SEY-GAH!! WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN.

So, here's a little behind the scenes of what could have been and why it's not gonna happen.

I don't always sketch out So Analog figures before sculpting them in Rhino. I use a real cartridge as reference a go from there. This was the 1st pass and pretty close to the final. The arm location was the only real change I made. I wanted the 10-Doh! arms to be interchangeable, so I also needed to adjust some of the geometry.

At SDCC 2013 a lady from Sega America approached me and we discussed doing a So Analog figure for Genesis's 25th Anniversary at SDCC 2014. Of course that was very exciting for me. We discussed doing a Kickstarter to get the funding and these are some of the concepts I mocked up shortly after.

It seems that all submissions had to go through both US and Japan approvals. This image shows a couple of the compromises that had to happen for this project. 1st, I mocked up Sonic using contemporary eyes, they wanted to use "Classic" Sonic eyes. Totally understandable. 2nd, I knew I'd have to raise a huge amount of money for new steel molds, so I wanted to just reuse the arms and legs from 10-Doh!. Then have new arms and legs as a Stretch Goal. 3rd, Japan totally rejected these designs, so I would have only been able to make Sonic figures with "Official" label art. Either they hated it, or it conflicted with their other licensing agreements. Sonic is their baby, so I'm sure they have lots of restrictions on usage, but still disappointing. 

I still kept plugging forward. I needed models for the Kickstarter video, so I spent money having the arms and legs modified by Mana Studios, but never printed them. 

We did print, mold, and cast up the body, but I just used 10-Doh! arms and legs. I wanted to do 2 Blank versions for customizers.  The licensing agreement included 4 games to start, plus additional games could be added later.

 Altered Beast was a quarter thief in the arcade, but it was a no brainer to do as a figure. The figure on the bottom would have been a Black Chrome Kickstarter exclusive. 

Golden Axe was another no brainer. It's still one of my favorite classic arcade games. I know there weren't any "gold" Genesis cartridges, but I still thought it would work with Golden Axe as a Kickstarter Exclusive. 

I never owned a Genesis, so my only Shinobi experience was from the arcade game which I still love.  I would have to do Revenge of Shinobi, because the original was on Sega Master System. I wanted to do a Chrome version as a Kickstarter Exclusive.

The obvious choice was always Sonic. The Blue Chrome version might have been an SDCC 2014 Exclusive. I was also going to be allowed to do Sonic 2 and 3 in the future. 

I wanted both of these to be Kickstarter Exclusives. They have the "NOT FOR SALE" on the label, just like the games you got with the Genesis system. It would have been a good way to differentiate Kickstarter figures from regular Sonic figures.  

Then, the week of D-Con I heard back that the original deal of doing a Kickstarter, then paying the royalty wasn't possible. That means they wanted their money up front and I'd lose it, if the project didn't get funded. 

I told them, that I'd still show them at D-con to see how much people reacted. And people loved them, but that didn't change the fact that I don't have the cash up front. 

Soooo, it pretty much died there. I couldn't bring myself to risk that up front money, or borrow the money. I'd rather put that towards other projects that I have full control over. I didn't quit my great paying job to do more licensed product. I didn't do 10-Doh! to hopefully get the Nintendo license. I make these figures because I love my memories of them. The parody is what I like about them. If I wanted the "official" art, I'd buy the actual game.

It's also a great way for me to work with a ton of artists and help get their art and brands out there more. I really didn't want to have to submit their art for "Licensor Approval".  

I really didn't like that they changed the deal or might have wanted approvals over all artwork. But I don't have any hard feelings. They have their company policies and the way they want to do business. This project just wasn't meant to be.

I'm still only 1 guy making toys and I'd much rather focus on what I really want to do. It would have taken over my life and delayed other projects. Of course, I may be kicking myself later for missing an opportunity, but for now it feels like the right choice. 

BLACK FRIDAY REJECT SALE!!!

I wanted to do something different this year for Black Friday. It's always a struggle to heavily discount the products I spent a lot of time and money to make. So, I'll heavily discount the stuff that factory messed up and I couldn't justify charging full price for.

Why were these figures "rejected"? Well, some are pretty apparent, others are pretty minor. The factory I used didn't always pay enough attention while applying the labels. Some have bubbles, some have creases, or even both. Either way, I didn't like the way they looked, so they got sent to the reject bin.

I obviously have quite a few that I thought were too messed up to sell at full retail. The wrinkles on this Knock Out!! label are about as bad as it gets, but still unacceptable. 

Why sell rejected figures? Well, only the labels are ugly, and there's a great Blank 10-Doh! under that messed up label. It will take a little work and some adhesive remover, but it's not terrible.

Why are they random? It's just easier that way. I don't want to deal with requests for certain designs. You'll get what you get. If you order multiples, I'll make sure you don't get any duplicates. Not that duplicates matter, if you're gonna remove the labels anyway.

Will I get a gold one? Maybe, maybe not. The golds are more problematic. Adhesive remover might also remove the gold color. You might not care that the label is a little messed up, so instead you just got a really cheap gold figure.

Do they come with arms and legs? Of course, these are complete figures, just with poorly applied labels.

Do they come in package? Nope, but if you really want a box, I'll send you one per figure ordered. But only if you request it.

What's the price? $20 each. That's 15 bucks off retail and 30 bucks off, if you get a Gold. Puls shipping, of course.

This deal will be available from midnight to midnight on Black Friday on www.squidkidsink.bigcartel.com Also, stay tuned for some Cyber Monday deals. Not sure what they'll be, but there will be something. 

ANTE UPS SECRET ORIGINS. HA!

Ante Ups has been in development limbo for over 5 years. The original models were in scale with my 7" 10-Doh! figures. Here are the original sketches from Jan 08 and photos of the resin figures that were never released.

Craps (The Chip) was originally a completely blank disc. Once I decided to rework and release Ante Ups, I knew Craps needed the most work. Short Stack (The Die) original sketch had some wacky curves, but the original sculpt is essentially unchanged. 

I redid Stud (The Card) to have the same arch as all of my So Analog characters. The original model has a pretty extreme bow to him. I knew I needed to modify him so his body would work with the existing So Analog arms and legs.

Like always, Mana Studios did the molding and casting.

Stud was meant to use the same arms and legs as 10-Doh!. I plan on making the arms and legs interchangeable between all So Analog and Ante Ups figures. 

Craps was supposed to use the arms and legs or A-Drive, but I haven't been able to afford to produce A-Drive yet. So, I need to make sure that 10-Doh!'s arms and legs will work with Craps' body.

Short Stack also got the short end of the stick. I wanted him and B-Side to have the same arms and legs, but you've heard that story already. Ha.

Unfortunately, these group shots don't really show an accurate size comparison.

Thankfully, I've found my original set and the some extra castings. I've decided to sell some of the castings at Dcon this year, but I don't know for how much or how many will be available. Right now I can't find the arms and legs, so I might have to use 10-Doh! arms and legs for them. All future releases will be made from new models and molds.

DESIGNER CON 2013 COVER......WOOHOOOO!!!

Last year I was lucky enough to be giving the opportunity to do the back cover for the Dcon 2012 program. I must have done an ok job, because they offered me the front cover shortly after the show. Of course I waited till the last minute to do this one. Oooops. Here's some of the stages of development.

I used my Rhino models as underlays and actual elements for the final illustration.

I probably do some unnecessary steps every time I do an illustration, but that's how my brain wants to work. I print out low opacity images and trace/redraw stuff. It's similar to using a lightbox for doing overlays.

The sketch on the left was done on a Cintiq, then printed and cleaned up on copy paper with a pen. The sketch on the right is a rework of the middle clean version. I didn't want this illustration to be super clean like last years back cover, so I went back in and put some life back into it.

These are the 3 teaser images that I posted on Instagram.

This cover was a challenge for me. I was pretty happy with what I did last year, but I didn't want to do a complete retread of last years concept. The 2 images on the left we too boring and just showing off the new characters. To me, Dcon is about artists creating stuff, and I still wanted that represented in the illustration.

 Here's the final, but it still has the bleed on it. So, the actual printed program won't have such a thick ink border. It's also missing my signature. Is it better than last years?? Maybe, maybe not, but I still like it. 

Everyone that attends Dcon 2013 should get one, so you can't complain about that price. I'm also doing 10 Preview Editions of the each Ante Ups figure, but those might be pricey. Stop by booth #332 at the Pasadena Convention Center Nov 9th and 10th and say "hi". I'll be on my best behavior, so I should say "howdy" back. 

DCON EXCLUSIVE FOREST STROLL LORD

 Way back at WonderCon in March, I was in the middle of the Mini 10-Doh! Series2 Kickstarter and was still trying to plan out the rest of the year. I knew I needed to do some more Limited Edition Mini 10-Doh! figures down the road. SpankyStokes stopped by the booth like he always does, and this is the result of our conversation.

Spanky teamed up with Playful Gorilla and they came up with the Forest Stroll Lord Mini 10-Doh!.

I made up 40 of these guys for them. 

soooooo pretty.

 We split the 40 figures, so we'll each have them at our booths. I doubt there will be any left after the show, but if there are, we'll be selling them online as well. 

Don't miss out on this or all the other great stuff at Designer Con Nov 9th and 10th at the Pasadena Convention Center.

Check out more of their stuff at www.spankystokes.com and www.playfulgorilla.storenvy.com

DIE JAR JAR DIE!!

This terrible character might not be the only reason that I'm no longer a huge Star Wars fan, but he is a major contributor. I wasn't really planning on being a part of this show, but once I thought about it, I couldn't resist showing my disdain for the existence of this character. 

This was the original sketch I did in my sketch book. Pen and ink like usual. I had a loose idea of what I wanted to do, but it wouldn't fit on the page.

I roughed out the 8.5" x 11" layout in photoshop and printed out a really low opacity template to ink.

These are the 3 teaser images i put up on Instagram a while back.

 Here is a scan of the final illustration. Of course I modified some things while inking. It's a bit chaotic, but I'm pretty happy with the it overall.

You can see and buy this heartfelt homage to Jar Jar at Dcon in Pasadena on Nov 9th and 10th. Here's more info about the show. Tons of great artists involved.

DKE Toys presents “The 99 Deaths of Jar Jar”

A two day only group art show exclusively at

Designer Con 2013

Saturday, November 9 & Sunday, November 10,  9am – 5pm

Pasadena Convention Center, 300 East Green Street, Pasadena CA 91101

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

DKE Toys presents “The 99 Deaths of Jar Jar”, a group art show featuring 99 artists. Each artist was asked to submit a black and white, pen and ink illustration on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and chose one way to maim, torture, and/or kill our least favorite Gungan.

Participating Artists Include:

64 Colors - A Little Stranger - Doktor A. - akirophoto - Ardabus Rubber - Asaad - Atila - Jason Atomic - Super Cooper Berella - Bigfoot - Joemm Blanche of CBNC - Botsch - Jon Burgerman - Candy - Nate Carle - Luke Chueh - Nicholas Dewey - Luis Diaz - Mike Egan - Dez Einswell - Brent Engstrom - Gus Fink - Frédéric Fleury - Brian Flynn - Steve (Go Hero) Forde - Free Humanity - Renee French - Gregg Gibbs - Darren Goldman - Dan Goodsell - Grenadier Stinny - James Hakola - Gary Ham - Nathan Hamill - Joshua Herbolsheimer - Jesse Hernandez - Francisco Herrera - Kerry Horvath - I Heart Guts - Jay222 - Jeremyville - JSalvador - kaNO - KiLL! - Sun-Min Kim + David Horvath - Scott Kinnebrew - Jim Koch - Frank Kozik - Wade Lageose - L'amour Supreme - Leecifer - LiLJAPAN - Abe Lincoln Jr. - Andy Linke - Jerome Lu - Madtwiinz - Jim Mahfood aka Food One - Man One - Manly Art - Randy Martinez - Mauricio Tubesteak - El Maz - MCA - William Luke Miller - Miso - Nate Mitchell Squid Kids Ink - Nick the Ring - Brent Nolasco - Mitch O'Connell - Odio - olive47 - Jordan Owen - Virva Peikko - Ritzy Periwinkle - The Pizz - Playful Gorilla - PodgyPanda - Poulin Eurlegg - Dave Pressler - Ted Rall - Rob Reger -   Renone - Jermaine Rogers - D. Ross "scribe" - Johnny Ryan - Phil Ryan - Dave Savage - Nick Sawyers - SERBAN - Skinner - Bwana Spoons - Scott Tolleson - Triclops Studio - Tracy Tubera - twerps! - Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca - valleyDweller - Denise Vasquez - Scott Wilkowski - Neil Winn - David Zajdman

Jar Jar Binks was contacted for comment about the event and noted about the show, “Why meesa so hated?”

This art show is not sponsored or endorsed by Lucasfilm, and has no relationship with them in any way.

Jar Jar Binks and all related intellectual property is copyright and/or registered to Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All rights reserved. But who would really want to own the rights to Jar Jar anyway.  Go step in poo doo.

Rumor has it that there may or may not be a corresponding collectable program (er.. crappy zine.. er..something) but that remains to be seen. Show up for more details…

Images will be posted here  http://www.flickr.com/photos/dketoys/sets/72157635662424295/

MINI 10-DOH! SERIES2 COMPLETE SET UNVEILED

 well, if you haven't heard, i have a Kickstarter Campaign goin on right now. i unveiled 1 figure per day over the 1st 16 days of the campaign. there are 4 common, 4 uncommon, 4 rare, 4 ultra rare. there's still time to contribute and get the Kickstarter Exclusive figures, so please don't hesitate.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/185624469/mini-10-doh-series2

i'll be posting more add-ons soon, so stay tuned and please help spread the word.