PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 12

Today was a fun day, and decently productive for me. I have been reminded of how many blessings I have been given throughout my life and of the hope I can extend for things to come. In pondering the meaning of the Easter season and what I hope to accomplish in my life, I think I can feel something is starting to happen. And when all is said and done, I think I will be closer both to Jesus and the person I want to be.

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 11

Still gotta catch up, hopefully tomorrow.

Lately I've been listening to my friend's podcast a lot (which will be the topic of it's own post in the very, very near future) and one of the things I like best about it is that my friend and his co-host are very candid about a myriad of several different topics, which I think is very refreshing considering how many people (myself included) often try to soften or sugarcoat our feelings in order to make them more palatable to others.

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 10

Ah, I've fallen behind a day... I will make it up soon.

Today's topic is another more introspective look... I'm going to be writing about a particular problem I have with following through with plans or ideas. I've actually been called out on this problem and it's definitely something I have to get over.

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 9

Last night's post was kind of heavy and still didn't really say everything I wanted to about God... but for this post I think I'm going to kind of scale back and just talk about some life experiences.

A look at some Zombie Shark Bear progress...

Here's a quick look at an art test image for my hopefully-soon-to-be-worked-on project Zombie Shark Bear. I don't quite think I'm going to be going this direction after all, but I'd definitely like to hear your opinion on this.

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 8

Well, I guess I missed a day... but there are reasons for that and I will be doing two posts tomorrow!

I complained a little about this in my last post, but.... I gotta stop posting so late. I'm so tired I really don't want to type or continue to be awake, it's also hard to think but this project is about sacrifice of time toward strengthening my relationship with God and making myself a better person.

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 7

Technically this should be Day 8 because of the intro but whatever... I've been at this for a week!

I really should start writing these posts earlier so that I'm not so tired when I try to sort my thoughts since I really would like to get into more insightful topics like what I think the nature of love is and why I think God is, in fact, logical despite what some might think. Unfortunately, though, I'm tired while writing again and today was quite frustrating, so I'd like to keep my post short for today.

CAPTAIN THOR MAN

It's been a few years since Plastic Booty effectively wrapped our work on our THOR Designer Figure, and now we've finally received pics of a completed figure... and it turned out AWESOME!!

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 6

Today I really haven't thought too much about religion, but I have been thinking about being an artist and finding success in my own way. I know I briefly touched on my artistic woes the other day, but motivating myself as an artist and writer has been extremely difficult.

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 5

To be honest, I really don't feel like writing anything today. My stomach hurts from eating too much, and I'm extremely exhausted. I'm also not too sure what it is I want to write about today.

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 4

Not too much to say today... I spent the majority of the my free time today reading Prunus Girl and Steel Ball Run, Part Seven of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, so I really didn't get a chance to just sit back and ponder things.

When I read comics like Jojo, which have a history spanning decades, I really look at my own body of work and regret not working more diligently on my own stories. I can only hope that I will continue to improve and find stronger motivation through my continued efforts.

Since today's post is short... here's an illustration...

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 3

Whoops! Almost forgot today's post!

Being as today was Sunday, I think the most appropriate thing to talk about would be today's sermon at church. Today's Gospel was about Jesus meditating in the desert for forty days and forty nights while resisting the temptation of the devil.

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 2

Friends and family are the greatest gifts in the world.

Relationships with other people are really the most enriching experiences you can have, and the more valuable than anything. Don't let small things, or even big things, come between them if you can.

Today's thoughts are super simple, but very important to enjoying life to the fullest.

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 1

For my first Lenten blog post, I suppose it'd be a good idea to start with who I believe God is and why my faith is so important to me.

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Lent Blogging

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and in trying to come up with something to give up in order to better myself, I decided something that would help me even better than giving something up would be writing daily blogs about my experience as a 30-something Catholic artist/ customer care consultant bachelor in California.

So, that's going to be my Lenten project.

I was thinking of writing an entry about Pope Benedict's retirement this week, but I think I will take some more time to really get my thoughts on the topic in order. I also want to write about more conventional topics like the toy shows last weekend in New York and Japan. Lots of cool stuff announced. 

It is very late, and I am very tired. I think I will write a post tomorrow with more substance, but I am glad I wrote something today.

God bless everyone!

Gremlin World World 20 Rewrites

I've been working on World 20 of Gremlin World for sometime now facing several set backs and the ever present desire to take the story or artwork up a notch. I haven't been all too active on Deviant Art for a little while either due to many of the same reasons, but I think it's time for me to start posting World 20 up there, so in anticipation, I've gone through and tweaked alot of the dialogue on EVERY page to make sure the story is more cohesive and gives a little more insight into the story that preceded Gremlin World, From Earth To Eden.

GREMLIN WORLD WORLD 20 PAGE 11

View full size here. 

After all kinds of hardships, I've finally finished a new page of Gremlin World!! And, I think and hope the effort really shows on this one... It was a ton of fun getting to draw Re Zem, Cubic Z and Dai Kiken again. I think Re Zem is my favorite to draw of the trio, Dai Kiken is the most fun to write for and Cubic Z has the most interesting design. Originally, they were all supposed to shiver at the thought of Pai in the final panel, but I think this brief dialogue works better and is much more funny, it also sets the next page up better; so I'm glad I went with my new approach.

New Computer and ....

Well, I finally got around to updating my desktop computer with a new set up I got from my uncle last summer. It was free and it has a 1 TB hard drive, so it should've been pretty cool; I even got a copy of Windows 8 to go with it.... Unfortunately, looks like it's not so hot in the processing and RAM department, and is going to need some upgrading in order for me to really work on it... I guess it's a project moving forward, and at the very least I'll be able to keep the hard drive for storage, so it's all good.

Thanks to my cousin, I've also found a new comic and anime to be interested in called Maoyuu Maou Yuusha. The story is nice in that it takes alot of fantasy troupes and turns them on their ear while being very informative on the practical (and not so practical) economics and geo-politics of war. I have really high hopes for this project and am confident that I will enjoy every minute/ page of it.

More to come soon...

TOYS: JANUARY'S NEW FIGMA!

Courtesy of the Figma Blog this month's new Figma Preorders have been revealed, and they're both looking pretty cool!

First up, right on the heels of her beau Kirito comes Figma No. 178, Asuna!

Happy New Bear.

This was supposed to be New Year's Art, but it didn't really turn out how I wanted it to. I actually really like this piece as it is right now though, so I really had to fight myself on releasing it. I think this will be one in a series, so I'll try to have the next one done at the end of the week for you! Happy New Bear!

Happy New Year 2013

Hello all friends and readers!

Though it's a couple days late, Happy New Year to you all!

Merry Christmas Art!!

Evolution Girl Zoe and Nyamo, the girl from across the sea, are here to bring you some Christmas cheer!! Happy Holidays to all my blog readers, and I hope you have many blessings this Christmas!

COMIC THOUGHTS: ONE PUNCH MAN

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai Final Thoughts

So, I just finished watching Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai Episode 12 today, the first new anime I've watched through to the end in a great long while. As to be expected Kyoto Animation still does wonderful work, though I honestly wish they'd not pigeon hole themselves in terms of genre as much as they do. Still, they are truly masters of their craft and one of the best animation studios around. Lots of great secondary animations, lighting effects and attention to detail make this show lovely to behold, and I'm looking forward to owning it on Blu Ray, and also getting the characters in action figure form via Figma or Figuarts, whomever decides to make them.

PALS WITH THE BIG G: Stuff to think about

Yesterday at church, I saw something interesting.

Painting practice

Ever since I went to CTN in mid-October, I've been trying to learn some new skills to improve my art. I've also been working on converting my work process almost entirely to the digital format, rather than drawing by hand and doing the cleaning up and finishing digitally like I have in the past. Here are the latest Gremlin World artworks that I've done since then, I hope you enjoy them!

Of Gremlins and Bears

Well, at least I've managed to post twice in one month as opposed to once...

Not really the optimal way to start a post, but it's true and it gets me off to a quick start.

GREMLIN WORLD EASTER COMPLETE

Finally finished this piece at the behest of a friend. Got Pepper added in and have some new ideas for the GW art style. Stay tuned!

Zombie Shark Bear Episode M.E. The Purge

So that thing I was going to post the other day....

So that thing I was going to post the other day.... Well it turns out repainting the first 5 pages of World 20 is going to take a while longer than I thought, but here's a look at how it's coming!!

So what does that mean? Well I'll be skipping the painting for a bit and going straight to new pages! Next week new GW in yo' face!!!

San Diego Comic Con 2012 Wrap Up

So we've seen this year's San Diego Comic Con come and go and it was a great year! We had a ton of interest this year and the books and stickers all sold pretty well! Zombie Shark Bear saw a ton of interest and I got to meet several really cool people!

GREMLIN WORLD SKETCH

Some sketches I did for Pai while at San Diego Comic Con this year. I've been putting a new emphasis on gesture drawing, which you can see here. Will Pai feature these looks in the comic? Possibly...

Also, check back tonight for some Comic Con 2012 decompression!

San Diego 2012- In motion!

To everyone who came out to Comic Con and stopped by the Aswembar Productions booth, thank you so much! It was great meeting you and chatting! If I didn't get to talk to you, I thank you all the same and will be working hard to really make Gremlin World and Zombie Shark Bear as awesome as I can for you!

It's been a great turn out this year and I'm definitely looking forward to topping out table next year!

Also, for those of you who may not have seen it yet, here's a look at the cover for Gremlin World Volume 2! If you're going to be at San Diego Comic Con this weekend, look us up at table O8 of the small press area!

Easter picture

Okay, so... I guess I already messed up on posting twice a day.

Oh, well, look toward the future!

Today I wanted to share the Easter picture that I was working on a few weeks ago. It's still a WIP, but it's pretty far along. It features Pai sitting in an Easter egg, and Pepper's going to be added in soon eating a chocolate rabbit while wearing a bunny costume. It's a nice pic, I think.

So I'm going to try to post...

...about something at least twice a day, everyday this week.

Why? Because there's alot on my mind and I need to get it out there!

New Page of Gremlin World after 10,000 Years

Straight to the dome! Seriously, this page took so many redo's for me to be satisfied with it... it seems simple enough but planning it (especially when the original flash back sequence wasn't supposed to be more than 3 pages) off the cuff was really difficult. Anyway, so yeah, prelude to the end of the From Earth To Eden scene...

Potato People

Hello all!

Gearing up for Comic Con, and already have something to show for it! Here's some concept art for some stickers I'm thinking of having at the booth! What do you guys think?!

First up is Pai Bunny Pinhead!

Welcome to The Future!

Happy New Year!... one month late! But still in time for Asian Lunar Calendar New Year!

Just wanted to give a couple quick shout outs to get the year going! Both of these blogs are by friends of mine, and are really great reads!

First up... Errant Cluster. Lots of neat posts to check out here, especially if you're into anime, manga, or randomness!

Next, check out my long time art buddy's blog Load Universe Into Cannon. Aim At Brain. Fire., though I think now it's been shortened to just The Art of Luigi Lucarelli. And congrats to Luigi on his recent interview with ArtSketch!

Again, both great blogs! Make sure not to miss them!

Gremlin World 20 Page 4

It's up at www.gremlinworld.com now, please check it out!!

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!

Q

Here's a look at the illustration I did for Pixel Drip's gallery during their last SF tourney. If you like it, I think it's still for sale and you can contact them at pixeldripgallery@gmail.com about it!