The Pharaoh Bonez

It's been a crazy busy month work-wise, but I was able to crank out this custom - The Pharaoh Bonez - for tonight's "Dem Bonez, The Reconstruction"custom show opening at ZAKKA.

Turns out Elite Gudz's Mr Den had worked with the godfather of graffiti, SEEN, for about 13 years and had access to this piece that didn't quite make it into final release. Den and co-curator Nemo got the go ahead from Seen to put together this show, and I'm honored to be included with such an esteemed roster of artists.

Show opens Friday, March 25th at ZAKKA here in my funky-industrial BKLYN neighborhood that is known as Dumbo.  Check out my Flickr set for a few more shots.

Crimson Argus

Here is the full reveal of my custom Alien Argus for Max Nagata's group show at Toy Art Gallery, which opens tomorrow, Feb 26th and runs thru Mar 26th.

**UPDATE** Artwork is now available online - here's a direct link to my very affordable piece.

I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out, as I've been experimenting more with washes, dry-brushing and all around weathering on recent customs.

Here's a great tip for getting amazing captures of your work - try to take advantage of the natural outdoor light, especially during "Golden Hour" when taking photos.  I like to throw the background out of focus and position the piece to get an edge/rim light along the silhouette of the character where possible.

If you're in LA, be sure to stop by the gallery to check out what is turning out to be a huge custom show for Mark's awesome Kaiju-inspired creature!

Alien Argus Custom Group Show

Here's a few sneaks of my piece for Mark Nagata's Alien Argus Custom Group Show, opening Feb. 26th and running thru March 26th, 2011 at Toy Art Gallery in Hollywood, CA.

The figure has crazy awesome detail and was super fun to paint up. This piece also marks my first ever Kaiju custom!

I'll post the full reveal next Friday when the show opens.

New Moon @ My Plastic Heart

Happy New Year Sketchbot followers!  It's been a very busy start for me, as I just completed a big freelance gig for Saatchi NY and am putting finishing touches on a few new pieces for various shows early in the year.

First up is New Moon, Interpretations of the Chinese Zodiac, opening tonight (2/11) at My Plastic Heart NYC. This is the third iteration of the zodiac-themed show, curated by John Wong.

My concept took a few twists and turns before settling on an idea that was partly inspired by my 1-yr old daughter's wooden toy blocks. My birth year is 1965, so naturally I chose to do The Snake. Pigs are on the direct opposite on the zodiac scale, so I wanted to incorporate them into the composition. The humanoids were based on old sketches I did years ago while doing simple, volumetric character studies.

The final piece, titled "Why Do Opposites Attract?", is an 11" x 17" Giclée print and will be on display thru March 13th, 2011.

Happy Holidays from Sketchbot!

It's been an incredible year for Sketchbot. We debuted the original colourway this past June at My Plastic Heart and had them available at San Diego Comic Con in July, Variant 2 was introduced at New York Comic Con at the end of July, and the DIY blanks were announced at Designer Con in November. We also had not one, but TWO Custom Shows - the first was held at My Plastic Heart in March, and the second at Munky King LA at the end of November.  Next year we have four more exciting variants rolling out, and the possibility of Sketchbot Custom Show 3 is already in the works. I'm also participating in a few exciting shows early next year - most notably, I've been invited to do a series of Star Wars Galaxy Sketch Cards for series 6 and also will be contributing to the third New Moon show at My Plastic Heart.

Here's to a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous New Year!

P.S. Longtime readers will recognize that the above image is based on this concept from two years ago. I had always intended to bring that concept to life in 3d, and finally had some time this year to crank it out.

Sketchbot Custom Show 2 - Captain Cavebot!

When I first began this custom, I was going to do an entire figure covered in sculpted fur based on two drawings I did called Furbot.  I started with the body, but then had to put work on hold for 2 weeks while I took on some paying jobs.  When I returned to the figure last Sunday I started rethinking the concept and was doing a few colour studies in Photoshop when it hit me - "why not just do a figure with a hairy body only?" The classic Hanna-Barbera character Captain Caveman immediately popped into my head, so I snapped a picture of work-in-progress and mocked up that idea.  I think it turned out pretty good, considering the last minute change and working out of my normal "mask 'N spray" comfort zone.

You can see this, along with 70 other amazing pieces beginning tonight at Munky King LA.  See you at the show!

Sketchbot Custom Show 2 Sneak Peek Day Five

Alright, technically, it's Thursday as I compose this final teaser grid before we head out to LA. I'm simply not going to have any time to do this in the morning before heading to the airport, so those of you up late get first dibs.

This last group is comprised of pieces by: Atomos, babyVtec, Steve Talkowski (hey, that's ME), Jenny Wolf, Mister Toast, Kingquan, Phetus, Gumpy Revolution, and Scott Tolleson.

I hope you've all enjoyed a week's worth of teasers. Be sure to come back for complete coverage from the show at Munky King, plus all the cool events going down in Pasadena this Saturday at Designer Con!

Sketchbot Custom Show 2 Sneak Peek Day Four!

Alright folks, here we go with day four's teaser grid. As the incredible imagery continues to pour in I get excited as to the impact this show will have on the DIY custom community. People are going above and beyond with their entries and I am truly blown away!

Artists in today's grid are: George Gaspar, LYSOL, Overkill Creations, Ritzy P, Nathan Hamill, Ayleen Gaspar, Betso, Triclops, Kelly Denato, Pocket Wookie, Sour Bones, and Abe Lincoln Jr.!

Sketchbot Custom Show 2 Sneak Peek Day Three!

Are we really only 3 days aways from opening night?! Hells ya, and I'm just now painting MY entry for the show! (I work best under pressure)

This third installment of the teaser grid includes work from: Cris Rose, Jimmy Foo, Rusted Halo, Scottoons, Cameron Tiede, Jon-Paul Kaiser, Bucky Lastard, Rotobox Vinyl Anatomica, Kevin Gosselin, Kat Brunnegraff, Paul Shih, and Phu!

Sketchbot Custom Show 2 Sneak Peek Day Two!

Alright, we're in the homestretch for the big show this Friday night. Here are two more sets of teaser grids for you all to drool over!

Artists represented in this group are: Grimsheep, Lunabee, valleydweller, Mike Gulen, Alisa Ross, Paul Kaiju, Squink, PodgyPanda, dodgrr, Scribe, Spanky Stokes, and Shawnimal.