This project consisted of creating the key art for the The Lego Movie video game,  a two page spread print ad, individual character renderings, and dlc elements.  Character toy assets were provided along with some in-game models from the developer.  The primary task was to create images that captured the look and mood of the movie; this includes posing these characters with limited joint movements, very much like the real Lego mini-figures.  2nd was to create a custom texturing technique to all the character models to make each looked worn-out very much like the movie.

Here are my 3 quick thumbnails presented to the client.  

Further refinements of the chosen concept making sure all the key characters work within the space.

Matching up the key characters to the comp for the foreground plate.

The middle plate consists of Metal Beard with a handful of Robo Swats, plus two flying vehicles for the background.

For the remaining plate, we have Lord Business and Droids.

Added characters for background Lego mayhem.

An explosion of Lego blocks to place behind Lord Business.

Here is the image with all elements put together after editing in Photoshop.  The unoptimized single PSD file is over 2.6 Gigs.  The final submitted image was a bit different, with some characters and vehicle layers turned off to help make the scene less busy (not shown).

Same process as the spread.  I actually created the keyart first before tackling the 2 page spread.  

 

Bad guys and flying vehicles plate.

 

 

Extra Robo Swats for background fillers.

3D models positioning layout.  On the original sketch (not shown) Emmet was holding a jack hammer which occupied too much space in the layout; a wrench was use instead.

Here is the initial color pass of the key art layout.  There were a few edits for the final image:  the orange chopper was removed so the bad guys layer can be brought forward, the Bat Wing and floating blocks above Vitruvius were removed in place of Batman on the building rooftop,  and the background was revised to a cooler hue to make the main characters pop more.

 

 

Some options with Emmet's expressions.

Final cropped key art image. 

I was playing with depth of field for some of these for personal preference.  The delivered final poses were rendered without the effect.

Here is a bare-bones Benny mesh I received from the Lego toy assets.  Since I already have a prepped body base model from prior Lego projects, I only had to re-work his helmet, chest decal, and his overall body textures.

I had to reshape Benny's helmet to match the Benny in the Movie.

 

This is the re-worked texture.

 

Applied my custom texturing techniqes.

My rendering of Benny.  Too bad this pose was never used.

Me and the ad agency collaborated on the concept.  I provide the character render poses and they did the layout for the DLC promo card.