by Bill Cable
on 2021-08-02, 10:22:41
I got a bit of work done over the weekend...
I'd been wanting to watch the Star Wars Trilogy Despecialized Edition for a while now. I tried watching on my PS5 when I first got them, but it didn't like the discs. Kept pausing every few ...
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by Beedo Sookcool
on 2021-07-30, 19:08:03
When shopping for booze for my birthday binge this year, my wife found this bottle of Key Lime Pie mead from the Harris Meadery of Orange Park, FL. Key lime pie is perhaps my favourite non-chocolate dessert, mead is one of my favourite alcoholic beverages, and my wife knows all ...
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by Bill Cable
on 2021-07-28, 07:44:57
We're in the endgame now.
With the art complete, it was time to lay it out on my template and, play with the levels and positioning, and decide on the color for the bubble area. That's a lot of trial and error, and wastes a good ...
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by Bill Cable
on 2021-07-28, 07:42:40
I did a bit of beer shopping to replenish the stores. I didn't intentionally seek out anything to review, but sometimes you stumble upon a brew that demands it.
2021's release is the first I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Man, I've been missing out! According ...
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by Beedo Sookcool
on 2021-07-26, 17:13:44
This 12-ounce, 5.8% ABV offering from Du Claw Brewing Co. of Baltimore, Maryland, is an ale brewed with "vanilla beans and other natural flavors added." It is absolutely marvellous (more on that later), but I was in a bind, because I initially had difficulty choosing an action figure pairing for ...
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by Bill Cable
on 2021-07-21, 08:47:37
I had a very productive week of coloring. I'm about 99% done. Just a few little tweaks, and I'll be happy.
Painting this thing (in Photoshop) was a LOT of work. I wanted to get the feel of the forest right, so to accomplish that, I went to the source. The Dulok Scout cardback has some awesome tree trunks on it, so I used those as my inspiration. But man, was that tedious!
All that work was worth it, though, I think. When finished, it really looks nice. The other challenge was painting the dirt. This was my first time doing forest dirt, which is way different from sand or city dirt. I could do some splatter textures easily enough, but in a forest it just looks empty. I wasn't sure how to fix that. So again, I went back to the source! And this time, I found a solution from Lady Gorneesh.
Her card was the only one that had a really good view of forest groundcover, and I though I could do something with those semi-transparent ferns. To get it to work, I created a new Photoshop file and started drawing plants.
I'm happy with the results. Now it looks more like a forest. As an added bonus, I was able to drop in a few teeny-tiny plants around the AT-ST foot to better drive home how much larger it's supposed to be than the Commando.
I expect I'll have the cards done and printed before next week, with assembly over the last weekend of July. I may have these ready to sell before the PSWCS Summer Social!
by Bill Cable
on 2021-07-21, 08:21:56
I got a press release from Diamond Select yesterday, and the figure looks so amazing that I was actually compelled to share it! I used to have all of the GG Vintage Jumbo figures up through most of ESB before realizing they took up too much space and selling most of them. That was dumb of me, because prices on those things have gone up tremendously since. The one weakness of the figures is the sometimes soft details - a consequence of dramatically scaling up something sculpted at 3.75" 40 years ago. But this Mando figure is SHARP. And it looks like they figured out a much better solution for the capes. Top marks!
The Mandalorian Goes Retro With a New Jumbo Figure from Gentle Giant Ltd.!
With the newest release in the Star Wars Jumbo line, everything new is old again! Capturing modern Star Wars hero Din Djarin in a classic toy style, this new 12-inch figure is a shared exclusive between BigBadToyStore.com and the Gentle Giant Ltd. Premier Guild. It features an all-new sculpt of the Mandalorian in his original armor, as he appeared at the start of Season 1, and comes packaged with his deadly amban rifle.
Figure and weapon are packaged on a resealable, retro-style blister card, so you can hang him on your wall or take him out and play with him! It's just like when you were a kid, only bigger! Designed by Eamon O'Donoghue, sculpted by Gentle Giant Ltd.! Arriving this fall!
Order Here:
https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/167833
https://www.gentlegiantltd.com/star-wars-the-mandalorian-the-mandalorian-jumbo-action-figure-display/
by Bill Cable
on 2021-07-21, 08:19:44
This week our friends at Regal Robot revealed their next big project: a 1:1 statue of Salacious Crumb. Those guys never skimp on quality, and this time they brought in the original sculptor of the movie prop the create the piece. Salacious Crumb focus collectors should prepare for financial ruin, as this admittedly gorgeous piece comes in at a budget-busting $3,999! But if high-end art like this is your thing, I'm certain it's worth every penny.
Today we’re announcing our upcoming dual-signature edition Salacious Crumb™ Prop Replica Statue! Our replica was sculpted by Tony McVey, who designed the character and sculpted/fabricated the original puppet for the production of Star Wars, Return of the Jedi™. Each static polyresin statue will be made in the U.S.A. and hand finished by the FX artists in our New York studio. Only 150 pieces will be made for this limited, signature edition and each will come with a metal plaque signed by both sculptor, Tony McVey, and the character’s on-set performer, Tim Rose.
Order here: https://regalrobot.com/news/starwars-salacious-crumb-prop-replica-statue/
by Beedo Sookcool
on 2021-07-18, 11:44:38
Yeah, I know Bill did his own review of Fuller's ESB, but this was one of the brews my good lady wife recently picked up for me, so I'm doing this as an independent corroboration sort of thing. Plus, they changed the look of the label since Bill's review. ...
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by Bill Cable
on 2021-07-14, 08:33:37
This past week I finished the job of blocking out the base colors for the art. That's "blocking out" in the layout sense, not in the obscuring sense. Here's where I ended up:
It's a tedious process. I gotta use the Polygonal Lasso tool to trace along all the lines that define where a color will be, then fill the defined zone with an base coat of color onto which I'll next do the actual art... highlights and shadows and textures. Doing it in this way allows me to eliminate the risk of overspray when I'm using the various brushes, so it's invaluable. But man, does it take a lot of work. This piece ended up with 36 layers in the Photoshop doc. That's how much I care about you guys.
To give you an idea what I'm talking about - here's what the art looks like if I remove the black lines. Each color zone was painstakingly traced by dozens of mouse clicks.
Next up I'll be getting to work on the real art!
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