We’ve seen Gobi’s excellent El Panda Illustrations and turnarounds, and this week Monster5 gets into the mix with our first look at his sculpt work.
Monster5 began sculpting the El Panda toy using the turnaround illustrations provided by Muttpop. First Monster5 sculpted a relatively finished head sculpt. Then he sculpted a very rough version of El Panda‘s body.
The initial sculpt is in a generic standing pose. This helps Monster5 freely experiment with proportions for El Panda. Once the proper proportions are found, he will proceed to pose El Panda.
Check out the first public pics of the initial El Panda sculpt including a size comparison with the Tequila figure.
Check back next week for tweaks and a first glimpse at El Panda‘s proper pose!
Nice work, I love the head sculpt! I’d love to see a black and white or grayscale version of El Panda. Are you guys going to have a set up at SDCC this year?
excellent, Monster5 is my idol.
perfect sculpt and it isn’t even finished!
He’s a sculpting powerhouse!
keep it coming.
0_0
BORT:
Thanks!
No plans for a Muttpop booth in San Diego…but we may raid a booth or two for some signings and special editions…(I saw your last question about this, but figured it was too late to post a response).
NEIL:
Monster5 is the man. Check back next week for a truer example of El Panda’s beer bellied beauty!!
-Muttpop Bob
Panda looking excellent!
Panda looking excellent!
HOLY CRAP!!! The head is superb!
awesome job! the size is good as well, he’ll be big and chubby!
HONK!
This looks great! Although I thought he would be a bit shorter than Tequila and Pili Pili. Maybe it was just the angle at which Panda was drawn!
GEO:
Thank you!
HONK:
Yup. We wanted to shape of El Panda to feel and look different from Tequila…but also complement him.
JACRANKY:
El Panda is about the same height as Tequila. He’d probably tower over Pili Pili. The Art Prints we made are not to scale which may have thrown people off.
Man, I’m super pumped on El Panda. I wanted to drop some contructive criticism on y’all. I really REALLY like the concept art, but I’m kinda bummed on some of the deviations the model has taken from it. Most notably the mouth. The frown kept El Panda lookin kind of grumpy in a badass sort of way. The overly emphasized overbite makes him look a little dopey and frankly borders on offensive. At first I wasn’t sure if he was a slightly sleepy Luchador Latino with a Chinese obsession, or the other way around. His teeth have definately cleared up the direction you were going for with the character, but it seems a little too close to “yellowface” makeup for me.
Looking good! I hope he will get some articulation.
Brilliant! Looking foward to how El Panda will turn out. Very consistent work! 😀
ARMORYJAKE:
The overbite isn’t nearly as emphasized in the final sculpt as in the pictures shown. The final version is a cross between an overbite and a grimace.
Your initial assumption about El Panda’s character is spot on. He’s a big, tough Latino with an obsession for all things Chinese. But he doesn’t really know that his perception of Chinese culture is closer to exaggerated caricature than the essence of what is truly Chinese. Things tend to morph and change when they become embraced by American Pop Culture. A lot of our characters are a play on that concept (look closely at Tequila).
Please understand that as a person of half asian descent, I am not interested in propogating ignorance…but believe there is a power in playing with misconceptions.
Thanks for the constructive criticism. I hope you like how El Panda develops over the course of these entries.
BRICKBOY:
Thanks.
NO.L:
We will only strive for consistancy if it’s a very high level of consistancy!
He totally looks like he doesn’t give a fuck.
PERFECT! Bad ass.