Early Fall Update

 

 

 

Greetings,

 

Summer has officially gone and we're still here. I apologize for the slow posts here on the main site. Though there haven't been many updates things are busy. I'll summarize a few of those things here.

For current projects, I've been working on an LP of the fan game Shadow of Naju, the unofficial sequel to the NES classic, The Guardian Legend. It's a fun trip through video game nostalgia and I recommend giving it a look here:

I've also been working on a series of Drawing Challenge videos in the Sunday/Wednesday video slot. This multiple part series has me trying to make 2D designs out of random shapes in Rhino! If you're curious, check out the the first episode here:

Finally, the Halloween project for this year is underway. I haven't spoken much about it but I will be creating a new papier mache mask and costume for Halloween. You can expect some lore posts as we get into October setting up the piece.

That should do it for the current studio updates. I'm going to try and make the posts more frequently here and there should be some Redbubble store news coming soon.

Stay safe and thanks for visiting!

~Zan

New Article Series: The Inspiration Chronicles feat. Boglins!

Greetings,

As we move into Spring amidst the global health crisis, I want to debut an article series I've been planning for a while. Called the Inspiration Chronicles, I intend for this series of written articles to be one part nostalgia, one part design, and one part personal lore. The plan is to explore brands, themes, or any past things that have shaped my personal artistic tastes and style. As these are a bit more in-depth than the usual posts, I don't know how often I'll be posting them. That said, let's get in to the first entry.

Boglins

Enter the subject of the first entry in this documentary series: Boglins. I don't know how widespread these toys were but my research shows me that at least in the States and Europe Boglins had a presence.

Original caption from the box

Originally debuting on 1987, Boglins were these grotesque monster-like hand puppets made of a rubber latex-like material. Capitalizing on the "gross out factor" of many toys in the 80s, these were promoted as a way to antagonize people (like sisters in the commercial) or at the very least creep them out. There were several runs or "series" of Boglins that were sold in major toy outlets over the several years the toys were primarily in circulation. The products ranged from smaller hand puppets that had some minor eye controls and mouths to bigger more complex models with moveable glow-in-the-dark eyes. Some of these even had a plastic infrastructure inside the puppet that would allow you to manipulate the expressions of the creatures.

From the left: Vlobb and Squidge

An aquatic themed "Soggy Boglins" series was also released and featured three sea-life type creatures.

From the left: Snish, Slobster, and Slogg

As a minor aside, the blue fish Boglin, Snish was one of the most rare and hard to find of these three. Ever since I saw the promo art on the boxes, I was obsessed with finding it as a kid with no success. It wasn't until much, much later after the advent of eBay that I was able to get my hands on a brand new one in-box. Since I obviously don't care about collector's value, I opened it and put it on my display shelve. It's one of the few times I've been able to fulfill a childhood dream.

The Boglins eventually waned in popularity and their production was halted. They would eventually fade from the public consciousness with some more avid fans becoming collectors and traders on-line later. If you look around places like eBay, you can see different Boglins of varying conditions go for some rather large amounts of money. I feel fortunate that I was able to secure that fish one all those years ago.

It wasn't until recently that I discovered a fascinating new development in the chapter of these unique toys. One of the original creators, Tim Clarke started up his own production of brand new Boglins out of his home. Using some of his proprietary techniques, he started developing and selling Boglins via his website. These are not mass produced and as mentioned by Tim he makes them to order. As a result, they do run relatively high in price. Avid collectors or fans should probably approach this more from the art angle than just a toy.

After discovering Tim's site, I did order a couple of his new model Boglins to one, support his work and two, take a look at the design and quality of the products. Here are the ones I ordered:

From the left: Grumph, Vlogg, and Swogg

These new era Boglins are very similar in design and material to the original runs from the 80s. The material is still a rubbery vinyl but feels a bit less elastic than the old models. The material is tacky but doesn't leave significant residue when handling them. It will stain surfaces if left in prolonged contact. The puppets themselves have mouth controls but no internal infrastructor for expression manipulation. I imagine it would be more difficult to construct a rigging system on a per-order basis. That being said, the overall puppets are well constructed and feel sturdy. Because of their higher value, I'd be hesitant to give them to small children though.

Looking at the background behind these toys, I'm sure it's no surprise that they were one of my favorites back in the 80s. While the mainstay franchises like Transformer or Ninja Turtles were present, the unique style of the Boglins left a significant impression on my art style. I can definitely see some traces of inspiration on things like my mache projects. I'm very interested in seeing what Tim's new line of Boglins will become and keep regular tabs on his main site. I have no problems tossing him some cash to support his efforts based on what I've seen of the products. I might do some more in-depth photo shoots of my collection and put it into an Imgur album if that's something people would be interested in seeing.

That should wrap up this look into some nostalgia. I'll be doing more articles like this in the future.

Thanks for visiting!

~Zan

Store Updates!

Hiya!

What's this? A post from TK? It's more likely than you think! I hope everyone is staying safe with all the virus craziness that's going on right now.

This is a short post to announce some updates I've been doing on our store. After taking what looks like way too long, I've resumed uploading the Clans' chibi designs. A bunch of wave 1 designs are now live on the store. I'm working on formatting and uploading the rest. I might order some and do a sort of product test to see how the quality is on the vinyl stickers. In the meantime, if you want to check out wave 2 of the chibis, hit up my DA!

Wash your hands!

-TK

Spring Updates

Greetings,

Spring is well underway and the world is now a little bit crazy. I hope everyone is staying safe and indoors while the pandemic is ongoing. While I haven't had to do much to my regular routine, some folks I've talked to have been getting tired of the quarantine.

Fortunately, many of the studio's projects are still underway so I won't be running out of things to do any time soon. Ongoing design series on DA are still going strong and won't be slowing down at all. Last week on my Twitch channel, I started experimenting with a new art medium. As a way to build on the design process, I've started doing digital concept sketches. The results have been interesting so far and I'm looking at a way to adapt that style into some posts for DA. I'll link them here when they eventually go up.

On the Youtube front, the Bloodstained Let's Play recently concluded. That game was a fun ride and I definitely recommend it. Next up, I will be playing through one of my favorites from the SNES era, Demon's Crest. You can check out the first episode here:

That's all for now. I'm looking at planning some new mache projects so those details will be coming in the future along with some Redbubble store updates.

Stay safe and wash your hands!

~Zan

2019's Design Retrospective is Live!

Happy New Year!

2020 is underway and the schedule is looking to be busy as usual. As I've done before, a Design Retrospective series of videos has been uploaded to Youtube. This 2-part series focuses on the Pixel Sprite and 2d designs posted in the year of 2019. I took a sample of works posted on DA from both sets and talked a bit about them.

For the Pixel Sprites:

For the 2D designs:

 

That's it for this post. Here's to a busy 2020!

 

~Zan

 

 

 



Halloween Project 2019: Insight Vengeance Vrethkol

Here is the official post for this year's Halloween Project. There's one more lore post and then a breakdown of the piece.

<>

Entry 3: Retribution

The Eye Collector continued its reign of the terror having evaded all attempts to capture of kill it. Desperate, a group of mages from Tirald and its neighbor, Ceran-Kal sought out the aid of the legendary Demon Smith. The elusive smith known for crafting many of the powerful artifacts in the realm was known to offer his services to the right cause for the right price. After weeks of searching, the team of mages managed to find one of the smith’s forges in the south deep within the caverns of Mount Kemdraes, an active volcano. Laying themselves at the feet of the arcane smith, the mages pleaded for help. The attacks had been growing in frequency and it seemed none were able to stem the efforts of the Collector. After considering their case, the Demon Smith offered one of his relics. A great metal club known as the “Binding Crusher Rivulgrem” was known for being able to dispel arcane runes and could combat the spells of the Collector. The Smith urged the mages to find a suitable warrior and invoke the power of the artifact at the site of the Eye Collector’s power. If wielded with conviction, the weapon contained enough power to stop the demon once and for all.

A lone knight named Felrinn, heralded among the Ceral-Kal as the “Huntress of Purity” was tasked with confronting the Eye Collector in its layer within the caves. Taking the artifact, Felrinn carefully traversed the winding caverns until she came upon a massive altar at the center of the caves. Carved out of black obsidian and filling a vast hollowed section of the caverns, the altar was decorated with thousands of preserved eyes. Waiting at the center of the altar was the Collector itself. It had foreseen the coming of the knight and sought to take the Demon Smith’s artifact from her.

Felrinn fought the Eye Collector to a stalemate using her unmatched combat prowess and the spell-countering power of Rivulgrem. Though she was able to keep the demon from trapping her in its spells, she was likewise unable to overpower it. Over time, the knight started to tire and the Eye Collector began to gain the advantage. Bloodied and backed into a corner, Felrinn remembered the words of the Smith. Using the last of her strength, the knight invoked the sleeping spirit of the Binding Crusher. The resulting force that conjured forth knocked the Eye Collector back while drawing a powerful arcane energy from the stolen eyes on the altar. Felrinn’s physical form was absorbed and reborn, imbued with the souls of those taken by the Collector. A black-robed creature emerged from the vortex. Narrow fanged jaws split the dark flesh of its face while the head was round and bulbous in shape. Adorning the head’s surface was countless unblinking eyes. The Binding Crusher was also altered by the ritual, its surface covered in eyes of various colors. Hefting the great club before the Eye Collector, the newly created being introduced itself as Vrethkol, the vessel of Insight Vengeance. Empowered by the rage of all the souls plagued by the Collector, Vrethkol renewed the attack and eventually dealt the demon a fatal blow. After scattering the remains of its foe, the Insight Prophet split the unholy alter apart and buried it beneath the rocks. The victims avenged at last, Vrethkol disappeared into the world. It’s said that the many-eyed one appears at the site of great tragedy to gather wandering souls and seek out retribution for them.

<>

Vrethkol's mask was definitely a focus on detail rather than complexity compared to previous entries. The idea of a creature whose head was adorned with numerous eyes was the main theme. I've linked an Imgur folder of the various project stages here. For the mask itself, I followed the same process as previous entries with a foil face impression/shell and then the layers of construction before a cloth skin. The numerous teeth and glass "eyes" were definitely the most tedious part. The robe was bought on-line from Amazon

For Vrethkol's weapon, Rivulgrem, I wanted to create a larger club-type object. This project was the first time I've used Styrofoam as the core of the weapon before moving on to the construction phase. This proved to be fairly versatile but very messy as the foam tended to flake into particles. Rivulgrem's handle is a PVC pipe that I twisted and glued into the Styrofoam blocks. The rest of the details like the eyes and spikes were added during the rest of the construction. After the skin and paint were applied, the weapon remained very light and easy to carry.

Here's the Youtube video for the project:

Overall this was an interesting project. I'd like to do more experimentation with wearable body pieces in addition to just the masks. Also, I will be trying out some EVA foam instead of Styrofoam. I know that's what a lot of cosplayers use.

That does it for this year's Halloween project. I'll be back soon with more updates!

Thanks for visiting!


~Zan

Halloween Lore Post 2: The Fall of Demons

Greetings,

Continuing on the lore posts leading up to Halloween, here's entry two:

<>
Entry 2: The Fall of Demons

While the attempts of humans and the Ogre tribes were unsuccessful in stopping the Eye Collector, the demons plotted among themselves. Attacks on demon villages by the Collector were becoming more common and the various leaders became increasingly concerned. Using demonic rituals that drew power from the Sealed Dimension, the demons attempted to divine the lair of the Collector. Their efforts led them to the same mountainous caves where the Ogres had fallen. After sending a scouting team, three of the demon warlords combined their strength and sent a small army of forty warriors to the cavern outskirts. Their plan was to lie in wait for the Eye Collector to return from one of its raids and then lay siege to the caves.

Perhaps it was the carelessness of the demon army that did them in. Or perhaps the insight of the Eye Collector caused it to be one step ahead of its enemies. Either way, the demons did not succeed in stopping the threat. The Eye Collector cast a debilitating curse over the entire set of demon camps. The arcane runes sealed the troops as they slept leaving them Collector free to harvest them at its leisure. Once their eyes had been taken, the Collector burned the camps to the ground as the blinded demons lay still paralyzed by its incantations. Nothing but charred buildings and corpses remained.

<>

That's it for this post. The next entry will be the final lore piece to introduce the completed piece.

Stay tuned!

~Zan