D-CON 2011

 this was our 3rd year at D-Con and it just keeps gettin better. it's hard to tell from the photos, but people were lined up behind those columns.

 

we set up on friday and saturday morning. it's always takes longer than we think it should.

we only got to walk around before the show started, so we didn't get to see much other than empty booths. overall saturday was a pretty busy day.

here is Linda Hong at our booth puttin on a happy face.

these 2 beautiful men are Chito A-Word and The World Famous Tracy Tubera. Chito did the graphics for our KnockOut!! 10-Doh! and Tracy did the graphics for Super Double Ninja Battle Bros. they were there sellin some of their fancy drawlings.

we had some co-workers take at convention life. our friends at Mana Studios and Neil Winn were also showin and sellin stuff.

D-Con felt slightly more official in the new location this year. Ayleen and Ben did a great job making it easy to sign up, set up, and tear down. it's the easiest most casual show we do. i hope that never changes.

we didn't sell as much as we thought or hoped we would, but it was still a good show for us. 1 day just doesn't seem like enough time for D-Con. hopefully it continues to grow, so we can actually have some time to enjoy the show as well. i barely had time to take photos and look at anything, but 1 busy day is still better than 2 slow days.

DOKTOR A = AWESOME

 A-mazing

i met Dokor A after D-Con last year. our friends George and Ayleen from October Toys and Toybreak fame introduced us and we all went out for lunch one day. i happen to have some castings in my car because it was the day after D-Con, so i gave him a Squib Kid to customize. 

i know this figure was done a while back and some people may have seen it already, but it's ridiculously good. i had to post it for more to see. he also said he was goin to do a Squib custom for a show next year. i can't wait to see what he comes up with next. you can check out more of his creations at http://spookypop.com/

MONSTOBERFEST 2011 OPENING NIGHT!!

 the turnout for Monstoberfest was pretty good. they had Dr. Sketchy's "undead" zombie drawing goin on out front.

 

Chito had 2 illustrations in the show see his stuff at www.kwestone.blogspot.com. Andrew Bell had a pretty awesome zombie candy corn.

unfortunately, these 3 didn't have great placement, so it was tough to get good photos. check out there stuff at www.lindapanda.blogspot, www.vivdesigns.blogspot.com, www.gohyperactivemonkeygo.blogspot.com.

 Mana Studios had these and other on display. you can see more of their work at www.manastudios.biz

the paintings on the left are done by Neil Winn, see more at www.neilwinn.com. the painting on the right was done by Paul Wilson.

 they had my stuff on display out in the middle and behind the counter. seemed like good placement to me. 

this was only year 2 for Monstoberfest and overall i think it was a really strong show. there was a wide range of art. tons of creepy stuff, some cute stuff, traditional and digital painting and a decent amount of sculpture. i know we sold some figures, but i don't know how many yet. i think most people are still on tight budgets, but i know some of the art sold. hopefully each year continues to get better.

SQUID KIDS INK at MONSTOBERFEST 2011

 it's that time again.....??? Halloween time, which means Monstoberfest time. our friend Irene is curating the show again this year, so we'd never say no. Linda, Chito, and Jerome are all entering art pieces as well our friend Vivian Nguyen and some other folks we know.

this project was planned a while ago, but i always planned on debuting it at Monstoberfest.  here are a couple of rough sketches

 So Analog is all about remembering long dead technology that a lot of us grew up with. Linda Hong threw out the idea of Night of the Living Dead while i was in Hong Kong, so i ran with it. here's a comparison image of the original NOTLD poster and my refined sketch.

 for Monstoberfest i did a small run of 10 prints at 11x17. each is signed and numbered and will go for 30 bucks each. #1 will be framed and goes for 50 bucks.

i'll also be debuting my NOTLD Technology 10-Doh! figure that night for 35 bucks each and is limited to 100 pieces. or you could grab a print and figure for 60 bucks. that's an amazing 5 dollar discount.

the show opens at 7 and we'll be there for a bit. it's a tiny little gallery in Orange County, but i've seen some of the art already and there is a wide range from super creepy to super cute. stop by if you can.

SQUIBS INVADE LONG BEACH AQUARIUM

off to see some fishes at the Long Beach Aquarium. woohoo.

you can't miss the guy, or maybe girl.

they have all kinds of creatures to see. this photo doesn't show how huge that clam really is.

these were by far the largest crabs i've ever seen. the just seem like giant bugs to me. not too appetizing

more fishes

i always like seeing Jellyfish and other similar creatures. we were actually allowed to touch some Jellyfish. not these ones of course.

i didn't get any decent photos of the Sea Horses, but the Sea Dragons turned out ok. and we didn't get to pet that Jellyfish either.

the shark feeding time was fun to watch. it was a bit crowded, but it didn't take too long to get a good view.

Baby Kermy wanted a photo with my Squib. couldn't refuse that photo op. afterwards, Chito took us to his local comic shop, Amazing Comics. it's a very good shop. lots of toys at decent prices. i even got my Silver Surfer TPB for less than cover price.

 the Long Beach Aquarium was pretty crowded when we were there on a Thursday. it seemed a bit expensive, but i figure it take a lot of clams to feed all of those fishes, ha (lame). we only spent around 2 hours there, but i'm sure you could spend a lot more time and watch some of the movies. 

they have a lot of areas to touch a lot of sea life and other things to do. i can't believe it took me over 10 years to finally take a visit.

10-DOH! DEBUT AT GALLERY 1988 ON 9-16-2011

above are some low res images i snagged form the gallery website, but you can read the important parts. Gallery 1988 Venice, Sept 16th - Oct 8th.

for the first and last time this little beauty "Skel-10-Doh!" by KwestOne will be for sale. he never wanted to sell it before, but he's now willing to part with it for a price.

also available for the last time "Star Smasher" by Mana Studios. this stands just over 13" tall. maybe i can convince Jay to let me keep it, if someone doesn't snag it at the gallery.

for all of those people out there that can't spend a paycheck on some 1 of a kind art, this pretty little number will be available for the 1st time ever. Andrew Wilson was kind enough to do another label to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of everyone's favorite golden game. titled "It's Dangerous to Go Alone", this is the 2nd 10-Doh! gold figure and is limited to 100 pieces.

here's the front label

here's the back label

also, each "Dangerous" gold figure also comes with 5x7 mini print by Andrew Wilson.

i'm not a huge fan of art openings, but i'm sure i'll be stopping by the gallery to take some photos and see the other artwork. it's only a few days away, so spread the word if you can. if the gold figures don't sell out, i'll put them up for sale on the website after Oct 8th. that way some non-LA people can get their hands on one.

SQUIBS INVADE PALM SPRINGS

this was our first trip out to Palm Springs and the sole purpose was to ride on the tram.

the tram on the left is the old version and on right is the new fancy version. the new ones can fit 80 people, only takes 10 minutes, and rotates 360 degrees twice each way.

up top it was around 30 degrees cooler and a completely different environment.

this is a fake panoramic shot from up top.

the station at the top had lots of viewing areas and places to sit and relax.

this little buddy was brave. he was hopin we'd share our Trader Joe's lunch. he was brave, but unlucky.

see if you can spot the Squib.

we spent around 4-5 hours hiking around, eating lunch, and looking around the visitor center. we got a little lost, but not bad. after all of that, it was time to return to the heat. blah.

 

 

 it costs around 25 bucks per adult to ride the tram. that seems expensive, but we spent a lot of time up there and had a great time. i'd recommend it to anyone that wants to get away from LA for a day.