SANTA HAT MINI 10-DOH! TOMBSTONE

 i know all the mass market businesses have been cramming Xmas down everyone's throat since Halloween, but i wanted to wait until Dec 1st. i like non-traditional Xmas decorations and so i thought i'd make one. it's pretty obvious that this Mini 10-Doh! Tombstone is based on a Santa hat, but this might be one Xmas decoration that you can keep out year round.

once again, my good friends at Mana Studios did the casting and they look great. i will be painting the darker red wash, signing, and numbering all 25 figures. 

i wanted to stick with the 25 Days of Xmas theme, so they're only available for 25 days, we're only making 25, and they only cost 25 bucks each. that's 5 bucks in Xmas Spirit Saving.

these won't be available after Xmas day. all Tombstones that don't sell, will be given away to friends and family as Xmas presents. i wouldn't count on getting a free one for being on my "Nice List", it's a pretty short list. so, order starting tomorrow.

MECH CYCLONE DEVELOPMENT

this is the original Zangief sketch i did on my Cintique. it was only about 2 inches tall and meant to be a proportion test. i was playing around with the idea of doing a Mech Zangief factory scene, but that wasn't really gonna happen. i did a mock up, but apparently, it looked so terrible that i trashed all layers that even hinted at that concept. it wasn't until days later that the blueprint idea crept out of my brain.

this is one of my 1st full digital illustrations. i usually sketch with pen on copy paper. the 1st three images are split down the middle, so you can see what i modified at each stage. the lower right corner is the final line work i used.

here's some of the reference i used. the icons for the fighting moves were impossible for me to find on Google, so i recreated them all. that damn boot icon was a pain and i still don't like it. ha.

i wanted the moves to be as accurate as possible, but i had to take some liberties. i mostly play Super Street Fighter IV, so i made the Hyper Combo fit that game. but i'm pretty sure Mech Zangief doesn't have Vodka Fire in SSFIV. he's also not supposed to have Banishing Flat as Mech Zangief, but oh well. i put in the fighting moves that i'd want my version of Mech Zangief to have. so, all of the knit picky, obsessive, fanboy, accuracy Nazis out there can gripe all they want.

i wanted to fill out the blueprints with other info about Mech Zangief, so i drew a side view to call out his Vodka Fire attack. the 2 views obviously don't line up. i was just using the front view as reference.

this is an early exploration for the layout. i probably changed it a dozen times, and tweaked it a hundred times.  

i did most of the elements in Illustrator and modified them in Photoshop.

 these are the teaser images that i posted up on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. i tried to throw in some humor with the Winning Quote and the acronyms of Vodka Fire and Green Hand. you can type in all of those ones and zeros to decode the Winning Quote, if you want.

 and here's the final. i tried to make it look kinda realistic, but i'm pretty sure it's nothin like a real blue print. i probably spent way more time tweaking it than i should have, but hopefully i didn't over work it. 

i plan on doin 25 prints for the Street Fighter 25th anniversary art show on Dec 8th up in San Francisco. i'll probably keep some to sell on my website after the show. i may also do one alternate version, but i don't know when i'll get to that. 

BLACK "GOLD" FRIDAY SALE NOV 23rd 2012!!!

this is the 2nd year doin a Black "Gold" Friday Sale and may be the last. i would like to do some exclusives for next year, instead of discounted items. of course that's a year away, so that may change too. anyway, you'll be able to get these discounts midnight on Thanksgiving until midnight on Black Friday.

all 3 of the 7" 10-Doh! figures will be on sale for $35 instead of the usual $50. these aren't available in Wal-Mart, so you don't have to wait in a long line and risk getting trampled. Limited Edition of 300.

this Zelda inspired 10-Doh! titled Dangerous Gold was designed by Andrew Wilson. only 100 made and each comes with a free mini print, seen below. 

 5x7 mini print. woohoo!!

Kwestone designed Warning Asian, just in time for the Year of the Dragon and it just happens to resemble Bowser slightly. also, only 100 made.

apparently, i like making gold things. these 5" Squib Kisses were rotocast in brown resin at Mana Studios. i carved out the teeth marks, added a paper flag, and wrapped them in gold foil. it was a very time consuming process, so i only made 5.

these little guys are 2.5" tall and are almost exactly the same as the larger Squib Kisses. the only major differences are the size, they're solid castings, and i made 10. they usually go for $25, but on Black Friday they'll be goin for $20.

those are the deals for Black Friday this year. i may do some deals for Cyber Monday, but none of these items will be part of that sale. so, buy some as gifts for friends and family, or as gifts for yourself. 

CAT IN THE SQUIB HAT

several months ago, the World Famous Tracy and Teresa Tubera welcomed the first platoon of their new clone army into the world. several months before that, they asked a bunch of friends to do a "Cat in the Hat" illustration for their future nursery. i did these 2 sketches a while back, but finally rendered one of them

 i went with the slightly more dynamic sketch and added the Squib hat. i sketched the hat in photoshop, but closed the file without saving, so the cleaned up sketch is all that remains.

this was the original formatting and border, but it just wasn't lookin good. i also modified the tail significantly. my original idea for the tail just wasn't workin out, so i tried to tone it down and make it look more like a normal tail.

and this is what they ended up with. one of these days i'll have to swing by their place and see if they really hung it up on the wall. ha.

DESIGNER CON 2012 RECAP

 4 YEARS!!??? that went by quick. this was our 4th time being at Dcon, so maybe that's technically 3 years in-between shows 1 and 4. either way, each year keeps gettin bigger and better for us. i have to say, the highlight of the whole convention for me was having my artwork on the back cover of the program. special thanks again to Ayleen for askin me to do it.

i set up on friday and was there from around 130-8pm. i obviously wasn't working efficiently. i even took a little break behind the registration booth and got a copy of the program early. woohoo. 

just a day or two before Dcon, Scott Tolleson sent me an email saying that Button Lab was still lookin for some artists to be a part of their blind bag series. i had less than 24hrs to deliver something, so i had to tweak and reuse some artwork. 

i used the same colors as the Blow Me artshow announcement and also did a bloody variant. these were hand delivered to me at Dcon. they cranked them out quick. there are 2 color ways, in 2 sizes, and in normal or metallic, for a total of 8 variations. the metallics are awesome. not sure what i plan on doin with all of them right now.

this was my 1st year participating in the World's Largest Blind Box Time. i know, shame on me for not participating in the previous 3 years. i couldn't resist this year, seeing how i actually have my very own blind box series out there. i was lucky number 84 and ended up with a Le Rad! by World Famous Tracy Tubera. SURPRISE!!!..... i already had it.

this was my one purchase at Dcon. i didn't even get a Dcon shirt (i always get those). this guy is pretty tiny, maybe 2" and is made of hot glue. Geoff and Corwin Webb of Rikki Tikki Tavi have been buyin stuff from me for a while and they decided to give a booth a shot at Dcon. they had a bunch of hand made and custom stuff, but this guy stood out to me. they're lucky i actually had cash on me. ha.

i was lucky enough to get a bunch of free stuff too. some of it i made, like the Dcon exclusive, and the Mana Studios Limited Edition GID 10-doh! Tombstone. but i also got a keychain from the folks at Wrong Gear. met some folks from Instagram. @angelasongart gave me the Ryu vs. Evil Ryu print. @visual_varinya gave me the baby Freddie. @tracytubera gave me the Captain America print, even though he didn't want to. ha. you should follow all of them on Instagram, if you don't already.

so, Dcon was great for us. met lots of new people, but my brain is terrible at remembering, so hopefully i meet them again next year. ha. most of the stuff we had is now online at www.squidkidsink.bigcartel.com, so you can still buy, if you missed out on the show.

DESIGNER CON GID 10-DOH! TOMBSTONE

for those of you that missed out on attending Dcon this year, these Glow in the Dark 10-Doh! Tombstones were available at the Mana Studios Booth for 35 bucks. Mana Studios did the grass sculpt and all of the molding and casting.

 these are some instagram photos that i took while at Mana Studios. they did the paint job based on how we did the Monstoberfest 10-Doh! Tombstones. the end result turned out really nice. 

 the last time all of these figures will be seen together.

i'm really happy with how these turned out. i'm sure we'll do other Glow in the Dark variations, but they won't be exactly the same. there were only 10 made and they sold so quick that i didn't have a chance to sign all of them. i believe i signed 1-7, but there are 3 out there without numbers and signatures. ooops.

most of them are gone or spoken for. i may have 1 or 2 left. so, keep an eye on my Facebook postings, if you still want to grab one.

check out www.manastudios.biz if you need any sculpting, molding, casting, or painting done.

MONSTOBERFEST MINI 10-DOH! TOMBSTONES

another Monstoberfest has come & gone, and this year we totally missed it. our trip to the Grand Canyon landed on the same weekend, but i was still able to debut a new So Analog resin piece there. maybe i'll post some Grand Canyon photos soon.

the tombstone idea has been in my head for years, just look at the Tshirts that i make. i finally had a bit of time to make them a reality. i also needed to have something for Monstoberfest this year, so that worked out well. seeing how Monstoberfest is a Halloween themed (or at least Halloween timed) show, i chose Halloween colors for the 1st edition of 10.

here are the Instagram progress shots. Mana Studios did the molding and casting for me. then Jay airbrushed the tombstones and i wiped off the excess. i think the effect turned out pretty nice. i signed and numbered each one and then they were glued together.

overall, i'm very happy with this project. i have plans for several more color ways. most of the editions will be pretty limited, but i will be doing some open editions. they'll be up in my web store soon.

INTRODUCING 10-DOH! TOMBSTONES

 many of us grew up in the time of audio cassettes and tape decks. we used computers with bulky low capacity disk drives, and collected stacks of video game cartridges. So Analog is my attempt to bring life back into some of that dead technology. i also wanted the RIP to stand for something other than "Rest In Peace". Retro Inspired Products sounded good to me.

this idea came to me because many of the old cartridges are grey and already resembled tombstones. i did this modification in Rhino and wanted the engraved words to show the life span of that form of tech. it's not always easy to find out when i specific product was discontinued. most things keep being used for years after they've been out dated and replaced.

i wanted to make sure that the grass base would also fit on the existing Mini 10-Doh! bodies. i plan on casting up enough grass to create a graveyard of all the Mini-Doh! figures that get made. except the Luke Chueh Limited Edition, i only have one of those. booo-urns.

i originally tried sculpting the grass out of magic sculpt. it was pretty painful. it ended up looking more like rock or nothing at all.

 i chose to take Jay's advice and let one of his guys resculpt the grass at Mana Studios. i usually like doing all of my own sculpting, but i can't do everything....obviously. the grass turned out great and actually looks like grass.

here they are with their first coat of primer.

 all cleaned up and ready for molding. 

there are already 2 versions of 10-Doh! Tombstones. the 1st edition of 10 debuted at Monstoberfest and the 2nd is a Glow in the Dark version that will release at the Mana Studios booth #607 at Dcon 2012.

i'll be making other color ways that aren't so limited and even some open editions, so nobody has to miss out on these.

MINI 10-DOH! SERIES 1 ARTIST PROOFS

so one of the benefits of designing, sculpting, funding, and producing your own products is you also get to be a part of each series. these are 2 of the 4 that i did. it's pretty much the same as the larger So Analog 10-Doh!, but just showcasing 10-Doh! because the labels are so small. the artwork is also used on the Blind Boxes and the Case Pack.

Jerome of Hyperactive Monkey bought a bunch of these blisters for his AP's. he had a ton extra because the MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) was so high. so, i told him i'd buy some from him. there were some challenges to overcome, because he bought a blister that would fit a 10-Doh! that holds 2 swords.

unfortunately, there were some printing errors, so each figure gets 2 card backers. you'll see why if you buy one and open it up. i also had to figure out a way to keep the figures from floppin around inside the over sized blister. it took a while, but i figured out a way using rubber bands, business cards, and some stickers. you can see the other 2 Gold versions that will be released at WonderCon 2013 or maybe sooner.

this was my 1 man assembly line. on the far right you can see the stack of flattened blind boxes. it took a long time to unpackage, assemble, punch holes, sticker, rubber band, and repackage 40 figures. i wore rubber gloves to prevent finger prints, but i'm sure there will be some cat hair somewhere. ha.  

 these are some of the progress shots i posted on Instagram.

here's the final pack out for the Grey guys. these will go for 25 bucks at Dcon 2012.

 and the final pack out for the Gold guys. these will go for 35 bucks at Dcon 2012. or you could get 1 of each for 50 bucks. 

both the figure and packaging is signed and numbered. each version is limited to 20 pieces and will debut at Designer Con booth #600. any left overs will be put up on my site for sale shortly after the show.