LEGOland Castle Grows Up

Discussion of custom parts made for the Castle Theme
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SavaTheAggie
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LEGOland Castle Grows Up

Post by SavaTheAggie »

It has been said many times, and often by me, that I'm just no good at creating original designs for stickers. Well, here's my most recent attempt at something original, using the skills I'm good at: copying! Ok, well, it's not really all that original, but it's about as close as I can get.

You see, James Stacey was nice enough to point out to me that LEGO has released some never before seen heraldry designs for an activity as a part of the new KK2 website. You can view this activity website here:

http://www.lego.com/eng/knights/activity.asp?aid=3

I have taken four of these heraldry icons and transformed them into shields in the same scheme as four original LEGOland Castle shield designs. I've also changed the images, some more than others, so that they're not direct copies of LEGO's stuff. The result, I think, is REALLY cool.

First I will present the design that you have to stretch your imagination the most around in order to see a connection between the two.

Image

I have taken the 'Lion Heart' shield design, from the infamous Town set #1592, and turned it into this:

Image

Since I already did a lion design (seen below), and because Christina really likes Unicorns, I took LEGO's horse design and turned it into one, and put it in this shield design. Since the original shield had hearts, which is typically considered feminine, I thought the Unicorn, which is also typically consideredfeminine, would work. I would have put hearts in to go along side the Unicorn, but I figured it would have cramped the design too much.



I don't know why, but I fell in love with the Winged Snake that LEGO had on the website, so I changed the Black Monarch's shield (which in this case is actually the Dragon Master's color scheme)

Image

And turned it into this:

Image

Yes, before you say anything, I know the design looks empty. I tried putting the snake in the Ovoid template, but it didn't look right either. I also tried putting another wing on the other side, behind the snake's head, but it clashed too much with the Snake's mouth.

To tell the truth, the more I look at the shield, the more the whole empty corner thing grows on me, and I actually think it looks pretty good, especially if your shield carriers hold it in their left hand (and thus the snake faces forward) ;).




Next up, I took LEGO's annorexic Lion design and changed the original Crusader's design:

Image

Into this:

Image

It's like... demonic cat-zilla... I'm not too crazy about the mane and ear being disconnected from the body, but I was trying to emulate the original Crusader Lion's design, and it didn't quite look right without something to distinguish the mane from the body.

This design probably would have worked better as the lion in the 'Lion Heart' design, but then I thought 'what would I do with the Unicorn?' So there you go.




Ok, I've saved what is, in my opinion, the coolest for last. This is where the cards are put on the table my friend.

Image

The Black Falcons have really grown up:

Image

I really love this design. Granted, I didn't change LEGO's design much, mainly the split color and adding the eye, but I just love the effect. Ok, so maybe it's not as cool as I think it is, but my opinion matters to me ;)



So there you go. These four shields, the photoshop files, and variations thereof will all be available in my new KK2 sticker article, since I got these designs of the KK2 website.

And if you liked what you saw, let me know! If you didn't like what you saw, let Lenny know!

--Anthony
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Legolas
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Post by Legolas »

Really cool :D

I know I'll be using these.... :D

My personal favorite is the grown up Black Falcon (pheonix looking) design.

All in all good job


Best Regards,
-- Joey
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footsteps
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Re: LEGOland Castle Grows Up

Post by footsteps »

Excellent designs, Anthony. I too like the grown-up BF - just what it always should have been. The unicorn looks good too, but the colour combination feels weak (for lack of a better word). I know the colours you used are the basic Lego ones, but such a muscular unicorn just begs for stronger colours.

For the snake one, one way to tackle the blank spot would be to put in a four-point star. A further variation, together with the star, would be to have two or three more stars, in descending size, going across the top from a large one in the top left to a small one over the snake's head.

Otherwise, great work! Would it be too much to ask if you have torso designs to go with these? :wink:

Alan
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Post by brian »

Thanks again Anthony, I love the BF shield. I now feel the need to replace every one I have with this design. All my free time just vanished!! Ughh. The unicorn is great, it almost looks elvish. Possibly a Forester sect of some kind. I like the snake as well, this looks fine the way it is. I can see why you may want to put something in the corner, like a small castle or tower but it still looks great as is. The Lion shield just looks off with the lion being so skinny. Great job on these they open doors for a lot of new possibilities.
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Post by Formendacil »

:o :o :o :shock: :shock: :shock:

These are awesome. But then, all of you sticker templates have been so far. My favourite has to be the Black Falcons, but I think if I took the Unicorn, and changed its colours around a bit (say, a white unicorn on Forester green, with a yellow or brown trim.)

By the way, thanks for the link to Lego's new site, I've been looking for a simple bear template like that for ages.

By the way, will these new designs be available as avatars? I'm rather attached to my own design, but if no one else took that Black Falcon, I could be persuaded to bail... :wink:
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Post by SavaTheAggie »

After reading the suggestions, I have two variants of the above shields to share.

First, here is a Forestmen version of the Unicorn design:

Image

Second, just on a whim, I added the hearts to the Unicorn shield to further mimic the 1592 design:

Image

And third, a two winged version of the winged snake. I had to raise the snake's head up, lengthen his neck, and edit the wing's base.

Image

I don't know if I like the two winged snake yet, but it's growing on me. I liked the higher placement of the wing on the original design, but this wing placement much more closely resembles the original Black Monarch's design (in Dragon Master colors).

--Anthony
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Post by Formendacil »

I am honoured, deeply honoured, that my suggestion was taken. The Forestmen unicorn looks great.

I also think that the addition of the hearts greatly enhances the other unicorn, if only because it adds some more colour to the image.

I personally think that the two-winged snake looks better than the one-winged. It looks more balanced.

Once again, great stuff! :D
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SavaTheAggie
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Re: LEGOland Castle Grows Up

Post by SavaTheAggie »

footsteps wrote:Otherwise, great work! Would it be too much to ask if you have torso designs to go with these? :wink:

Alan
Yes :wink: But I was planning on doing a few matching torsos anyway. Any design you want to show up in my artilce in particular?
Formendacil wrote:By the way, thanks for the link to Lego's new site, I've been looking for a simple bear template like that for ages.

By the way, will these new designs be available as avatars? I'm rather attached to my own design, but if no one else took that Black Falcon, I could be persuaded to bail... :wink:
No problem, that's one of the reasons I linked to it. I knew even though I didn't use all the images, someone would still want to use the ones I didn't. The thought to convert the bear, boar and griffon as just raw solid images as I did the other animals had crossed my mind, but I figured I'd let others do the work for me. Though I admit even though they wouldn't go well on a shield, they'd go well on a torso... hmm...

Anyway, as for the avatars, you'll have to talk to Troy about that, he's the one who set up the current avatar shield list. I'm sure he could do it if you asked him nicely. :wink:

--Anthony
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Post by Formendacil »

No, it'd take too much time to persuade him to get them up, and as I said, I'm rather fond of my current avatar, anyway. (Which, by the way, was made using Sava's basic shield template, and the crown off of one of his classic shield designs. The rest is my own.)

I did make myself my bear shield, however, as well as a Rohirric shield using the horse. Both look awesome (at least in their creator's mind), and are much better than my previous attempts. (Earlier attempts at a bear were destroyed before anyone could see them, fortunately, and the earlier Rohirric was kept to provide a good laugh, should I ever feel the need.) :D
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Re: LEGOland Castle Grows Up

Post by footsteps »

The "forester" unicorn looks really good - better colouring to my eyes - though someone will likely point out again that the brown is not a standard heraldry colour (I remember that point being brought up in one of the older threads about heraldry). How about a black border instead?

The snake one also looks great with both wings, though my wife would never let me use a snake motif - she is quite terrified of them, as I learned (painfully) fairly early in our marriage.

Alan

PS Since you've shown me where to get the raw materials, I really shouldn't be asking about torso designs anyway! :wink:
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Post by LEGOFREAK »

duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude

Far out man!

These so rock. Ok - I dont like the anorexic lion one, but the other ones.. wowsers!

:D

freak

Ps - NO griffon? come on - you da man.... Please?
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Post by Robin Hood »

They all look AWESOME!!!!!!!! I like the two winged dragon and Falcon like one. Lets give Sava a big round of applause. :D
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Post by SavaTheAggie »

You know what? I lied in the other thread. That wasn't my last teaser release of a sticker design.

Why?

Cause I think this one is really really cool, and I can't just not share it.

Yes, I have a problem with waiting when I'm proud of something. But you know what? Frankly I don't give a Megablocks ;)



Yes friends, The Crusaders, Black Falcons and the Black Monarchs aren't the only ones to have grown up. No, thanks to the designs of the large KK2 figs, the Wolfpack has grown up too.

Image

Ever since I saw the wolf design from KK2 I've been in love with it. You may not like it, but it's MY article, so I'm making it! Hah!

The purple and yellow version, taken from the official shield, will also be available in the article.

--Anthony
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Post by Mr. D »

*reals back in surprise and delight*

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Post by Daimyo »

That's Scrum-diddily-trelescent!
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