Sunday, October 24, 2010

New Sketches

A few new pieces to concept some bad guys from an upcoming collab comic (I'll be writing). Next layer will be armor variations. Right now its at the exploring shapes stage.

The idea will be cobbled together armor from a wide variety of sources, all very natural looking as a whole.

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And one for fun. A co-worker makes this ridiculous sound (on purpose) to show disapproval and it sounds remarkably like a combination of a Predator and a bong so now this is happening:
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Now I'm off to concept one of my web comics that I'm actually drawing.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

9th Circle Relase Update!

9th Circle Robotics received their first review this week HERE from Battlegrip.com. Battle Grip is a great review site run by a guy who actually creates his own designer toys, games and customs. As an artist, the best reviews always come from people who have actually participated in their industry (whichever "industry" that happens to be). Obviously there are other great reviewers who are EXTREMELY knowledgeable fans (like pituvision.com), but nothing beats feedback of the 'artist on artists' variety.

So I want to extend my thanks to Battle Grip for the review, the praise was welcomed and the criticism even more so. I also liked that he thought my bot prototypes were metal, that would have been fun, but no, not one piece.

The one criticism I did receive was on price. I went all over the place trying to figure out how to price them. That's the most difficult aspect of art for me honestly.

So giving his suggestions consideration and some re-examined math, the 9th Circle Robotics bots singles are now only $36 (free shipping). However, buying a set of 4 will be $125 (set of 4 = 1xAldiss, 1xGibson, 1xUnderhill and 1xRAY in any paint scheme. Please wait for personalized invoice before paying when buying 4).

I've also dropped the Mephisto series 1 Mephisto's (the 3D version of my logo in various incarnations) to $25 each.

Art is for sharing and spreading around, not living out its life in a studio. Hit em up now at the shop!

Related Aside:
The other great issue battlegrip brought up regarding resin "toys" in general, is the lack of articulation. I've always considered resin pieces more in the mass produced art piece/statue category, which I'd honestly prefer as a label for my bots. Engineering articulation in general is extremely difficult and not something my just starting out self was going to be able to pull off under current conditions. Aside from that, resin is not really a material that lends itself to lasting and smooth articulation like vinyl or the other soft plastics. Someday I would very much like to see more toys of my creations, but I'll be leaving that up to full on professionals.

Because writing and illustration are, and always have been, my main passions, after the remaining 9th Circle Bots are painted and posted, I'll be focusing entirely on web comics (the collab I'm writing and the one I'm writing/illustrating) Hopefully one of those professionals out there will produce real toys based on them. We shall see!