Here is the second part of the interview I did with Ozone Late Night. In this segment we discuss inspiration, EK model kits, geek out on Jack Kirby and talk about some other stuff.....
Enjoy!
OZONE LATE NIGHT INTERVIEW Prt.1
I recently did an interview on Ozone Late Night, a podcast done by The Ozone Nightmare. The host, Joe, picked up a copy of my book and was impressed/intrigued enough to ask me to come on his show.......so I did.
This is the first of two parts, and on this segment we discuss my book, the Entartete Kunst project and a few other art related topics.
You can listen to it here.
Thanks to Joe and Lando at the The Ozone Nightmare!
EK.01 & EK.02 SHIPPING
EK Cosmonaut kits EK.01 and EK.02 are packed up and shipping from Industria Mechanika. Thanks to everyone that picked one up! EK.03 will be shipping out soon, once Industria receives the laser cut bases for the kits.
There are still a few kits available for in-stock orders as well. Available here.
Thanks again.
DYSTOPIC KIT RESTOCK / PRE-ORDER
In addition to the new 1/8 scale EK Cosmonaut kit being released, Industria Mechanika is restocking the 1/6th scale Dystopic model kit as well. These kits are now available for pre-order over at Industria Mechanika and the ETA for shipping is early June 2016.
EK COSMONAUT #1 MODEL KIT PRE-ORDERS
The final figure in the 1/8th scale EK Cosmonaut Series is now available for pre-orders over at Industria Mechanika. The ETA for shipping is late May 2016.
Order yours at the IMech Shop here.
As with the other kits this sculpt was done by the talented Gene Campbell and features the same high quality production and materials.
The other two kits in the series have also restocked at Industria Mechanika....so if you missed them before, you can pick up the whole series!
THE ROOKIES
I've been asked to be part of the judging panel for this year's edition of The Rookies. The Rookies is an international awards program for artists, designers, animators and creators. Every year they hand out a bunch of great prizes and paid internships to some of the top studios in the field.
The Rookies is open for artists that are, or have been students in 2015/16, and entries have to be submitted by May 29th, 2016. Winners will be announced in mid-July.
You can check out the current entries at The Rookies, and the judging panel here.
EK COSMONAUT .02 & .03 RESTOCK PREORDER
The 1/8 scale EK Cosmonaut .02 and .03 resin model kits are restocking at Industria Mechanika and are available for pre-order now. The ETA for the shipping of these kits is the first of May 2016.
EK Cosmonaut .01 is coming... but unfortunately it won't be ready for orders until May, and will ship after that. Also around the same time Industria Mechanika is planning on have another round of 1/6th scale Dystopic kits ready for orders as well.
I will post again when these are kits are ready. Thanks!
FLASHBACK: 2D ARTIST INTERVIEW
A blast from the past.....2D Artist Magazine published an old interview I did with them on their website.......so if you didn't pick up a copy of the magazine back then, here is a chance to read it!
Check it out here.
Cheers.
REBELS
Here is a cover illustration I did for Rebels, the follow up book to Randoms, David Liss's young reader, sci-fi, action-adventure epic. As with the first book, the illustration is a full cover wrap, including the inner flaps, and features the protagonist Zeke Reynolds and portraits of the other main characters from the story. The graphic line elements were retained from the first cover, although in a more aggressive way, and again I created the logo for the book.
Randoms was well received, and this sequel shares the same level of humour, action, and drama as the first book. Those who liked Randoms won't be disappointed.
Rebels is due for release late summer 2016 by Simon & Schuster......and hopefully a third instalment will follow!
Thanks to Lizzy Bromley at Simon & Schuster.
ELI & TORK
Here is an oldie......but in my opinion, a goodie.
I usually spend some of my down time over the holidays cleaning out old files, unused .psd's, etc. from my computer. While doing this I came across these character designs for an old pitch done years ago with Next Level Games.
The pitch was for a fun, colourful, but somewhat violent co-operative rail shooter called Eli & Tork: Escape From Paranoid City. The story took place in a dystopic future, and was centred around these two toughs, Eli and Tork, and their cat Mr. Whitepants. When Mr. Whitepants disappears into a crack in the walls of Paranoid City, a massive walled prison complex (think Escape From New York), Eli and Tork have to break into the prison, find Mr. Whitepants, and then battle their way out again. The game's tagline pretty much sums it up: Breaking in to Paranoid City was easy. Getting out is another story.
The design was fairly well received, and the mechanics of the design were used as a basis for two different projects developed at Next Level Games. Unfortunately the publishers of these projects eventually decided to graft their own IP's onto the design...being more comfortable going with something established instead of taking the risk of developing something new (these projects didn't turn out very well....but that is another story), and Eli and Tork were left to gather dust in the dark recesses of my hard drive.
There were a few more concepts created for this pitch....screen shots and a couple promo pieces, but these haven't faired as well against the test of time. While this material is old it still has for me a charm, a sense of nostalgia, and the thoughts of what could have been. Anyways, since these guys got the shaft twice, I figured they at least deserved a blog post!
Happy New Year....Enjoy!
EK COSMONAUT 01 - MASTER PRINT
Here is a shot of the master print for the upcoming EK Cosmonaut resin model kit. This is the third and final figure in the 1/8th scale EK Cosmonaut Series (although he is #1....we released them in reverse order....I don't know why!). Amazingly sculpted by Gene Campbell, this figure has the same great level of, and attention to detail, as the previous EK kits sculpted by Gene and released by Industria Mechanika.
This guy should be ready for pre-order in early February, 2016 and will ship out soon after that. I'll post again with the firm dates once I get them from Industria Mechanika.
DYSTOPIC RESTOCK PRE-ORDER
A small batch (24 units) of 1/6th scale Dystopic Kits have been added to the Industria Mechanika Shop for pre-order. If you missed this kit before now is the time to pick one up. Head over to Industria Mechanika to order.
The kits will be shipped in early February 2016.
The 1/8 EK Cosmonaut kits are also in production. Figure #1 in the series should be available for pre-order soon. The 2nd and 3rd Figures in the series will also be restocked for a third run in the new year as well.
GOLEM GUARDIAN FEATURE
Nice feature on my work at Spanish language game art site Golem Guardian. Check it out here. Ariba!
THE SCALES
Here is another "EK" personal commission done for a client in Sweden. The piece itself is full of personal meaning for the client, and the composition was worked out so that the client's tattoo artist can interpret the design as a half sleeve tattoo in the future.
As with the other personal EK commissions, this one was delivered with a poster sized one off original signed giclee print and supporting documents.
Thanks to Rickard!
EK COSMONAUT 03 BACK IN STOCK
Industria Mechanika has restocked my 1/8th scale EK Cosmonaut 03 figure and is shipping orders immediately. If you missed out before you can get one here at the IMech shop.
Plus, the stock of the female EK Cosmonaut 02 figure is down to a few remaining kits, so if you want one, now is the time to pick it up. Get it from the IMech shop here.
The third kit in this series, EK Cosmonaut 01, is currently in the master print stage, and will then be broken up and cast for production. I will keep you posted on release dates!
ANKI OVERDRIVE
ANKI Overdrive, a cool project I did some character design and illustration work for, was released on the weekend. ANKI Overdrive is a modern take on hobby slot car racing, but features cars that race around a modular track that doesn't have any grooves or slots, allowing for much greater freedom of movement. The game also features a "video game-like " aspect, that allows you arm your car with weapons and utilize a host of AI "Commanders", with their own abilities and personas, to drive the vehicles. You can also build your own driver to battle against these AI commanders (the design and illustration work for the "build your own driver" being done by my good friend Nigel Quarless). The control of the cars, and the weapons they have, is done through an app that runs on your phone or tablet.
When I was kid my older brother had a large collection of slot racing cars and tracks, and I used to love to play with them....so in addition to being a fun project, this one also had a bit of a nostalgic vibe for me.
Anyways, you check more of the game out here, and the the physical cars and tracks are retailing on Amazon, at the Apple Store, Toys R Us, Target, etc.
Hopefully I'll be able to post more of the work I did for ANKI Overdrive in the future!
MLOVEIZM INTERVIEW
I have a small interview at low brow art site MLoveizM…check it out here!
Thanks to Daniel Quinones.
BORN IN CONCRETE SHOP HIATUS
As I mentioned in a previous post, I am shutting down my webshop while I'm living and travelling over in Europe for the next year. Response to the shop was great and I spent sometime this weekend packing up the last orders that will be shipped out today. Thanks again to everyone that picked something up!
My book is still available on Amazon and at other book retailers, and for those interested in the model kits based on my work, Industria Mechanika has the second figure in EK Cosmonaut Series available for pre-order now (shipping next month). Plus they will have the 2nd edition of the first figure back in stock next month, and the 1/6 scale Dystopic will be back in stock in the fall.
Thanks again!
EK COSMONAUT 02 PRE-ORDER
The second figure in the 3 kit EK Cosmonaut Series is now available for pre-orders at Industria Mechanika's online shop. As with the last figure in the series, this one is a 1/8th scale, highly detailed resin model (with a few metal and acrylic pieces as well) that faithfully recreates my original painting.
Expertly modelled by Gene Campbell, this kit has had a lot of interest since it was announced, so if you are interested in getting one it would be best to pre-order now.
Last month I posted the master print/sculpt that was printed by Desmoda at Ownage, but here I've included some of Gene's renders to show off his great work and attention to detail.
Kits are shipping at the end of July 2015. Go here to check it out at the IMech Shop!
FRANCE
This summer I'm packing up and moving my family to France, to live and travel around Europe for a year. I'm still going to be working while I'm over there, so those interested in freelance commissions can still contact me through my website, email, etc. Unfortunately I will be closing the shop on my website while I'm away, as lugging around books and prints won't be possible.
Response to the shop has been great and thanks to everyone that ordered a signed book, prints, t-shirts, etc. I haven't restocked a lot of the items as I knew I was leaving the country, but there is some stock left, so if you want something out of there now is the time to order!
Au revoir!