Small Soldiers - Chip Hazard and Archer

Aggybby said:

seems so quite on here, hope I didn't squash all the talking.
How are your boxes coming along Kevin ?
~RIta

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Well, I started work on the box art towards the end of last year. Really it should be the work of three or four weeks at most, but I'm doing it around my main job. Couple that with the fact that there are only three or four of us who are interested and it is not at the top of my list of priorities. I haven't done any more ot it since I last posted. I am thinking about it, though. I am planning the engineering to make it strong and as rigid as possible to support the figure.

Did you get the email I sent you?

May we see some of the graphics, Kevin?

Of course. I'll post some tomorrow.

:thumbsup

Looking forward to seeing what you've come up with. :thumbsup

Okey-dokey.

Here's a screen grab of the interior base of the box (the bit Chip stands on).

You can clearly see that the dots are aligned on a grid. Also, bringing the picture into Photoshop lets you adjust the levels and count the dots in each direction.

By contrast, here's the base from the 12" figure.

This, you'll notice, has dots arranged diagonally and they are on a pretty lose grid (i.e. not regular spacing).

And finally, here's my base.

I am working on the tabs to cut out and fold this.

Moving to the main box, I started with the band of stars. This pattern is used in several places on the box. Here's a scan from the 12" toy box.

This was the first thing I tackled and was while I thought that elements of the retail box might be accurate. The interior base has proven otherwise, but I have no better shots of the movie box to contradict this scan.

Here's my rebuild of the star.


Now what you have to remember when looking at this is that a commercially printed box is composed of four colours, cyan,magenta, yellow and black. The image is broken down in to a dot pattern using those colours to approximate the full spectrum when viewed from a distance. That's why the top star is all "spotty".

Here's my colour half-tone pass. This is how the final box art will all be processed.


Chip's name is printed on a computer chip. This is one end of my finished artwork for the nameplate.


Here's a quick look at the front of the box, as far as I have got.

You can see that I have started re-drawing the picture of Chip.

And finally, the back.

As you can see, I'm working over a perspective corrected screen grab. This particular sequence is invaluable for the back of the box. I thought that I had correctly identified the promotional photos of all of the other commandos on the back of the box, however, I find that the shot I have of Link Static is not correct. He is supposed to be facing forward. All of the others line up and match perfectly with the pack shots. I need to finalise the colour and intensity of the fake shadows that is added to each soldier.

There's quite a bit of copy on the back that I shall have to invent. That pinkish box in the bottom right corner has a lot of copy. The Gorgonite version is easy to read in full, but I don't think we ever see a shot of the commando elite version. Also there's some small stuff across the bottom and what might be a bar code in the bottom right corner.

So there you go.

Looking great so far! :thumbsup

What's the best screen-cap of Link Static from the packaging that you have to try to track down the correct promotional shot of him?

There he is. Don't forget that these pictures include an artificial drop shadow at the botom left. He should be standing facing forward. I think that both arms should be by his sides.

Hmmm... Looks like his arms are quite a bit out from his sides.

This is the only facing forward promo shot that I could find in my books:

Howlrunner said:

Hmmm... Looks like his arms are quite a bit out from his sides.

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Yes, but they aren't folded, or touching his headphones is what I meant.

Your photo is a much better approximation than the one I had.

Thanks. :thumbsup

Wow this is going to look fantastic! When it is complete, will we be able to download the file, print it, and put it all together?

If so, I'm assuming some sections will be bigger than A4 card. If that is the case, I may need to use a friends printer. Then I’ll need to get some clear plastic for the front!

PS: I don’t know if anyone noticed this before, but during the assembly line scene, I noticed that the Chip Hazard box has some either -

A. reflective material (mirror)
or
B. window

- on the base of the box. Here’s, a screen, but its pretty low quality.

Your eyes are playing tricks, I'm afraid. That's just a hollow space. I have a screen grab showing it from later in the film.


The base requires an A3+ printer, although I could do that with less rigidity on an A3 printer. I shallbe printing out onto heavy, semi-gloss paper and laminating that to thin white card.
The main box might need the artwork printing out on A2 paper. It might be worth me having the local printer do a short run.

I'm curious about how to do the clear plastic. It needs four sharp folds in it. Any ideas?

Hey Howlrunner, you got the right picture.

When Link's cut out from the background and dropped in place, it all fits.

Thanks again.

Kevin said:

Hey Howlrunner, you got the right picture.

When Link's cut out from the background and dropped in place, it all fits.

Thanks again.

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No problem. :thumbsup I'm just looking forward to these getting finished. :cool

@ Kevin: Ahh, its a hollow space, hehe!
As for the plastic, I haven't a clue. Come to think of it, it would involve heating and moulding the shape. I would most likely get poisoning from the fumes. Probably better off just leaving the thing open.

I'm guessing that there's somebody here who could help us.
What happened to the guy who makes packaging? Surely they must mock-up packaging for clients. He must have the right tools. I'll ask around some of my contacts too.

It'll work without it, but it would help keep the dust off!

I hope you get the guy you mentioned, the boxes wouldn't be complete without the plastic window! :lol

i loved the ps1 game for this franchise, so much fun when i was a kid.

Yes It was a good game.

I have a 6.5 inch Archer out of the box with no accessories if anyone wants it for the cost of shipping.

Kevin said:

I'm guessing that there's somebody here who could help us.
What happened to the guy who makes packaging? Surely they must mock-up packaging for clients. He must have the right tools. I'll ask around some of my contacts too.

It'll work without it, but it would help keep the dust off!

Click to expand...

I think the plastic would be pretty easy. I'll get an example mocked up.