AW177

AW177 Custom Toys on Display/Sale at Kidrobot NY!

2012-01-26T00:12:00.002-05:00

I visited Kidrobot NY today to drop off my custom art toys for them to display/sell. I met Lisa, who is the store manager of Kidrobot NY, who was very nice and friendly. She put the customs in a case near the cash register, near the rear of the store on the 1st floor (not sure if this is the 'final' location but that's where they were placed when I left). Took a few shots while I was there.

Lisa and me:

The Kidrobot NY store is located at 118 Prince Street New York, NY 10012. If you happen to visit the store, I'd love to see some pictures of the display. Please send them to me if you can, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!

AW177 "Year of the Dragon 2012" Custom 8" Kidrobot Dunny

2012-01-22T02:09:00.002-05:00

I created a custom 8" Kidrobot dunny, "Year of the Dragon 2012", which celebrates Chinese New Year (January 23, 2012).

This custom dunny represents the dragon, the mightiest of all the Chinese zodiac signs, the supreme spiritual power, the most ancient mythological emblem of dominance and ambition.

This will be on sale/display at the Kidrobot NY store, located at 118 Prince Street
New York, NY 10012. If you happen to visit the store, I'd love to see some pictures of the display. Please send them to me if you can, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!

As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.

My other custom "Lucky" Miao & Mousubi will also be displayed at Kidrobot NY as well.

Chinese New Year 2012 - Year of the Dragon...Giveaway?

2012-01-08T06:25:00.003-05:00

For those that don't know, Chinese New Year 2012 is the year of the dragon. In the Chinese zodiac, the dragon is the mightiest of all the signs, the supreme spiritual power, the most ancient mythological emblem of dominance and ambition (although I still like the tiger better, but the dragon is a close second, lol). I am debating about making a small custom toy out of my dragon design (as seen on my mini Qee at Tenacious Toys Rise of the Dragon) and give it away, either by posting a comment on my blog or follow me on Twitter, not sure yet. Maybe why they deserve the custom?

Anyway, this is not definite yet but if anyone wants me to do this, please let me know! Comments are appreciated! Thanks!

AW177 + Play Bling Swarovski Crystal iPhone Case "Dragon Luck" Promo Video!

2012-01-05T17:29:00.005-05:00

AW177 + Play Bling Swarovski crystal iPhone case "Dragon Luck" promo video! Perfectly in time for the upcoming Chinese New Year, the year of the dragon!

To see a larger version, go to YouTube: Dragon Luck Promo Video

Get your case at: AW177 + Play Bling

Happy New Year 2012!

2011-12-31T07:00:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you prosperity, peace, good luck and health for 2012!

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-25T05:55:00.001-05:00

Wishing everyone the very best of love, luck, health and success! Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-06T02:58:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I've last updated my blog, mostly been laying low and working on small projects to prepare for my baby daughter's 1st Christmas and 1 year old party! One of those small projects are these Christmas stockings that I created (click on pic to make it larger):

Also remember that my store is currently having a sale on all items and the prices will go back up after the New Year! So if you're interested in getting a unique custom art piece/t-shirt for that special someone for Christmas, now's the time!

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

Thanks all! Hope to have more updates soon!

AW177 Store Additions

2011-11-17T03:35:00.005-05:00

Just a quick update, my store is now having a sale on custom toys and my limited edition "Circuit Death" t-shirt. Also selling crooked versions of the tee, along with "Circuit Death" high-quality, silkscreen stickers for just $2 each (price is for one sticker and this includes shipping, PayPal fees, etc).

The backing paper can also be saved and used as art:

Go help me out and cop some stuff! Makes great Christmas gifts! Thanks!!!

AW177 Store

Muttpop Tcho! Captain Biceps = Captain America?

2011-11-15T18:18:00.004-05:00

In between my time from the aftermath of NYCC till now, I did work on a small custom toy, just for fun. I bought a Muttpop Tcho! Captain Biceps figure from ToyQube and painted him to resemble Captain America! This was not a serious project, just something to do for fun since I love Captain America!

Shield was made from a piece of circular wood and held onto the hand by velcro.

It's for sale if you'd like him, I'll put him up on my Big Cartel store later tonight!

Original Muttpop Tcho! Captain Biceps (click pics to enlarge):

AW177 Captain America:

Buy him here: AW177 Store *Remember, all other items at the store are ON SALE for a limited time only!*

AW177 Webstore ON SALE!

2011-11-15T02:36:00.003-05:00

Quick post - all items on my webstore are now on sale for Thanksgiving/Christmas! Get the customs you've always wanted for a lower price! Prices will remain in effect till Christmas, once over, the prices will go back up, so act now!

Why give a gift that everyone else has, when you can give the gift of a one-of-a-kind custom art piece/t-shirt? Get yours now!

AW177 Store ON SALE!!!

Kidrobot x Staple Pigeon!

2011-11-14T23:50:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile since I last updated my blog, actually I haven't updated my blog since NYCC! I decided to take a small break from custom toy work and finish some of my other pending projects, plus I just got Batman Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, so wanted to play them! It's been so long since I last played video games!

Kidrobot and Staple came out with a collaboration project of a vinyl Staple pigeon. For those that don't know Staple Design, they are a clothing collection, a creative agency and a retail store founded by the one and only Jeffstaple. You can watch a short video of the man here:

Staple from Eighteen Eighty on Vimeo.

Anyway, I wasn't sure if I wanted the pigeon since it was a little 'puffy' for me and the price was a bit high. At the last minute, I decided I wanted one but I was busy the day Jeff was doing his signing at Kidrobot NY, so I missed it. I wanted one but wanted one signed by Jeff; so on Twitter, I contacted @reedspace (Staple's store) and @jeffstaple if he can sign a bird for me for pickup at the store. Jeff and Reed Space responded saying they could probably hook it up for me and last Friday, on my way to Chinatown, I stopped by the store (dope) and picked up my brand new SILVER signed pigeon (most of the pics I've seen of the signing, the regular pigeon was signed in black ink and the white pigeon signed in gold ink). The silver signature is dope since it doesn't stick out and conforms to the colors of the pigeon. So it's like it's there, but not really there. Love it - this is the first vinyl toy I have no intention of selling/giving/modifying/etc!!!

Click on the image to enlarge!

I also wanted to cop a black OG pigeon cap, but they didn't have my size! Bummer!

Props goes out to Jeffstaple and Reed Space for hooking me up! Jeff is an inspiration to me, to go and do your own thing and make your own clothes, I'd love to be like him one day. I really wished I made it out to the signing so I can meet the man in person, but maybe another day!

AW177 New York Comic Con 2011 Day 4!

2011-10-18T00:15:00.000-04:00

Day 4 you say? What happened to day 3? Well I didn't attend the con on Saturday, had to take my wife and daughter to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live! which was quite fun! Sometimes you have to make that sacrifice to make those you love happy, but it was a really cool show!

Yo Gabba Gabba Live! (click on pics to make them larger)

I totally missed all the happenings on Saturday and most of the signings on Sunday at the Tenacious Toys/Toy2R booth, so can't really report on that. I did see some new customs at the booth, one was from Ian Ziobrowski titled "Crook ED the Cop"; how awesome it was, it seemed almost lifelike! That's taking custom work to a whole new level! Also saw OsirisOrion's custom 16" Qee, now it's one thing to see pictures of it on the web, but it's another to see these in person and notice all the small details and intricate paint work and lines. Very impressive work from both these two great artists!

Ian and Osiris Qees

Osiris Qee

Next I stopped by the Art Whino booth, didn't really get a chance to check out all the great artwork they had there, and there were plenty! Some of the cool things I saw:

Yoskay Yamamoto's "Screaming for the Sunrise"

Various J*RYU customs - awesome in person

Kano's live painting of Iron Man and Spider Man; dope work!

But really liked the Iron Man one the best!

J*RYU & Woe's "Rucky Bam Boo"

Angry Woebots painting (you have to see the details to notice the great skill involved)

Saw this steel dumpster at the booth and thought it would be awesome to customize; metal and very large as well! But at $200 it was too expensive for me and I really didn't want to lug it back home on the subway!

One day...one day...

Next went by the Trampt booth and saw this awesome custom from Sergio Mancini (winner of this year's Munnyworld)

Also met Keegan from Trampt who showed and told me all about his site, which includes a library of customs that you can update and put information into it, basically a wiki for designer/custom toys. I thought it was awesome and created an account as soon as I got home. Go check it out at trampt.com - thanks Keegan!

Saw Simone of tokidoki fame (as usual a ton of fans waiting to get ish signed by him)!

Simone Legno

Now I saw this guy and there were people wanting to take pics with him, but for some reason, I can't seem to figure out who he is; anyone out there have an answer for me??

Who is this guy???

Why didn't anyone try to stop this guy??

He kicked the sh*t outta him!

I also met up w/ my little cousins who I haven't seen in awhile, but by the time I got there, they were about to leave, but it was great to see them! Bought the smallest one a Square Enix green Master Chief figure!

At the closing of the con, I hung around the Tenacious Toys/Toy2R booth and chilled w/ Benny, Steph, Kris (Kid Ink), and Nemo (1/2 of the Bad Applez crew). Packing up some of my left over "Circuit Death" t-shirts, I decided to hook up Nemo and Steph with shirts. Nemo's always been way cool w/ me, so glad he liked the shirt. Check him out looking ballin'!

Nemo loving the shirt!

Gotta say, Steph looks like a model in my shirt - can't ask for better promotion!!!

YOWZA!!!

Nemo sketched this dope artwork for me:

"Kreepy Kidz"!

I think my shirt gave Nemo some extra 'mack' powers!

Daaaaaamn Nemo!!!

I wish I could have stayed to help them tear down the booth, but I had to get home to my daughter. For some reason, I could never really find anything to buy at these cons, I don't have the space for vinyl toys and just got things that caught my eye. Here are my swag from this year's con:

AW177 NYCC 2011 Swag

Got the tokidoki Captain America NYCC exclusive cap; thought it was funky w/ the little wings on the side! Not sure if I'm ballsy enough to walk down the street w/ it, but for now, I think it's kinda cool!

You like??

Blank Unicornos; thought they'd be interested to customize one day:

tokidoki blank Unicornos

Midtown Comics' "Good Ol Steve" Captain America exclusive t-shirt:

Love that it's not exactly like Captain America and has a real cool style to it! Yea I'm on a Captain America kick for some reason...

Tyo Toy's Chinatown Dream Truck; saw this at the Art Whino booth, and when I saw it online, I thought it was pretty cool. I got it at a great price (price went up online) and will use it to explore my graffiti side one day (yea I used to dabble in graf a while back). I love how it really looks like a Chinatown truck (I'm so used to seeing those things), and it weighs and feels heavy! Great details and qualities, I'm really happy with this purchase!!!

Maybe a "Circuit Death" logo on the side?? Hmmm...

Well that about wraps it up for my recaps at NYCC 2011! I kinda played it low key this year and had a really awesome time and glad to meet and chat w/ so many great people! Shout outs to go Benny & Steph of Tenacious Toys, Kevin Winnik from Toy2R, Kris Dulfer, Mr Munk, OsirisOrion, Nemo, JC Rivera, Matt Anderson, Rsin Art, Keith Poon, Keegan from Trampt, John "Spanky" Stokes, Zam Art and anyone else I may have missed! Hope to do this again next year and do it even bigger!!!

AW177 New York Comic Con 2011 Day 2!

2011-10-15T02:10:00.003-04:00

Day 2 of NYCC for me was much more tiring than day 1. I pretty much walked most of the floor and took a few snaps of things I thought were interesting. For some reason, I can never seem to get too much into the video games and comic booths of that nature; also from some of the newer booths to appear this year, I was a bit disappointed in what I saw. Anyway let me explain more and in no particular order, here are some pics and random thought tibits of my day (click on the pics to enlarge)!

These were some of the things I thought were cool; this Grimlock poster from Transformers: Fall of Cybertron was pretty awesome. I love Grimlock and needed a pic of this!

From there, I arrived at the Cultyard and caught up to the Tenacious Toys/Toy2R booth where Matt Anderson and Rsin Art was doing their signing. Both guys are pretty awesome in person and it was really good to meet them face to face. Rsin is a monster of a fellow and from what he told me, he lacked sleep all day yet was ready to sign and sketch for the fans! Their 16" Qees are very impressive in person, from what you see in pics online is one thing, but to get up close and see the details in person is another. Matt's resin skull Qee that lights up was really detailed and their combo resin mini Qees were beautifully done (should have took a pic of it). They sold 3 of the 4 when I got there so congrats to those that bought one!

Matt Anderson Qee

Rsin Qee

Of course I needed a shot of my little guys as well!

Also at the booth I met and chatted with JC Rivera, Mr Munk, Zam Art, Robert Ingellis (OsirisOrion), John "Spanky" Stokes, Keithing (ToyQube), Benny & Steph of Tenacious Toys and Kevin Winnik of Toy2R. I met and spoke with Dai Tran of Rawrs and saw his Bitsumo resin figure - really clean and really cool, I wanted one pretty badly but just didn't have the money to drop on one! However, we worked out a t-shirt trade where he got one of my "Circuit Death" tees and I got one of his. We may do a collabo custom on a Bitsumo too soon, which I'm pretty stoked about!

Other things I saw:

Matty Collector 12" Ghostbusters set (I already have these)

Matty Collector 12" Ghostbusters 2 set (coming December 2011)

Details on these figures are pretty lifelike and includes the slime spray cans used in the movie!

Ghostbusters Trap

Voltron set with figures: now this is awesome! You can get the lions and their pilots and the lions are large! Combined together, this Voltron is about 2-3 feet tall! I think the black lion w/ Keith cost about $60 and the rest were $50 or $55; you can get Sven if you got all of them or something. If I had the space and money, this would be mine!

Passing by the Bandai booth, I love Gundams but just haven't had time to build any, so wanted to pass but this caught my eye...

All the perfect grade Gundam Astrays, gold, red, blue and green! What an awesome display! I am always tempted to get the PG red astray, but hate having to spend so much time to build it. I still have the MG one and never can devote the time to build it!

Red Astray

Gold Astray

Another booth had on display props used in the movies, forgot the name of the booth, but saw the Batman suit:

And Tumbler:

Some Lego or other building block Optimus Prime:

The Marvel booth where they have it set up for the Avengers:

And Captain America's suit:

Tons and tons of cosplayers, saw this one that I really liked:

"GET OVER HERE!!!"

I really wanted to see either Yaya Han or Linda Le, aka Vampybitme, but it was so large and tons of people, either I walked right by them or totally missed seeing them! You know how you see their online pics, you want to see how they are in person. Plus Linda was in her Black Widow gear today so it was disappointing not to see her. Plus tomorrow she's going as Psylocke and I'm totally going to miss that since I can't make it to the con! Ah well.

Now some more disappointments:

Johnny Cupcakes makes their 1st appearance at NYCC and they only had a tiny booth w/ about 3 t-shirts, some of their new Big Guy figures, pins and other small assortments. I was hoping they would have a larger selection of t-shirts to choose from and their vinyl figure was not very appealing to me. I wanted to get a tee from them since I never had one and now I guess I never will.

My wife loves some Threadless Tees (http://www.threadless.com/) so I heard they had a booth and went to check them out. When I got there, I saw this:

They were not selling tees but you can sketch on some paper ideas and if they choose yours, it can become a tee. WTF? No tees to buy? Lame! Totally disappointed!

As for my thoughts on the Cultyard, I thought there were many booths that were just awesome this year. Art Whino had many live paintings and it was fun to see how they did their thing up close. Gotta give props to Tenacious Toys/Toy2R - now I know how I'm constantly blowing them up, but you have to see how they promoted the hell out of some of us 'unknown' artists; Benny and Kevin gave opportunities to those that are not as popular as others and gave them a spotlight for signings, sketches, custom toy displaying, etc. They also pushed out other items from the artists involved, for example, let me sell my "Circuit Death" tees at their booth. Sure they were working w/ Toy2R and pushing their products, but it's a great toy platform to work on and Toy2R have been getting new artists out on their products for quite some time now. I hope to continue to work with them in the future.

Let me ask you - would you take a chance at an unknown artist, buy a 16" Qee and give it to them w/ the hope it may sell to get your money back? It's a big chance and one that Benny & Steph was willing to take and I will be forever grateful to them.

There were some of the usual booths at comic con that gave signings to the usual big names, which is great but I am glad to know that one booth looked out for the little guy.

Oh and I saw Andrew Bell from a friend and told me that he can create a picture out of a few scribblings you do on paper. So I challenged him by making a wu-tang logo and see what he can do to complete the picture. This is what he did:

Great huh?

So again, props to the artists I met and re-met today, also met some people who supported artists in any way they can and it was just a great experience. Tired and hungry, I left a bit before closing.

I hope to have another NYCC update on Sunday! Thanks for reading this! Oh and remember, save $5 off "Circuit Death" t-shirts w/ discount code ALLENBDAY! AW177 Store

AW177 New York Comic Con 2011 Day 1!

2011-10-14T01:16:00.005-04:00

What a day today was and it was all very exciting and so much fun! Here's a recap of how my day went down for those that are interested!

I received an email from Benny from Tenacious Toys saying that I needed to get my Qee down to the con as soon as I can, since there was someone interested in buying my 16" Qee around 4:30pm! I called Benny back and told him I was on my way down and should arrive around 6pm. He emailed the potential buyer and told him to come back around 6ish if he's still interested in buying the Qee. I took the bus/train down and rushed over to the con and made it there around 6:15, but the guy didn't show up yet. But it was really great to see Benny & Steph from Tenacious Toys again and nice to meet Kevin Winnik from Toy2R! Also props to Keithing from ToyQube, Mr. Munk, Nemo, and a whole bunch of other people!

L-R: Kevin, Steph, Benny, me (click on pic to make it bigger)

There are a lot of great customs in the Tenacious Toys/Toy2R booth; I think that makes it stand out from the rest, they were promoting more of the artists and their art rather than to just sell production toys. I am really honored and appreciative of Tenacious Toys always supporting my work!

My 5" Qees on display

My 16" Qee on display

The potential buyer came back later and bought the 16" Qee!

This is the fine French gentleman who graciously purchased my custom 16" Qee on the first preview day of NYCC 2011! I am truly humbled that he liked my work that much to buy it right away! Thank you so much!

And on top of that, someone came and bought one of my limited edition "Circuit Death" t-shirts!

This is the fine gentleman who was kind enough to buy one of my limited edition "Circuit Death" t-shirts and had me sign the shirt + some stickers! Thank you so much!

By the time this was all done, it was 7pm and the con was closed! I am happy that my custom 16" Qee sold so quickly, but wished it couldn't have been displayed longer for others to view, but it's all good, as long as the buyer(s) enjoy my work, it makes me truly happy to continue to create art. Thank you to all for your support and I'll make another update of the con tomorrow!

AW177 "Dragon vs Tiger" Custom 16" Toy2R Qee & "Circuit Death" T-Shirts for NYCC 2011

2011-10-13T05:12:00.001-04:00

Benny of Tenacious Toys (http://www.tenacioustoys.com) was kind enough to give me a 16" Toy2R Bear Qee to customize. This is my first time working on any platform larger than 8", so this took a very long time and many many hours were put into it. I'm exhausted!!!

I wanted to combine into one toy the dragon vs. tiger theme, so I created the elements in radiant gold outlines and tried to keep it very simple. The Chinese characters say dragon vs. tiger and the ones by the leg says good luck. Also dragon vs. tiger can be represented by the yin and yang.

This will be on display/sale at New York Comic Con at the Toy2R/Tenacious Toys booth #876! I will probably be attending the con on Thursday, Friday and Sunday for a few hours. Daddy responsibilities mean I cannot stay out too late!

If you're interested in purchasing this, please email me and let me know! AW177@aw177.com

Some more larger pics can be viewed at my Flickr site: AW177 Flickr

In celebration of NYCC and my birthday (October 12), "Circuit Death" limited edition t-shirts will also be available for purchase at the Tenacious Toys/Toy2R booth at NYCC for the discounted price of only $20 (regularly $25)! I only have a few at the con, so if you want one there, go grab one, I'd appreciate it! But for those that cannot attend the con, I have a coupon code you can use at my store to get $5 off "Circuit Death" t-shirts! Again, there are only a limited amount left so act quickly!

To order online, all you have to do is:
1) Go to my store: http://aw177.bigcartel.com/
2) Add a t-shirt to the cart
3) Enter discount code ALLENBDAY

Thanks to everyone who reads up on my blog and who supports my artwork, I hope to meet some of you at the con!

"Power of the Tiger" & "Dragon vs. Tiger" Custom Mini Qees at NYCC Toy2R/Tenacious Toys Booth #876!

2011-10-04T00:47:00.004-04:00

Benny of Tenacious Toys (http://www.tenacioustoys.com) was kind enough to give me 3 Toy2R mini Qees to customize. Taking the Toy2R Monkey Qee to work on, I created a new Chinese tiger on the front and the words Power/Strength on the back. It has a monotone paint scheme of black, white and grey, but with a touch of bright red in it. I also coated it in a matte varnish, when I usually do all my custom toys in a gloss varnish.

"Dragon vs. Tiger" forms when you combine the "Rise of the Dragon" and "Power of the Tiger" mini Qees together!

Both will be on display/sale at New York Comic Con at the Toy2R/Tenacious Toys booth #876!

Some more larger pics can be viewed at my Flickr site: AW177 Flickr

New York Comic Con 2011!

2011-09-24T23:52:00.004-04:00

I just got my Professional pass for New York Comic Con 2011! Who's going??? I'll be wearing my "Circuit Death" t-shirt, so if you see me, say what up!

AW177 Chinese "Rice Bowl" Custom Mini Munny!

2011-09-12T18:22:00.002-04:00

A commission from an awesome friend who wanted a rice bowl custom on a mini munny. The hardest part was trying to get the head as smooth as possible, it took a ton of time to sculpt and sand, but I think this came out beautifully. I also gave it a glaze to give it a more porcelain look and added small details via decals.

Accessories: it comes with a chopsticks and a holder that fits into the left hand of the dunny and the chopsticks stick to it via velcro.

More pics (and larger ones) are up on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr. I hope you like it my friend!

What to do, what to do...

2011-09-12T03:45:00.003-04:00

Say hello to my big friend. What to do, what to do...

"Circuit Death" Limited Edition T-shirt $5 Off Labor Day Sale!!!

2011-09-01T02:16:00.004-04:00

"Circuit Death" Limited Edition T-shirt - $5 Off Labor Day Sale!!!

Save $5 off your purchase of a "Circuit Death" t-shirt! Enter code LABORDAYSALE and $5 will be taken off the order! Quantities are limited, so act now - sale ends September 6, 2011!

Buy here: "Circuit Death" t-shirt

Aftermath of Hurricane Irene 2011!!!

2011-08-28T18:47:00.002-04:00

Hurricane Irene came down upon my area over the weekend and with heavy rains and wind, we were lucky to be able to make it out ok. Only a few branches fell here and there. However, down my block here in Queens, NYC, a few trees fell and I took some pics to document what happened.

I know this isn't my usual blog entry, but thought this was interesting to show!

Hope everyone else who went through the hurricane is fine!!!

AW177 + PlayBling = "Love Blossoms" Swarovski Elements iPhone Case!

2011-08-16T06:04:00.002-04:00

My second iPhone case design to be Swarovski crystallized by PlayBling is called "Love Blossoms":

Original submitted design:

Crystallized iPhone case:

Product Description:
"The blossom is very symbolic of beauty, power, love and good fortune in Asian countries.Stand out, be strong, be colorful and unique, and love will bloom when you carry blossoms!"

As always I think PlayBling did a fantastic job! I'd love to submit more designs when I get some time! What designs would you like to see crystallized? Please share, I'd love to know!

You can see larger images on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr

You can grab your "Love Blossoms" iPhone case here: Love Blossoms Crystal Phone Case

AW177 + New York Comic Con 2011!

2011-08-05T05:58:00.000-04:00

Um...should I go? Not sure...?

AW177 + PlayBling = "Prosperity" Swarovski Elements iPhone Case!

2011-08-04T02:24:00.006-04:00

I was able to work w/ a great company based in Hong Kong that creates Swarovski Elements iPhone cases and other products and they used my "Prosperity" design and converted it into a crystallized form! I think it looks awesome and everyone should carry one around to bring some "Prosperity" into your lives!

Original submitted design:

Crystallized iPhone case:

You can see larger images on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr

You can grab your "Prosperity" iPhone case here: Prosperity Crystal Phone Case

AW177 + Tenacious Toys "Rise of the Dragon" Custom 5" Toy2R Mini Qee

2011-07-31T03:43:00.009-04:00

Hey all!

Benny of Tenacious Toys (http://www.tenacioustoys.com) was kind enough to give me 3 Toy2R mini Qees to customize. Taking the iconic Toy2R Bear Qee to work on first, I created a new Chinese dragon on the front and the words Good Luck on the back. It has a monotone paint scheme of black, white and grey, but with a touch of bright red in it. I also coated it in a matte varnish, when I usually do all my custom toys in a gloss varnish.

I wanted to step away from my usual style of brightly colored, 'all over' complex designs and just step back and do something a bit simpler.

Some more pics can be viewed at my Flickr site: AW177 Flickr

This will be sold on the Tenacious Toys website at AW177 Rise of the Dragon so if you're interested in purchasing it, go over there! Thanks all!

TOYSREVILs I Like Toys Blog: Circuit Death Package from AW177

2011-07-18T13:10:00.006-04:00

TOYSREVILs *I Like Toys* Blog: Circuit Death Package from AW177: "Scored a swell package from AW177 aka Allen Wen this sunny Monday morning - featuring his new ' Circuit Death ' tee and a variety of pa..."

Gripes about being an artist at times!

2011-07-14T01:44:00.002-04:00

For those that catch up on my work and read up on my blog about my latest news, I thank you for that. It's definitely an honor that you come to my blog and take time to read about my news. So to those that like my art and work and support me, I thank you very much. Please do not hesitate to contact me just to talk, chat, ask for advice/help, etc., whatever you need, I'm more than willing to be here for you!

Aside from that, I don't usually gripe on my blog but lately being an artist can be quite annoying. Sometimes you'll have streaks of really cool stuff to work on, then you can get nothing, then back up again, then nothing, it's like a roller coaster ride. At times I'll get asked to design a toy and be really excited about it and throw my all into it, only to either have to wait and wait and HOPE it'll be made one day or used at all. Or get rejected by just saying 'it was not chosen'. Art is so subjective at times who knows what these companies want? I just keep doing my thing and if they ask me to submit designs, I'll do so but if they don't pick them, well it is what it is. But it just gets really frustrating.

Sometimes I just want one chance to show what I have and I just seem to hit a brick wall every time I do so. An example, a company contacted me to design some iPhone cases for them since they said they saw my work and like it. How cool, so I did some research on the company, they seem legit, the contact person is nice, so I submit 2 designs that I think would fit their products and their clients. They had a specific request that it not be too detailed since it had to be converted to something else (can't give specifics).

They contact me and said my designs, although great, were not 'their style' and that it's not 'creative' enough. They are not challenging me, but one of my designs was too traditional and want it more 'creative'. Ok I find it funny that a company who saw my designs and wanted my designs have the balls to tell me it's not 'their style' and that it's not 'creative' enough. I am aching to tell them to kiss my ass, but basically told them that that's my style, I stick by my style, I'm not going to redesign my work over and over until you feel it's your style and 'creative' enough for your products. And to make matters worse, they send me some reference pics of what other designers made, and basically those designs, at least to me, are not very creative! A mouth? The astrological signs? A 'love' and 'hate' theme that's very Ed Hardy-ish?

I don't want to bash those other designs and designers, but just felt this company was not a company I want to work with. Do any other designers out there get this type of treatment or is this just an isolated incident? I'd love to hear some feedback on this. I can be totally wrong and I'd love to know if that was the case. Please post some comments if you can, I'd love to know.

People always tell me to just keep plugging on, to keep doing what you do and things will happen. I'm trying, believe me, I'm trying. I may be a different type of artist since I don't really think I have a style that I do over and over again. Sometimes I'll do animals, sometimes circuits, sometimes characters; but that's because I get bored doing the same designs over and over. Is that maybe my problem? Should I find one style and just stick to doing it over and over? Would that help my chances of perhaps getting a toy done w/ me?

Sorry I just had a lot on my mind tonight and wanted to push it out there and see what others think. I'd love some feedback. Thank you to those that read my entire blog post!!!!

AW177 in Japan Cinema Presents: Creative Interviews Vol. I Magazine!

2011-07-13T01:08:00.002-04:00

I was proud and honored to be a part of the first Japan Cinema Presents: Creative Interviews Vol. I magazine! Creative Interviews Volume I is a book that features interviews with Creative individuals who have been featured on JapanCinema.net. This volume is packed with all the advice you need to forge a successful career as a creative professional. Straight from the horses' mouths, from taking those first steps to promoting yourself effectively, and managing your time and money - it’s all here. From photographers, comic book artists, contemporary artists, printmakers, and models -- this essential book is from the makers of JapanCinema.net, the essential website for Asian culture & art.

Look for my section on art/toy/dunny customization in the first Japan Cinema interview book! Kidrobot, I think you owe me another one!

You can order yours here!

www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2282647

Chinese "Rice Bowl" Custom 3" Dunny!

2011-07-09T00:39:00.002-04:00

Hey all!

I've been away from the toy customizing game for a while now, think the last custom toy I did was back in October of 2010 for NYCC! However, I was invited to join a 30th Anniversary Dunny Trade, in celebration of artist Tim Munz' (aka timself) 30th birthday. Artists participating in the trade included:

Betso
Chauskoskis
Dfed
Gomi aka Another-Waver
Grimsheep
Ian Ziobrowski
Igor Ventura
Manny
RSIN
Simon Walter
VISEone
WUZone
ZAM

and myself.

Seeing this roster of artists and the caliber of their creativity, I was quick to sign on and created this custom 3" Chinese "Rice Bowl" dunny, based on the design of a traditional Chinese rice bowl:

This was a new experience for me as I never dissected a dunny before (cut off the head and ears) and used Super Sculpey to shape the head bowl. I also used different painting techniques to achieve the design I was looking for, and gave it a glaze to give it a more porcelain look:

Accessories: it comes with a small bag of rice, 2 types of chopsticks (1 traditional brown, 1 fancy matching colors), and a holder that fits into the left hand of the dunny and the chopsticks stick to it via velcro:

I hope whoever gets my dunny likes it, if not, I'd be glad to keep it in my collection! More pics available at my Flickr: AW177 "Rice Bowl" Custom 3" Dunny

You can view what the other artists did so far at the Kidrobot forums: 30th Anniversary Dunny Trade

Win a FREE Limited Edition "Circuit Death" T-Shirt!

2011-07-05T03:49:00.004-04:00

Hey all!

In celebration of the release of my limited edition "Circuit Death" t-shirt, I've decided to give one out for FREE just for liking my AW177 Facebook page!

Here's how it works:
1) Go to Facebook/AW177
2) Click the "Like" button
3) In a week or so, I'll select a random winner and send out a t-shirt package!

Simple no?

So let's do this! I look forward to meeting you all! Thanks so much!

AW177 "Circuit Death" T-Shirts - ARE HERE!

2011-06-29T13:44:00.003-04:00

Hey all,

FINALLY! My "Circuit Death" t-shirts have finally arrived and they look awesome! I love how they came out and feel all the research and detailed planning have paid off! I'm a perfectionist so for me to feel these shirts are high quality means a lot! Here are the details of the shirt, taken from my Flickr, and you can buy them here: http://aw177.bigcartel.com

Self-produced limited edition (50 pcs) t-shirt, based on my "Circuit Death" design.

This t-shirt incorporates a large circuit skull logo with an "AW177" hem tag at the bottom left of the shirt. You can flip up the hem tag to reveal the website "www.AW177.com".

Inside the t-shirt is a printed inner label that gives proof of being a limited edition t-shirt and provide a comfortable feel.

High quality silkscreen w/ water based discharged inks printed on American Apparel black fine jersey short sleeve t-shirts; for a sizing chart, please visit bit.ly/cdYZf7.

Each t-shirt package comes with signed mini artwork, silkscreen stickers, and mini art cards. Supplies are limited, thank you for your support and hope you enjoy!

*First 3 orders will receive a mini art book that showcases some of my artwork and custom toys!*

You can purchase t-shirts here: http://aw177.bigcartel.com

So please, I would really appreciate if you can support me and purchase a t-shirt! They're great for the summer time and will really separate you from the crowd! Why buy a mass produced t-shirt that everyone has when you can wear a limited edition one? Thanks so much and if you can, please help spread the word!

Designer Toy Awards - Vote for Me!

2011-06-23T13:18:00.002-04:00

Hey all,

Well voting is opened to the public for the Designer Toy Awards held by Clutter Magazine. I am very happy to have been nominated, but it would be cool if you can vote for me if you feel I deserve the Artist of the Year category. You need to register before you can vote; please head here to vote for me! Thanks so much!

Clutter Magazine Designer Toy Awards - Artist of the Year, AW177 Vote!

AW177 "Circuit Death" T-Shirts - Arriving Next Week?

2011-06-21T04:04:00.003-04:00

Hey all!

Long time no post, but have some great news - just heard that my t-shirts are finally fully completed and being shipped to me as we speak! It's been a long time in making them, from choosing the right shirts to the colors, tags, etc (think I may give a full report on my t-shirt adventure in another blog post). I believe I started this project in early March, so it's almost 4 months that it took me to complete!

I'm not 100% sure if the colors of the shirt will match my image exactly, but hopefully it'll be close.

For those that are interested in purchasing one, I am not sure about the price yet, but there will definitely be a limited amount; I only got 50 shirts done and some are already reserved. So if you are interested, give me a shout or a comment and let me know what size you'd like and I'll do my best to get you one!

I hope you'll like my shirt and please help support and cop one if you can! Pics coming soon!!!

AW177 "Circuit Death" T-Shirts Update, Illustrator, Customs & The Toy Art Awards

2011-05-11T23:20:00.000-04:00

Hey all,

It's been a long time since I last updated my blog, been real busy w/ some things that I thought I'd share w/ you.

My baby daughter is getting bigger everyday, and honestly speaking, it's been tough to juggle projects and taking care of her. I don't let me wife handle everything by herself, I take a part in everything we do w/ her, bathe her, feed her, play w/ her, etc. I enjoy it very much, but it just takes away a lot of time from my work, which I hope will get better once she gets older. Hopefully!

I've also took time away from toy customs and art to learn new things; I've been self-teaching myself Illustrator more, to move away from Flash drawing to Illustrator. I love using Flash to draw, but Illustrator is much better and so far, I've learned a lot and can't wait to try my new skills on new digital artwork! I've also taken on a branding project and still in the process of self-producing my own t-shirt. Which brings me to the next update...

Self-producing your own t-shirt is not as easy as I thought. I took a lot of time to research t-shirt printing companies and learn about the various t-shirt brands out there (Alstyle, American Apparel, Hanes, etc). I finally picked my printer last month and after sending in my design and going back and forth on approval, it's a go. However, I also want a hem tag produced to go on the bottom of the shirt, so again, researching companies and getting samples, it took a while. I finally got the company I want picked, paid and now in the process of waiting to get the final hem sample in my hand before I approve it for production. In the meantime, my t-shirt printer will not start until I get the tags to them to make the entire shirt first. Ugh! So w/ many delays and back and forths, I hope, I really hope to get them done by June!

I just hope people will support me and cop a shirt; they will come w/ a whole bunch of items that I made (that also took a lot of time to make and took up my time away from custom toys). I spent a lot of time, effort, blood, sweat, tears and money on these shirts, so if you like them, please buy one, if not, then thanks for looking!

I also agreed to do a 3" custom dunny trade for a friend of mine that will probably be the only custom going on right now. I may have another potential one to do, but the client needs to get back to me first.

Anyway, here is what I envision what my "Circuit Death" t-shirt to finally look like w/ everything together:

The Toy Art Awards - now I was nominated for the Artist of the Year category for the Toy Art Awards by Clutter. I did NOT self-nominate myself; I think that's ridiculous - someone named "Curry Magic" nominated me (this was before Clutter removed the names of people who nominated others). I'm not sure who this person is, but I thank you for the nomination. It always feel good to have people recognize your work; Clutter however, put up the wrong picture for me on the site. They put up a picture of Lumpy Bumpkin by Kidlew and that's not representative of me. That's Kidlew's work; so I tweeted to Clutter to change the pic. I don't want to take credit that's not mine. So they changed the pic.

Now the caption under my pic said something of me being a professional tracer, which I want to clarify. I did an interview w/ Japan Cinema.net, where I described my method of making custom toys. I said I would draw out the design digitally on computer first, then print it out and trace it onto my toy. When I design on the computer, I do NOT trace the design; I draw it out by hand first, then scan it in and then do the vector image. When I do the vector image, it's easier to duplicate more cherry blossoms, more dots, more waves, etc. than it is to draw each one out. Once the final complete image is done, I'll print it out and trace it onto paper to transfer onto the toy. I don't know why the person would say I'm a professional tracer, but I wanted to clarify that.

Personally, I can care less about winning the award or if I wasn't even nominated. But another artist felt the need to criticize me for the nomination, and said "what's a professional tracer". Well now you know the story behind it; and to those that feel I shouldn't be nominated, well that's you and you don't have to agree w/ it, but someone felt I deserved to be nominated. I will still continue to do my own thing and my own art and push myself to do more digital art. Haters can hate; drama may start but I don't need that in my life. My baby daughter made me realize life is not about stupid battles and fights and unnecessary drama; if I can take the high road and even if that makes me look 'weak', that's fine as long as I can avoid drama.

Anyway, think I wrote a lot in this post. Thanks again to those that support me and my work and hope to have another update on my t-shirts soon! Peace.

Rejected 2011 AW177 Dunny Designs!

2011-04-08T05:14:00.004-04:00

Hey all,

I was invited by Kidrobot last year to submit some designs to be considered for the 2011 dunny series. I was flattered that they would consider my artwork and took to the task at hand - but only having one week to work on designs made me rush a little bit, and felt I could have made even better designs had I more time. Anyway, Kidrobot rejected all my designs and since I don't think they'll use them in the future, decided to post them up.

This concept was based on the beautiful costumes of the Chinese opera; I tried to limit the amount of colors and intricacy of the design (so it would be easier to print on a dunny). It would come with a beard accessory that would attach to the mouth.

This concept was based on the samurai, using flat colors. It would come w/ a few accessories to really make it stand out.

This concept was based on the samurai, using shiny, metallic colors (to make it look more like armor). It would come w/ a few accessories to really make it stand out as well.

You can view larger images on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr

Maybe one day Kidrobot will use one of my designs; till then, I'll just keep on trying and trying!

Japan Donations at the Poster Cause Project

2011-03-30T12:02:00.003-04:00

Hey all,

Just wanted to update everyone on the Japan Earthquake Relief Print Series w/ the Poster Cause Project. They have donated $4,300 so far to Doctors Without Borders! Please continue to support and contribute to a great cause! Every little bit helps!

Thanks to all that helped and to those that bought my print! Remember, this is a great series of 6"x11" prints where 75% of profits go to support Doctors Without Borders earthquake and disaster relief efforts for Japan.

You can buy mine here: AW177 Japan Earthquake Relief Print

And other great prints here: Poster Cause Project - Japan Earthquake Relief Print Series

More updates to come!

Japan Earthquake Relief Print Series & Some Updates

2011-03-15T01:46:00.006-04:00

Hey all,

I just created a print in collaboration w/ the Poster Cause Project as part of their Japan Earthquake Relief print series. This is a great series of 6"x11" prints where 75% of profits go to support Doctors Without Borders earthquake and disaster relief efforts for Japan. My print doesn't have a title, and here it is:

I tried to do something new and apply a different style/twist to this design. I like how it came out. You can buy it here: AW177 Japan Earthquake Relief Poster

Please support, buy some great art and give to a great cause! Check out more prints here: Poster Cause Project - Japan Earthquake Relief Print Series

I'm also glad to report that my original Poster Cause Project poster, "Koi", has been SOLD OUT! Thanks to all those that bought one! If you did buy one, comment on my blog, I'd love to know who you are! Thanks!!!

I'm still moving ahead w/ my "Circuit Death" limited edition tees...more news on that in the next update.

Oh and if you got some free time, go check out my interview w/ JapanCinema.net, where they have an ongoing series showcasing creative men & women who make a profound impact in the art & film community of Asian ethnicity! AW177 Interview w/ Japan Cinema

That's it for now! Thanks all!

JapanCinema.net - AW177 Creative Spotlight Interview!

2011-03-10T06:07:00.006-05:00

I have an online interview up with Japan Cinema, where they have an ongoing series showcasing creative men & women who make a profound impact in the art & film community of Asian ethnicity! Go have a read and learn more about me!

Japan Cinema Creative Spotlight: Episode #19 - Allen "AW177" Wen

Read other awesome interviews! Japan Cinema Creative Spotlight Interviews

Props to Japan Cinema for allowing me to be a part of their great site!

Mugo Discover Series/Limited Edition Tees...?

2011-03-05T01:28:00.002-05:00

Hey all,

It's been a while since I last updated my blog - honestly, I'd love to do more stuff but my baby daughter has been a bit difficult to handle - I'm still struggling w/ time management, but hopefully with time, she'll be easier to control! Anyway, I submitted a design to the Mugo discover series for their MP3 player + flash drive. They'll choose designs from artists for their next production series and I hope mine will make it! I submitted a "Dragon Power" design (from my Elite Division Warriors concept) and you can view it on Mugo's Facebook page here: Mugo AW177 Facebook "Dragon Power" If you like it, please comment and let them know! Thanks!

Also was thinking about making a run of limited edition tees, based on one of my favorite designs, the "Circuit Death" skull:

If produced, I'm going to try to go 'all out' on it, making sure it's a great rugged product. I'm currently hunting for a screen printing company that does good work, have quality products and for a reasonable price, so if you know of any, please let me know! If you'd like one, please let me know and what size you want. Prices yet to be determined.

Last thing, watch out for my upcoming interview with Japan Cinema, where they have an ongoing series showcasing creative men & women who make a profound impact in the art & film community (http://japancinema.net/category/interviews/), of Asian ethnicity! Go have a read, some great interviews are up!!!

Thanks again for the support! Peace!

Computer Arts Projects Issue #145 - Look Inside!

2011-02-14T00:01:00.002-05:00

In my last blog post I wrote that I'll be in the Showcase section of the Japanese design issue, Computer Arts Projects issue #145! I finally was able to locate a copy and it came out great; this issue is excellent, full of awesome articles and tutorials - go grab a copy if you get a chance! Check out a larger image of my section on my Flickr!

AW177 Computer Arts Projects Issue #145 on Flickr!

Computer Arts Projects Issue #145, "Koi" Poster Cause Project, Japan Cinema Upcoming Interview!

2011-02-10T02:42:00.005-05:00

Hey all!

I know it's been some time since I last updated; my baby daughter takes up a lot of my time for now, trying to get things sorted! Anyway, wanted to share some news - have any of you ever read Computer Arts or Computer Arts Projects? Well they are great magazines published in the UK on the computer arts scene and I consider them the cream of the computer arts magazines (not saying others are not good, but I've been reading Computer Arts/Projects for years). I'm happy to report that I'm in the Showcase section of the Japanese design issue, Computer Arts Projects issue #145! It was released in the UK back on December 30, but in the US, should be released at bookstores on January 30! So for those that seen it before, grab a copy and look me up! They showcased a few of my custom vinyl toys, from my "Koi" dunny to my "Elite Division Warriors" Mad*Ls! And on the CD-ROM, they've included some of my other art works; go check it out!

Oh and by the way, I don't have an actual copy yet, so for those that do find one, especially in NYC, let me know where I can grab one! And let me know how the article turned out!!

Computer Arts Projects Japanese issue #145:

Sneak Peek Inside (check out #12, that's mine)!

One more thing - have you done your part to get some great art and to help charity? If not, go cop my poster up at The Poster Cause Project!

ABOUT THE PRINT: "Koi"
- 12" X 18"
- Limited to 25 Prints
- Printed on 100# Standard White Stock

Please support and go buy one!
"Koi" by AW177 at The Poster Cause Project

Lastly, look for my upcoming interview with Japan Cinema, where they have an ongoing series showcasing creative men & women who make a profound impact in the art & film community (http://japancinema.net/category/interviews/), of Asian ethnicity! Go have a read, some great interviews are up!!!

More later! Till then, thanks for the support!!!
AW

"Koi" Poster on The Poster Cause Project

2011-01-12T02:06:00.002-05:00

Hey all!

Long time no updates! It's been tough to update and/or work on new projects while juggling new father responsibilities! My baby girl is doing well, she's a handful right now, but my wife and I are making it work! Hopefully things will go easier as time goes on!

Anyway, wanted to give a quick AW177 update - my poster that I designed for the Poster Cause Project is now available for purchase! The Poster Cause Project is an online effort to sell and promote artwork by underground artists in a very limited form all while donating 50% of ALL profits to charities and organizations in need.

ABOUT THE PRINT: "Koi"
- 12" X 18"
- Limited to 25 Prints
- Printed on 100# Standard White Stock

Please support and go buy one!
http://shop.thepostercauseproject.com/products/koi-poster-designed-by-aw177

Again, thank you to all for the support! Peace for now!

Hi from Kaylee! Happy New Year 2011!!!

2011-01-01T03:19:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone!

Some very exciting news - my baby daughter, Kaylee, was born on Monday, December 27 at 10:08am weighing in at 5lbs 15.8oz! What a day that was - on December 26, there was a huge blizzard which struck NYC and my wife's water broke that day! Funny enough, the drive to the hospital was ok though - the snow made less traffic and it wasn't bad enough that I couldn't drive. So perhaps that was a good thing! The next few days, it was really hard to get my car anywhere out in the snow, so if my daughter was born then, it really would have been nearly impossible, so I'm happy she decided to come out and see the snow! My wife and I call her our snow princess!!!

She's kept us quite busy since we returned home from the hospital this past Wednesday. We are still learning the ropes of being new parents and it's taken a lot of time away from my projects and work. I hope to find some time to get back in the groove, but for now, my AW177 work may have to take a backseat, just for a little while.

Anyway, thanks all for the support, wishing you all the best of love, luck and health for the new upcoming year, 2011!!! Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-21T04:06:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-12-05T01:41:00.001-05:00

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...

2010-11-29T02:16:00.003-05:00

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

2010-11-18T04:55:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-11-17T08:22:00.004-05:00

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?

2010-11-11T05:05:00.004-05:00

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!

2010-11-01T01:42:00.003-04:00

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

2010-10-31T04:25:00.002-04:00

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!

2010-10-27T09:04:00.003-04:00

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!

2010-10-12T00:59:00.004-04:00

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!

2010-10-11T03:56:00.003-04:00

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!

2010-10-08T03:01:00.001-04:00

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!

2010-10-08T00:10:00.002-04:00

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...

2010-10-05T17:04:00.004-04:00

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!

2010-10-05T05:16:00.002-04:00

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

2010-10-05T04:54:00.002-04:00

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

2010-10-05T02:43:00.004-04:00

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!

2010-10-04T18:55:00.002-04:00

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

2010-10-04T02:01:00.005-04:00

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!

2010-10-03T01:37:00.003-04:00

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

2010-10-02T03:30:00.002-04:00

Hmmm...

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

2010-09-28T02:37:00.003-04:00

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

2010-09-27T05:32:00.005-04:00

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

2010-09-27T01:18:00.005-04:00

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?

2010-09-23T01:20:00.003-04:00

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

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

2010-09-16T17:59:00.003-04:00

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!

2010-09-15T01:53:00.000-04:00

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

2010-09-09T02:15:00.005-04:00

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!

2010-09-07T16:43:00.003-04:00

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!

AW177 MiniCards & Postcard!

2010-09-07T03:31:00.002-04:00

Decided to order some minicards as my business card to give out to peeps who want my contact info, as well as create a small piece of art that people can put up or whatever to enjoy. I decided to get some minicards done, half the size of a regular business card, since they are pretty cool, unique and different than other business cards out there!

I created a set of 5 'art' minicards: "Dragon", "Phoenix", "Koi", "Tiger Style" and "Butterfly Delight", based on my art illustrations; the 6th one, "Dragon Power" (upper left) is an different one that I liked, created w/ gradients, to see how it looked like printed.

"Tiger Style"!

Back of each card contains my contact info and my logo; logo came out a little blurry, but think it's still great!

Also ordered a set of 20x "Circuit Harmony" postcards as well - I kinda consider them 'limited' hardcover prints!

I will be attending New York Comic Con this year, sitting at the Tenacious Toys booth, along w/ other artists selling some customs, doing some sketches (I can't sketch for crap though) and what not. If you'd like an AW177 mini 'art' biz card (or a set, but you have to ask nicely!), come by and say what's up! As for the postcard, I'll have a few of them w/ me that day that I can sign if you'd like one. Time and date details to come!

Jouwe Custom Show - Toy Art Gallery (TAG)!

2010-09-06T23:07:00.004-04:00

New blog update! It's been a while, but I'm back to updating and am posting up a new show I'm participating in - the Jouwe custom show at Toy Art Gallery (TAG), located at 737 Seward St. #1 Los Angeles, CA 90038. Show opens on October 2, 2010, so try to be there to see some beautiful custom Jouwe figures!

Pix of my figure will be up soon!

Time for a Break...!

2010-07-31T04:48:00.002-04:00

Hey all,

I noticed lately that I've been moody and been rushing my custom making process and end up making a ton of mistakes. It left me exhausted and frustrated, and really made me want to stop. I know I need to concentrate more on graphical/digital design and art, but since NYCC is coming up, I know I need to push out some customs (more details on that later). But rushing it is not really helping and just making it more difficult. Plus w/ a pregnant wife and baby coming, it is really getting more tough on me.

Hence why I took a break away from my customs for a week already, and going to do it again for another week. I will start fresh again by the second week of August - need to take a mini-vacation. Once it's over, I'll be in full swing again and hopefully do things right and do them well!

So peace out for now, will be back soon!

Long Time No Updates!

2010-07-12T06:38:00.001-04:00

Hey all,

Long time no updates - been busy after my last few posts and been working on computer art more than custom/toy art! I am working on a few new customs now in time for New York Comic Con - have some news about that! So stay tuned!

AW

"Dragon vs. Phoenix" Custom Artoyz Elements Earth Completed!

2010-06-17T03:19:00.004-04:00

If you've been following along w/ my WIP pics for the past week or so, then you know that I was working on a custom Artoyz Elements Earth figure. My design, "Dragon vs. Phoenix" was complex and detailed, but so worth it after it was all finished! Props to my very patient client for waiting!!! Hope you like it! Go to my Flickr account for larger pics!

As a little extra bonus, decided to make a print of the computer design I was following along with and signed and framed it, to go along w/ the custom toy!

That completes my WIP thread! I hope you enjoyed it, and if so, please let me know! Or if you have any comments/suggestions, I'd love to hear it! Thanks for following!

Work in Progress (WIP) Pics - Artoyz Elements Earth Part 6!

2010-06-15T15:37:00.002-04:00

Part 6 already? Lol, sorry for the late (again) post, but finally have a chance to post up part 6 of my WIP pics of Dragon vs. Phoenix. I hope you enjoyed this so far, and this custom is pretty much almost done!

Last time I left off w/ dragon side being somewhat done. There are a few more steps from this point, as I want the entire figure to be yellow colored. To do that, I have to color in parts that are white to yellow. Sounds simple, but tough since you have to be careful not to overlap the lines and if you do, go back over them w/ color again.

Here is the dragon side ready for yellow:

Here is the phoenix side w/ yellow already painted in:

Side of custom w/ yellow:

The other side w/ yellow:

The completed dragon side w/ yellow painted in:

Now at this point, for some reason, I just kept going and going and kinda forgot to take pics of my WIP! But the only thing left to do was figure out what color to make the hands and feet. I didn't really want to paint them a different color, as I think it may take away from the colors of the dragon and phoenix. So I thought about painting them yellow to match the rest. Pics of the final will be shown later on.

Also, I forgot that the blossoms are missing some inner details; the lotus blossoms as well. I hand painted the details of the lotus blossoms, but the details of the cherry blossoms were harder, so I had to use a certain technique to get details in places I can't do by hand (can you figure out what that is by looking at the cherry blossom?):

To teach how I do that would be another thread on its own! So will skip that for now, unless I get asked to do so later on!

Anyway, that's mostly it for this time. The custom is FINISHED and all I need to do is varnish and post the final pics, which will come later this week.

I hope you enjoyed this and almost done!!! Thanks and would love to hear any comments and/or suggestions!

Work in Progress (WIP) Pics - Artoyz Elements Earth Part 5!

2010-06-11T16:19:00.004-04:00

Friday afternoon update - most people are probably waiting till 5pm to run out the door for the weekend, and here I am updating my blog w/ my latest WIP pics! Sorry for the late update, but better late than never. Here we go:

Last update I finished half of the dragon outlines and the scales; I wanted to clean up the scales a bit, so started doing that and finishing more of the outlines:

After some time being picky w/ the scales and outlining, I finally finish the dragon:

I start outlining the other elements: blossoms, waves, etc:

I should note that I also went over some of the colors 2x to make sure they are filled in and bright. That's how I roll!

I finally got my favorite masking tape in and started to mask out the black background areas - this is to just make the lines nice and straight. I masked out 2x for each line - 2 tapes to make the white lines, then 2x more for the black areas:

This is a very tedious process, which I honestly hate sometimes. I feel I can probably just free marker it in, but being the picky guy I am, feel it's not good enough. ARGH!

Here you can see how I use the masking tape to color in the black areas:

FINALLY, after some hours and days, this is the completed dragon side:

So this is my progress for these past few days! I hope you enjoyed this session! Almost done w/ this custom! I don't know how some of the other artists out there get customs done so fast, but guess mine is just a tedious and long process! Hope you enjoyed this session, more next time!

Work in Progress (WIP) Pics - Artoyz Elements Earth Part 4!

2010-06-08T02:27:00.002-04:00

Sorry, after a nice weekend, I am a bit late w/ part 4 of of my WIP Artoyz Elements Earth, Dragon vs. Phoenix. Last time we left off, I was outlining in black the rest of the Phoenix. I completed that side of the figure and will keep the final look of a secret till later! Right now, I concentrated on the Dragon side of the figure; I taped up another piece of paper + paper towel to keep the Phoenix side safe while I work. The paper towel is to prevent any unnecessary bumps or scraps against the Phoenix side.

So I start w/ the Dragon, since he is the main figure of this side by applying gold and red:

Now at this point I realized I didn't draw in scales for the Dragon, which it doesn't really need it, but think it would look so much nicer if it had some scales (would also match the Phoenix). So, I whipped out my pencil and started to add scales; problem is, the pencil didn't really mark well w/ the gold paint, so used my black paint marker to add them in:

Instead of continuing to do all the scales, decided to stop at a certain point and go slowly and make sure everything is nice and neat and continue on. So decided to paint up the lotus flowers:

Next the waves:

And:

Next the cherry blossoms and "Love" kanji:

Now with most of the major elements colored in, I wanted to start outlining in black the head:

Continue down to the flames, hand and fixing up some of the scales:

Till finally:

I spent a few hours on this tonight and am exhausted after awhile! I think it looks pretty good up to this point, and will stop for today. Will continue tomorrow, thanks for looking!

Work in Progress (WIP) Pics - Artoyz Elements Earth Part 3!

2010-06-04T19:24:00.002-04:00

Ok part 3 of of my WIP Artoyz Elements Earth, Dragon vs. Phoenix. I left off w/ a few colors on the custom toy, time to keep adding colors.

I started by adding the black colors to see how the other colors 'pop' out:

I used some small masking tape I got to mask off the lines of the black parts to make them straighter, but the masking tape I got does not do corners so well. That's what I get for buying cheap tape! I had to order some better masking tape, which should get here by next week, so for now, I'm going to skip the black background parts and concentrate on the black outlines. I usually save the black outlines for last, but instead of waiting around, I'll jump to this step.

I outline the phoenix head in first as practice:

I continue w/ the rest of the body:

And finally:

Now, I had to go over some of the areas w/ more color, to make the colors more filled in and to pop more. Be careful since working w/ paint markers, too much color can cause them to clump up. Make sure your markers have a good flow before going over them again.

That's all the updates for now, will post more when I get a chance!

Work in Progress (WIP) Pics - Artoyz Elements Earth Part 2!

2010-06-02T18:31:00.003-04:00

Ok here is Part 2 of my WIP Artoyz Elements Earth, Dragon vs. Phoenix. For those that missed part 1, just scroll to my last post. I left off w/ finishing the Sharpie outlines of the Phoenix,, now it's time to add color.

People ask me how do you color in something so small and detailed, and my answer? Very carefully!

I started to add the red areas in first:

Golds and yellows next:

Why not silver next?

Flowers next - pinks and purples:

Waves are sky blue:

Completing the waves are dark blues:

Looks easy through my pics, but it's tough to go slowly over all the lines, making sure all the colors are consistent. I may have to go over some of the areas 2x to make sure the colors are nice. This whole coloring process took a few hours!

Stay tuned for Part 3!

Work in Progress (WIP) Pics - Artoyz Elements Earth!

2010-06-01T14:38:00.002-04:00

Been working on this complex design custom for a little bit now, and w/ the consent of the owner, allowed me to post some work in progress (WIP) pics of it. Decided to do this so show how I work, how meticulous I am, and what goes into each AW177 art toy. Hope you like it and enjoy!

Artoyz Elements Earth - Dragon vs. Phoenix

After some time to come up w/ a nice design on computer, I translate that design onto the toy w/ pencil. The Dragon side has already been added and covered w/ paper, and this is the in-progress Phoenix side:

You can see the Dragon side visible through the paper:

This is the completed pencil side of the Phoenix:

After penciling the design in, I go over it again w/ a black Sharpie:

This is the completed black Sharpie side of the Dragon:

Will work on the Phoenix side today; big props to the patient owner of this piece and more WIP pics to come! Stay tuned!

Long Night of Shows - MPH & ToyQube!

2010-05-21T21:49:00.003-04:00

Well today I went to both the Thought Processor show at MPH and the Power Arts for Power Up show at ToyQube and have to say both were dope! I really appreciate having pieces in both shows and it's not often you get to participate in 2 really different yet really cool shows, both in the same night! Props to PHONETICONTROL for allowing me to be a part of the Thought Processor show, we spoke last year about it and he remembered me and allowed me to be a part of it! Also props to my friend Keith, for allowing me to participate in the awesome Mr. Power show!

Props also to Nemo, who was good to see again and all the other artists; everyone did a sick job!!! Pics are now posted to my Flickr!

Thought Processor & Mr Power Show Pics!

"Circuitz" - Custom Mr. Power Figure!

2010-05-21T03:56:00.002-04:00

"Circuitz" is the name of my entry for the Power Arts for Power Up - Mr. Power Custom Show, May 21 to June 1, 2010 from 6-9pm at ToyQube.

I'm attempting something different w/ this custom than my past ones - trying to move into a different approach/direction!

Check out pics at my Flickr: "Circuitz" AW177 Flickr

Power Arts for Power Up: Mr. Power Custom Show @ ToyQube

2010-05-15T06:31:00.005-04:00

Well I'm involved w/ 2 shows on the same exact date! Thought Processor, which I outlined in my previous post, at myplasticheart on May 21, and also the Power Arts for Power Up: Mr. Power Custom Show @ ToyQube. See VinylPulse for more information! I'm gonna try to make it to both shows that day!

Power Arts for Power Up: Mr. Power Custom Show @ ToyQube

2010-05-04T00:26:00.004-04:00

Thought Processor NYC Series Show!

I was invited to create a custom Thought Processor paper toy by my friend Pocket Full of Monster's PHONETICONTROL - I was happy to oblige!

I also created a piece of 2D art to go along w/ it as well - photos will be posted soon!

myplasticheart, May 21, 6-9pm. Show runs till June 21, 2010 at 210 Forsyth Street, NY, NY 10002.

To see the full flyer, go to: Thought Processor NYC Series

Latest Custom - Gundam?

2010-04-21T01:56:00.003-04:00

Custom Gundam anyone?

Custom paint job = pearl white + metallic silver + metallic black!

Crazy Busy, Yet Crazy Procrastination?

2010-04-16T02:43:00.002-04:00

I've been pretty swamped at work and been preparing for a large art show, which basically took up much of my time to concentrate on artwork. I owe a very patient customer a custom toy which is already designed but need to start working on it! Also part of 2 shows - a Mr. Power show w/ ToyQube and the Thought Processor show at MPH, both in May!!! Worst part - I haven't started on either show yet! I had time but procrastinated on what to do, etc!!!

Next few weeks will be hectic!!!

Long Time No Updates...??

2010-03-18T00:47:00.003-04:00

For those of you out there that even bother to stop by and read my updates, just wanted to let ya'll know why I haven't been updating as much as I should/could. I've recently begun a new 'career' venture/path and been busy doing that almost every day for the past 2 weeks, and it's been fun and new and I'm learning a lot every day. I am hoping these new skills I am learning will help me promote my art even further and I wish I can mention who I'm learning this stuff from, but trust me, this guy is the shit! Maybe one day I can mention who it is, but for now, I am concentrating fully on doing this and see where it goes.

As for toys/customs, I have one commissioned one and a show in May, but aside from those 2 projects, I'm going to concentrate on doing computer/graphic work. I may do a toy here and there, we'll see, as I do miss doing them when I don't do them!

So for those that read this blog, thank you and please keep following me! I will update when I can! Thanks!!!

Artsprojekt Dirty Dozen!

2010-03-12T14:46:00.004-05:00

Alright! I made it up on the Artsprojekt Dirty Dozen for this week!

"Every week we feature 12 products from the sickest artists and brands on ARTSPROJEKT. Sign up below to check out the greatest new stuff!"

Artsprojekt Dirty Dozen - AW177

Great Opportunity...!

2010-03-04T02:26:00.000-05:00

I am tired but thankful for this great opportunity!

Vinyl Addicition Episode 6 - AW177 I.W.G. Custom Figure "Rhinotech"!

2010-02-25T01:15:00.003-05:00

Jesse Hernandez host a great show called Vinyl Addiction which details the vinyl toy/art lifestyle. I'm a huge fan of Jesse's work and love this show - only wish I had the channels to watch this on! However, there is a short clip of episode 6 up here: Vinyl Addiction Episode 6 and within 19-20 seconds into the clip, you get a shot of my custom I.W.G. figure, "Rhinotech"! Very exciting!

"Rhinotech" can still be purchased on my store! AW177 Store

Happy Chinese New Year 2010! Year of the Tiger!

2010-02-14T00:13:00.003-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year 2010 to all my peoples! This is my year, the year of the Tiger! Wishing everyone much love, luck, health and prosperity for the new year!!!

I am also very happy to launch the first beta version of my website, AW177.com! It's been a long time coming and I'm glad to get enough of it done to finally launch it on Chinese New Year! The site is a constant work in progress, but for now, glad to get it launched in a condition I am happy with!

Thanks to those who supported me and hope to have more things to come in the new year!

Gung hay fat choy!!!

Most Important Project I Can Never Finish Part 2!

2010-02-05T09:42:00.002-05:00

Ok from my first post of the 'most important project I can never finish', that happens to be my personal website. However, I think most people these days just have blogs and use that as their website; I've been really picky about mine and just never finished it and revised it over and over till my head spun! For about 5 years I've had my domain at www.AW177.com and still can't put one up - until now. I'm just about almost done w/ mine and tried to make it less complicated and put up more of my work. I will still use this blog for more news updates, and use my website to display my work. I hope to get it done by the launch of Chinese New Year - how dope would that be, launching my website on the Year of the Tiger, my year? Crossing my fingers!

My site was done purely in Flash - yes I know there are lots of people who don't like Flash and don't see why a site has to be designed in Flash, but to me, I've always loved Flash and guess I just wanted to see if I can create a whole site in it. I know you won't be able to view my site on an iPhone or Touch or iPad or what not, but you can always view my blog on those devices! I also do all my illustrations through Flash; just feel more comfortable using it. I'll probably need to learn Illustrator one day, maybe I'll take a class on it just to force myself to learn it!

Year of the Tiger Mad*L - Sold Out!

2010-02-04T16:55:00.003-05:00

Today was the day I put up my "Year of the Tiger" custom Mad*L for sale up on my Big Cartel store and as soon as I put it up, someone bought it! Props to the buyer, they know who they are, and this guy has been a big supporter of my work - really really appreciate it!!!

Happy New Year!

New Custom for Chinese New Year 2010 Full Reveal!

2010-02-01T00:45:00.005-05:00

Ok I have finally revealed the full pics of my latest custom Mad*L up on my Flickr at AW177 Flickr and will be up for sale at my Big Cartel store AW177 Store on Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 11am EST! Price will probably be $250, as this one was a bit complicated to do and took some time and a lot of effort on my part to make it as perfect as I can! Hope you all like it and thank you in advance to the person who hopefully will buy it!

"Year of the Tiger" represents determination, aggressiveness, drive and craving for success!

New Custom for Chinese New Year 2010 Sneak Peek!

2010-01-29T02:28:00.002-05:00

I have completed my custom Mad*L (surprisingly quickly too) in celebration of the upcoming Chinese New Year 2010 - my year, the year of the Tiger! I will be creating a basic Big Cartel site where you can buy it along w/ some of my past projects, release date not 100% sure at the moment. I would like the buyer to have it during Chinese New Year, so we'll see. But for now, enjoy a sneak peek:

Gung hei fat choy!

New Custom for Chinese New Year 2010 WIP Part 3

2010-01-27T02:24:00.001-05:00

Custom has been completed and surprised myself how fast I did it! Full reveal will be posted as Chinese New Year gets closer! Keep viewing my blog for more updates!

New Custom for Chinese New Year 2010 WIP Part 2

2010-01-25T09:40:00.001-05:00

Another WIP shot of my Chinese New Year 2010 custom; a lot of effort involved here! Hope to be done w/ this sometime this week!