Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:44 pm
Wow, Mike Rayhawk on C-C! You're KKII drawings are awesome! I've never seen them before, but I've seen you're awesome Brikwars art. Keep up the great art!
The source for all your LEGO Castle needs!
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On concept work, making up new minifigs and elements is almost a daily occurrence - being able to custom up some physical examples is infinitely better for communicating new concepts than just drawing pictures.Recluce wrote:Can I tell you how pleased I am to hear that you know of rub'n buff? Ahh, yes, I certainly should have guessed you'd be on the dark side: you're an artist! Yes, that's right all you purists out there, he's a customizer! [sigh] I'm just so happy I don't know what to say.
Being an AFOL is actually a handicap in some ways - the designers who have kids playing with the toys have a big advantage over the designers who play with the toys themselves. Designs that appeal to the AFOL mindset are great for older kids, but younger kids don't play in the same way. Whenever an AFOL says "when I was a kid" he usually means "when I was 8 or 9" and forgets just how completely different his play styles and psychology were at ages 6 or 7. It 's taken me a long time to get past that mental roadblock.Recluce wrote:I'm glad you have and play with the Lego you help create. It speaks volumes of your confidence and satisfaction in the job you do. I know many of the lego employees either play with it themselves, or encourage their children to play with it. And I'm sure that it really enhances your art.... nothing like knowing what would appeal to the kids playing with Lego simply because you are a big kid playing with Lego!
I tend to keep a close watch on anything NELUG is doing, and there are a couple guys here in LUGOLA that I keep an eye on as well. There's so many specific guys that I could name - Shaun Sullivan, Dave Eaton, Bryce McGlone, Dan Jassim, Kotaro Ono - I have a giant folder of BrickShelf bookmarks on the computer at work. I also have a small army of AFOLs instant-messaging me with links whenever they come across something cool, and anything that gets mentioned over on MCN or Golden Shpleem automatically gets a look.Blueandwhite wrote:I was wondering, are there any MOCs or AFOL builders that truly impress you? For many castle fans such as myself, builders like Jojo, Dr. Carney and Marakoeschtra have provided unequalled inspiration. What fan-based MOCs (if any) have inspired you?
From earlier in the thread:JacobS wrote:thanks for anwering our questions
how did you get your job at TLG?
Rayhawk wrote:I went to a school with a very, very strong product design department, at a time when LEGO was re-activating a dormant concept studio in town. The new manager came to the school to interview graduating product designers for positions. Meanwhile, by complete coincidence, I was hanging up an illustration exhibition of Lego paintings. One of my friends caught the manager and dragged him over to my show, and the rest was history. At the time it was considered a crazy experiment, hiring an illustrator to do product design work. Now, three years later, the large majority of the designers in our concept studio are illustration grads.Blueandwhite wrote:I suppose its ok to ask how you happened upon such an interesting career. Looking at your portfolio, it is apparent that you are quite an accomplished artist. I was wondering how you ended up working with LEGO?
I wrote a longer version of the story on Lugnet shortly after word got out - you can still read it here. It's basically useless for helping you figure out how to get a LEGO job though.
If a LEGO job is something that you're interested in, you'll need a BFA in a design discipline, and a very strong design portfolio. At our specific studio, we tend to give preferential treatment to Art Center grads, and Otis makes a good showing as well because they have a solid program specifically for toy design. I think we're planning to cast a wide net for more designers over the next several months, so if you're in the L.A. area and have a strong design book, e-mail me and I'll make sure your name gets added to the hat.
I did concept work on specific aspects of Vikings from time to time, I can't go into much detail.Lord Nev wrote:Did you have a hand in the Viking design?
Exactly the opposite - just to get LEGO to consider letting me show a concept, it's got to already have been turned into real product, so that there'll be no danger of the competitors using the idea themselves. And even then they're hesitant. LEGO sinks a lot of time, money, and expertise into developing these concepts, and isn't ready to just hand them away to the competition.Bruce N H wrote:Are discarded concepts "legal" to publish, or do you still need to get permission to show off such things?
You know, I think I misremembered which set of photos were released - but the Morcian soldier character is still out in public, if you look in the comic pages in the backs of the instruction books for this year's Knights sets. Originally we'd been using the soldier as a sympathetic foil in a number of King Mathias' scenes, though he had to be mostly edited out as the product development got closer to the final versions. His one remaining scene is the shot where the Morcian army first arrives at Vladek's fortress, you can see him in center frame 'advising' the King about the fact that the drawbridge is still up.Sir Kohran wrote:Sorry if this is a bit off-topic, but did you mean the guy on foot in this picture?
Cowabunga, dude, serf's up.Shadow wrote:Admins: Don't you think you should change Rayhawk title to something more glorious?
LEGO employees are not allowed to talk about future products. As Jake McKee and Steve Witt have said in the past, nothing is ruled out for being made again, if LEGO chooses to do it.SgtDuckMan wrote:I know this is highly unlikely but are pirates, c-c or cowboys ever going to show up agien.