18”x24” acrylic on canvas painting.

To accompany my Blacktron II Minifigure painting, I’ve created this partner painting in the same style. The base is an acrylic paint pour of red, yellow, and orange, then the actual minifigure painting was made rather quickly and completed in just a few days. After painting the minifigure, I added a subtle neon yellow glow just like its Blacktron II counterpart.

Back in the early 1990s, LEGO released a series of space scientists and engineers called M:Tron, who used real magnets with their various spacecraft. A key design detail of the M:Tron theme was how they had fluorescent green visors, lasers, and spaceship canopies, which glowed on their package designs and promotional material. As a kid, I always loved their aesthetics, especially since my favorite colors were red and black, which were the main colors of the M:Tron theme. The glowing green highlights of their designs always caught my eye, as did the subsequent Blacktron II theme.

This is officially the final piece of art I’ve created in New York City, and I’ve painted this specifically to bookend my time as a New Yorker. As of fall 2026 I’ll be back in my hometown of Lancaster, PA after living in New York City for over 16 years. Exactly 17 years ago from the time of this post, I first attempted to paint portraits with acrylic paint. The very first painting I’ve ever made was this exact M:Tron minifigure concept, albeit made with cheap craft paints and poster board. Back then I received a lot of negative criticism for my attempt of making a self-taught painting, and due to the backlash I would only sporadically tinker with painting during the 2010s, often with similar cheap paints and poster boards with much criticism. It wasn’t until late 2023 that I decided to get back into trying fine art painting, and throughout 2024 to present day I would focus on honing my skills with painting as my primary creative outlet.

So now 17 years later from the time I first attempted painting, as I’m preparing to leave New York I’ve painted this M:Tron spaceman minifigure to commemorate the journey I’ve taken as an artist, and where it all began as I first picked up a brush and attempted to paint a portrait of this same spaceman.