Art Works

So, adding a few art works that I've been working on during the last few months... Here you go!!

A Hatsune Miku pic I did for a contest sponsored by Good Smile Company. The theme was "Cheerful Japan." I didn't win but had a ton of fun doing this piece. I used the same technique as the Gremlin World Vol. 1 cover and took about 6 hours from sketch to final. Hope you like it!!

So how about those pics? Designer Con 2011 Part 1

I said on Monday I'd have some pics from this past weekend up for show that evening, well... it never happened. This has been a greatly productive week, and I always tried to make time to post them, but it never happened... I apologize about that and here are those pics from Designer Con 2011!

First up are some pics from Scott Wilcowski, whose work you can explore in greater detail here: http://www.scottwilkowski.com/

We've got some custom Sucklord figs:

AWESOME WEEKEND

Is Awesome.

Saturday was a big day for PBC (Plastic Booty Collectibles) and the crew and I rolled down to Pasadena for this year's D-Con, though we did show up there a little later than I was hoping, which was totally my fault.

Review: RIOBOT Delphine 2nd Type

Head over to the Rabbit Haul and check out my review of Sen-Ti-Nel's RIOBOT Delphine 2nd Type action figure!

http://www.cooksux.com/2011/09/25/riobot_delphine2nd/

Gremlin World Update!

Head over to Gremlin World to check it out!

Today we've got the villains- The Hierarchy of Twelve! I've literally been waiting YEARS to show off these guys- and now they're finally here and ready to stomp Pai's bunny butt into mulch... or at least try to!

Toy Review: Max Gokin Mazinkaiser

A few weeks ago I blogged that I'll be writing toy reviews over at my friend's toy blog, The Rabbit Haul. Two weeks ago I did my first review, taking a look at Max Factory's Max Gokin Mazinkaiser figure. You can check it out here:

http://www.cooksux.com/2011/08/09/mg_mazinkaiser/

Remember This Guy?

Reposted from the Plastic Booty Blog, by 3DJohnny:
Gears have begun to turn, and by turn I mean its time to learn how to rotocast! Those heads are gonna be too heavy if they are solid resin so what a perfect time to learn a new technique and mix it with everything I have already learned. Ill post up some new pics once I get him all ready for the next phase!

And a big shout out to all the people who showed interest in THOR this year so far, I cant thank you enough!

So yeah, the next PLASTIC BOOTY figure we'll be releasing is Kerberus! THOR was well received during Comic Con thanks to everyone, so we're definitely looking at upping the ante with this next release!

AND IT'S OUT!

GREMLIN WORLD Vol.1 is now up for order here:


If you've enjoyed GW up till now, please pick up a copy- it's better than ever before with a ton of extras! The book will also be available through other channels soon, but if you'd like to order from Aswembar directly with a discounted price, shoot me an email!

Bandai spams Figuarts, turns Amiami into void

It's that time of the month (actually it was Sunday night)... that time where it seems the entire world decends upon one particular website turning it's servers into a veritible black hole for hours on end. It was time for Bandai to put up pre-orders for their new Figuarts and reduce one of the best Japanese toy shops on the internet, AmiAmi,to a slow-moving, buggy mess if you could even get to the website at all (9 times-out-of 10 you got a white screen with a 'try again soon' message). It's become a tradition.

GREMLIN WORLD: THE BOOK: THE RELEASE!

Hey guys,

Here's the ad for the new book! It'll be available for purchase on WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3rd!! I was hoping to get it out today, but ran into some difficulties at the last minute. Anyway, this ad gives a good idea of what you'll find in this volume, hope you pick up a copy!!
It'll run $14.99 on Lulu, and $12.99 if you order through myself or the upcoming Aswembar shop!

New Toy Blog and New Stuff

Recently did a blog post over at The Rabbit Haul, a toy review blog that I'll be contributing to a couple times a week. If you're interested in Japanese toys or collecting, I suggest checking it out. My friend's the owner and his articles are pretty amusing. Oh yeah, I'll be posting under the handle GPA, so please visit and leave a comment!

Also, I will be making a major effort to post more on this blog 1-2 times a week about various things; art, movies, music, comic, food- pretty much anything I feel deserves mention.

I'll also be trying to do a weekly art print and we'll have a nice mix of fan art (yeah, finally caving to that) and original content. And new Gremlin World will be starting with new pages on Wednesday, August 3.

San Diego Comic Con 2011 WRAP UP!!

Today is Monday, July 25. Comic Con has ended again and we're back to the normal pace of things.

SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2011

Two and a half days down... Two to go! At booth O-06 in the small press area, if you're going stop by and say "Hi!" Over near the Oni Press Booth!

STUFF I BUY: ROBOT DAMASHII/ SUPER ROBOT CHOGOKIN

For myself and hundreds of other Japanese toy collectors out there, there is one brand name which is synonymous with the trade- Bandai.

Bandai is one of the biggest toy making companies in the world and has a colorful, long running history filled with ups and downs and tireless perseverance to the art of toy creation. They're the company behind the S.I.C. line up of figures I previously posted about and are behind the toy lines featured in this article as well- Robot Damashii and Super Robot Chogokin.

NEW ZSB Preview!!!

Behold! New proof that I actually have been working this whole time! Here's a look at a new piece of Zombie Shark Bear art that's going toward the Comic Con book.... hope you guys dig it. Also hope you buy the book! And the Gremlin World book too... and COLLAB, also!

GREMLIN WORLD WORLD 19 PAGE 8

FINALLY UPATED GREMLIN WORLD!

Hopefully, I'll finally be trending this towards the regular, next page should be up on Friday!

THOR UPDATE BY 3D JOHNNY

Cool! New update on Thor from Plastic Booty!

20 THORs almost ready for Comic-Con 2011!

ZSB EP 0 Page 5

FROM ZOMBIE SHARK BEAR Production Blog:



This page stayed pretty true to the storyboard, but I think the idea for this page actually came pretty late in the planning stages of the story. For the longest time I didn't know exactly how I would progress past page 4, I knew what I wanted to get out of the chapter and how it would wrap up, but I didn't really know what was going to go in between page 9 and 4.

STUFF I BUY: S.I.C. (Super Imaginative Chogokin)

Well, this wasn't exactly the type of toy post I was going to do originally, but... it'll work.

TOY REVIEWS/ MORE FOOD REVIEWS COMING!

As with so many things right now, I'm currently trying to find time in my schedule to update this blog with more content on a regular basis. I certainly have enough things to review and enough to say about them, the only real problems are time and motivation.
It's like, when I'm feeling totally motivated and ready to go I don't have the time, and when I have the time I'm usually spending it on art work or on just hanging out. Well, that's the reason for MOST things, as far as the toys go a big road block on that has just been my disdain for re-posing my figures to take interesting pictures for the review.
All these are things I'm hoping to have solutions to in the next few days, which will hopefully be sustainable for weeks and months and will become habits that can extend over into my art scheduling.
So yeah, let's see how this goes... if you see a post here in the next couple days, it'll be a sign of good things ahead.

ZSB EP 0 PAGE 4

FROM ZOMBIE SHARK BEAR BLOG



So, this page was pretty tricky and went through more than one draft. The reason for this was because of the amount of information that needed to be fit into just this one page. I had to convey that Mirai was in the situation that she was in because of information she got from her two underlings even if we're not exactly sure what they're saying (and it's implied there may be some sinister intentions). From here we needed to show that Mirai took it upon herself to investigate the information she receieved alone, and that she has gone off into an unknown wilderness.

GREMLIN WORLD Vol 1 Cover and late updates

Just when I thought I'd have some time to get back to concentrating on Gremlin World MORE life comes my way! Looks like I'm moving house again, so things have been kind of hectic trying to pack and clean a little when I have the chance. And of course, that eats into my art time.
I've also made a renewed effort to be more active, which of course is detrimental to work that requires little movement and maximum concentration (to achieve best results).
Still, even though the work is coming along slowly, it is still coming along. Hopefully, this week things will die down enough for me to concentrate on art with less distractions (I'm sure playing 3 hours of Street Fighter on Sunday didn't help either, though).

Also, starting work on my San Diego Comic Con projects! The first reveal?

Gremlin World Graphic Novel Volume 1, you can see the cover rough above.

MAI CORRECTION!!!

That is to say, my collection...

Well, it's official now, I'm going to be moving. Time to pack it all away till I figure out if this'll be the year I'll be getting my own place. Seems like the odds are in my favor this year, but apartments are still pretty expensive and it's all up in the air!

Anyway, just thought I'd snap some pics of these guys before they go away for a little while.

FIGMA (and Starscream)

Updated design for Pai

Here's a look at Pai's updated design from GREMLIN WORLD World 20 on... till I decide to update again.

GREMLIN WORLD WORLD 19 PAGE 7

NOW WITH WORDS!!

FOOD REVIEW EPISODE 1- GEORGE'S AT THE COVE

GEORGE'S AT THE COVE
858 454 4244
1250 Prospect Street, La Jolla, CA 92037

So, those of you who are my close friends all know that I am a huge foodie. I love food, and for the most part meals are kind of the defining moment of the day for me. Every once in a while, I come a cross a restaurant or food dish that is truly noteworthy, and I have decided to share these experiences here on my blog.

Last week in San Diego wrapped a local tradition called Restaurant Week.

ZSB EP 0 PAGE 3

From ZSB Production Blog



Page 3

Here you can see the process behind how a page of ZSB is completed. I normally draw a rough sketch of the layout and then in Photoshop refine the design of the page and then do the final drawing. One of the big things about ZSB is that I've been experimenting with doing panels or scenes in different styles using the pacing and character design to tie them all together.

ZSB EP 0 Page 2

From ZSB Production Blog



Page 2.
With this page I wanted to get something that resembled my friend, Cheeks' art style. His style has a really loose, active feel to it and he has really subdued, deep color palettes.

ZSB EP 0 Page 1

FROM ZSB Production Blog



Page 1

So, I've been kicking the ZSB idea around now for a couple of years. Jed Desuka, the editor/ webmaster of GW and me came up with idea one day while I was visiting him, which was inturn based off of a completely random topic of conversation developed by two of my best friends while they were at work. The idea of "Zombie Shark Bear" was so cool I knew I had to run with it somehow.

ZOMBIE SHARK BEAR EP 0 COVER

From ZSB Production Blog


Here is the cover of Zombie Shark Bear Episode 0.
This page was really simple to make, actually, it's pretty much just the old "Coming Soon" image on a black background. Since I wanted the artwork in the chapter to speak for itself, I decided that a simpler cover page would work well. I also like the way Mirai's eyes contrast with the rest of the image.

Some of my figures

So lately I've been following one of my friend's blogs where he posts some really cool toy reviews and toy improvement tips. Think I might follow suit soon, cause I've got alot to post about on that topic!

GREMLIN WORLD WORLD 19 PAGE 6

Posting it here since the website isn't cooperating...

4 MINUTES OF BREAK LEFT QUICK POST

So, I really wish I was at home working on an art project or something. Also, I really should be posting more about things on here... I've got toy reviews I could do, food reviews, movie reviews, all kinds of things to speak my mind about, and I think it'd be a good New Year's Resolution to try to make at least 3 new entries a year. Heck, let's make that 4...

Okay, so for something good to announce here, looks like I'll be trying to get a few graphic novel collections out by San Diego Comic Con this year. We'll be doing prints this year, but to make it really special how about we finally finish up on GREMLIN WORLD GN Vol 1 and ZSB GN Vol 1? More to come soon, so check back often!