Pervomonkey

Prometheus Space Jockey from ALIEN

2012-01-04T00:40:00.000-08:00

I can't wait to see more of the Space Jockey in the upcoming Ridley Scott film PROMETHEUS. Here's an old Halcyon vinyl model I repainted recently of the Space Jockey from ALIEN trying to stay as film-accurate as possible.

Completed 1/48 RX-78GP02A Physalis

2011-01-10T21:07:00.000-08:00

Happy 2011! I've been so busy doing a job for Dreamworks, I thought I already posted photos back in June! It was a monumental project and my first G-system model... that I think turned out fairly well.

Enjoy the photos!

Zuerst: Projekt Lucid concept sketch

2010-10-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

a peak concept sketch for the character Ari in my Projekt Lucid comic for Zuerst Sci Fi magazine.

Pre-Decals

2010-04-22T02:04:00.000-07:00

Here are the finished painted pieces pre-decals.

In the background can be seen 7 different hand-mixed colors used in the painting not counting the Tamya and Gunze acrylics. Using reference photos from NASA, edges of some parts have been lightly sanded for that 'chipped paint' look, such as the thrusters, moving parts and blast marks on the shield to help give a sense of scale. Seam lines have a slightly dark sandy color than the base to give the impression of some sand and dirt accumulation from the desert as seen in Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory 機動戦士ガンダム0083.

I just have to finish applying all the decals, a light airbrush shading to the edges, final sealing then assembly to go.

ZUERST

2010-04-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

Finally, I can officially announce "Zuerst" a collaboration I am working on with Marvel Comics artists Travel Foreman, who has worked on comics such as Iron Fist... and artist Milx who has worked on Silver Surfer and other cool projects. Each of us is creating our own sci-fi themed story which we will pencil, ink and color ourselves for the Zuerst compilation. The LUCID project is my baby, a story I have had in my head for a long time... which I am still tweaking here and there... you can see some sneak-preview concept art in my gallery!

So be sure to keep an eye here for future announcements regarding this very cool project!

Travel Foreman's Blog can be seen here with some sketches, like the one above from his ZUERST story:

http://exiter.livejournal.com/

Let there be color!!!

2010-03-02T22:56:00.000-08:00

Some shots of the colors added and detailing.

I've recently been watching the Gundam 0083 series to get more background and details on the Physalis and it's appearance. Not a bad anime compared to some of the cheesier Gundam vids I've seen.

The last painting remaining will be the slightly darker sandy color of the Physalis and I will mask off some parts so the typical Gundam-white will still be on some of the parts. The interior of the blast shield I opted to make shades of grey rather than bright yellow to better resemble the cartoon's dark color scheme (as the yellow seen on the G-System's demo model made it look like a tacky yellow 'sports' boombox from the 1980's instead of kick-ass military hardware). You can also see some light weathering to help add a sense of scale. I'm not going to go all military 'Star Wars' on this model, but will still use some frugal weathering as seen on modern Japanese Gundam models for scale.

S.F.B.T-1 [ Special Full-action Body Type 1 ]

2010-02-03T14:57:00.000-08:00

I love the ever evolving design of action figures, I still have a gigantic 18" Amazing Spider Man with 68 points of articulation. This "S.F.B.T-1" action doll figure created by M Field struck me as looking like something from Ghost in the Shell. Overall length is 29 cm and has 80 points of articulation!!!

I hope to see more info about this figure as to cost and if there will be different accessories. Knowing me, I wouldn't cover it in a skin but instead chrome the thing or make it resemble an android from Bjork's "All Is Full of Love" video.

The original M Field website for the S.F.B.T-1 can be found here.

Painting the GP02A

2010-01-19T03:07:00.000-08:00

In the first photo you can see all the final primer is complete for all the parts. Every now and then I come across something I missed initially. Working outside under the bright sunlight will help show seams and blemishes more easily, which this resin casting has seemingly unending supply of. PS3 controller and big red placed to show scale.

The next photo shows a custom mixed acrylic basecoat applied. After joining some parts and filling the last seams I will add the final coats. Right now it looks off-white and I will mask off areas I want to stay this lighter color to show differences in metal sections (as seen in photos of the life-sized Gundam in Japan). With more coats it will turn a sandy light beige on the cool side.

The final photo shows another test fitting of the jetpod with 'Alclad II' Chromed Atomic Bazooka nearby. I test fit every now and then to make sure the resin hasn't changed or to plan steps of painting. I was hoping I could figure out a way to make it transformable. Unfortunately, this sculpt of the GP02A by G-system has the side jetpod joints sculpted to be immovable when joined to the arm & would require a major modification to work. This big guy looks made to just stand there and look pretty.

G-System Physalis update

2009-11-18T18:23:00.000-08:00

Getting to the painting stage of the G-system Gundam RX-78 GP02A "Physalis". Priming the parts starting from the legs on up.

Doug Murray on how they picked the 50 Girls finalists

2009-11-02T23:51:00.000-08:00

An interesting write up about how the finalists for the 50 Girls 50 comic were chosen.

http://www.brokenfrontier.com/headlines/p/detail/updated-doug-murray-on-50girls50

Doug Murray - "Picking the finalists was far more difficult than I had anticipated. First, I had expected around 30-40 entries in all--we ended up with more than 130. That made it really interesting."

Having said this, Doug finished his thoughts with: "After all this, I'm really look forward to working with the winner--I'm sure the book will turn out looking really great!"

We have been told that the winner will be announced by IMAGE COMICS in the next couple of days.

UPDATE: and the winner is Axel Medellen.

We managed to pick the final four artists but picking a winner out of the four was extremely difficult since each artist had what we were looking for in terms of quality and clear storytelling skills. Frank and I went back and forth till the very last minute on who the winner should be. We constantly changed our winner list every day.

Congrats to the winner! I look forward to seeing the completed book. "Whew", glad that's over. Now I can get back to work on my other projects.

I'm a finalist for Frank Cho's 50 Girls 50!

2009-10-13T18:20:00.001-07:00

10 finalists were just announced at the Baltimore Comic Con for the 50 Girls 50 comic book contest... and I was luckily one of them. The winner will be announced before Halloween.

As this was my first serious attempt at a comic I don't expect to win, however, this was the perfect warm up for the start of my own comic 'Lucid'.

Official announcement

Congrats to all the finalists, unfortunately "There can be only one."

UPDATE:

"Due to the talent and skill levels of all our finalists, a special tie-breaker event is needed. All our ten finalists will be asked to draw and ink page 7 in two days . The Page 7 script will go online this FRIDAY (October 16) at noon and the finished art will be due MONDAY (October 19) at noon."

– Frank Cho

2009-10-12T01:56:00.000-07:00

Now that I have finished my 50 Girls 50 submission I have started to make a 1/48th scale G-SYSTEM's resin RX-78GP02A GUNDAM PHYSALIS. So far it's been about a week of just cleaning all the flash and seams on all the resin using files and various grades of fine sandpaper and then test fitting parts together for perfect fit.

This week I will start the pinning, priming and more sanding...

50 Girls 50

2009-09-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

I am currently working on drawing a comic submission for Frank Cho and Doug Murray's audition/ contest to find an artist for their new good girl space opera comic.

Image Comics, who'll be publishing the Cho/Murray/potentially-you collaboration 50-Girls-50, call the new series "a science fiction, action adventure miniseries," and offer up Liberty Meadows creator and Marvel Comics' Mighty Avengers artist Cho's designs of the lead characters.

You can see more of my entries atImage comic's forums

Paul Komoda's Sketchbook

2009-08-11T07:56:00.000-07:00

Hanging out at the 09' Comic-Con talking to Geoff Darrow and Mike Mignola, I saw Paul Komoda walk up. Here's the short vid I took flipping through a small portion of his detailed sketchbook. The thing apparently has a history of being lost and somehow finding its way back to Paul! A "blessing and a curse"... I wish my lost sketchbooks were cursed in the same way! Now please publish this thing for us all to enjoy, Mr. Komoda!

Project Lucid

2009-08-10T18:52:00.000-07:00

I am finally well under way on the preproduction phase of an illustrated story I wrote called PROJECT LUCID. A post-post apocalyptic tale about a man who struggles to figure out which reality he would rather live in. Those who know me know I have hinted about this project in the past. I will be posting concept sketches and project updates here as it develops.

I was originally planning on having a sketchbook preview of PROJECT LUCID to sell at the ComicCon, but due to lack of time I will have to make it available online later in the year and possibly at ComicCon 10.

For now here is a sketch of a soldier-for-hire in charge of patroling an out of bounds (O.O.B) area just outside a newly established civilization. The faceplate will be initially mirrored, and when pulled back show the masked face of the wearer.

I have sort of a fetish for the 1970's pad/quilted look inspired by so many Heavy Metal stories by Moebius, Gimenez, Bilal, Serpieri and Chichoni. I also love the look of Motoko Kobyashi or Kow Yokoyama's Ma.K.. The aesthetic is of older, used equipment that has been bought, handed down or stolen over the ages long after the wars that have decimated mankind. Equipment has to be upkeeped with MacGuyver know-how, as parts are rare and knowledge of such complex mechanisims has, in some cases, been lost alltogether.

Necca T-800 Repaint

2009-07-06T03:01:00.000-07:00

I recently got an 18" Necca Terminator T-800 endoskeleton. I decided he could look almost as good as an expensive Cinemaquette statue!

Here is the finished statue:

Here's what he looked like when I started...

PREDATORS

2009-07-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

"I can't go too much into the story right now, because we're still writing. But it still involves a very intense group of people stranded on a Predator planet discovering unspeakable horrors (that are not always from outside their group). So like the original movie, the title does have a double meaning. Aliens was a different take on the Alien idea, and an original movie in it's own right, and that's what we want to do with this. " -Robert Rodriguez

Ahhh. I just finished reading Rodriguez's 1993 PREDATORS script on this fine 4th of July and so far, the premise quoted above sounds very much like his original script. This very well could be a Predator planet without being THE main planet.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS (if the script remains close to this one... and it sounds like it could be)

Liked/Didn't like:

Liked: The first 3/4 of the script.
Disliked: There doesn't seem to be anyone you would really want to root for except for ol' Dutch.

Liked: The large cast of roughnecks.
Disliked: Most of their personalities... well, they didn't have any or they all blended into one another. The protein loving Cadillac who eats everything from cockroaches to BBQ'ing freshly killed Predators did stand out.

Liked: This did have an 'ALIENS' feel, these guys could have easily been USCMC.
Disliked: It was a situation of, "you don't see them screwing each other over for a contract". We are somehow worse than the bad guys. Also, how did we suddenly get planet traversing technology since Predator?!? Dutch is still alive and this happened? What is up with the pirate ship (not just a pirate vessel, but an actual sea-sailing wooden vessel) he's on in the beginning? It never goes into detail wtf that was about. I was expecting Wesley Crusher, Data and Worf to appear like this was some sort of halodeck mission!

Liked: The pit fighting with all the different species going at it, with bystanders biting the dust and the bloodthirsty predator crowd loving it. Didn't like: the story didn't 'go' many places. It seemed to stay around the general area of this arena. I feel a story should go more places/be broken up more for the progression.

Liked: That we saw older, more powerful and better sophisticated predators with higher technology (as if our previous viewings of Predators were of inexperienced cub scouts with the predator world's version of over the counter technology, and NOW we were seeing the real stuff)
Disliked: The "Rambo" ending where one human had a shoulder cannon on each shoulder. Whaaa?

and from here on out it's all the stuff I didn't like.............

The Human zombie workers w predator legs and insect arms. What...the... frak? So stupid. Why not just have a race of slaves (insects) working? Like some race the predator race originally enslaved is now mutually intertwined? That makes sense to me.

The Predator sleds. Yah, OK... so they have the rocketsleds/choppers. Right. Fine... they could be cool? However the "Return of the Jedi" race in the woods? Lame. Been there, done that... some parts were ripped directly from ROTJ. Ducking and having 2 run into each other? Jumping off and having the chaser smash into a tree? Horrible. Please come up w something original.

Dutch/lead. Well, he doesn't do much as he's a prisoner in most of it. At least make him free half way through like Riddick. Hey! Riddick? Now, that Arnie isn't involved, I could picture someone like the Riddick character in this. In fact, Dutch sounds just like him in the beginning... where he is quietly observing everything around him to make his attack. I wonder if David Twohy read this script before... Naaaahhhh!!!
:nerd

The ending. So the 'twist' with releasing the rouge predator to help the humans? Hmmm... I'm not so sure if Arnie's character should 'ride off into the sunset' with him. Sorry, but too corny for me. Maybe if this was PG-13, but thank go the amount of gore in this, well, yah. This ain't no PG-13. I did appreciate the gore level in this one. It did go over the top and might be a bit too saturated where at the end you are desensitized to it all. As Transformers 2 or Terminator Salvation demonstrates, if you don't care about a character = you don't emphasize when they get hurt or die. When the characters in Predator die, you are sad for their deaths... even tho they are gnarly, asshole mercenaries. I mean, I get a pang whenever seeing 'the body' Ventura get his guts blown out by an unseen enemy. You don't really have that here. Then again, maybe some great actors' portrayal could bring some to these guys?

There's a lot that can be brought here and worked on. On the bright side, even tho this script is not that great (it is just a 1st draft from the 90's anyway) it in its present form is still miles better than AVP or AVP2.

With Nimród Antal directing it? It might just have that interesting character development and dynamic action this type of script needs. Looks promising... hey, anyone who cast fooking Remo Williams, Morpheus, and Leon the Professional in a film can't be too bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEV7bTWpG8w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IdKpgwA2eo

Space Jockey ALIEN prequel

2009-06-10T01:56:00.000-07:00

I for one would love to see this be done right. Above is my sketch of the Space Jockey biomech race and shows how I think only sticking closely to the original H.R. Giger aesthetic would be the ONLY art direction to take this.

"When word leaked earlier this week that Ridley Scott was working on a prequel to his 30-year-old sci-fi classic, the original Alien, fans pounced on the news. But the project may have already hit its first speed bump: The filmmakers and Fox, the studio that owns the rights to the franchise, seem to have conflicting ideas about who should direct. Scott plans to produce and had handpicked commercial director Carl Erik Rinsch to make his feature debut. Sources at Fox, however, tell EW that the studio is not interested in greenlighting a prequel unless Scott himself directs."

I think it would take Ridley Scott or someone with his vision to bring this movie to life. I only hope they get the space jockey race done right as H. R. Giger intended. For the first time, I think FOX has finally woken up.

BHEADWORKS

2009-06-09T02:17:00.000-07:00

I recently found some cool sculptures by a Korean artist and concept designer Jeong Yeon Gyun a.k.a. "BHEAD". They are incredible post apocalyptic Shiflett Brothers meets Tank Girl sculptures from his "Day After WWIII" series done back in 2007. Feel free to browse through his illustrations and sculpture of Desert Punk, videogame concept art and his Day After series. The 2D is O.K., but I feel it's the 3D sculpture where Jeong really shines!

Check it out over at his blog website. Click on 'blog' at the top menu to see examples of his work: http://blog.naver.com/systemgore

UPDATE: Looks like one of his figures 1/6th scale will be available soon... hopefully REALLY SOON from the E-UREKA SHOP!

NEW UPDATE: just found out some bad news. From the website:

"We apologize that the Bhead project was cancelled by the artist due to personal reasons.
Sorry about that.
I hope one day things change and he decides to continue with the project.
We will let you know... if..."

Zuno... ^L^

If anyone has any inside info as to why the artist changed his mind, please let me know!

Domiance War IV Complete.

2009-05-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Dominance War IV is finished and the winners are awaiting to be selected. I signed up with POLYCOUNT and my entries can be seen here. Unfortunately, I was only able to complete my Concept Sheet, some main entry sketches and Character Sheet due to a busy schedule. "Maybe next year?" I always tell myself. Yes... next year. :(

Do you believe in Lamination?

2009-03-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.animax-lamb.com/asia/main.html

Synopsis of LaMBs

The Inhabitants of a harsh deserts planet called Cerra have perfected a system of imprisonment without walls. Called "Lamination", this system of virtual slavery ensures that those convivted of serious crimes remain productive, if not free, members of society. Prisoners are hence called LaMBs.

The system has made both jails and the death penalty unnecessary in a world where human ingenuity, creativity and labor continue to be precious commodities that cannot be replaced by robots or any form of "artificial" intelligence. This system has sparked off philosophical debate among the citizens of Cerra on whether lamination is ethical.

LaMB is an upcoming animated film produced by Animax directed byRyosuke Tei with the original script written by Carmelo S. J. Juinio that will be broadcasted across several countries in 2009 in high definition. It is also the first and biggest Animax original production.

Funny... I wonder where the 'B' comes from in LaMB? Wouldn't LaM be better? Well, whatever the case... I'm liking the looks of the featured babe.

Dominance War IV

2009-02-27T18:54:00.000-08:00

This year's Dominance War has started up again. I just wanted to put a 'shout-out' for you artists to join in. It always has some great prizes and produces some amazing artwork. This year I will actually be able to finish the sucker! I will post my "General" for the Dominance War IV mini challenge when I finish it before the deadline this coming Monday. Posted above is the poster representing Polycount's entries ( the forum I will be posting my work to). An amazing 11 different forums from around the world will be competing!

Link to the Dominance War IV homepage:

http://www.gameartisans.org/dominancewar/homepage/index.php

and links to the different forums competing:

http://www.3dtotal.com/
http://www.cgland.com/
http://boards.polycount.net/
http://www.gameartisans.org/
http://www.3dvf.com/
http://www.cgsociety.org/
http://www.hxsd.com/
http://www.3d4all.org/foruns/index.php
http://www.cgtantra.com/
http://www.cghub.com/
http://www.cgtalk.ru/

Shallow. Lowbrow. Hipster. Crap.

2009-02-19T02:04:00.000-08:00

I am up again with insomnia, flipping through a Hi*Fructose magazine. I both love this mag, Juxtapose and Giant Robot and yet despise them at the same time. I swear, if I see another 'threadless' pea-soup green and powder-blue deer with scrollwork fleur de lis painted on a piece of plywood, some heroin skinny big-eyed waifs looking vapidly or lazy-eyed to the viewer or an Abraham Lincon made of meat, I... I... well, I don't know what I would do. I guess what I would do is exactly what I am doing: venting finally in my blog.

I'm not a great or witty writer by a long shot. No. I'm not about to win any debates. I don't use this blog to vent wittily like others... I don't think I could possibly type fast enough to keep up with my thoughts anyway. I wish I could, as I think my thoughts are pretty spectacular (Actually I don't really like my thoughts, they tend to be annoying, like I have a pissed off 80 year old Henry Rollins living in my head). I guess that's the same smug feeling many artists out there feel about their work. But they are unashamedly pumping out the same work they've ripped from Ryden, Baseman and others who had the balls to do something different. It's not that I think the artists of today are unintelligent (they are bright and I know many would agree with me) but the work displays lazy, shallow and lacking any creative personal vision. However... it makes money. Or something. Maybe fame? I don't know, but it's pissing me off. I wish I could burn it all, put each artist on a deserted island without any outside influences for 5 years and see what they come up on their own. The same can be said with Hollywood. I would put all those writing fucking remakes and see if they could come up with an honest, personal and original script that wasn't a 'reworked origin story', but that's another rant.

I like sci-fi and anime. I like 'dark' subject matter. I enjoy painting the female form. So what do I paint? French "Metal Hurlant" or Japanese "SMH" inspired decaying pipes, wires and technology, desolate worlds all populated by curvy females. Large floating rocks on vast dead landscapes. It's what I would love to see when walking into a gallery, it caters to my personal taste and that's it. I have been tempted to just throw the towel in and paint some 1970's looking crap on a wooden board to see if it would sell, but fuck that! That's not me. What if it did sell?! How terrifying. Let's be clear: I don't have a problem with art being a money making business... if it puts food on the table. However, I think you can create marketable work without completely compromising your personal vision. I guess I can still find gems amongst the turds... unlike with postmoderist works of the 80's. Damn if I could never jump on the 'sticks and mud painted white in the middle of the gallery floor' bandwagon of crap, except maybe some of David Lynch's work: have some ants eat out some meat glued to the center of your painting? O.K. that's some brilliantly weird shit.

I know some day soon a new trend in art will replace this one. Yes, the hipsters will claim to have been there first. We can't help that. My only hope is that it is created with honest and personal vision by the artists. Now excuse me... I'm off to paint on wood a vapid, wide-eyed Abraham Lincon stag centaur made of meat being held aloft with elegant powder blue scrollwork. You just know you want a t-shirt of that, don't you.

TRIBES 2... is BACK?!

2009-01-06T00:53:00.001-08:00

Now, this just warms my heart.

A group of guys called TribesNext have some Tribes 2 servers up and running along with a new patch a year after Vivendi shut down the servers forever. This game above all others grabed my very soul much like how World of Warcraft does to many today. It truely was digital crack.

I made some popular HALO skins for the game back in the day under the handle of CENOBITE and posted them to a now nonexistant website called the Skinnersguild. I cut my teeth on Photoshop doing a Hellraiser skin... I didn't even know about 'layers' at the time! Skinning for the game was that easy. Now, if only there was a nextgen TRIBES III that didn't dumb down the game like Tribes:Vengance did, I would be in heaven. Are you listening, Vivendi?

Technology Evolution "Wir hassen teuer"

2009-01-05T13:11:00.000-08:00

A VERY cool Saturn commerical from Europe. Damn... wish we had commercials like this. Click on the video to be sent to YouTube, then select the "watch in HD" at the lower right of the video to see it in all it's HD glory! Thanks go to Dr. Phil Plait from Bad Astronomy.

Childhood Fears

2008-12-12T15:47:00.000-08:00

I love this series of work by Joshua Hoffine. Really brings to life the various fears we all had as children. Then again just watch 'Poltergeist' or 'It' and that too can cause flashbacks.

You can check out how he created the image above named 'Devil' on his blog here.

Corpus Clock Chronophage

2008-10-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

This is one of the coolest clocks I've ever seen!

SPACEGIRL

2008-09-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love the look of Travis Charest's work on his own personal comic, SPACEGIRL . It has the feeling if Flash Gordon were to be set in the same world of Ridley Scott's ALIEN. Very cool stuff. I wonder if any copies of the actual limited edition book are left?

The World of Zamak

2008-09-30T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some cool 'fleshy' twists on the organic "HalfLife 2" style of robots that I quite like!

http://www.zamak.fr/

Dark City: The Director's Cut!

2008-06-30T02:48:00.000-07:00

Oh... happy day. Sorry I have been gone for those of you who stop by every now and then, but this news brought me out of my shell. The director's cut of this highly underrated film that came out BEFORE the Matrix, yet was so much like the Matrix... maybe even better in some ways? I eagerly await the Bluray edition which will go on sale the same time as the DVD so I can watch Jennifer Connelly in glorious high-def before she became all skinny.

The Alex Proyas directed film will be available to own from the 29th July, and should retail at around $19.97. The disc will carry both the theatrical and director's cuts of the film - each of which will be presented in anamorphic widescreen, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. Extras will include 3 commentary tracks (with director Alex Proyas, Writers Lem Dobbs, and David S Goyer, Director of Photography Dariusz Wolski, Production Designer Patrick Tatopoulous, and film critic Roger Ebert), an introduction by Alex Proyas, a Memories of Shell Beach making of featurette, an Architecture of Dreams featurette, a production gallery, trailers and more. A Blu-ray disc will also be available for $34.99.

And here is an interview on the awesome site Twitch with Alex Proyas about the project. Heh, and Rodger Ebert is a huge fan of the film and spilled the beans early!

Mech Pilot : Harlequin

2008-05-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my pilot for the Carnival Mech, Harlequin. She is the 18 year old adopted granddaughter of the giant robo creator. Next to her is her little Lemur friend 'Zuzu'.

Takayuki Takeya Alien Sculptures again available.

2008-04-17T00:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, I consider this one of my GRAIL kits. (One day I will have you!) Sideshow Collectibles now has bought the rights of carrying Takayuki Takeya ALIEN Sculps officially from 20th Century Fox and the original company in Japan, Fewture models! ( and it's not some cheap Thai recast!)

"Available for the first time outside of Japan, the Fewture Models-designed Alien Pile, Alien Newborn, and Alien Warrior statues are now available for Pre-Order to collectors worldwide at SideshowCollectibles.com! This amazing trio of very rare Alien statues can now be yours!"

ALIEN PILE

http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=9105

and

ALIEN WARRIOR

http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=9120

The Carni-Mech of Vengance!

2008-03-06T23:45:00.000-08:00

My first concept piece for the Concept Art class is finally finished (read about the concept art school in my earlier post). I could work more on it, but you have to put the wacom pen down eventually. I decided to do a Giant-Robo / Iron Giant type of mech as it was my last choice... thus it would challenge me more to draw than a more military Ma.K mech that would be more to my liking.

I recently saw Tekkon Kinkreet and that aesthetic stayed with me. I love the rusty, run down looking work of such Japanese artists like 'Orange' Koji Morimoto, 'Canabis' Tanaka Tatsuyuki and 'Akira' Otomo Katsuhiro. This look can also be found in Italian artist Chichoni's work and the comic of Druuna by Paolo Sierperi. I also channeled anime such as Howl's Moving Castle, KaKuRenBo and Robot Carnival. The steampunk look is definitely there too represented by the large Tesla coil thingies on its back, hoses, steam train engines for legs and overall rust and bolts aplenty.

The story behind it is a simple one: a large corporate 'Mafia' Circus is sweeping in buying out all of the small carnivals and circuses by force. If you don't sell, they send in the goons to rough you up and tear your little carnival or family circus down. Well, they tore down Grandpa's carnival and in secret he slowly built a giant-robot from the scraps of merry-go-rounds, gravity bombs and whirl-a-gigs. His granddaughter found out his secret and decided to take on Grandpa's mission! He gives in once he realizes he is too frail to take up the role and she becomes the pilot of to wreak vengeance on the evil circus!

The young female pilot is now my next assignment.

Wonder Festival 2008!

2008-02-25T19:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, the money that I could blow at the Wonder Festival in Japan would shatter our national debt. It's going down right now and photos are starting to come in and even more photo links and info ! I just love this 3d version of Katsuya Terada's milk girl. Gimmie.

"BAKKA, HENTI!"

2008-02-21T19:29:00.000-08:00

"No henti, no henti!!!" Oh for the love of god, get this song out of my head!!!

ICHI

2008-02-06T12:33:00.000-08:00

I am a HUGE fan of Shintarô Katsu's Zatoichi, the blind swordsman. I'm still on the fence on the Takeshi version as he lacked the humor that Katsu brought to the part. Well, here's an interesting twist: what if Zatoichi was female... and hawt (actress Haruka Ayase). Well, bring it on, I say!
Directed by Fumihiko Sori, director of 'Ping Pong' and upcomming sci-fi film 'Vexille'.
Here's the link to the film's website and trailer

OH-HO! and here's a link to a video, courtesy of TWITCH, of Takashi Miike’s new stage version of blind swordsman story Zatoichi starring Show Aikawa!!! WTF?! Why don't I live in Japan?
Zatoichi the Stageplay

Salvaged: The Art of Jason Felix

2008-01-22T13:49:00.000-08:00

Jason Felix has finally finished his art book 'Salvaged' and I can't wait to look at all 120 pages!
They will be having a celebration party for the release of his book at the Virgin Megastore. February 22nd 2008. Friday night at 6pm.
2 Stockton Street (between 4th St & Ellis St) San Francisco, CA. Stop by if you live in the area and let me know how it went! He will also be at WonderCon in San Francisco Feb 23rd-24th.

Talking to him at the last ComicCon, I learned several great drawing tips. Looking through his sketch book I was amazed at the consistency of his work... and he told me his secret: to sketch what you can until you get bored with the subject matter, then come back to do the detail when you are ready to do that level of detail. Sometimes, he would return to a loose sketch days or weeks afterwards and go into the tight detail. I (for some reason) always try to finish a detailed sketch in one go even if I hated it. Now, I chill and come back when I am in a better frame of mind.

Bukkakeru ex Machina

2008-01-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

Wow... I love the Japanese, why? Because they go for some fantastically weird stuff. Here is a perfect NSFW example of simulated bukkake (some sort of white cellulose food product bukakke / bukake, commonly used in 'goo girl' films ) on a pretty woman by an interesting machine. A Bukkake robot? I guess when all the men finally disappear off the face of the earth, bukkake will still be made by our robotic overlords...

Brides of the World by Kimiko Yoshida

2008-01-15T21:19:00.000-08:00

HERE is a beautiful site displaying many different self portraits by the artist Kimiko Yoshida over the years. I love the simplicity of the images juxtaposed with the complexity of of the headdresses.
"With each photograph I create, I am carrying out a ceremony of disappearance. In fact, it is not me that I’m photographing. I’m photographing a corpse. My work speaks of death, but there is no suffering. From a technical point of view, each one is a still life." -Kimiko

Golden Apple art show

2008-01-09T13:33:00.000-08:00

Dang. I wish I knew about this art show at Gallery 1988 on Melrose Ave. dedicated to Stan Lee's Marvel creations. It was happening down the street from me last night! (note to self: get on the Golden Apple mailing list). Some great pieces were shown, check them out. Looks like the gallery looked crowded, so maybe it was for the best I didn't know.

Chicks who draw Chicks

2008-01-02T22:31:00.000-08:00

With 2008 now here, anyone looking for a nice calendar should check out the "Chicks who draw Chicks" Yearless (yes, you can use this one every year if you'd like!) calendar you can order for $20 over here. All the (mostly NSFW) nudie girls were drawn by, yes, female artists... ;) The calendar comes by way of Conceptart.org. I love stopping by and checking out some of the amazing art being posted on their forums.

Bizarre Polish film posters...

2007-12-31T18:57:00.000-08:00

WOW. I was reading an interview with David Fincher on Aintitcool.com, and the subject of Polish Movie Posters came up. Looked them up and man... some beautiful but twisted stuff. As if some one were to tell H. R. Giger or Zdzislaw Beksinski a brief plot and let him come up with the poster's visuals w/o even seeing the film. That image above? For RAIDERS of the LOST ARK.

Tsukasa Jun's new 2008 calendar

2007-12-28T14:42:00.000-08:00

I have Tsukasa's 2007 calendar filled with his spectacular illustrations. Looks like the new one is ready... now I need to find where and how to get one before they sell out! If anyone knows where to get one feel free to leave a message.
UPDATE: I just received word from Tsukasa Jun himself, that all the calendars are sold out! So if you were able to get your hands on one, lucky you!
And another UPDATE: got this as a present recently! Fuckin unbelievable!

Japan, "UFO's definitely real". Mothera, "No comment".

2007-12-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

I almost choked on my breakfast this morning when comming across this bit -o- news.

Questioned about the existence of alien spaceships, Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda thought about it and then answered carefully.
He said he had "not yet confirmed" whether they existed.
The conspiracy theorists will note that the answer was not a "no".

Beautiful 'W.O.W.' like custom figure kits

2007-12-27T23:01:00.000-08:00

Looking for some female figures to compliment your WOW character? Check out the guys working on some completely custom resin figures at E2046 Ori Project. Pretty nice and they are not even from Japan! The material looks like wax used for toy creation rather than Super Sculpy or some other clay substance.

Drink like Deckard

2007-12-27T22:48:00.000-08:00

I recently found this site that sells glasses found in Ridley Scott's BLADERUNNER. Harrison Ford can be seen drinking out of these same sweet glasses in the movie. Yes, a little pricy, but when you are a replicant hunting replicant... you need nice glassware for your active lifestyle.
CiBi Crystal Glass

Welcome to Pervomonkey!

2007-12-27T21:53:00.001-08:00

Where are all da monkies and are they really pervy? OH YES they are and they are everywhere! (just look around you... or the mirror if you'd like). Yes. I am a pervo monkey, and I get pervy about many things which I will be posting about here:

First and foremost are interesting Japanese cultural bits... Japanese illustrators like Tsukasa 'Bullet' Jun, Yasushi Nirasawa, Shunya Yamashita, Naoyuki Katoh and Masamune Shiro. Japanese Sculptors like Kenji Ando, Makoto Kobyashi, Eisaku Kito, Kow (Ma.K.) Yokoyama or 'the master' Takayuki Takeya. Manga and Anime like Ghost in the Shell, BLAME!, Battle Angel Alita, Akira and Lone Wolf and Cub. Garage Kits? Did someone just say that? I love Japanese resin kits! So much so my home is filling up with them!

I also get all pervy over western culture with movies like ALIEN, BLADERUNNER, DUNE, BRAZIL, Eraserhead, Delicatessen and many other dark, grimy and industrial films. Also love the grungy Heavy Metal/Metal Hurlant culture of Mobius, H.R. Giger, Chichoni, Serpieri, Bisley and Frazetta!

Well, what about the Pervo?!? This isn't called "Perv-o-monkey" for nothing! There will be oiled-up aliens with lactating purple tentacles wearing cat ears dressed in gothic loli maid cosplay with weird futanari gender twisting powers! (O।K., maybe not lactating tentacles... this is a family site.)

I plan on also updating this blog with the progress of my artwork, musings about the art world as well as goings-on in HOLLYWOOD where I live. Examples of my artwork can be seen here.