Photo Collection: 1

Over my year hiatus I still played around with stuff I had picked up and would occasionally snap some pics with my phone, either with the built in camera app or the Hipstamatic app to share my latest and greatest scores with a couple of friends. Below in no order or explanation are some of those photos.

enjoy!

Bow Before Vader... or Vadar!

Follow the Dark Lord of the Sith at ASWB!

No More Star Wars!

I joke, I joke. I could never do without some Star Wars. That being said, I am limiting any Star Wars posts on Eclectorama to just artwork I have worked on because Brian A of Yestervile Toy Room, Brian B of What My Dad Saw (Both form Under The Giant Penny fame), and myself have teamed up to talk about Star Wars at Another Star Wars Blog (ASWB for short).

We have been talking about this for a year or so and finally I got off my butt to get some artwork going for the new blog. It's going to be a mash up of memories, toys, original and prequel trilogies, plus what ever we decide to talk about. Should be a fun time.

I do have more posts in the works for Eclectorama and Batman the Animated Toys, and hopefully some answers to questions like whatever happened to Vacationing Spock? Or did you run out of BTAS Toys to talk about? So, stay tuned and drop by ASWB for our first post, a little Q&A if you will to get to know your hosts a little better.  

Clearance on Villains aisle 77!

You have probably seen these things hanging around the Star Wars section at Target. This is one of three, 3-Packs from the Target exclusive Star Wars product. They have been hitting the clearance aisle the past few weeks. Though the price is still sort of high 18 bucks for the set, which for three figures is pretty good, but when you only need one of the three sort of high that's all I mean.

I have passed on this set before the Holiday, during the Holiday, and while picking up some Laundry Detergent and only seeing one left of this set I went ahead and picked it. So, what did I get?

First up is the "Sand People"! I guess Sand Person or Tusken Raider, the package was going vintage and that's what i believe they had them listed as back in the day. Shown above with his Gaffi Stick, he also comes with the rifle shown above. I am more of an old school fan with the Gaffi Stick, but will take the rifle in a pinch I guess.

The Tusken Raider was not really the figure I was after in the set, but as one of my buddies reminded me, you can never have too many Tusken Raiders to harass Luke.

 Next up...

Boba Fett! I do not know how many Boba Fett Figures I have, especially of this one style. I think Hasbro has been using this body for several years now.

I like Boba Fett, but this figure is really a deal breaker for me. I understand that in the original "Villain Set" he was included, and that is why he is here, I am just saying I could have lived without another one.

This is the Empire Strikes Back deco of Boba Fett, so that is a bonus in my book. This means he is going to have the extra little blaster pistol and the more subdued color scheme. I guess if worst came to worse I could use him as a tooth brush holder, maybe put him on the dash of the car, I don't know.

This guy! This guy right here! This is the one I was after. See, my buddy and I have been picking up the recent Vintage Collection of all our favorite Original Trilogy characters, sort of an ultimate version of each, I have been through a couple Vaders, revisited the POTF2 collection for my 3PO, R2 is constantly being replaced, but to date the best we had of this guy was an older version that was limited in articulation.

This guy will always be Snaggletooth to me as well, I am a child of the 70's, more specifically part of the first wave of kids to ever lay their eyes on Star Wars, back then the cantina patrons were known as Snaggletooth, Hammerhead, Walrusman, and Greedo (who turns out is actually Greedo).

So, those names have stuck with me. I like that old Snaggletooth also comes with the Han Solo Blaster, just like back then. Also, no holster, just jams it in the small of his hunched back, in his belt, Tatooine Ganster style!

Ah, excuse me...

These guys were wandering around the EHQ (Eclectorama Headquarters) this morning, asking for directions to a detention block or something. It seemed sorta fishy to me, but I couldn't put my finger on it, like maybe they were a little short for Stormtroopers... anyway, they were way off so I gave then directions and went on with my morning routine.

Star Wars Vignette

As if it wasn't obvious without the text. Was bored, these were on my desk, had camera phone.

Pay Day

Sorry it's been a while since I have posted. This time of year always seems like my most hectic at work and that carries over to home life as well as we are always trying to finish up house projects. I am almost done with some major ones (well what I consider major, I'm sure they are minor). Anyhoos, this is something I have been meaning to post for some time, actually it's been several weeks.

This is what I like to call Pay Day. See I have this arrangement with Tate's I do a bunch of stickers and stuff and instead of paying me freelance they send me the occasional care package. This is actually the second one this year, the first contained Galactus and a ton of other goodies that have popped up on the blog. Tate's are always good to me and they really keep up with what I am into, they make sure I have a Batman, Stormtrooper (or other Star Wars thing), some Marvel and as in this case some Hellboy. This is also when they send me a ton of the stickers I helped in creating. I can't say it enough I love Tate's and all the people there and I always look forward to doing more drawing for them. To be honest I did purchase one item in this box, but the rest was earned with blood, sweat, and digital ink. Hope you enjoy.

An over view of all the cool swag!

The stickers and cool Tate's Spiderman cover.

Lil' Marvel Dudes! My son already claimed the Iron Man.

This is the one I bought, sweet vinyl cape Jawa!

The Jabba Dark Horse Comic Bag (I helped with the illustration ; ) and a sweet Batman and Robin Pennant from the Sixties.

This was a total surprise for my son and I to share... I knew Mike Mignola signed a sticker for me, but...

...this was above and beyond my expectations!

That's it! I received this package about three weeks back and still amazed at how well they know me and all the cool stuff in there. Big thanks again to Tate and his Family,the staff and all! I received another package from a fellow blogger this past weekend, that one you have to tune in later in the week to see.

Hopefully I will get back on some sort of schedule and as soon as my wife clears out her shoes from the closet, ha ha, I will be putting some more stuff up for sale on eBay (have to make room for that Jawa).

Don't bring a blaster to a lightsaber fight

As an old friend of mine used to say "HERE"S SOMETHING FOR YOUR EYE!" which usually had me ducking because it was followed up with some sort of attack like Cato Fong in the Pink Panther movies. In this case it's some more artwork, sketches, doodles whatever you want to call it. These are done for fun.

First up is poor old Ponda Baba. What if the whole run in with Luke and Ben in the Cantina was a mistake, then this poor guy got the short end of the stick... wait didn't his buddy get killed? Now I have to go watch the movie one more time, damn you feeble memory! Still to loose and arm while trying to relax in a bar, right?



I have to say I am pretty excited that this guy is getting a new version in the Hasbro Star Wars Vintage line, complete with stump.

Next Jboypacman asked in some earlier comments if I ever drew monsters... you know I haven't in a long time. I did a set way when I first started working in toys for some basketballs, I will have to see if I can dig those up from an archive. So, I drew up this guy up for him.



Why he is offering up a flower is beyond me, just seemed to be a good thing for him to hold. Again I am thinking this was a scene in the movie right before someone drowned...Great! Now I have to go re watch that movie!

I ended up taking this one and setting up a little sticker for my favorite comic shop, if you dropped by from the shops facebook page welcome and hope you enjoy the sneak peek. Jboy if I get it made I will send ya some.

I have been feeling like doing a DC sticker for the shop and I have it narrowed down to two characters. Hawkman and Aquaman. I will end up sooner or later doing both, but I want to see a show of hands for which one should be first. So leave a comment and vote for one, or you could offer up another suggestion, but you better be prepared to work I will need a tag line too. What's is in it for you... um bragging rights? I don't know I will think of something.

Red Five Standing by

Okay, I decided to try this. I am going to try and post a couple times during the week and possibly a little post on the weekend. It's not that I am tired of posting stuff, I just want you to have some quality stuff. I will try an artwork post and a toy post and I am not sure what on the weekend maybe an art toy post : )

This will be the art post for the week. I love reading other artist's blogs where they show a little behind the curtain, a sketch, a technique here and there. I have been trying a few things out, trying to nail down some processes. This one is not going to be that in depth, mater of fact you might think "big deal" but none the less it is something I tried and was pretty happy with the results.

I have come across an iPad and while we mainly use it to look up recipes or watch YouTube videos of Basset Hounds and Bulldogs doing crazy stuff, I did load Sketchbook Pro on it for the occasional doodle. I haven't had that much luck doing wonderful sketches on it. To be honest the last time I did a finger painting I was a wee little lad, but one Sunday morning over coffee I did whip up this little colored sketch.



I am pretty proud of it. As drawings go it's not high quality or a rush it to press type drawing, but it does beat my usual scribble all to hell. I even tried out the layers to add some colors. Then I thought hey! Let's take it and email it to the main machine and finish it up in Illustrator! Sketchbook even exported with all my layers intact and in a PSD file format, sweet.

So here is what I did in illustrator.
edit: The shading was done back in Photoshop.



Like I said, no ground breaking tips or tricks, more of a "hey I can use this thing to draw with my fingers and then clean it up later" sort of thing. I usually use Photoshop to sketch out ideas when I am near a computer, when I am away from one any scrap piece of paper I can get my hands on will do. I will then take the image, either JPG or PSD straight form Photoshop (or a scan from the paper) and digital ink it in illustrator. This iPad thing just gives me another option for sketching.

I will try to remember to take some screen shots of a drawing in progress if anyone cares to see stuff like that. I do have one where I saved the rough sketch and the line work before coloring it... maybe next week.

Dammit Uncle Owen...

"I was going to Toshi Station to pick up some Power Converters!"

Hey, it's been a while, hasn't it? I have been swamped, well not swamped enough that I couldn't do a sketch. I've been thinking about the direction of the blog, artwork, and my toy collecting... not to worry I will still be talking about toys here, unless you like checking out doodles, then I will still be talking about art.

Some things I have been thinking about recently.

1) I need to do a sketch, drawing or doodle everyday! I knew an industrial designer that would start every project with a bunch of odd sketches and say it was a way to get the crap out of their head... I never thought of drawing as a way to purge crap from my brain so I was sort of insulted. I look at it more like working things out and trying different things... Sad little Luke here is a warm up drawing I did this morning, working some things out. It's origin was a text conversation with my wife and my response of "awe, I was going to Toshi Station to pick up some Power Converters", queue light bulb and poof, the Toshi Station Blues above. This is probably more finished than say my warm up sketches, but still I think it is important to draw something everyday.

2) Vintage Star Wars figures, I can't get them off my mind lately. Talking with friends, seeing posts about finishing up sets, blah blah blah, etc, etc. Not sure how I want to tackle my little collection of Vintage Star Wars figures, so stay tuned as I work this out.

3) I wish I was in Florida this weekend for one the Stitch Wars show opens up today and second at same comic shop Mike Mignola is going to be there on Saturday. I usually do not geek out that much on meeting celebs and what not, but come on Mike freaking Mignola!

4) I have enjoyed this little break from toys and I have actually been sorting through stuff to thin down my collection, but in the same breath there are a ton of new things I want for the collection... never ending cycle. This time I'm doing it different.

5) Hitting the local Tex Mex cantina tonight and now I'm wondering what to get...

That is all that is on my mind right now, lunch break over, now back to work! Stay tuned I do have a Spockcation update coming, and if I can stop being lazy I will shoot some toy pictures, and possible post some more sketches / artwork.

Have a great weekend, may the force be with you, live long and prosper, go do something creative!

Stitch Wars Strikes Back

Whew! I didn't think I would get my entry done in time to make the deadline for the upcoming Stitch Wars Strikes Back show at the Bear and Bird Boutique Gallery. I had actually planned on making a set of three of these for the show, to include Darth Vader, a Stormtrooper and of course this Bounty Hunter but you know how that goes, the best laid plans of wamp rats and men. Being slammed at work with preparing for an even earlier catalog season and taking on several projects for my family including some stuff for my Nephew's wedding in about a week hasn't helped and has me pretty pressed for time (that would include time for blogging, so sorry).

Still I plan on making more punks, even for my own enjoyment, or possibly to set up on Etsy. I just love the lo tech, low brow look of Punks, or Cat Punks as they are also called. I plan on completing my Imperial Collection and move on to some Rebels, then who knows after that.



Since the Stitch Wars show revolves around sewing I went ahead and made this Punk with stitched on elements and a more presentable rounded wood base, covered of course. Punks in the wild are usually painted or screen printed with cat or clown designs and include the fur trim and are weighted down way more than this piece. Plus they have a square wooden base, makes them a little harder to tip I guess. I think I will try and keep the round base, but if I do move toward the more traditional base I will finish it instead of leaving it unfinished as they are usually found. I will also keep the weight down as these are more about displaying as art than playing with.



The fun part about the expanded collection it will give me a chance to illustrate and paint on the canvas for each design, or possibly do some screen printing, sort of giving them my personal touch. I promise to post things here as I get them done, so stay tuned.

Yes I made a tiny hang tag for it as well : )

I will also try and post more illustrations and sketches, some artwork for Tate's Comic Shop, plus whatever fun stuff I have been working on. I have been doing more roughs using an ipad, still not the best, but I think pretty good for finger painting. Well, enjoy the Punk. Be good to each other. May the Force be with you.

Amassing the Fleet

So, I haven't been in too big of a toy buying mood lately, not sure why. There is a lot of cool stuff out there, just not feeling it right now. Anyway I decided to go through some of my loose totes to organize some more. I have been attacking them every once in a while when I can squeeze it into the schedule. The next tote up is what I refer to as the old Star Wars tote. This tote is mainly POTF2 (Power of the Force 2) action figures and the occasional oddity or two.

click to enlarge

I picked up a new tower of little drawers and set about sorting and figuring what's a keeper and what needs to go, side note this whole tote is a keeper, ha ha... anyway I sort of sorted them in little piles of Droids, Jedi, Scum and Villainy and a pile of Rebels. Then talking with a buddy of mine it made more sense to sort them by franchise (New Hope, Empire, Clone Wars, etc.) though that hasn't happened yet. As I unpack stuff I I tend to have little flash backs and start messing around, getting side tracked is easy with this tote of stuff. I noticed several little, heavy bundles at the bottom all wrapped in tissue paper, I unwrapped one and rediscovered a little Galloob TIE Fighter. A few more unwrapped bundles and I had my little collection of 90's era Die cast.

For the most part they are all Galloob, the exception being the Blockade Runner, which I think when Hasbro took over making these was it's first appearance, say around 2006. You may or may not know this, but Galloob, the Micro Machines Company, was bought by Hasbro and rolled under it's banner of toys. The Hasbro Titanium line was born from these Die Cast Micro Machines. I was always saddened that the smaller, almost rubbery, plastic Star Wars Micro Machines didn't make the cut. That was such a great line in itself.

So borrowing a cue from Collin over at Super Duper Toy Box, I labeled an image to help you sort what's what.

click to enlarge

A. Imperial Star Destroyer - One of my favorite all time Sci-Fi Starships.

B. Y-Wing -Can't have an X-wing without a Y-Wing. "Stay on Target!"

C. You know this one, it made the Kessel Run in les than twelve parsecs.

D. The Rebel Blockade Runner (Obviously these are way out of scale)

E. "Red Five Standing By", Luke's X-Wing, not big enough to be a threat to the Death Star... right?

F. The TIE Fighter that spurred this post.

G. Boba Fett's Slave I

H. A Jawa Sandcrawler, though this seems a little squatty, this is a fun one.

I. Luke's Landspeeder, another fun one. I am not sure if it's intentional or not,
but the wheels are off slightly on the axles and it
makes a cool,subtle wobble when rolled, like it's floating.

J. This is a all plastic version of Slave I, part of the X-Rays line,
showing the detail inside the ships. They came in two packs, this
may have come with Darth Vader's TIE Fighter, which I gave away
to my son or one of his friends long ago.

These were a great little find in the bottom of that tote and I found a few other things in there that may be of interest to Toy and Star Wars fans alike, you'll have to stay tuned for those.

"Follow Me Friend"

I am so excited about this next little illustration I have been working on I decided to drop a sneak peek up here on the blog. It's funny how you can be checking out sites and one thing leads to another and you are watching an old cartoon on YouTube and you get the notion to draw your version of one of the scenes.



I made a version of this for Tate's Comic Shop to use as a sticker and I am thinking of making a Hi-Res available on my art on the cheap page up above for a free download. Anyone want some free art of a bounty hunter riding a orange, water dino ?

UPDATE: I made a 11"x17" Mini Poster available for download on the art on the cheap page!

This one is for you Bubba!

Laugh it up fuzzball...



I figured I would get this out of the way, yes I ordered a Sideshow Princess Leia. I told you after seeing Brian's I would either get this one or open up a boxed Hasbro one I've had since the nineties. Well fates have a funny way of handing you stuff, I saw a post on the Mego Museum boards about some EMCE megos on clearance at gohastings.com for some decent prices, I had all the ones they were talking about but curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check out what else was on sale. Well turns out it was Leia here, 29.00 big ones, that seemed like a really decent price for a Sideshow figure.

I will do a more thorough post later, but for now let us sit back and enjoy the comic stylings of Bubbashelby... commence oh festival...

Pizza Porkins!

Last Friday I posted a fun little image of Rebel Pilot Jek Porkins and almost by second nature I included a Mynock (Chicken) Leg for our dashing X-Wing pilot to chew on for his portrait. Almost as soon as I posted it I received my first comment on the post from Dave Lowe of Para Abnormal fame. I think this may have been the first time Dave has commented on my blog. Dave is an artist that I hold in pretty high esteem, not only does he do the daily Para Abnormal blog, but he is also a prop designer of great talent having worked on many shows and a yearly celebration of Halloween at his own home. So, I was pretty excited to see what Dave had to say. Here's the comment for your reference:

"How come fat guys are always cartooned eating chicken?

Sincerely,
Fat Guy in Van Nuys (who prefers pizza)"

Okay, Dave has a sense of humor, so here was my reply...

"First I think that may be a Mynock leg, they taste like chicken so it's an understandable mistake. Second I think he finished the pizza after the cheeseburger and shake, or was it the taco, then the pizza, the cheeseburger, the Mynock leg then he likes his shake... anyway Third, I think I may be having chicken or Mynock for dinner tonight.

Best Regards,
Chunky B, Fat Guy in San Antonio (who luvs him some Tacos!)"

I was pretty proud of myself, having rubbed elbows with a cartooning great, I thought I did a pretty good job. So I waited for a response and as comments came in on loving the image, questioning if Jek could fit into an X-Wing the way I drew him and what not, not another reply form Dave. I thought maybe Dave didn't take it in jest. Then I thought possibly I had chosen the wrong words or even pushed it a little too far, which wasn't my intent. I was bummed, this was probably the second time in my life of drawing that I may have messed up and offended someone (I don't think the farting Jar Jar counts, if so make that three times).

So at risk of further offending and making people on the Internet mad at me I made a version of Porkins with a slice of homemade Bantha-eroni Pizza! Sort of a Peace-a-Pizza offering... though I think the Mynock leg works better, just saying.

Eject! Eject!

Another drawing just to draw and this time it's Porkins! This one reminded me of my Star Wars Kids magazine days, those were the days...

Thank You Admiral Obvious!

Just drawing to draw, thought I would try a quick drawing to take a break. Enjoy.

All Vintagy and Stuff.

I finally got around to downloading the Hipstamatic app for my Gen One iPhone, that's right baby still rocking my Gen One, getting my moneys worth! Anyway, I have been wanting this app for quite some time, it's not expensive it's just I never got around to downloading it, I'm pretty choosey on the apps I download too. This one was well worth the price as I am having a blast shooting pics with it. Here's some of my first attempts, this makes me miss the days of of actually using film and hanging out at the photo lab with my pals.

The Bassets, Lulu in the back and Squee, the blurry one, howling at the door.

Some home made Whoopie Pies cooling on the rack.

A Extra Large, "Big Head" Han Solo roaming the living room.

Lulu sitting in her favorite spot, gazing out the window.