Monster Guard

With all the parts safely in my studio, it was time to put them together and bring Aiden's idea to life.

I'd designed everything with tabs and sockets so that it could be slotted together relatively simply. All it required was a steady hand, a little patience, some glue and two M5 nuts and bolts.

Well, it turns out my expensive Super Glue just wouldn't glue and so, after some tactical swearing and a rethink, I turned to my trusty glue gun and finished the assembly quite quickly.

I'm pleased with the result. Designing the 3D structure was a challenge but I had great fun drawing the monsters. I hope Aiden is happy and I hope he continues to come up with great ideas in the future.

The scariest part of the making process can often be the silliest.

I'd completed all my design work and fired off the files through the internet to the reprographics company. All I had to do was wait for the files to be printed onto Correx board (think: estate agent's signs), cut out and delivered to me. I'd then assemble the pieces like a kit and deliver them to the Little Inventor's team at Attenborough Arts.

"Your packages will arrive on Monday between 9:30 am and 6:30pm said the automated message from the delivery company."

And so I waited. And I waited.  And Monday came and went. Tuesday arrived. Tuesday was the day I said The Monster Guard would be finished. But how could I finish something that was lost in the postal system?

I phoned the reprographics company, who phoned the delivery company. They said they'd tried to deliver to me but the packages had been refused by the homeowner. Perhaps the address was wrong? I pictured a baffled old lady shouting at the delivery driver: "I didn't order an intergalactic bed with integrated monster deterrent weaponry! Take it away at once!"

It turned out the address WAS wrong. So now my packages were back in the delivery van. Or back in the depot. Or back at another depot? No one was exactly sure. Meanwhile, the Little Inventors team were emailing, politely enquiring what was going on?

More waiting. And a little more. Then, at midday, a call came from the delivery company.
"We have your packages. We can deliver today."
 "That's great," I said. "What time today?"
"Er..." came the answer. "I don't know. But you could come here and pick them up yourself?"
And that's exactly what I did.

The next stage is to export all the pieces from the CAD model as flat pattern parts, rework the black and white illustrations so they fit, then colour the illustrations.

Between exporting the information from one application and importing it into another, the computer may decide to randomly resize everything. Working out why and how to fix it can take an extremely long time, involving many cup of coffee and lots of loud swearing.

I started by studying Aiden's original sketch. It's important to me that he recognises his ideas in my interpretation and feels connected to the project.

I then moved on to some very (very!) rough character sketches. Some more detailed sketches followed.

Next came the CAD model to see if my concept for Aiden's idea was even physically possible!