wrong or these sails are digital too? they don't look real on this picture :wink:

Thank you for your compliments.

The sails are natural and I worked on them pretty much to finish them as they are. (that was 5 years ago)

During the time I experienced various methods of creating sails.

I also re-created all SES sails just to get rid of the skull.

I always use material, and I make them as when you touch them, you can't feel or see any difference between original sails and custom sails.

Unfortunately I didn't shoot many pictures before I disassembled it, but I found a photo.

PS: When I tried to attach it, I get this message:

Error This file was too big to upload
You can upload up to 5.59K of files (Max. single file size: 5.59K)

Maybe a moderator or the admin can allow a bit more space than just 5 kb. :laugh:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Fantastic work! It would be really nice to create several templates like these for mocers to display their work. I'll try to shoot boxes of BSB and EF and give them to you.

PS : For hosting Lego pictures, you'd better create a Brickshelf account (it takes only a few seconds) to upload them. That's what I do for my reviews, it's really simple :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Great job on those sails then! :thumbup:

They kind of looked "too good" to be real I guess :wink: Great detail!

I admire your dedication to making them on your own.

As for the pictures you can also use imageshack as I do... works fine :sweet:

perhaps some limitations of size of the image to post are caused by the number of posts... I am just guessing here :wink:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

About a month ago I started to work on this, but I'm not satisfied about the current result, so I'm going to keep this project active and I will release a background when I'll consider it a proper background.

That is a superb effort! :thumbup:

How much time has it taken you to get this far?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Fantastic work! It would be really nice to create several templates like these for mocers to display their work. I'll try to shoot boxes of BSB and EF and give them to you.

That's great... let's do it.

As for the pictures you can also use imageshack as I do... works fine :sweet:

perhaps some limitations of size of the image to post are caused by the number of posts... I am just guessing here :wink:

Yeah, I used an old account of photobucket.

This is not the best picture to represent them because it was used the flash, but this is what I had.

The patches are not painted, but sewn.

1008cSails.jpg

That is a superb effort! :thumbup:

How much time has it taken you to get this far?

Well, I think it took me 2 days, working about 2-4 hours per day.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I could probably create a background like those in Photoshop in like 30 minutes. I'm not sure what exactly your looking for but we might be able to chat and see if i can do something for you.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So anywhere between 4 and 8 hours?

Yes, a total work somewhere between 4 and 8 hours.

I really doubt natesroom can do this in 30 minutes.

I work in design since 7 years ago and I'm daily surrounded by many designers of all kinds.

Maybe we're just too perfectionsts. I doubt we're all low.

PS: natesroom, we all want the background used on Black Seas Barracuda's box.

It doesn't matter if you finish it in 30 minutes or in 30 hours. Just do it and share it with us.

We'll all be thankful to you.

Edited by moschino

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.