Rockman, Shmockman Part 4: "Body Building"

After a two month break, I'm finally getting back to my Rockman. I'll speed through the sappy stuff & get to the point (more or less).

After completing the head, feet & hands, it was time to build something to put them on. After examining our original skeleton, we discovered that it was way off, so we decided it would be best to start from scratch. We'd start from the bottom & work our way up.

After welding the feet to a temporary base, we tacked 1/2'' rods to the feet, about 10-15 rods per leg. These would create the underlying shape of the legs & count as reinforcement. Here it looks like his legs exploded like Elmer Fudd's gun with one of Bugs' carrots wedged in the barrel.

We carefully shaped the rods according to our design drawing & ended up with a shapely, muscular-looking limb. After completing the lower legs, we shaped out the upper legs...

By this point, it was too cold to work outside anymore, so we moved the project indoors for the winter.

For the upper legs, we wanted to experiment a bit to see if using rings would help define the limbs better than just playing by ear. Using the rings, we completed the upper legs twice as quick as the lower ones. The rings were a more precise, easy & fast way to shape the limbs. These were essential by the time we got to the arms.

But before getting to that point, we wanted to shape the legs even further by "wrapping" them. Using a thinner rod, we heated, bent & spiraled up each leg, forming each leg to it's final shape. This would also make it much easier when it came time to plate them.

Here's me, hamming it up as usual...

& finally we reached his waist... TA-DAAAAA!

Now for the upper body.

We put the project down on good ol' terra firma for this part. Here we began to estimate where the head, hands, shoulders & arms would be. Using temporary rods for temporary support, we layed out the upper body (temporarily).

More pork from the ham...

& here he is, in all his temporary glory. Here his chest looks like a birdcage & his arms are like corn stalks. He kinda looks like a freaky bizarro Popeye or something.

Then we created his shoulders out of 3 rings forming a sphere & we put rings on the arms for shape. You can also see small tubes inside the shoulder & the arm. This is for when we slide the arms on & off for positioning & plating.

-Notice the rust on his face. See how it's kinda orangey? When he rusts all over, he'll be completely orange like that. Rusty, earthy orange looks a lot better than orange spray paint.

-Also notice the date of these last two pictures. We were working on this thing on New Years' Eve, only two or three hours before '06 was over.

-More to come later! Remember to comment! Stay tuned!

Big Poster Project

At Hofstra U.'s cartooning class for kids, they are currently working on their last project: a giant poster. They can draw & paint their favorite cartoon characters or their own characters. I decided to join in the fun, as well as help the other kids by mixing them paints, helping them enlarge their drawings via overhead projector & set up their easels.

Here are my three main characters (Steve-O, Randy & Cannibal Chicken) drawn on foam board & inked with a Sharpie. It's currently in the process of being painted. Cannibal Chicken & Steve-O are easy to paint because they're both made up of colors right out of the bottle (orange, yellow, red, gray) but Randy on the other hand is a lot more difficult to paint.

Here's a cel of Steve-O & Randy I painted at Hofstra a few weeks ago.

I wanted to make his color palette very subdued to match his sincere & caring personality, so I made him up of calm blue colors. Randy is made up of two different shades of blue: periwinkle & a darker, more-purplish periwinkle (with a red-tipped beak to help him stand out a bit). Very suiting tones.

Most sets of colored pencils, pastels, markers, crayons & paints lack periwinkle or any color close to it in their repertoire. So when I want to color the poor dodo, he ends up looking like this:

Tragic, isn't it?

So I have to mix his colors just right, which takes much trial & error (& wasted paint). I'm saving him for last.

Since I'm starting to learn Photoshop bit by bit, I could eventually end this periwinkle problem once & for all. But learning Photoshop takes time, so slowly but surely I shall prevail.

If it's possible (or allowed), I'll post some of the kids' posters up here. They're all really good, especially for children nearly half my age.

Adios!

Shakespeare the Comic

Every year in the English department there is a Shakespeare Festival. Everybody has to either make a Playbill, a poster, a recipe, food, or a homemade movie of anything related to Shakespeare &/or his works. In our class, our assignment was to create any of those things, but relating specifically to Othello. I was originally going to make a plain old poster, but another idea popped into my head. I decided to make a comic.

I never really made comics before, maybe a small 3-panel strip for Hofstra Saturday Classes, but nothing more. I never really was into comics that much, either. But after seeing strips like John Sanford's Chippy & Loopus & classic strips like Calvin & Hobbes, I felt inspired to eventually create a comic of my very own. Here was the perfect opportunity to make that a possibility.

I started out with a small sheet of printer paper, thinking I wouldn't make anything bigger than that. Sadly, I didn't have the right story to tell or any space to tell that story. Since I was suffering from "cartoonist's block", I decided to write the dialogue first & figure out how many panels I'd need to draw everything out. It seemed simple enough.

But I was missing one thing: an idea. After juggling a few things around, I finally found what I wanted: what if my duck Steve-O met Shakespeare? How would he react to him? How would Shakespeare react? What if Shakespeare had writer's block like I did & Steve-O helped him out (for better or worse)? It seemed perfect.

I thought I would need only 4 0r 5 bits of dialogue to get the story across, but I was wrong. When I started writing the dialogue, I wrote it like a bad TV writer:

"Hello William Shakespeare. How are you?"

"I'm sad"

"What's wrong"

"I don't know what to write etc, etc, etc..."

I realized that both Steve-O & Shakespeare should have conflicting personalities & speech patterns. Steve-O would be Costello to Shakespeare's Abbott. Straight vs. Funny. So that led to:

"Hiya, Billy Boy! How's things?"

" What...oh... hello my good Stephano. Not very well, I'm afraid." etc...

I kept rolling with that idea, one joke after another, & I ended up with 3 pages of dialogue, which added up to about roughly 20 panels. I was going to need more paper.

I settled for bigger paper. I made it into a poster-sized epic. After a few hours of layout, drawing, inking & coloring, I ended up with this:

A 2' x 1' nightmare.

I really liked it when it was in black & white, but once I colored it, I despised it. I regretted using markers (that's all I had) & I should've switched the floor & wall colors. It's in a sea of dark brown. I suffer from slight color blindness, so coloring my drawings frustrate me.

Since I'm having problems with the sizing of pictures on this site, I'll post each panel individually. I think I've figured it out, but I'm not sure. I apologize for the blurry pictures, slight cutoffs, bad coloring & horrible lettering. Click each picture to enlarge (I hope).

What do you think? If this comic is received well, I might do more comics & put them up here. Who knows, maybe it'll be a weekly thing here.

Remember to leave comments!

WDCC # 3

More WDCC goodness!
Here's the big one. The Snow White set. My biggest set. Well, technically, it's not mine... it's my mom's.

Let me explain... The only place where I buy these sculptures is a great little shop in Rockville Centre called 'The Gifted Images Gallery'. I've been going there since around 2000, when I started collecting the WDCC's. I have become very good friends with the owners, Mia & Richard Taylor, & I stop in there from time to time to see whats new & to buy a new piece for my collection.

Since I cannot drive yet, my mother sometimes drops me off, & sometimes she comes in with me. Every time I came in & chatted away with Mia & Rich, she eyed this set behind the glass case. One day she just said "You know what... I'll take it." My jaw dropped a fair amount as I then helped pack away the numerous pieces in their boxes & bagged them.

I think she's awfully proud of the set, but since she doesn't own a curio case of her own, I kept them in mine. Eventually they'll be moved, but for now they're safe & cozy on their own little shelf in my case.
None of the more recent sets have even came close to being as good as this one. The poses, colors & expressions of each character is so beautiful & well constructed. I especially like Grumpy & Sleepy.

Here's the bottom shelf. Goofy, Pluto & Donald are each "Animator's Choice" sculptures (whatever that means). Goofy is another on of my all-time favorites, just because he's... well...Goofy!

Jiminy is actually another "Mom" piece. She like it better in my cabinet than on a shelf at home.

This is a cute little set. I bought this at the Gifted Images a few years ago (probably in '03 or '04). I always liked Dumbo, so I snatched it up when it was available.

There's Benny the Cab from Roger Rabbit hiding in the back. Chip & Dale are relatively new. So is the awesome Donald retrospective piece. I hope that they do a Goofy version someday.

The Mickey covered in cake was actually the first sculpture I bought at the Gifted Images. David Pacheco, the head of the Walt Disney Classics Collection, was doing a signing there. I was a ten year old in a sea of 30+ year olds. I spoke to him for about 10 minutes & he signed Mickey for me. He gave me little tidbits about animation & getting into the business. He told me to date every drawing (which I have done since) & to copyright my characters (which I did). It was a memorable experience.

Mia & Richard were very kind to me, & they have been ever since.

There's my first WDCC in the back (Mickey & Mickey).

I won the Pinocchio & Gepetto piece in a raffle. It's a very rare & special piece.



While the Open Edition (for regular buyers) has a yellow-tipped feather on Pinocchio's hat, mine has a GOLD tip. There are only 750 sculptures like mine in the world & I have one.

-Well, that's my collection. I'll post more on it when new sculptures come in.

-I'd like to thank Duckman from the WDCC Duckman's Inside Report. His site is even more detailed & up-to-date than the official WDCC site. It's the only reliable source for WDCC's out there, & it's the most essential guide that anyone could ask for. Go check it out!

-I'd also like to give a 'For the Birds" shout out to Mia & Richard Taylor from the Gifted Images Gallery. They have been such good friends for so long that this web-based pat on the back is hardly enough to give them the credit they deserve. Anyone who lives or passes through Rockville Centre, NY & likes the sculptures you see here, stop by their little shop. They also sell great Rock & Roll & Disney-related framed art.

-P.S. I hope you feel better Richard. Get well soon!

See you next time!

WDCC Continued

Here's some more sculptures from my collection:

The bottom shelf in my left cabinet is home to my Fantasia sculptures. Since Fantasia happens to be my favorite film, I devoted a whole shelf to Fantasia-themed collectibles, not just WDCC's. Partially showing on the left is a Sorcerer Mickey snowglobe & on the right is a Harmony Kingdom box (Harmony Kingdom boxes are pretty cool looking. They make great gifts).

Sorry for the extreme close-up on this picture. The Mickey sculpture was a VisaCard owner exclusive. Although it's roughly the size of a soda can, it happens to be one of my favorite sculptures in the collection.

These happen to be some of my favorite pieces, especially Ben Ali Gator on the right. This is the "Dance of the Hours" set. I bought each of them on eBay, before I quit buying there.

I stopped using eBay mostly because of all the anxiety you go through bidding on items. Like a real auction or gambling, bidding on eBay is an addictive & dangerous habit. I nearly got caught in the rush... hook, line & sinker. By then, money disappears instantaneously.

My father caught "eBay Mania" not too long ago. He bought everything: license plates, train whistles, slot machines, candy dispensers, old postcards, road signs, stuffed & mounted animals, fax machines, old film projectors, 8mm & 16mm films, space heaters... the list goes on. He spent thousands on all kinds of junk.

Anyone out there who uses eBay should be extremely cautious & careful of who they're buying from. It can & will lead to trouble down the road.

There's another Harmony Kingdom box (Notice the tiny grapes beside it. Some H.K. boxes have little pieces hiding inside, kinda like a prize in a box of Cracker Jack). The cupids were also purchased through eBay. Luckily, none of the petals, wings or arms broke off in shipping. That happens pretty often when buying fragile collectibles. Luckily, I've been spared from those instances.

In the right cabinet, the top shelf is another "Misc." section.

The Scrooge sculpture is another one of my favorites. One time I took him out & drew him. It took me over a half hour to draw all the coins. It was worth it, though.

The Devil Donald on the left was one of my first sculptures. I didn't know it at the time, but it was signed on the bottom by the sculptor of the piece, Patrick Romandy-Simmons.

The Goofy on the right happens to be my LEAST favorite sculpture in my collection. I'll tell you why:

When I spotted that sculpture on eBay a few years ago, I bid on it immediately. The description said it was "IN MINT CONDITION... NO SCRATCHES, DIRT, BREAKS, ETC...". When it finally was delivered, I was shocked. The horn Goofy is playing was chipping & rusting, the base was covered in what seemed to be oil grease, the paint was chipping & the surface felt rough & jagged to the touch. It was almost like it was left out in the rain. There was nothing else to do but give the seller a dissatisfied review & a bad rating (like that does much).

That's one of the other reasons I don't use eBay no more: distrustful sellers.

The shelf below houses my "Membership" sculptures.

When you sign up & pay membership, you receive a free sculpture plus a few other goodies like sketches & pins. Each year, the sculpture changes.

When I first became a member back in 2000, I received the Jiminy sculpture on the left. Not only does membership come with a sculpture & a Certificate of Authenticity, but it also comes with a pin, a coin, a replica sketch that the sculpture is based on, a subscription to the WDCC official newsletter & magazine, plus the chance to buy "Members-Only" pieces.

The Jiminy Cricket sculpture was the only sculpture in this picture that I got through membership. Timon, Dumbo & Pooh were eBay purchases.


The Membership pieces from the past few years were not as good as the older ones. Ariel was another story. The Ariel sculpture was the Membership sculpture of 2006. For a membership piece, Ariel was a fairly large & detailed sculpture. It's simply beautiful. Scuttle was a companion piece & Sebastian & Flounder were for VisaCard members only.



Since the Bambi sculpture came out in 2004, each membership sculpture has had a companion piece to go with it. Bambi had Thumper, Belle had a sheep, & so on. While the Bambi set is pretty cute & well designed, the Belle set piece is pretty plain & unappealing. After Ariel came out, we were expecting something to top it...


We got this instead. It's a lot like the Belle set. Cinderella is somewhat plain, almost like a china doll or one of those Children of the Corn. Bruno at least looks pretty appealing. Still, it is a nice set though. I'm going to renew my membership probably sometime this week & get this set.

More to come soon!