Soccerbot 2008!

I am HOOKED on EURO 2008! Watching the matches inspired the following doodles. I especially liked one particular silhouette and decided to turn the Sketchbot logo into a Soccerbot version to show my support. Who are you rooting for this year?

Mr. Turnip Featured on Tomopop

I'd like to give a shout-out to Colette from Tomopop for featuring my custom Munny today! Tomopop is a recent find and quickly became one of my "daily visit" sites, as they feature quite a diverse range of artists and custom projects. Give 'em a look see.

Mr. Turnip Custom up on Custom Toy Lab

My winning entry ("Cutest" Munny) in APW Gallery's Munny Contest is now up on Custom Toy Lab!

"Turnip Takes a Stroll After Falling Off Truck" - Custom Munny

Here it is, my entry for tonight's Custom Munny Show at APW Gallery! Swing by if you're local to see plenty of custom goodness from a slew of participating artists.

One thing I learned from my third custom - if you live by the stencil, you die by the stencil. My designs are intentionally graphic by nature, so it's important that I get as clean a read on the toy as possible. I had planned on painting this one with acrylics but just could not get the fidelity and crispness that I wanted, so I switched gears and decided to try spray paint and masking. I'm happy for the most part, however, the overlapping layers became annoying. I was masked out and decided not to do the white clouds, partly due to the fact that the colours I could find for the sky and sky rays weren't as close in value and caused more contrast than the original design - so the clouds would have made it even more busy to read. I also toyed with the idea of a black outline to further delineate the character from the background. Perhaps I'll try this out on the next one.

Foggy Brooklyn Morning

I was up at the crack of dawn this morning - ok, so it was more like 6:40am - to photograph the Munny out in my backyard (Brooklyn Bridge Park) and was floored by the amount of thick fog we got before our first heat-wave of the Summer kicks in. It's supposed to get up to the mid 90's today! Check out more of these in hi-res at this Flickr set.

Custom Munny WIP - Day Two

Another teaser before tomorrow's unveiling. What can it be?!

Custom Munny WIP - Day One

Just a small glimpse at the work-in-progress for this Saturday's Munny Contest at APW Gallery. I'll be posting a more thorough "making of" once the piece goes on display, so check back over the weekend for lots more masked off Munny goodness.

Takashi Murakami @ Brooklyn Museum

We finally got to see the incredible Takashi Murakami exhibit that's currently on display at the Brooklyn Museum. It's an impressive show, and the craftsmanship exhibited is stunning. Just don't expect to leave with anything reasonably priced. ($18.00 for a mouse pad? Yikes!) Definitely try to catch this one before it closes on July 13th.

Taking The Leap

Today is my last day at Guava. As I wrap up my 3-year tenure as Animation Director to pursue my independent work and Sketchbot venture full-time, one of my favourite images from the French artist, Yves Klein, "Le Saut dans le Vide" (Leap into the Void), is prominent in my thoughts. No vacation for me, though. Come Monday, I dive head first into the ongoing work on the Sketchbot prototype, along with completing my entry for the upcoming custom Munny show at APW Gallery. I've got lots of exciting projects in the works, and am looking forward to sharing the process of taking my 2d concept from the page to full-up, designer toy completion.

Custom Toy Lab

My first ever custom toy was accepted over at Custom Toy Lab this afternoon. Check out their great repository of all things custom!