When we last took a look at my crochet history, I had mentioned thinking about making VintageBeef as a plushie, since his Minecraft skin is simpler (discounting the front of his chest with the apron).
I went through several searches for his skin on Google, and ended up at PlanetMinecraft.com. I compared all the different 'VintageBeef' skins available to the other search results Google had turned up before settling on the one I considered to be the most accurate.
Then I chose the 'papercraft' option, which generates a pretty good panel layout. And that's really the secret behind Minecraft crochet: find a way to get whatever it is you're trying to make into a papercraft pattern, and you can turn it into crochet panels!
Well, needless to say as discussed in a previous post, I succeeded with VintageBeef, who now happily resides in Dalian, China with April (and the latest creeper, who was glimpsed briefly in a post from last week).
Of course, I had taken tons of photos just to properly get an idea of the size and pose-ability of the plushies. Then I decided that I would keep track of my work using DeviantArt, and began establishing what I called the Minecraft Plushie Series (M.P.S.).
Regrettably, the first plushie is the only one not in the 'standard' pose.
I finished my own PauseUnpause; to date he is the only one.
Then I got a little crazy and sent BTC his own plushie.
Then I wanted to complete Team Canada with Etho.
Somewhere along the way, however, I got a message through DeviantArt from a gal who had commented on the VintageBeef picture. Her SN was PauseUnbeef, and she was the first person to order a commission!
Thus, I began tweeting out things like progress pictures for her, and then when I completed the plushie, I had to do group shots to prove that the plushie was indeed finished:
But my lovely, more-social-media-adept husband said...
"Why don't you put that up on the Mindcrack subreddit?"
I knew nothing about Reddit other than the fact that my husband's opinions were often down-voted because he's a sheriff's kid who owns a gun. It seemed like I was throwing myself into an online pirahna tank--offering my art in a feeble attempt to not get it ripped to shreds by rabid fans.
But I tried it:
And VintageBeef...well, you see.
(Yes, there was a FANGIRL FIESTA.)
The Panda was floored that I could attract 170 upvotes with a single post. (I had no reference for comparison; I just wanted to know why the 13 people who down-voted me did so.)
I'm a perfectionist, and I take rejection pretty hard.
Other photos from that session included:
Featured only on DeviantArt
Also posted on the Mindcrack subreddit
(It got about the same karma, but if Beef saw it, he didn't comment this time.)
Featured only on DeviantArt and Twitter
PauseUnbeef loved her plushie; he arrived in California safe and sound! Plus, I got more queries and interest in future commissions.
One thing I had decided from the outset, however, was not to flood the Mindcrackers every time I made a plushie of their character, or posted a photo. I needed to be strategic!
More about strategy and other commissions in the next post!
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