Tuesday, October 26, 2010

INTRODUCING "SO ANALOG"

so, here is the beginning. a couple of quick sketches way back in 2008. how time flies when you have too many projects goin on. the idea was to make figures out of old tech items that everyone used to use. i still need to finish the wings and halo.


i kept goin with the idea of old dead technology. i have a bunch more drawn up, but those are in another sketchbook and i haven't scanned them yet.


i built these 3 first in Rhino. i wanted to cover 3 areas, audio with the cassette, computers with the floppy, and video games with the NES cartridge.

as you can see, the original NES cartridge was almost an exact replica. apparently, i thought that would be cool, but then realized they all needed a lot more style and life put in them.


these were started way back in 08. just so happens that Mana Studios didn't have a 3D printer back then, so we had to use Morpheus. unfortunately, the parts weren't printed well. each one had areas of deformation. they gave me a small discount, but this little hiccup really derailed the whole project.

it's challenging to balance a day job, side business, and a personal life. it took a full year for us to get back to these figures, after the momentum was killed.

the cassette was re-output again, so he was even further behind the other figures. we also have some babies in our future, hopefully.


here's one of the first resin castings of 10-Doh!. the hands and feet were sculpted in castilene and taken to wax.


same as above, but this is fella is named A-Drive.


notice, still missing the someone.


finally, we got all three figures in resin. these guys were primered grey and black. most of the figures will be cast in colors from now on.


these were the first customs i did and they don't exist anymore. i did these temporary labels as a test. i later pulled the labels off and relabeled them. now scroll down.


here's the final A-Drive. his silver areas are a complete pain to paint. i'm hoping we can create a mask to make that a little bit easier.


finally, B-Side caught up with the other 2 figures. it took a while, but i'm happy with the way he turned out.


and here is 10-Doh! the most popular fella. all 3 were on display in the DKE booth at Comic-Con 2010.


group shots.

we are doin a custom show of 10-Doh! at D-con on Nov 20th in Pasadena. there should be around 30-40 artists participating, but we'll see how many actually show up. we'll also have some blanks ready and maybe a couple of surprises.

i hope to go into production with these figures sometime in the near future, but it all depends on if i can afford it.



Wednesday, October 20, 2010

HAPPY ACCIDENT

Steve James brought by a couple of boards before APE and this was one of them. the shop just happen to use a black board instead of a plain wood board. actually turned out pretty cool. so, now i have a exclusive 1 of a kind super limited special edition Squib board.

i haven't taken out of the shrink wrap. if i do, i'll post some better photos.

SQUIBS INVADE ROB DYRDEK'S FANTASY FACTORY

over the summer we were invited to stop by and visit the world famous Tracy Tubera at the Fantasy Factory. we got to see Tux as well.


we watch the TV show all the time, so it's always cool to go see the place in person. we met Big Cat while we were there, but still haven't met Drama or Rob. maybe, one of these days.


my little brother Dylan has spent the last 2 summers with us, and this was one of the things he wanted to do while he was in town. he had some fun in the foam pit and relieved some pressure in Drama's other office. ha.


the world's largest skateboard is pretty impressive.


more foam pit fun


we never get to drive the cars, but it's still fun to pretend.


went to Philippe's for lunch. my Grandpa introduced me to this place when i was 15. i try to go there whenever i'm in the area. the place has been around for 100 years. they have to be doin something right.

special thanks to Mr. Tubera for being such a gracious host and tour guide. i'd give him a tour of where i work, but he use to worked there. so, i don't have much to offer in that department.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

SQUIBS INVADE COMIC-CON 2010.....kinda

Comic-con is a madhouse. it's a fun madhouse, but still a madhouse. i've been goin for at least the last 7 or 8 years, but only as an attendee. i usually run around looking for new art/sketchbooks and exclusive toys.


we always see a lot of friends there. Mr. Dan Cote (creator of Zen the Intergalactic Ninja) was there signing his new 3D Zen poster. i always try to stop by and say hi to Greg Broadmore. i met him in New Zealand back in 04 while working on King Kong toys. i don't know Stan Lee, but it's always cool to see him, and the there is an old guy givin him the ol' stink eye in that photo. we met Linda Le aka Vampy Bit Me at WonderCon this year. she was super nice, so we say hi whenever we can. unfortunately, i don't know Sponge Bob personally.


once again, here is the world famous Tracy Tubera struttin his stuff, being famous, signing autographs, and getting free toys all over the place. he did spread the wealth a bit. i managed to ride his coattails a bit and got some free toys as well.


my Squibanimals custom was on display at the Toynami booth. it was pretty cool to see him on display.


thanks to Dov at DKE for displaying some of our Squib plush and debuting our So Analog figures. they were at the very bottom, but still got noticed. the Squibs will be available through DKE as soon as i can get our inventory into Dov's hands. So Analog will be for sale at D-Con on N0v 20th in Pasadena. we'll also have our first custom show there too.


Optimus and Ecto-1. i love them both. now all they need to do is combine them.


Ironman suits were old news this year, but old news at Comic-Con means you get close enough to actually see things and take photos.


some Green Hornet action. let's hope the movie is good.


i've already ordered this Thanos statue, cuz he's one of my favorite bad guys. and one day, i'll actually own one of those Captain America shields. hopefully soon.


the beautiful San Diego Convention Center. unfortunately, Comic-Con has out grown this building. we're on the waiting list to get a booth, but it's a long one. maybe we'll get lucky next year.

it's impossible to see everything at Comic-Con, let alone show it on my meager little blog. i would recommend that everyone experience in person at least once in their life. unless you hate cool stuff. if that's the case, stay home and watch sports.

Monday, October 18, 2010

APE 2010

unfortunately, i forgot all 3 of my Squibs on this trip, so the photos aren't quite as fun. hopefully you still like some of them.

i'm not a big jelly bean fan, but i do like Jelly Belly jelly beans. they had a great free tour, but didn't allow any photos inside. a bit disappointing, but still very cool. i had to take a picture of the VW Beetle because we play Slug Bug every single day.


The Duke and the creator of Star Wars, kinda. they had portraits of a bunch of people, but these were the best ones that were in photo friendly areas. pretty cool bean mosaics.


the best photo of the trip was when i caught both Jerome and Linda sleeping in the car. i only meant to get a photo of Jerome, so it was a happy accident to catch Linda too. we played some Ping Pong and lots of Connect Four. for some reason, i did really good at Connect Four. maybe everyone else just did really bad. either way, it was fun.


it was our first time at APE. we never even checked it out as attendees. the show seemed like a huge Artist's Alley. there were a ton of talented people there and lots of nice people. unfortunately, that didn't translate into big sales numbers. we did better than break even, but it was a slow show.


here is our friend Ed Rodriguez promoting his book Kiki Koki. check out kikikoki.com to see more. Jerome was nice enough to give an interview while at the show. i declined because cameras steal your soul and i don't like interviews.

the show was decent. we did get to meet some new people and hang out with good friends, but it wasn't a great show for us. we probably won't be back next year, but you never know.


SQUIBS INVADE MANA STUDIOS

well it wasn't really an invasion, and if it was, it happened a long time ago. i see the gang a Mana Studios on a regular basis. Jay Garcia is the Head Honcho there and has the business cards to prove it. we've known each other for at least 6 years now and he's helped me a lot with a ton of my personal and professional projects.

no photos of the inside for now, it's all top secret in there.

SQUID KIDS INK IN MONSTOBERFEST

once again Irene Medonis was nice enough to invite us to be a part of an art show she was putting together at Rothick art haus. i decided to do a Zombie Squib for the show.


this guy started the same way as always. a little bit of clean up and a healthy coat of primer. i also had to take a hammer to his head. just so happens that i tried cracking through the thickest part of his head. after all that, i drilled a bunch of holes all over his body for the stitching.


during the painting process i had to make some brains out of aluminum foil. i couldn't find a spoon that was the right size, so i took a little trip to Target and still couldn't find anything except plastic utensils. it ended up working out really well. i had to modify them a lot, but it was a decent challenge.


this is how he ended up. the knife, spoon, and fork worked well. the biggest time consumer was the wire stitching. i had a very short period time to finish this guy and it was a lot of fun to do.


here he is on display at the opening on Oct 9th.


here's Chito, Jerome, and Linda with their artwork for the show. i'm sure they have nice photos of their work on their blogs. Tracy Tubera also had a piece in there, but he didn't show up and i took a terrible photo of it, so i didn't want to post it.


the show was great. we got to see a lot of good friends and i even saw some family. the artwork was very good and they managed to put a bunch of paintings up without making it feel crammed. if you are ever in the OC you should check out Rothick art haus and see what their current show is. they also have Dr. Sketchy's live model drawing sessions, so check out their site www.rothick.com

while we were up in San Francisco for APE i found out the somebody decided to snatch up this guy. i was kinda hoping he wouldn't sell. i'm still not fold of selling my customs, but i'm happy somebody wanted it. hopefully i'll have time to make more.

SQUIB TECH DECK INVADES TARGET

so, Steve James not only helped get a Squid Kids Ink board made, he also had it made into a Tech Dech. i've had an early sample for months, but it was still exciting to see it actually in the store. i'll be buying everyone i see, so if you want one you better get out there and get one while you can.

i still haven't opened one, but i will soon and post some more photos.