So, having stumbled across a Voyager Class Animated Optimus Prime for a whopping $9 at Goodwill, I've decided to start looking at bringing the Kitty Truck into the world of Animated!

For those of you who don't know what my G1 Kitty Truck looks like, go check it out here. No really, I'll wait.
Alright!

Now then, once again; an original picture of the semi in question.


So, after I found some Animated Optimus Prime artwork, here's the craptacular MS Paint-based digibash that started me off on this path of obsession...

Now, the only reason I post this is because my original Kitty Truck project started out the same way, a craptacular MS Paint piece by me.

Well, I couldn't let that stand! I'd decided to download GIMP and give it a whirl. It's not like there are that many colors in the picture, right?
Well, it's not perfect (nor finished), but it's late and I wanted to post this.

Oh, if anyone is wondering why I removed the emergency lights, but colored the center piece silver? The original semi had a large Air Conditioning unit mounted to the top of the cab. I found it humourous that the Animated version of the semi would have something I had wanted to incorporate into the G1 version... I guess it makes things even, since I have to figure out how to add smokestacks to this one...

And since it turned out so well, I took a crack at the Robot Mode as well...


Now, does anyone have any advice for me on how to make those whiskers (and the sloping black bit on the bottom)??? I can't seem to figure out how to draw curved lines yet. Any advice?

 

I'd say that you should be able to create those shapes using a selection tool.

You knew that I'd really like this, didn't you?  

 

But of course sir! I knew you liked the last one I did, and the Animated mold just lends itself to this SO WELL! I'm really surprised I didn't jump into this one a lot sooner.

Thanks for the info on the scribing tool, I'll see what I can figure out...


You know, long as I can get older figures, or if they keep making Prime as a cab-over semi (or related), I'll have at least ONE custom I can pull off... Everyone else might do Ultra Magnus or Nemesis Prime/Scourges; but I'll always have the Kitty Truck!
 

 

Somehow I didn't realize that you'd come up with a name for the bugger.

 

Pretty cool for a Animated Optimus digibash. And I dig the Hilltopper name.

 

Yeah, I didn't think "The Kitty Truck" worked well as a proper Transformer name. Somewhere along the lines I remembered my Grandfather's CB handle (and the name of the high school football team where the Trucking company was based out of). Of course, "Hilltopper" sounded perfect, and why muck about with perfection?

Now, to muck about with the digibash. This is harder than it looks, I know that the Animated figures should be easier to do (less colors & details in them); but I'm having a heck of a time working on the whiskers... After getting aggrivated last night, I just tossed together this (VERY Quick & Dirty) pic w/ two versions of the whiskers...
Which looks better to you? The left side's "Toy" whiskers, or the "Real Life" styled whiskers on the left? (I'm not talking about the actual artwork, but the aesthetic OF said whiskers)

 

I'd go with neither. make them mirror the line where the orange and black meet. It'll flow really well visually, and give the animated version it's own flavor (which as an Animated fig, it should have I think).

 

wow, not bad, great job on that. i hope to see some more of your work.

 

I'd agree with you about the whiskers, but it was pointed out to me on another board that by using the "Toy" whiskers, the whiskers would be visable in ROBOT mode. I completely forgot about the dual-mode paint application! I can't see a good way to incorporate the whiskers onto Prime's abdomen and make them flow down from the chest. -There's just not enough plastic down there! I think they have a good point, that if I want to keep the whiskers in both modes, I'll have to stick with the "toy"-styled whiskers.

Even if I didn't want to keep the whiskers in robot mode (which I do), it would look a little abrupt with them suddenly cutting off at the bottom of his chest... I'll have to go back to the toy and get another look at him.

 

I don't know why it matters if they end abruptly in bot mode. you'll still see them.   you have to simply remember this isn't the G1 toy, so it can't be exactly the same paint-wise, which goes along with my point of having it's own flavor.

 

I see what you mean, I really do!
I'm going to attempt to muck about with GIMP a bit more and see what I come up with. The more ideas I can come up with NOW are better chances of me finding something that looks really GOOD on the figure (whenever I get around to working on him!   ).

Oh, and thanks again for all the advice, I really do (and always have) appreciated it!

 

that's the greatest thing about digibashing. so much easier to make changes before you start actually working on something.

 

LOL, it's almost 2am, and I've spent quite enough time on the Alt. Mode images! I've taken the head-on view of the truck mode and have done 3 possible options for the whiskers. Now, I got lazy/tired/bored and decided to do half, copy/flip/paste; only to discover that the original picture wasn't perfectly symetrical to begin with... So, please forgive me of that error. I'm just wanting to see what the whiskers would look like.
I give you:
"Toy":


"Truck":


and what I believe he meant...
"Redline":


OK, I *think* I may have drifted away from "Toy" after putting them together. I'm still kind of liking "Truck", but I could see where the last option could be easy enough to do, and *does* look pretty decent (definitely not 'show accurate', but it might do).

Next up would have to be a robot mode view of the stripes, just to see how they'd look...