Hello everyone. I've been a fan of this website for awhile now and am constantly building a mental list of things I'd love to make from things I've seen on this website and elsewhere. I'm usually stopped short by lack of location to build the project or funds to do so. When I saw this contest I knew immediately what I wanted to make. This is not an original idea of my own unfortunately but this is a step-by-step of the method I used to build it. The project ended up costing way more than I intended but I had fun making it and it's one item I was able to mark of my to-do list. My inspiration for this project comes from the sculptures done by a pro-gamer/youtube vlogger named sWooZie. Check out his videos at http://youtube.com/swoozie06 and http://youtube.com/pressstart his sculptures appear in what I would assume is 80% of his videos.

Step 1: Materials List

There are many different methods that could be used to make this and I intend on using an alternate method if I do another. For this project I used.

1. 379 1 inch wood cubes
2. 6, 8 ounce samples of Valspar paint
3. 1 tube of Liquid Nails Fuze it

Step 2: Preparation for Paint

I purchased 400 1 inch wood cubes online from http://www.barclaywoods.com. You could also get 1 x 2 boards and cut the cubes yourself but I wanted simplicity and I don't own and power tools. The cubes cost me around $40.

Using an enlarged sprite I found online I laid the cubes out in a rough draft. I then removed cubes based on the color they needed to be and placed them in plastic bags for painting the next day.

Step 3: Painting

I was planning on using spray paint initially but I live in an apartment and don't really have a suitable place to do this so I hand painted 1 side only and will be going back to paint the visible remainder. I originally had written down what I wanted after browsing the colors on the Lowe's website however once I got to the store I looked over the swatches and picked what I felt would work best for the project. I went with the following:

1. Black: W42004A Cooled Lava
2. Red: WV 38014 Tomato Red
3. Yellow: LA815 Imperial Yellow
4. Gray: WV37006 Simply Gray
5. Skin Tone: LA714 Light Copper
6. White: WV31001 Clean White

Step 4: 2nd Draft - Prep for Glue

Not much to say about this step. After the paint dried I placed them back in their bags overnight so I could begin gluing the next day. Ideally I could've just placed them and went to sleep but as I stated I have limited space and wanted the living room floor clean for a bit.

Using my(now printed) sprite as a reference I began placing them again in order to recheck my count of each and see what the final product should be. You will want to use place holders for any open pixels. You may also want to secure any small animals away from the project as they will no doubt sabotage your efforts. In the last image below you can see what happens when I moved 2 feet away in order to setup a game on the PS3 for my 3 year old to play while I was gluing.

Step 5: Glue

I initially started off by doing things one foot at a time(pun intended). I was going to continue doing things by sections but after the feet and waist were joined this was no longer necessary and I completed it by doing a row at a time. I think this made the rest of the project more uniform. Cardboard was not the best choice of gluing surface but I was able to separate it from the cardboard with minimal effort. Next time I would like to use a more solid surface like a board or concrete but I made due with what I had on hand.

Step 6: Kneel Before His Psycho Power!

Finally after allowing adequate time for drying remove any(hopefully loose) spacer cubes and carefully separate from the gluing/drying surface. I had 2 cubes that were situated in a way that required me to tap them out gently. This was pretty nerve racking as I was extremely impressed it even held together(I guess liquid nails was a good choice?).

Step 7: Final Thoughts

The final product is 25 inches tall and 21 inches wide at the base. It took me at least 8 hours over all to complete and cost around $70. This is not counting watching paint and glue dry. Next time I will definitely find somewhere I can spray paint prior to beginning the project as it would've saved me at least 4 hours and would allow me to paint all 6 sides giving me more choice for consistency of color and texture as well as a backside to the project. I am considering attempting to paint the back now that it's finished and adding a cloth cape to complete his costume. If I do I will update the final image here.