Merry Christmas!

Hey all!

Thanks to those that helped vote on my last blog post - great to know that most people prefer my "Koi" image to be made into a poster! Look for that coming soon - I'll post more info when I get it! As for other projects, well none right now; my preggo wife should be delivering our first child soon, so that's taking away all my concentration for now! Therefore I've decided to take a well needed break this week and just chill and play some video games; I want to play the "Undead Nightmare" on Red Dead Redemption! I haven't played video games in months so want to play, chill, get some sleep (which I'll lack when baby girl comes) and enjoy Xmas! So hopefully have some good stuff to post in the next year!

So on that note, wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year; wishing you all the best in love, luck, and health! Thanks for all the support!

Allen
"AW177"

Poster Question - Please Help Me Decide!

Hey all,

Was thinking of making one of my biz cards into a poster, but not sure which one would make a good one. For those that take the time to read my blog, can you spare 5 mins of your time to help me decide? Can you please vote on which image you prefer BEST and would buy if made into a poster?

Thanks so much!!!

Which image would you buy if it was made into a poster?

Kinda Quiet...

I know I've been kinda quiet lately but hopefully next month/January, you'll see some big moves! Really busy for me lately, w/ an about-due pregnant wife and all, so I'm kinda on the down low as of late; plus want to concentrate more on 2D work. I'll throw a custom here or there or join a show here or there, so keep watching this blog for more updates! Peace!

Oh and w/ the copyright issue below, thanks to "Kriskitten" from Twitter for the help!

Question to You Folks - Copyrighting

Hey all,

For those that read my blog (appreciate it!) I wanted to throw out a question to you all: copyrighting. How many of you have logos, symbols, characters, etc. that you created, and afraid to put them online due to theft? Do you actually go about the process of copyrighting your creations? And if so, how do you actually go about doing so?

I have currently 2 copyrights; 1 for my 2D "Circuit Death" logo and another for my 3D "Circuit Death 3D" logo. I submitted my copyrights to the US Copyright Office and almost a year and half later, after some pestering and emailing for statuses, I finally received my copyrights for both images. However, if I changed a detail of the image, let's say I wanted a different color, would I need to submit another copyright? Or would one copyright suffice?

Or let's say I created a character(s) and wanted to put them on t-shirts, website, etc; would it be a good idea to copyright the characters first and then show them to the world? Doing so may take a year and half to get the copyright; by then I would have moved on to another project! And if you submitted a character copyright, would you have to show a graphic of the front, back, side, top, below, etc?

Now I read that once you put something up, you automatically have a 'copyright' for it, however if someone copies it, it'll be harder for you to fight it w/o an official copyright. Or I heard about the DIY copyright, about sending you a letter w/ the graphic in it to get the date/time stamp, but that doesn't hold up anymore. Or if I put up something on my own personal website, would it be a good idea to copyright my entire website to protect my property??

Lots and lots of questions and I would love to hear some answers from those that have any experience in it. Please place some comments/info/help if you have any and appreciate the responses - maybe this info can help those that have the same question(s) out there. Thanks!

AW

Computer Arts Projects Big Question!

On Twitter, one of my favorite magazines, Computer Arts Project, asked the Big Question: ""What's your favorite aspect of Japanese creative culture, and how has it influenced your work?" I thought I would take some time to answer that question on my blog.

There is not just one aspect of Japanese creative culture that influences my work, but from many different concepts - traditional, manga, technological, etc. I like to take some varieties and mix them with Chinese aesthetics to create a colorful, bright, powerful and happy feel to my work, whether it be in printed or graphical form to customized viny art toys. I love the traditional simplistic look of the cherry blossom, the colorful and imaginative form of manga and the powerful technological strength of the Gundam and robots!

My mini business cards contain elements of Chinese and Japanese cultures mixed together to give it a more pop feel to them:


My customized art toys like my "Lucky" Miao & Mousubi, uses the basic form of nature elements, like the cherry blossom and rising sun, to give a sculpture like a lucky cat a modern appeal:


To me, the Japanese have always been leaders in the technological field, as most gadgets and toys (like Transformers) have influenced me to become more technical, and this has made its way into my art: the combination of the concept of Yin and Yang with harmony in a modern, technological world:


Also, what fan boy of Japanese robots be without customizing a Gundam?


I take inspiration from my Chinese roots but am always awe-struck at the art of Japanese culture. I feel as an artist you cannot be scared to mix different ideas and cultures to create new ones; don't let others tell you what you can and cannot do, take influences in your life and add them to forms of art that inspire you and you'll be surprised at what you can come up with!

Thank you Computer Arts Project for the great question! And for more pictures, you can view most of my art on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr

AW177 J-Lui Custom...Gundam?

Hey all, decided to take a break from the customizing vinyl toy game and do something nice for my cousin who's turning 16 this month! He's really into building Gundams, and has a huge collection; I wanted to do something nice for his birthday, so offered to do him a custom Gundam! He is really excited to see and get it this weekend, so here are some pics of how it looks like. It's a customized Gundam Astray Blue Frame 2nd Revise Master Grade figure:





Also modified the original decal logo w/ a more personalized one (located on the front chest and 2x on the sword handle):



More pics of the customized Gundam up on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr

Vintage "Year of the Dragon" Wood Panel - More Pics!

Just wanted to show some more pics of my 'vintage' "Year of the Dragon" 8" x 8" wood panel, created w/ spray paints only. I am selling this off in my webstore starting today for $125 USD - all proceeds will go to helping Andy of Toys R Evil. Once the sale is made, I will take the funds and donate it to him via Vinylhearts.com.

So please, if you can, buy this piece and do some good for a great guy like Andy, who's done so much for me and the toy community! And any blogs out there who read this, please put this up so that many can see and help Andy out! Thanks so much!

AW177 Webstore: "Year of the Dragon" vintage 8" x 8" wood panel

Vintage "Year of the Dragon" Wood Panel for Andy of Toys R Evil

What you see above is a quick shot of my "Year of the Dragon" logo that I made 'vintage' on an 8"x 8" wood panel. More photos will be taken soon, but I will be putting this up on my webstore in the next few days and all proceeds will be sent to help Andy of Toys R Evil (for those that don't know, check this site out: Vinylhearts.com).

I took a different direction for this panel, instead of doing my usual bright colors and what not (well this is still in bright colors), I wanted to try to make it look more 'vintage', like it was used for years or something. I always find it nice to try new ideas and methods, so hope you guys like this one - I'm happy w/ the way it came out.

This may be my last custom for a little bit as I want to take a break (see my last blog post). Please help and buy this to benefit Andy of Toys R Evil! More pics soon, thanks!!

What's Next? Baby Costs = $$$! Help Andy!

Well New York Comic Con 2010 has come and gone and I was very happy w/ the experience. I would love to go again next year! However, I prepared a bunch of customs and for some reason, none sold. Honestly I'm a little surprised that none sold and thought my prices were very reasonable. Perhaps people don't like my work? Perhaps people don't have the money? I'm not sure, but whatever the reason, I may step back from doing too many customs for now.

It's not because none sold, it's more because I'd like to concentrate on doing more digital art and character design. I'd love to create my own characters and I'd love to do what Simone Legno did, create art, characters, etc. and have them become a brand. That's my ultimate goal; so while creating customs is fun, my main goal is to hopefully one day, w/ much hard work and some luck, have my own brand. Hopefully.

So to accomplish this, I need to do more graphical/digital/pencil/whatever work. Of course I'll keep doing customs here and there as well!

Also, for those that don't know, my wife is pregnant w/ our first child and wow, does baby products cost a lot! So if anyone can, it would be helpful to me if you can buy a custom or even a promo pack from my web store, not only are you helping me but you are helping my child. Props to those that do!

AW177 Web Store: http://aw177.bigcartel.com/

I'll also be working on a small 8"x8" wood 'Year of the Dragon' canvas piece to raise money for Andy from Toys R Evil. For those that don't know, Toys R Evil is one of the best designer toy/toy/etc. web blogs out there, run by one man show, Andy Heng. Andy has been helpful and informative to the entire toy community, and he recently suffered a stroke. Luckily he is doing better now and I'd like to raise some money to help him out. So I will be selling a small canvas coming out soon and hope some great and nice people out there will be willing to buy it to help out a great guy like Andy. Props to Andy for always getting my back and w/ NYCC! Be strong bro!

That's it for now - oh and the 25th Anniversary of Back to the Future is out on Blu-Ray; go cop it, love the trilogy! Talk soon!

AW177 on NYCC Video + Birthday + Custom Sale!

More news today - yesterday at the last day of NYCC, I was interviewed by a blogger named Lynette Chiang from Fast Company.com regarding executive toys and NYCC at the Tenacious Toys booth. She is a friend of Benny's, and we spoke and she filmed a small clip of me talking (and way too close to my face!). Nemo is in it w/ me as well, so it was fun and you can view the clip here:

NYCC: A Glimpse at the Industry of Delight - Full Story



I'm featured somewhere around the 4:30 to 4:31 mark!

Also, today October 12 is my birthday! Yes I am old and yes I won't tell you how old! And to coincide w/ that, I will be releasing my NYCC "Lucky" Miao & Mousubi custom on my store; it was made w/ spray paint, paint markers and blood, sweat and tears! I'm really happy w/ how this one came out, and w/ the size and effort placed on it, I don't think the price is too high! So if you like it, please support me and bring it home to cherish and enjoy! Thanks!

AW177 Store

NYCC 2010 - Aftermath!

I had a blast for my first time at New York Comic Con 2010 - I went all three days (October 8-10)! Big props to Benny & Steph from Tenacious Toys for giving me my first artist signing (October 9, 2010 from 1-2pm) - they believed in me enough to let me have an artist signing at their booth in the second largest convention in the US! I am deeply indebted to them and gave them one of my customs as a small token of my appreciation - so anyone wanting my Mr. Power "Circuitz" custom, it now belongs to Benny!

Great to meet so many people - props to Osiris Orion, Jason Freeny, NEMO, Keithing (ToyQube), Steve Talkowski (Sketchbot), Mr. Munk, Stephen Donaldson, Moedahoe, Floyd 44, Dril One, Bluegreenkey, etc! If I forgot you, I'm sorry!

Pics and info of my adventure at NYCC are up on my Flickr - easier than to redo them all on my blog!

NYCC 2010 Adventure!

AW177 Artist Signing!

Unfortunately, my customs did not sell at the convention - that's fine w/ me, it was more about bringing my art for people to see and to enjoy more than making some money. I had a great time even though they didn't sell! I will be posting up the "Lucky" Miao & Mousubi custom up on my store sometime tomorrow in case anyone's interested in buying it! Thanks!!!

"Circuit Harmony" AW177 Art Postcards - Limited!

For my signing on Saturday, 1-2pm at the Tenacious Toys booth, I only have about 15 of my art postcards, "Circuit Harmony" to give away. So if you want one, please stop by during the signing and ask for one! I'd be glad to sign it for you! Thanks!

See You at NYCC @ Tenacious Toys Booth!

Night before Comic Con! My first one, very exciting! I'm heading down tomorrow, October 9 to bring my customs to Benny at the Tenacious Toys booth and then chillin' there for a bit before walking around the con! Hope to meet some of you there! As a reminder, here's what I have going on at the con:

Customs up for sale are:
- 3 collaboration Mad*L customs
- "Circuitz" Mr. Power custom
- "Lucky" Miao & Mousubi customs

Items to be given away are:
- AW177 MiniCards: stop by on my signing day/time and ask for one of my minicards! One per customer please!
- AW177 "Circuit Harmony" art postcard: there will only be a limited amound of postcards to be given away during my signing time/date; come by, ask for one, and I'll sign it for you!

I'm not really a sketch artist, so if you come by and ask for a sketch, I may do something funky, but I'll try to come up w/ something!

I'll be wearing this shirt tomorrow, so you'll know how I look like! If you see me, say what up!


Thanks all!

NYCC 2010 - Done? Sketches? Hmm...

I think I've busted my ass enough for NYCC at this point. I had a few little things here and there that I was thinking of making, like some small picture frames to put some pics in or price cards, etc. but think I won't do it. Too beat and too tired and too much going on personally w/ me at this point.

So, whatever you see in my last post is what I'm bringing w/ me to the con. As for signings, that I can do, but sketches, I'm not really a sketch artist, so if you want a sketch I can try to do something but I warn you it may not be pretty! But I hope to meet some of you peeps up at the con! Thanks!

AW177 NYCC 2010 items @ Tenacious Toys Booth!

These are the items I will be bringing with me to NYCC 2010 and displaying/selling at the Tenacious Toys booth,with a signing/sketch session by me on Saturday, October 9 at 1pm EST.

Customs up for sale are:
- 3 collaboration Mad*L customs
- "Circuitz" Mr. Power custom
- "Lucky" Miao & Mousubi customs

Items to be given away are:
- AW177 MiniCards: stop by on my signing day/time and ask for one of my minicards! One per customer please!
- AW177 "Circuit Harmony" art postcard: there will only be a limited amound of postcards to be given away during my signing time/date; come by, ask for one, and I'll sign it for you!

I'm not really a sketch artist, so if you come by and ask for a sketch, I may do something funky, but I'll try to come up w/ something!

AW177 Elite Division Warriors - NYCC 2010 Custom Collaboration Mad*Ls

Full Set! These will be on display/for sale at the Tenacious Toys booth at NYCC 2010, with a signing/sketch session by me on Saturday, October 9 at 1pm EST.

More full set pics up on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr

Check out Kevin's work at: Kevin Gosselin

"Phoenix Rising" Elite Division Warrior #3 - NYCC 2010 Custom Collaboration Mad*L

Finally, the reveal of the third and last member of the Elite Division Warriors Mad*L for New York Comic Con 2010 - "Phoenix Rising" Elite Division Warrior #3! This is a custom 5" Mad*L collaboration between Kevin Gosselin and myself. Kevin is an excellent sculptor/artist and I was really happy to have been able to work with him on this figure. Kevin did all the sculpting to resemble an ancient Chinese (terra cotta) warrior, while I did all the artwork. Kevin sculpted it to fit my art style and allowed much surface area for me to do my thing while still maintaining the look of a warrior.

Background story and more details/pics/pricing to come. This will be on display/for sale at the Tenacious Toys booth at NYCC 2010, with a signing/sketch session by me on Saturday, October 9 at 1pm EST.

More pics up on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr

Check out Kevin's work at: Kevin Gosselin

AW177 New Customs for New York Comic Con 2010!

Wow. I haven't posted this much stuff in a long time. For those that have seen my collabo Terra Cotta Mad*Ls (one more to be revealed), I also have other customs that will be displayed and sold at NYCC, at the Tenacious Toys booth.

These customs are different from my usual style, less 'cartoony' and used different techniques to create them. I believe in changing your art style here and there, to keep the fans on their toes and to always try out new and different styles; why keep doing the same thing over and over?

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

"Lucky" Miao & Mousubi AW177 Custom Vinyl Figure:








An old favorite of mine, from the "Power Arts for Power Up" Show, "Circuitz"!








More pics up on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr

"Tiger Fury" Elite Division Warrior #2 - NYCC 2010 Custom Collaboration Mad*L

Here's a peek at the second of three customs for New York Comic Con 2010 - "Tiger Fury" Elite Division Warrior #2! This is a custom 5" Mad*L collaboration between Kevin Gosselin and myself. Kevin is an excellent sculptor/artist and I was really happy to have been able to work with him on this figure. Kevin did all the sculpting to resemble an ancient Chinese (terra cotta) warrior, while I did all the artwork. Kevin sculpted it to fit my art style and allowed much surface area for me to do my thing while still maintaining the look of a warrior.

Background story and more details/pics/pricing to come. This will be on display/for sale at the Tenacious Toys booth at NYCC 2010, with a signing/sketch session by me on Saturday, October 9 at 1pm EST.

More pics up on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr

Check out Kevin's work at: Kevin Gosselin

"Koi Blossom" Jouwe - SOLD! YAY!

Yay! Thanks to Spankystokes.com for the pic, my "Koi Blossom" Jouwe figure sold at the opening night of the Toy Art Gallery custom Jouwe show! Yay!

AW177 x Kevin Gosselin: WIP

Hmmm...

Elite Division Warriors - NYCC 2010 Custom Terra Cotta Warriors Collabo Mad*Ls

I posted a pic of what one of my collaboration Mad*L customs w/ Kevin Gosselin looked like yesterday and today I posted some pics of the blank sculpt that Kevin came up with. Go to my Flickr account for some great pics! Thanks and more to come!

AW177 Flickr - Kevin Gosselin Terra Cotta Warrior Sculpts:


"Dragon Power" custom Mad*L painted:

"Dragon Power" Elite Division Warrior #1 - NYCC 2010 Custom Collaboration Mad*L

Here's a peek at one of my customs for New York Comic Con 2010 - "Dragon Power" Elite Division Warrior #1! This is a custom 5" Mad*L collaboration between Kevin Gosselin and myself. Kevin is an excellent sculptor/artist and I was really happy to have been able to work with him on this figure. Kevin did all the sculpting to resemble an ancient Chinese (terra cotta) warrior, while I did all the artwork. Kevin sculpted it to fit my art style and allowed much surface area for me to do my thing while still maintaining the look of a warrior.

Background story and more details/pics/pricing to come. This will be on display/for sale at the Tenacious Toys booth at NYCC 2010, with a signing/sketch session by me on Saturday, October 9 at 1pm EST.

Check out Kevin's work at: http://kgosselinart.blogspot.com/

AW177 Artsprojekt Circuits Black T-Shirts

A few weeks ago I ordered and received one of my designed Artsprojekt products, "Circuit Death 3D" on a white t-shirt. It was nice but wanted to see how it would look like on a black t-shirt, so I ordered another one on black and a "Circuit Harmony" designed t-shirt as well. They both finally came in, and I'm really happy with them! I may be wearing both of them at New York Comic Con 2010 this year, so if you want to find me, now you know how!

Also, the "AW177" on the back is a giveaway as well!

"Circuit Death 3D" Front:


Back:


"Circuit Harmony" Front:


Back:


More pics up on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr

Again, go check out my store if you get a chance! AW177 Artsprojekt Or go check out other amazing artists: Artsprojekt.com

I wish I had more time to devote to it, but those are some of my products for now! Help a starving (ok maybe not starving but hungry) artist out if you can and pick something up! Thanks!!!

NYCC 2010?

How about Kevin Gosselin x AW177 for NYCC 2010? Perhaps...

Toy Art Gallery - Jouwe Group Custom Show October 2nd!

Excerpt taken from the Toy Art Gallery:

"Toy Art Gallery is proud to present the Jouwe Group Custom Show, opening October 2 2010. We’ve invited over 50 of the best custom artists around to work their magic on the 10″ Jouwe figure and we’re extremely excited by what we’ve seen so far.

Participating artists include: AW177, Babyvtec, Blamo Toys, Bob Conge/Plaseebo, Brendon Flynn, Cameron Tiede, Cris Rose, Dlux, Daniel Goffin, David Lanham, Downtimer, Dylan Sisson, Emilio Garcia, Freshcharacters, Jaime “Germs” Zacarias, Jan Calleja, Jason D’Aquino, Jay222, Jeff McMillan, J*RYU, Jim Koch, Jimmy Foo (Vinyl Toy Freaks), Jimmy Pickering, Jure Gavran, Kat Brunnegraff, Kevin Gosselin, Kii Arens, Leecifer, LYSOL, Manuel Heischel, Mark Nagata, Martin Hsu, Matt Walker, Megan Smithyman, Mike Slobot, Nebulon5, Nerviswr3k, Nico Deacosta, OrisisOrion, Peter Morris (Pocket Wookie), Phu, Recycle Experience, Ritzy Periwinkle, Spankystokes, Spencer Ong Rotobox, Steve Talkowski, Tanki, TASKone, Troy Stith, and Victor Castillo

Check out the show page and preview and come out to the opening reception on October 2 from 7-11 PM to see them in person!"

AW177 Work in Progress for New York Comic Con 2010!

Got a few customs working for New York Comic Con 2010 - wanted to give a WIP shot of it. This is a collabo custom w/ a great sculptor, artist and friend of mine (revealed later).

AW177 Artsprojekt "Circuit Death 3D" T-Shirt

For those that don't know, I was invited to join Artsprojekt a year ago, and I finally went ahead and ordered one of my designed t-shirts to wear at New York Comic Con 2010. I decided to get a plain white T w/ my "Circuit Death 3D" design on it. It came in and I think Artsprojekt did a good job w/ it. Check it out:

Front:


Back:


Go check out my store if you get a chance! http://www.zazzle.com/aw177 Or go check out other amazing artists: Artsprojekt.com

I wish I had more time to devote to it, but those are some of my products for now! Help me out if you can and pick something up! Thanks!!!

AW177 "Koi Blossom" Jouwe!

Ok finally got a chance to snap a few pics of my custom "Koi Blossom" Jouwe figure for the Jouwe group custom show at Toy Art Gallery (TAG) located at 737 Seward St. #1, Los Angeles, CA 90038 (www.toyartgallery.com).

Opening reception: October 1, 7-10pm, runs from October 1 - 29, 2010.

The Jouwe figure is great and I didn't want to modify the form of it; I wanted to enhance it and give it a more traditional Asian pattern. The Jouwe form looks like a tough yet cute little rhino guy, so wanted to give it a more 'love' feel to it - hence why I chose the Koi.

Either I suck at taking pics or my camera is way too old, so sorry if the pics are bad! Bigger pics are available on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr.

Try to make it to the show to see some beautiful custom Jouwe figures!