SQUIB AND SQUIB KID 2.0

The Squib and Squib Kid resin figures have long been sold out. For years I've been wanting to revise the Squib sculpts to look more like the way I draw Squibs. They've evolved over the last 5 or so years and I wanted to have a more cohesive look overall.

These control drawings were the 1st step in the redesign. I didn't finish the Squib Kid, because I just wanted to get started on the sculpting. 

I was hoping to sculpt the figure traditionally and thought I could use an existing Squib head as a starting point. Unfortunately, there was no way that would work. The changes were too significant. Another major factor is time. Having a digital sculpt that can be scaled and manipulated easily is very valuable. Traditional sculpture has become a luxury for me, it's simply inefficient.

Rhino is still the main program I use for digital sculpting. It works great for So Analog bodies and mechanical stuff, but not organic shapes. I was pretty happy with this head, but it still needed some refinement. 

The neck is a simple friction fit ball joint. The range of movement isn't a lot, but it is enough to get him a bit more personality.

 I also wanted the Squib head to be interchangeable with the Squib and Squib Kid bodies. My Rhino skills could only get me this far.

This really the 1st time I didn't fully sculpt my own figure. It wasn't easy for me to let go of that part of the, but doing the Rhino work eased that pain. This was Mana Studios 1st pass using my Rhino head and body. Just a starting point really.

This was what I provided for revisions and explained that he's supposed to be more like the image at the top of this post, and less like the original resin figure. I wanted him to be asymmetrical and have more gesture, not just be a standard DIY pose.

 I sat down with the my friends at Mana and really worked through the thing with them. I'm pretty sure that's called Micro Managing, ha. The top was the 1st pass on the Squib base. The bottom shows the revisions we made. The legs got much bigger in the process. 

 The Squib Kid body was pretty tricky. Lots of tough transitions and weird angles for the arms. It took a while to get it the way I wanted it. The black dots were for testing eye location. The concave surface is very tricky and does a lot of weird things from different angles. We had to reduce the concavity of the eyes in order for him to not look too crossed eyed and other prevent other weird things.

Printed in house at Mana Studios. It's always cool to watch things get printed and see how much support material is required.

That hole in the eye was a misprint. We tried fixing it, but ended up reprinting the head. Weird stuff like that can happen during printing.

 Some primer, then molding. That light grey guy on the bottom right is the 1st casting.

It took me a long time to post the 1st images of these guys. I'm sure I'll do DIY versions if I go to production with these guys. For now they'll be limited edition resin runs. I started with the blue version because he's going to be one of the main characters in the Squibs story. I hope to show more of that at SDCC this year. 

I've only done 10 Squibs and 10 Squib Kids for the 1st run. The 2 extras are Artist Proofs. Painting and assembly took a lot longer than expected. Hopefully, I can reduce that amount of work for future releases.

Each Squib Kid comes with 2 pencils that I used while I was school. They've been sitting around for 10 years, so I figured it was time to use them.

Sorry, no DIY versions for now.  

These guys are cast in blue by Mana Studios and hand painted by me. 

I'm really happy with how this sculpt turned out. It cost a pretty penny, but I have to pay until I get on Zbrush. 

With and without pencils. This is the 1st sample I painted. His pencils have changed since this photo was taken.

The 1st chance to buy these guys will be at Wondercon booth #1145 in Anaheim, CA starting April 18th. Squibs will be $40 and Squib Kids will be $75. Or you could buy them both for $100. If I have some left over, they'll be up on www.squidkidsink.bigcartel right after Wondercon.

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