Comic books. Graphic novels. Some sneer, some argue about what they should be called, some appreciate the artistic merit and ability to portray that which other media could not and some see an opportunity for realising those stories through many a multi-million earning movie franchise. Some of the most popular, and indeed best, movies of this millennium have been of graphic novel origin.
Unveiled at the Comic Con San Diego, these graphic novel character models of MONO from SR Partners, 3D printed by 3DPRINTUK on an EOS FORMIGA P 110 industrial system show just how well graphic novels (making the fantastical reality) and 3D printing (making the digital physical) now go hand in hand. Here, apparently, is MONO, a character that seems to be from the Helly Cherry underground webzine – research wasn’t too easy on this one I must confess. Being a technical journalist is naught if interesting and insightful!
When it comes to superheros, Batman and the X-Men get my imagination going more than any others. Batman has no superpowers, something unique but for Ironman and personifies the strange possibility that even the deepest abyss of darkness may ultimately bring goodness.The X-Men interest me almost as much when considering how animate forces that transcend the physically possible would interact with each other as ancient Greek mythology does. Just my take on it.
Their brief says that SR Partners looked into the process of modelling MONO only from sketches provided by the artist. They then aimed to create a limited run of 3D prints which would then be hand painted, signed and displayed in their own bespoke cases. MONO has a lot of small and important details from his utility belt to his stitching in his combats so the artist, studio and printers had to work closely to make sure all was perfect. The result is wonderful:
The end result was four 240 mm 3D printed models all created on the EOS P100. Three of these have been hand painted from bespoke colour schemes. Two of the models are now on the comic / graphic novel event circuit, and will continue to be exhibited at events in the near future.
As per my thoughts in the recent 3D printing and Disney article about the potential of Disney facilitating the crowd-sourcing of fan ideas for the Star Wars universe for the forthcoming J.J. Abrams Star Wars Episodes 7 to 9, 3D design and 3D printing has great potentiality in the realm of fantasy. It’ll be good fun to see the cool work of artists, CAD designers, 3D print technicians and home makers in the future!
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Source & images: 3DPRINTUK
