Earlier this week World of Pop! Volume 7 became available for purchase, capturing an entire year's worth of Pop! characters and representing dozens of fandoms and story lines. In addition to containing a basic marketing image of each Pop!, Funko's exceedingly talented art department collaborated to create stunning, artistic photos inspired by their favorite fandoms and characters.

Every year since 2012, Funko has released an art book and catalog documenting the year's worth of new Pop! figures resulting in World of Pop! Volumes 1-6. With a World of Pop! Volume 7 just around the corner, bringing with it a brief opportunity to buy the previous books as well, it seems like the perfect opportunity to celebrate and share some beautiful Pop! art.

Unfortunately, a single book can only contain so many Pop! images and World of Pop! Volume 7 simply didn't have space for all the photographs captured by the art team, however amazing they might be. Since many of the photos that didn't make the cut deserve to be seen, we'll be sharing them over the next few weeks. In addition to artistic photographs, each Didn't Make the Cut feature will include some background information from the artist that created the image--their relationship to the fandom and characters, any special techniques they used while capturing the photograph and interesting occurrences while shooting.

Happy looking and reading!

Artist: Kaysi Smith, Associate Rendering Designer

"For He-Man, I really wanted to recreate the classic '80s poster vibe! This is one of those cartoons that resonates with you as a child, and the distinct aesthetic is always a blast to re-create. Creating a poster-style image was a risk! Not many of our Pop! books' photos incorporate the logo of the brand, and usually we try and achieve images that make the Pop!s feel alive in the world! For me, He-man is best known for their poster images, and I don't think the Pop!s would have appeared as strong without showcasing that.

The Pop!s were shot individually in a studio. The environment and details are composites from stock photos, and painted effects. It was important to feel vibrant and vintage. He-man was the most fun to work on since there were so many elements that needed to be pulled together. I have a compositing background, this piece allowed me to play to my strengths!”