Friday, November 19, 2010

CREATIVE SPACES!


Check out photographer Kevin Knight's new project "Creative Spaces" A photo study of artists in their work spaces. Kevin is an amazing photographer and I had fun letting him capture my messy creative environment. Also featured: Lola, Chet Zar, Angry Woebots, Greg Simkins and many more.

SKETCH THEATRE!


Sketch Theatre is a site dedicated to the art of the sketch, in time-laps video.
They have many cool pop artists and they just posted the sketch I made for them at Comic-Con last summer. Thanks Lilly!

SPECTRUM 17!


Spectrum 17 is out. Packed full of cool art and a sculpted piece I created for my Rivet Gallery show. Pick up a copy, enjoy.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

DESIGNER CON!


Hope to see you all at Designer Con this coming Saturday. I'm not signing, but I will be just hanging out checking out toys and art. Look forward to seeing you all there!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

BLACK IN WHITE (AND RED ALL OVER)!

The new Luke Chueh vinyl creation is here. Tonight there's a signing and release party at Munky King- Signing 4-7 pm party 7-10. I had the pleasure of sculpting this figure. Working with Luke is always fun & challenging.



We got hang out a bit at SDCC after his signing.



This pic was taken as we were finalizing the B & W sculpt at Munky King. Patrick Lam my self and Luke. Also notice the Angry Clobber Monkey sculpt is sitting there waiting for his turn to be scrutinized. Look forward to seeing you all there tonight!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

THUMBTACK PRESS!

A great resource for purchasing quality prints from your favorite artist: Thumbtack Press I've been working with TP for a couple years now. Their website has been revamped, and they have some new artist. Here a link to my page.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

I'M BACK!

Well it's been a while since my last post. We took a family trip to the Galapagos Islands it transcended amazing. Seeing relatively untouched nature so up close and personal. Here's a nice pic I got of a Marine Iguana. He had just swam up to the beach and climbed up just a couple of feet from me.



Then it was back to work at Nickelodeon working away on Robot & Monster. Next summer I believe the first promos for the show will start airing. I can’t wait! At that time I think I'll be able to show some of the incredible work that is going into the show.

I have a couple of new fabrication / sculpture projects in the near future that I will make sure to document. in the meantime thanks for putting up with pauses between postings,
I’ll always come back!

Friday, July 23, 2010

I'LL BE TWEETING YOU!

At SDCC I'll be sending out Tweets just before my signings and such. If you're not following me yet now's the best time ever: Follow Me! See ya there!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Love Conquers All!

I have a new painting in the Love Conquers All show at Think Space GalleryAugust 7th through the 28th. 20% of the proceeds of the show will be donated to Equality California



My piece is titled "True Love" Acrylic on wood. Painted on a 9"X12" wooden box frame. I love these, making or finding the right frame has always been trouble for me, this way it's out of the equation. I won't be attending the opening, but there will be many other cool artists showing. Enjoy!

Friday, July 16, 2010

SDCC 2010!

All right, I finally have my Comic-Con appearance schedule. For all of you that will be there next weekend I hope to see you. Sat the 24th I’ll be at the Munky King booth #4539 @ 4 pm signing the new OMI custom mask.



Sunday the 25th @ 11 am I’ll be at the Dragatomi booth #3848 Signing my Angry Clobber Monkey vinyl. This will be my first time signing the Clobber Monkey at Comic-Con! Then at noon I’ll be doing some live sketching at the Sketch Theatre booth #5563 an amazing web production where you can see videos of some of the most popular contemporary artists drawing in time laps video. Check back for more updates. See ya next weekend!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

OMI!

Munky King has created a new blind box sensation the Omi. Inspired by Asian Opera masks the Omi will have an artists series release as well as a DIY version. I had the pleasure of sculpting the mask as well as being a part of the Series 1 collection.




I'll be at Comic-Con Sat the 24th 4pm at the Munky King Booth #4539 I'll be posting a couple more SDCC happenings in the next couple days.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

MISTER FAST FOODFIGURE FIRST STEP!



The first thing is to take the design and make a rough sketch of the pose and get an idea of the size. I want the finished sculpt to be roughly 6 to 7 inches tall at it's highest point. The hamburger should end up being a bit higher then the head for a more grand animated pose. I traced over the smaller image in the top of the comic page, since it was partially cropped I just guessed the missing parts. I think it will look nice if the cape sweeps around behind him.



With this pic I'll take some of the real features from the Randy face and incorporate them into the caricature. Most times for me it's better not to over sketch and work details out in the sculpt. Next we start slinging some clay!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

MR FAST FOOD FIGURE!


For those of you who listen to the Pretty Good Podcast are familiar with Gina & Randy and Randy's Mr Fast Food Segments. Matt Marikian created a comic art piece of Randy's alter ego. Being that I'm a big fan of the PGP and love a challenging character sculpt. I offered to make a sculpture of MFF for Randy and let the PGP fans get a step by step peek into the process of turning a 2 dimensional piece of art into a 3D sculpt. Creating a articulated figure of MFF would be a major undertaking. For now I can do one excellent original sculpt. I'm getting started and I'll post the first steps before the week is up.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

VADER PROJECT AUCTION NEXT WEEK!



Here it comes, July 10th. I received the email flyer for the auction and it features the Masks by Paul Frank, myself and Fawn Gehweiler. Very cool.

Monday, June 28, 2010

ANOTHER GREAT MUNKY KING TOY!


The New Luke Chueh Black In White will have an advanced release at SDCC this year.
Working with Luke is always creative and satisfying.


This is my final version of the sculpt. It turned out nice, we made adjustments to the knife handle so it could be held by the rabbit while in the costume.



The final meeting when we all checked out the finished sculpt. I can't wait to see the finished figure at SDCC, I'll be there Sat & Sun.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

THE VADER PROJECT!



If you have been following The Vader Project, or you just are a fan of customized Darth Vader masks you may want to check out this show.

All 100 customized Darth Vader helmets will be on view in Los Angeles for this special 10-day event!

Opening Night Party
Friday, June 11 6pm - 10pm
With DJs The Crystal Pharaoh and
The Sucklord from BAND of the LOST

Saturday, June 12 2pm
Catalog signing with over 20 participating artists

Open Daily from Noon - 6pm June 12 - 20
6812 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles CA 90036


For more information or to pre-order a limited edition auction catalog go to http://thevaderproject.com/



I'll be there for the opening party on Friday night to have fun and sign programs.Also I believe this is the last chance to see the masks before they are auctioned off.
See ya there!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

TEAM SMITHEREEN IS ON THE AIR!

After a long wait Team Smithereen is going to be on Disney XD. It's a series of shorts of the worst stunt team ever. They get blown up, crushed, burned and exploded! I co-created the show with Dan Clark and Don Asher, also I designed the characters. A whole squad of talented artists and puppeteers helped make this a reality. Check out the promo and watch this weekend!



Here's an older post about TS where I do some show and tell with the puppet sculpts here!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

SPECTRUM! AGAIN?!

Just found out that my sculpture “Punch- Bot!” Has been accepted in the Spectrum Fantastic Art Annual #17.



The piece was something I had been toying with for a while.
It was hard to think what to make it out of
the materials turned out to be a combo plater or as they say in the art world “Mixed Media”. Super Sculpey, Balsa Foam, Styrene plastic and wood. I imagined this being an old beat up board walk / carnival arcade game - robot. Someone would put in a quarter and Smasho! lights out. Maybe not the most popular game but it would deliver on it’s promise.





It was difficult photographing the cape. I made this cool cape and collar when one checks out the sculpt it’s easy to see. When I went to photograph it the whole figure ended up being kind of a not photo friendly figure.



Many angles but not one that showed off all aspects. I ended up doing a bit of Photoshop work that brought together the best of 3 pictures.






Someday it would be amazing to make this full size, with an aluminum body and the ability to roll around, and of course punch things!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

HELLO OLD FRIEND!

I haven’t abandoned the blog although I’m sure it seems that way lately. Between family life and working on Monster & Robot I have not had time to squeeze in much else. At least anything that would be fun or informative to read. I have a small thing coming out with Munky King for release this summer, and I’ll be at Comic-Con for sure.
If there’s any Angry Clobber Monkey vinyls left by then I’ll be sure to make myself available to sign them. Speaking of the ACM, I just want to say thanks to all of the supporters out there who bought the figure! It’s been selling fantastic around the country and beyond. Also I’ve been asked about if there’s a follow up toy in the works.
There’s a couple ideas I’ve been cooking up with Munky King, although I think it may have to wait until next year. I’ll be doing a few bits and pieces around at shows in LA, and something in November that I will talk up more as we get closer to Fall.



If you haven’t checked out Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece Mars Attacks 12 Inch deluxe figure of the Martian Soldier, this piece is amazing! The detail, the articulation, a long over due high quality figure for a movie that was lacking in amazing toy products. It’s a bit pricey but I love the designs of the martians, and I’m a sucker for anything with a skull.

More postings on the way!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

HUNT AND GATHER!

HUNT and GATHER
Group show and book launch curated by Tina Zeigler
Friday April 9th 7-10 pm and Book signing Sat April 10th 6-8pm
At the new Thinkspace gallery: 6009 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232 (310) 558-3375



Hope to see you there. Hunt and Gather is an amazing new Art compilation of up and coming artists from around the world. I was fortunate to be featured with many other amazing artists.
I plan on attending the art opening on Friday, and the book signing on Sat.
Hope to see you all there!

Also you can order the book on Amazon!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

THE KREUTZER SONATA- UK THEATRICAL RELEASE!



One of the things I do sometimes is a bit of acting. It was something I enjoyed and pursued before the art thing just became more important. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to play a small but fun part in the movie The Kreutzer Sontata. My good friend Bernard Rose adapted and directed this controversial Tolstoy short story.
It stars Danny Huston and Elisabeth Röhm, I had fun working with both of them, and the rest of the talented cast. This month it is having it's theatrical debut in the UK.



I wish I could be there to see it in the theaters. At least I can tell all my friends across the pond check it out if you have a chance!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

XFUNS INTERVIEW!


XFUNS Magazine out of Taipei Taiwan, a very cool toy art and character design magazine, did an amazing interview and art spread about my career and character creations. Not sure where to pick it up, but it's a beautiful publication, also with interviews from James Jarvis, Plastic God, Marka27,Jesse Hernandez and many others!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

ROBOT & MONSTER BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!


The day is finally here. My little guys Robot & Monster have become an animated show for Nickelodeon. Thanks to my partners on the show Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia who really brought the R&M world to life.
Production is getting underway and the first episodes should air in the fall of 2011. So you have plenty of time to set your Tivo. I couldn't be happier. Nickelodeon has made developing this show one of the best creative experiences I've had working with a network. I'll keep you posted on production and share as much as I can. Usually it is kept under wraps until it's time to air!

Friday, January 22, 2010

ELECTRIC PLAYGROUND INTERVIEW!

The electric Playground did a segment about vinyl toys. Shawn Rogers runs Chuckwa A cool vinyl toy art emporium in Fullerton CA. It was very cool that Shawn called me to be a part of this interview.




I couldn't embed the video, so I grabbed a couple frames. Not great choices, either the one where I look frozen in the headlights, or mildly brain damaged. I figure I'll put 'em both up and doulble down on the humiliation. Watch it here. More Doubtful Guest coming up!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

THE DOUBTFUL GUEST!

This christmas I wanted to make something special for my wife Lisa. She has always been an Edward Gorey fan, and I had always wanted to have an excuse to make a figure of the Doubtful Guest.



The cover of the book is the most famous and classic pose. Reproducing it faithfully with only the one drawing to work with was the second part of the challenge. I studied all of the art in the book and came up with many ideas for the other side of his body and face.

The trickiest piece ended up being the scarf. The implied weight, of the wrap around his neck, the fluttering tassels and exactly how is it tied around his neck? The drawings show the tie in a great flow and drape, now to actually figure out what I will be sculpting.



First I took a scan of the book art and enlarged it to the same size as I wanted the final piece to stand. Using that as the model I sketched over it just to help my brain figure out how the 3D version would work.



This sketch is how I interpreted the loop around. I think it was right.

The drawing also helped to work out the armature, and where the breaks would be for the molding process. As much as I’d love to make a one piece casting this wasn’t going to be it. Usually I always try to make pieces that are free standing. The foot configuration of this character is crucial to the pose, and isn’t going to allow him to stand upright. As any toy freak knows nothing is worse that a figure that won’t stand!

A few months ago I picked up some scraps of walnut flooring in the trash. It was the perfect size for cutting and polishing a nice base. If it wasn't going to be a free standing figure at least it would have a handcrafted base.



After the initial lay-up of the clay on the armature, I sized up the body roughed out the figure. Eventually I had the smooth version of body. The feet were on separate little armatures so they could be removed. In the finished piece I wanted the feet to be molded and attached as different pieces.



At this point I had started to audition a texture technique. I tried a few different tools until I found a couple that would make the varied texture that resemble the ink lines of the art. The scarf was the next big piece. I wanted the same angles as the art. The hard clay actually would hold the shape long enough to figure out how to sculpt the final scarf parts, and where to split them for molding. More texture and finishing tomorrow.

Monday, January 4, 2010

NEW SCULPT TEASER!


Hey there, I'll be posting pics and info of my new sculpt project tomorrow. Here's one pic can you guess what the mystery sculpt is?