Recently got into The All Star Vinyl figures from Upper Deck. I really like the look and proportions of the figures — thought they were pretty fun. I picked up the Kevin Garnett figure (longtime KG fan) as well as the LaDanian Tomlinson figure (thought they did an excellent job with him). My brother got me the Lebron James figure as a gift.

I also really liked the concept art that went into designing these figures. I thought I’d try my hand at being a toy designer and seeing what I would come up with if I was to design one. Being a big Golden State Warriors fan, I thought I’d design one of Monta Ellis.

I did my best to stay with the themes that I see in the current figures — standing pose, holding a basketball, oversized feet, accurate player shoes.

Another thing I like about the figures is the attention to detail that goes into them. Like the accurate players shoes and things like wristbands and headbands that are accurate to what the player uses. So for my design, I drew the player exclusive AND1 shoes that Monta wears (the ME8). Also made certain to put the flexible knee brace on him. I did my best to draw his tattoos, but had to make some judgement calls. Believe it or not, it was hard to get clear pictures of them. If I was designing the official figure, I’d hope I’d have access to good reference. Also, because his tattoos had lots of fades and renderings, I had to simplify them. I took the approach that if the tattoos were painted on the figures, they’d have to be simple or it’d be too hard to do.

I decided to go one step further and emulate the box art. I preferred the box art from the previous release over the current, so I emulated the older version.

Had fun with this piece… maybe I’ll do more in the future. 🙂

If you wanna check out more concept art from the All Star Vinyl figures, check out the DeviantArt galleries of Chris Brunner and Khary Randolph. I also know that Sean Galloway  did some designs as well, but didn’t see them in his gallery…

*Addendum 3/12 — Updated Monta’s uniform to the 2012 jersey with the new Bay Bridge logo on it. Posted it the day he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. 🙁 He will be missed.

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[11″x14″] Col-Erase Pencil -> Micron Pens -> Photoshop