MINI 10-DOH! SERIES 2 KICKSTARTER IS LIVE!!!

so, it finally happened. i finally managed to sit in front of a camera and get a video done for this project.  thanks to Chito "Kwestone" Arellano for putting up with my fear and hatred of cameras and speaking. ha.

so here are the pledge levels. 

 pretty self explanatory.

Kickstarter My Heart is a combination of a few things. obviously, i used the Kickstarter colors, but the heart is a nod to the Energy Meter Heart from Zelda, and whole idea is a play on Motley Crue's song Kickstart My Heart. yes, i used to listen to Motley Crue way back when.

the black version, ooohh.

the Gold version. ooooh, with metallic label. oooooooooohhhhh!

this is a brand new version of Mini 10-Doh!, but without labels, instead they have a insert with graphics printed on both sides. 2 of the Ultra Rare figures in Series2 will be similar to this bad boy. 

each one of these pretty white label will get mucked up with little sketch by me. i might even take requests. ha.

the combo pack for people that don't like black or gold figures, but you get a sketch and a clear one. woohoo!

the best way to get all of the exclusives. and a blind box of course.

the easiest way to get a complete set of Series2. it's pretty difficult to get a complete set as blind purchases. relieve that stress by jumping in at this level. this set will only be available through Kickstarter, so grab one while you can.

so, these are completely Kickstarter Exclusives. these will never be available any other way. so, if no one orders them, they'll never be made. boohoo. don't let that happen. ha.

the main prize here is the 1st Shot. these were the 1st Mini 10-Doh! figures ever made. they are what i looked at and made revisions. they are missing all legal markings (cuz those are add at the end of tooling), the surfaces aren't polished or refined, and the inside doesn't have the friction fit pegs that hold the top together. what all that means is that they are extremely rare and can be made again. i only made 2 available and 1 is already spoken for. 

if you've ever attended a convention we've exhibited at, then you've probably seen my Giant 10-Doh! on display. there's only one in existence right now, but that could change, if there are some high rollers out there. 

this is the same Giant Sized figure. a whopping 29.5" tall. but now you can choose from any of the other 11 label designs from Series2. you also get a complete set of Series2 and all 5 KS Exclusives.

so much stuff and you get to design a label. if you just have a money tree and don't want to design the label, i'll do the art based on your art direction. what a compromise, right?

there you have it. things are off to a great start and hopefully they continue to go that way.

Kickstarter has some new guidelines that kept me from offering a couple of pledge levels that were really fun. i wanted to offer full case packs, but that wasn't allowed. i'll see if i can make them available as add-ons. the others were high dollar but cool. i'll try to figure out away to make them available. 

head over to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/185624469/mini-10-doh-series2 to pledge and don't forget to spread the word.

if we exceed the goal, i have some great Stretch Goals planned. i hope those get unveiled and reached. but for now let's focus on the main goal. woohoo!

AND THE WINNER IS..........lots to read.

soooooo, after pondering over the 70 entries for the last 12 days, i've finally made a decision. it was incredibly difficult and there were a bunch of entries that could have easily won. here are some of the major determining factors as to how the winner was chosen.

Series2 Artists: i asked 11 artists to be a part of Mini 10-Doh! Series2 and they had the same Jan 31st deadline to deliver their label art. just like the contest participants, they had almost complete freedom for the label. this presented a couple problems, like when 2 artists wanted to do a label based on the same game. it was solved by first come first served, but i couldn't communicate that to the contest participants. i felt it was best to let the contest run it's course and any similar or duplicate game entries would be second in line to any of the labels created by the designated artists for Series2. 

so, i had to wait and see all of the art for Series2 before choosing a winner. even though there is one label i'm still waiting on. anyway, the winner had to fit in the series, but too much. 

Color: it really boiled down to color for some of them. if i already had a heavy white label in the mix, all white label entries weren't likely to win. i know that might suck for those that chose white, but i couldn't tell them to not use white. i didn't know what colors the artists would be using. there also ended up being a lot of black labels from both artist and contest entries. so, a lot of great classic looking labels weren't chosen because there will be plenty of classic styled labels already in Series2.

Content: others weren't selected because the subject matter was too similar. i didn't want to have a series full of a certain animal. so, if one of the artists used a specific animal, all entries with that same animal probably wouldn't be selected.

Decision: the final decision was mine, but i did ask some friends for their top 5 and then discussed them further once i showed them the rest of Series2 as a whole. like i said, there were at least a good 10-15 entries that had a solid chance at winning. 

AND THE WINNER IS.........

Zonbey Kong was designed by Riccardo Bucchioni. it's not heavy on black or white. and none of the other artists chose to do zombie gorillas, so no overlap there. but seriously, it's funny and well illustrated. it will also be easily recognizable for lots of people. i have no idea who Riccardo Bucchioni is, but i soon will and so will some other folks out there.

UPDATE: check out more of Riccardo's work at http://www.riccardobucchioni.com and https://www.facebook.com/riccardobucchioniart

i was incredibly tough to choose the winner. i'm amazed at all of the great entries, so i want to try and do some other stuff with the entries. below are some ideas on how to do that. 

Series3: i may select a couple of the entries to be part of Series3, but i have to get through Series2 first. 

Limited Edition Mini 10-Dohs: i'm planning at least 2 Limited Edition figures using the art from the contest. i've already contacted those 2 artists, but i'll reveal those later. 

Kickstarter: i'm trying to set up a Kickstarter project to fund Series2. counter to popular belief, i'm not made of monies. this may also give me a chance to produce other So Analog characters like A-Drive and B-Side, but again, i have to focus on Series2 first. so, stay tuned. i may also open voting for backers to select other contest entries to be made into Limited Editions Mini 10-Doh! figures.

Everyone is a winner, kinda. i'm also working on having a Custom Mini 10-Doh! art show where i can show off all 70 designs. it's in the very early stages of planning, so i'll post more once anything gets solidified. 

i'm sure there was a better way to run the contest, but i'm just one guy trying to make some toys that also help other artists get their stuff seen by more people. i'd like to do another contest at some point, but it will be probably being more specific or something. i learned a lot during this little adventure.

i really want to thank everyone that took the time to read this, but more importantly, thanks to everyone that took the time to enter. the quantity and quality of the submissions was impressive. i truly appreciate the support. 

CYBER DEMON DEVELOPMENT

i guess this is a companion piece for my Mech Cyclone that i did late last year.

i got this reference image from http://www.joystiq.com. i also watched a couple videos on youtube. there wasn't a ton of info on him as a character, but i found enough.

 

these are some of the elements i used and didn't use. i wanted to use the Japanese symbol that appears on Akuma's back after a victory, but that proved difficult. it's supposedly means "destruction", but i couldn't find a symbol that looked like his. so, i just went with the symbol from normal Akuma.

i had a hard time drawing Akuma for some reason. i'm not happy with the side views at all, but they are small and secondary. oh well.

some Instagram teasers.

some more Instagram teasers.

i always bounce back and forth between Photoshop and Illustrator. it gets really annoying, cuz i basically do twice the amount of work for the layout. 

final layout without some layers and effects. looks more like a real blueprint this way. ha.

 
and here's the final. i thought it would be easier to do this one, since i already did the Mech Cyclone, but i was wrong. this took way longer than expected. overall i'm happy with it, but it was challenging.

there will be some for sale at BAIT in Diamond Bar, CA from 1-9 on this Saturday. Feb 9th 2013. i'll be around at some point gettin my butt whooped at Street Fighter. check it out if you can. should be a good event with great art and Street Fighter. can't go wrong with that.

DESIGN-A-LABEL CONTEST ENTRIES.

January was a crazy month, and this contest has been very successful. i'm really happy with the number of entries and the quality of work submitted. i received 70 entires total, by 49 different artists. a couple were slight variations of the same label, but most were unique entries.

here they are in no particular order, so start scrollin.

Serhane Med Amine

Jeff Beck

Rusted Halo

Alx Achssé

Sean Hamilton

Patrick Wong

David Withers

Marshall Unger

Mike Nieuwstraten

Crimson Cisa

SHEZ

SHEZ

Serhane Med Amine

SHEZ

See One

Sean Hamilton

Patrick Wong

Rusted Halo

Crimson Cisa

Patrick Wong

NWO

Malo Jones

 Jason Cawdell

Alex Vaughan

Rusted Halo

Rusted Halo

Menh Voong

Robert Waites

Oscar Rosales

Jenn and Tony Bot

JAMWAH

Scott Campbell

Chocolate Soop

Alex Rivera

Danton Balls

Rusted Halo

Drew Wise

Abell Octovan

Allison Bair

Romeo Lucchesi

Mitch Horn

Mitch Horn

rxseven

Jason Vega

Lap Ngo

Chris Dobson

rxseven

Nick Bane

Mike Graniel

Rui Almeida

Riccardo Bucchioni

Rui Almeida

Rui Almeida

Rui Almeida

Katherine Lopez

Mataone

Reno Msad

Rui Almeida

Alice Graphix

Jesse Rayburn

Sewer City

Jeffrey Luteran

@erjurself

Danton Balls

Sewer City

Holland Hume

Holland Hume

Holland Hume

Danton Balls

Sewer City

Howie Green (sorry about posting so late)

so there you have it. a ton of solid entries. it's gonna be tough to decide which one will become a part of Mini 10-Doh! Series2. i have to choose the one that fits best with the other 15 designs in Series2 and will be having a small group of friends help with that. i hope to have a decision by Monday Feb 11th.

thanks to everyone that participated. i think the turnout was great. i look forward to doing it again in the future.