Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

Art by Christopher Carter

I go back and forth between doing complicated art and more simplistic. I want to keep arting but I also want breaks from the mental strain of having to draw things completely from scratch. These next four are are more paint jobs over the original line work.

I had been wanting to do some Lego themed vehicles for a while. It just so happens some of my favorite Lego sets are based on my favorite Chinese fables. Lego has taken the stories of 西游记 (Xīyóu Jì) “Journey to the West” and applied it to a theme they call Monkie Kid.

The main characters of the original stories are Sun Wu Kong- The Monkey King, Zha Wuneng or Baijé- a perpetually hungry pig man who also seems to hopelessly like pretty ladies, and Sha Wujing- a very large River demon with blue skin and orange hair. These guys follow and assist a monk named Tang Sanzang who is journeying to the West. Also there’s a prince named Bai Longma, who can turn into a kind of dragon horse called a Qilin (≈Chee-lin). See the film “Fantasic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” to hear people constantly mispronounce that creature’s name!

I don’t mean to do a whole Monkey King lore dump on you right now. It’s just that the artworks I’m about to present require some explanation or they can appear a little bizarre to the uninitiated.

Lego turned these traditional characters into the following:

Monkie Kid (although they later introduce the genuine Sun Wu Kong).

I wanted to present Lego elements without losing the original shape of the car. The headlights, rooftop speakers, the smoke coming out the jet engine, these are all depictions of actual Lego pieces and constructs one can build. The jet engine fits the over-the-top designs of the many Lego sets associated with Monkie Kid. The only thing missing is a small apartment with an A/C unit in the back. (I’m half joking… but only half.) Very pleased with this one. I don’t know why I love caution stripes so much. I think they just add a touch of realism for me.

The traditional character of Bai Longma seems to be congruent with the female character Lego calls “Mei”. I say congruent simply because she seems to be associated with all the dragon/horse themed vehicles. I don’t recall a love interest for Sun Wu Kong in the traditional stories but Lego probably thought it good to get some girl representation in there.

Admittedly, there’s not a whole lot of Lego going on with this one, aside from the gold piece coming out of the gun. The neon green windows hints at it a bit more. I think the gold effect looks really good on the trim. The unique tire design evolved out of laziness but I like the result. It was simple and it looks cool. That’s a win-win in my book.

Baijé, or “Pigsy” as Lego calls him, is all about the food.

I probably say this a lot but this is another favorite (above). There’s just so much to look at. The huge attention-getting wok of noodles effectively covers up the gun. So maybe this one leans more toward food and away from combat. Whatever. I liked doing the details like the little soy sauce and sriracha and the hardly noticeable propane tank in the back. Baijé is often depicted with a rake which I regrettably neglected to include in this design. I suppose one could argue the red roll bars and front guard could be construed as an allusion to the rake but that’s a long shot. I think I’d like to do a vehicle for Pan and his Speedy Panda business. That sounds fun.

Finally today we have Sha Wujing, who is frequently referred to as “Sandy” in not just Lego iterations. Sha Wujing litterally means “Sand” and “Awakend to purity” citing his origin as a sand/water demon and his conversion. He is huge, even as depicted by Lego but is often revealed to be a gentle giant. Lego demonstrates this aspect with his love for his cat “Mo” who strangely has Sandy’s same color palette and Mohawk.

Right off the bat I know I wanted to incorporate Sandy’s magenta prayer beads (previously the skulls of nine monks… a long story not depicted by Lego.) I had several ideas on how to do this but finally decided on adding a third wheel between the regular two. I think it works okay. Even with this aspect, some have assumed this vehicle pertains to Perry the Platypus, much to my chagrin.

Perhaps my pathos from that exchange has lead to this long-winded explanation of these characters and my designs to prevent such confusion.

Tang Sanzang, the monk these people are following does get representation in these sets but I have been hard pressed to come up with any designs for him. He’s not exactly the most interesting character to me. There are a bevy of villains I’m considering but we’ll see. There’s an ebb and flow to my interest and ambition, and it takes some time to come back to old ideas. We’ll see.