Naruto Shippuden Custom Project Collected

This post collects the articles recording my progress in creating a custom minifigure based on the title character from Naruto Shippuden. 

This is an ongoing project with more articles/tutorials to be added over time, so check back periodically.

This will live in the sidebar along side the other minifig customization resources.

• Journey Begins - Naruto Shippuden Concept
• Tutorial - Removing Minifigure Arms and Legs
• Naruto Shippuden Custom - Minifig Head Selection
• Naruto Shippuden Custom - Modding Hair and Bandanna (Coming Soon)

Naruto Shippuden Custom: Minifig Head Selection

Naruto Eyes

Although I'll be focused on the Shippuden variation of Naruto, there are many different looks the character takes on in the manga and anime series. One recurring theme in the story focuses on the eyes and the power signified by them. Naruto himself has times when his eyes change based on which state he's in - nine-tails stage, sage mode, or just plain Naruto. Because of this I may want to consider a style of minifig eye that can be used to express the different states. The Exo-Force eyes come immediately to mind, but may not be the only solution.

Another design choice to be made is whether the figure will be best expressed as a 'fleshie' or in the classic yellow hue. I've heard many prefer the classic yellow, not only for its nostalgic tie to the LEGO brand, but also because the yellow heads have a broader range of emotion in the facial expressions. Although I would prefer to have a wider emotional range, this may be a challenge to effectively pair blond hair with the yellow skin tone (although the Collectible Minifigure series shows it can be done).

One goal I have as part of this entire process is to explore multiple avenues to see what types of effects work 'best' for a given design. Right here we have several considerations just for the head alone:

• Fleshie or Classic Yellow
• Hair Type
• Bandanna
• Facial Expressions

If we choose a pre-existing flesh head to modify, then our emotional range is reduced; however, we could decal over a flesh head using any expression we want. If we go with Exo-Force heads, we have the larger eyes, but still a limited emotional range (again we could always decal a unique design with Exo-Force style eyes as an alternative).

I've compiled a series of minifigure heads that I feel best express the character of Naruto. These pictures are taken from the BrickLink Catalog.

You can easily peruse the catalog by going here and choosing 'parts' for the item type field and 'minifig, head' for the category field. I find that setting the view to 'thumbnail gallery' helps when browsing.

I continue to be drawn to the Exo-Force heads, so that's the direction I'll head for now.

Now that I have a head type in mind, I'll want to create a 'wanted list' in BrickLink to help me identify a store that might have a wide variety of Exo-Force heads in the quantities I'll need. To do this I'll follow the same steps in the catalog as before, but this time I'll only look at the parts released in 2006 (year Exo-Force was released). Clicking on part 3626bpb254 (Ryo), I now have the option to add this piece to my wanted list.

Now, to make life easier you are going to want to create a project specific wanted list and not just add these parts to a generic set. This is accomplished by clicking on the radio button that says 'New Wanted List'. Give the list a name and proceed.

You can then add other project specific parts to this wanted list. In my case I'll add a selection of other Exo-Force heads. Once you've added the items of interest to this project specific wanted list, go back to the 'My Wanted List' tab and change the drop down box from '-All My Wanted Lists-' to 'My [Name] Wanted List' and clicking 'Go!'. This will take you to a listing of all items in your list for this project. Clicking a product type category will show you all of the stores that carry said products, their quantities, and prices. You'll have to compare across this list, but given that the number of stores here is limited, it shouldn't be too difficult.

I'm going to hold off on this for now, as I'll likely have other minifig parts to buy before I'm done. In the meantime, I do have an Exo-Force head in my personal collection that I can play with in the interim. Here you can see although I only have a partial torso and leg assembly, the head fits the concept quite nicely. Before I put some money against these items; however, I'll need to further explore other design elements. Namely, the hair and bandanna.

Tutorial: Removing Minifigure Arms and Legs

As part of my Naruto Shippuden custom project, I'll be needing to interchange some of the arms and legs to achieve the look outlined in my concept. This video tutorial comes courtesy of James over at LAMLradio/tv. James shows the 'proper' way to do this to avoid inadvertently cracking your torsos during the process. Be forewarned, just as heavy play and movement of the arms in the original torso can lead to loosening of the connection, so too can frequent interchanging.

 

As for the legs, many of the comments I found online were along the lines of, "Don't do it"...which made me want to do it even more! The issue? Many felt removal and reattachment of the legs was more difficult and carried a higher risk of damage due to the smaller, more delicate pins.

Not easily deterred, I went to Morgan19 and asked if he had any tips...and he did! In the artist's own words:

"Trying to describe the process amuses me because it's hard to put into words, but here's how I'd roughly go about doing it...

1) Make sure both leg/hip assemblies you're swapping around are attached to torsos– this gives you a greater surface area to hold onto.

2) Push the right leg up so it's angled forwards, like the minifig is kicking. That'll get the leg out of your way and give you a better angle to amputate the left leg.

3) Hold the torso with your right hand. With your left hand's thumb and index finger placed on the left leg's front and back sides (the thumb sort of rests in the front indentation between the foot and round part), pull it sideways away from the hips.

4) Straighten the right leg back down, and pull it off the hips– should be easy since there's no left leg in the way.

Then it's just a matter or repeating it with the leg/hip part you're putting the new legs onto, and pushing the legs back on. The trick is to get the first leg out of the way so you have room to grip the other one and pull it off sideways, with minimal wear to the hip peg."

I actually tested both techniques with success last night, so I can confirm they work (in my case) with no damage to the figure. Does that mean you'll have no damage every single time? No. But hopefully these approaches reduce the probability of damage, while increasing chances for success.

(Via LAMLtv and big thanks to Morgan)

The Journey Begins: Naruto Shippuden Custom

I'm sure that many readers who are into minifig customization have often said, "Sure. Cygnet talks a mean game, but what has he really done?" Those who can customize do, those who cannot blog about it, right? Well. I like to change that starting...now.

This begins a periodic series where I'll be detailing my journey in creating a custom minifigure using many of the tutorials and resources available on the internet. My hope is not to dictate that it's 'my way or the highway', but instead to show how anyone can do this (and trust me, if I can do it you can too).

I've chosen to create a custom Naruto Shippuden minifigure. Naruto is a series of manga and anime featuring a world where Ninja nations vie for power. The main character, Naruto Uzumaki, is a bit of an outcast with dreams of becoming leader of his village. Oh, and he has a nine tailed fox demon living in his belly button. If you would like to learn more about the character I would recommend reading the manga series from Shonen Jump or look here.

Being familiar with the character myself, the next step is to identify and isolate the design features that will make the character instantly recognizable, but still retain a LEGO minifigure look. A good resource on prepping for conceptual design is authored by Readbean from his Minifig Customization Network days and can be found here.

Looking at the reference photo you'll note that some of the main design features include the orange jump suit with black highlights, the blond anime style hair, and black bandanna with Konoha insignia. If we were to capture these elements alone, I could see 9 out of 10 people familiar with the character identifying it as Naruto. Secondary design elements include the leg holster, the shoulder badge, and facial markings. These secondary elements add some additional flavor and detail to the overall design. Much beyond this and I would suspect the figure will look cluttered.

These are just a few elements to consider at the concept stage. Now to get on with working out some details of the design. I am personally more of a pencil and paper person, preferring to sketch my designs before hitting the figs. I was able to find this template of a full, head-on minifigure. Using this blank template, I sketched out an initial design. I cannot emphasize how helpful it was to do this. I originally started from memory and got many of the design elements wrong. Combining this step with several reference photos will give you a much stronger vision for what you want to try and create. I've included a picture of my sketch here.

With final concept in hand, I'm ready to move on the the next stage and delve into the depths of BrickLink and find some raw materials for the project.