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.











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:


Now I'm off to concept one of my web comics that I'm actually drawing.

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!

Excited? Just a little.

Currently working on more 9th Circle sets to put up in the Mephsito Designs Shop (where a few are available now). I'm also putting together a Mephisto Designs media kit to send off to a couple whose work basically sparked my interest (and offered a bit of guidance) on how to do this sort of thing. I'll post pics after its complete and I know its in their possession. I also sent an exclusive set off to Pituvision, who's a fantastic toy reviewer and a great guy all around. If you're into toys at any level, you should be following his weekly show, its always entertaining no matter what he's covering. After he posts his review, I'll post it (or a link to it) here in the blog.

Other than 9CR, I'm actively working on 3 web comics. One will be more of what a web comic normally is. It will be very deranged (I'm fairly certain I've mentioned this before). A second will be a horror based story that, while released on the web, will be a continuing story line posted up as a couple pages per week. So... a web comic, but definitely not in the traditional trappings of what "web comic" means to most people. Its a pretty original concept and I'm looking forward to getting it posted up.

The third, which I'm incredibly excited about, is a collaboration piece with a friend who is DEFINITELY one of my favorite artists working today. He's been kicking around the concept for some time. Its a sci-fi adventure romp with a great scope and some very engaging characters/scenarios that I found really compelling to write about. I'm very excited to be working on it and I can't wait to let it loose on the world. Pretty sure we're shooting for a January release. We're really feeding each others idea flow and every new layer is just making the whole thing better and better. It will be something classic and something new all at once. I'm definitely excited about the whole thing (did I mention that already? Good, cuz I'm excited).

I'll be sketching a LOT this weekend between paint coats, locking down designs for my personal projects (especially since I have A LOT written for each of them) as well as a few of my concepts for the collab piece.

Keep an eye out!

ROBOTS FOR SALE!!!

9th Circle Robotics bots now available in the shop!

TK-421 edition


S-Fish II edition


EP-Zero edition


Alpha edition

1st Batch of 9CR Bots on Sale THIS SATURDAY!

That's right, on sale this Saturday at the Mephisto Designs Etsy Store!

There are 16 bots (4 Gibson, 4 Aldiss-327, 4 Underhill and 4 RAY) in 4 paint schemes. They will be sold as singles for $45 (free shipping). However, buying a set of 4 (one of each bot in any paint scheme) will be $140 (please wait for personalized invoice before paying when buying 4).

Each bot will come in an individual poly bag sporting a full color, 2 sided 9CR header card. Bots will be packed with EXTREME care.

For the uninitiated: 9th Circle Robotics are non articulated resin pieces hand cast and individually hand painted. Each bot is a 1/1 paint deco never to be reproduced. *Aldiss-327: 4.25" tall *Gibson: 2.5" tall *RAY: 2.75" *Underhill: 2.75"

As some sets of 9CR bots are already spoken for, the remaining bot sets will be released at the beginning of each month (beginning with this Saturday's batch) until they are all gone.

REVIEW

This is, I believe, the first real product review I've received. I was pleasantly surprised and humbled by it honestly.

Thanks very much to Battlegrip for the coverage. His blog is a must follow for the art toy world and he also has great coverage of a few mainstream gems from time to time as well! Read the review here!

The only 9th Circle update I really have is that they're moving along, they'll be completely cleaned and primed by the end of the day today and painting is all that remains. That's by far my favorite stage so bot after bot should reach completion from this point on!

RAY Painted

The fourth has arrived...

RAY (2.75" tall)






ALL FOUR!!!