So January comes to a close, it’s gone by so fast that frankly, we’re a bit shell shocked….
Awful pun… but we have the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles closing out the first month of the year for our ACBA image of the week!
COWABUNGA!
The shot(s) this week come from a previously featured artist, Jan IIe Ng, we reached out to him to see how these awesome shots came together and this is what he told us:
“In my main photo, we see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, based on the 2012 Nickelodeon series, facing off the Kraang: pink, brain-like aliens controlling robot bodies. My recent craze for the turtles stemmed from chancing upon someone selling all 4 Revoltech TMNT figures, brand new, at a decent price. Released in 2014, these figures are now severely overpriced, which initially made me not dive into this series. But after procuring these figures, I began binge-watching the cartoon, and started expanding my TMNT toy collection!”
“My photo was inspired by the opening theme song of the cartoon, where we see the 4 turtles looking badass with their white-out eyes, which indicated their “serious ninja mode”. I really liked that concept, and the Revoltech figures were able to have their eyes turned all white. Furthermore, the articulation on these figures allowed me to put the turtles in really cool poses, such as Leonardo reaching behind to grab his katanas. I began posing each turtle in a cool battle stance, with their white, serious ninja eyes. From the opening theme I felt that having a green mist illuminating the turtles would seem fitting, so I placed two phones with bright, green screens on the diorama floor, posed the 4 brothers on the phones, and used cotton to conceal the phones, giving the “green mist”! I next placed my Kraang figures around the turtles, trying to cast the illusion that the turtles were fending off a Kraang army! While setting up the shot, I would listen to the theme song to get into the mood! I wanted my love for this series to flow into the photo; to let viewers feel how badass and cool these turtles are.”
“Satisfied with my main photo, I next wanted to show the turtles kicking some butt, which led to my group shot of the turtles thrashing the Kraang. While I tried to pose each turtle to tell a story on their own, my favorite was Leonardo’s posing, where he looked like he was hunting down a Kraang. I was moving away from the “cool battle stance” in the main photo, to a more action-oriented photo. We have Donatello sending one Kraang into the dumpster, Raphael beheading a Kraang while disarming another, and Mikey sending a nunchuck hurling towards the head of another Kraang. All this while, with a Kraang on the ground trying to escape the ninja turtles. While not as satisfactory to me as compared to my main photo, I still enjoyed the process nonetheless!”
“Like before, my work can usually be found in ACBA’s FB group or on my instagram: @jan_says_meow”
Brilliant work by Jan as always, we definitely suggest you check out his work if you’re not already familiar.
Big thanks to Jan for letting us feature his image, and thanks to you for reading.
Until next time, Goodbye!