About Me

I am a professional graphic designer and right now I am moon lighting as a toy customizer. Every waking minute outside of work I commit to painting and sculpting custom toys.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Postcards are all out

All the postcards have been mailed that I was planning on using. There are still 40 of those ones that have a splotch in the middle from a printing error that I wasn't going to use but there are still people asking. I could probably send another 10 or more but I'm unsure if I should use them or not. If you haven't seen them follow me on Instagram or Twitter @Nikejerk and check them out. Lately I've been posting updates and sneak peaks on Instagram so if you're interested in stuff for SDCC and a drop or 2  I will have before hand be sure to follow me. Things coming up with be Horseman heads 3.0, a few whole Horseman figures perhaps and I'm still trying to put together the GID Dunny Wide Shut figure which will be auctioned off but not on Ebay, F paying their fees. Ghetto auction on Instagram. Stay tuned.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

International Error...DOH!

So I got these Global Forever Stamps and I thought people would be able to use them to mail a postcard back to the US from anywhere in the world but it's only the exact opposite, you can send a postcard OUT of the US to any country in the world. So if you were int the first wave and you're outside the US then I ask if you can cover the postage for me. It will likely be around $1.50 and if you hit me up after I can reimburse you. Just let me know. Thanks for everything people.


Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Postcards

Alright people, all the cards for people that I've spoken to have been mailed and should be there by Wed or Thrs. International people, I don't know how long it will take. Try and turn them around as fast as you can regardless of if it's past the 1st. Just do your best.

I still have some cards to go around so if you want in email me.

3 weeks til comic con. Doctor Who Heads are all done but the Dalek, Skerpent is in the molding stage, and I still have a few odds and ends to get done. Timing feels good right now, we'll see.


Thursday, June 20, 2013

Lets get this Horseman made folks!

Alright people things are ramping up for Operation Pumpkin Head. I printed 180 postcards last night. 40 of them have that smudge in the middle because of a damn piece of tape that was stuck to the screen still when I coated them, so if I need to use them I will but they'll be saved for last. Each person that wants to help make the pumpkin a reality will get 2 postcards. 1 will be for you to keep, and the other will be pre-stamped and addressed and what I'd like for you to do is write something about the Dunny, something about me, or both, and/or why you would love to see this Dunny become a reality. I also encourage you to do whatever you want to the postcard. Customize it, color in the pumpkin, do whatever. I think the more character to them the better. Make suggestions about what could be done with the release to make it awesome...i.e., someone said a Halloween drop with a GID chase would be sweet, and they're right! Just show genuine enthusiasm about the piece and elude to the fact that you would spend your hard earned cash on many many of them. I know for sure that if it gets made I'm gonna get like 50 of them even if I do get a case of AP's. There will be a sheet of instructions with the cards on when to send them so that hopefully they all arrive around the same time. If we don't talk regularly nor have spoken already and you want in email me at jared.cain at gmail. International people are highly encouraged as I think a broader range will make this even cooler. So far I have someone from France and hopefully Canada. But need some more people out of the states. And I'm still gonna pay your postage....First Class Global Forever stamp, though I don't know how much that is. Can't be more than a few bucks.

And as I've gotten to know many of you who follow my work, you know I will hook you up if and when I break through...so lets do this thing!



Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Prints

Hey guys. Anyone that has contacted me or left a message about the prints I've got you and will be contacting you soon about your address. I got side tracked this weekend when I had intended to print these but I coated my screens last night and should be getting to these tonight or tomorrow.

In other SDCC news I have nearly completed the 3rd Doctor Who head, The Doctor, and all I have left to do is the Dalek which I've base coated and is just needing detailing... and I need to build the end of the stalk. I ordered my Sonic Screwdriver and I'm going to look for my suit and bow tie this weekend which will be found at salvation army. I'm not breaking the bank for that.

The Fresh Batch Dunny's are sold out and I just completed the packaging for them last night. As always it was a long road from start to finish to come up with something that was cool and made Drew happy as well but in all I think everything looks great and I am very proud of how it all came out. Drew did a great job organizing everything and putting faith back in the fans that custom series' are not all doomed from now on because of Manny and the MW3 debacle.

I'm about to start the mold for Skerpent. It's gonna be a 2 piece mold for both the top and the bottom and this will be my first 2 piece mold so wish me luck. As long as the sculpt is completed tonight I will start building the wall that will separate the 2 halves. Considering this is a new process to me I will try and take pics along the way to show any of you who might be interested in casting how I am doing things.

The last few things to do are the new Headless Horseman head sculpt and the single GID AP for my Dunny Wide Shut piece. Hopefully I can get the horseman done and in The Jerk Store in the next week or so and get the Dunny Wide Shut auction rolling in the next 2 weeks. Still a ton to do but because of the long hours I was doing last week during Harry Potter and the wedding pair I can stay up til 4 now no problem so alot getting done. :)

Friday, June 14, 2013

Countdown to SDCC

Less than 5 weeks to go til Comic Con and so much shit to do. First off, I will be printing the Horseman Postcards this weekend and I need all of your help to get this done. I will be sending anyone who wants 1 2 postcards.... 1 to mail that will be pre-stamped, and 1 to keep . All you need to do it write on the card WHY this design should be made into a production figure and really anything else you want. It's going to be addressed to the head creative director of KR at the Boulder location so this is an overall chance to get my name in front of someone who makes decisions. Corresponding to these postcards I am going to be putting together a small promo book that shows the figures full turnaround, proposed packaging for the figure and as well as a couple of the 6 color prints I did late last year AND 1 of the figures with a new head that I am about to sculpt and cast. That's right...a 3rd head, and I will have a few for sale once they're done.


So if you and I have never worked together and you want to participate just shoot me a message on here with your contact info and I will contact you with all the info. Thanks guys and you'll probably be hearing from me soon.



Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Dunny Wide Shut

So my final pieces have been revealed other than the faces so here is a real treat for you. Please do not re-post anywhere and try not to even mention it so people don't go looking, but here is one of the 5 different faces on my Dunny Wide Shut figures. They're all fairly simple. Hope you like.

And in case you can't tell, these are about 1/2" taller than a normal Dunny.


Monday, June 3, 2013

Fresh Batch and Pressure

As I said my pressure pot is all set up and I was up til 5 AM on Friday doing the first batch of casts and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. It didn't start out all good though. I had a leak somewhere so I did a few things to try and fix that. I bought some flexible gasket seal at an autoparts store and did what I could to seal the O-Ring on the pot. I also went in and tried to tighten up all the connections. WHILE doing that I somehow managed to break the ball valve in half and when I went to the store to get a new one I couldn't find it. So I just scrapped it and moved forward without it as you don't REALLY need it. I might replace it down the road but things worked fine without it. AND while I was tightening everything I think I must have wrenched something else because now there is a hissing sound coming out of one of the pieces that came attached to the pot. I actually wasn't losing all that much pressure so I have yet to fix it. So after I got everything put back together I did my first cast and BOOM. As good as I could have expected. SOOOO much better than the shit I've been pulling at my house sans pot.


I even mixed the purple dye myself using the red and some blue dye I ordered. The darker dyes are SUPPPPPPPPER potent so I had to mix it first and then I literally dipped just the tip of a 1/16" dowel in the mixture and that was all it took. If you put one drop of the blue in directly it will come out completely opaque. Same with the gray ones pictured above. To get that smoke color it took even less of the black than the purple mixture.

So now that I know my pot works I'm all set to get things moving on Skerpent...I just to figure out how to mold it so I can actually get the thing out of the mold. It's gonna have to be a 2 or 3 piece mold for the top and then a 2 piece for the bottom.

All I have left to do for Fresh Batch are the faces that will be under the masks and each one will have a different face, each with a different emotion expressed and I think the 5 I chose are:

Amazed, Curious, Sneaky, Embarrassed and Mellow. The faces will me a bit reminiscent of the Hexadecimal figure I did in 2012. I will also be making 1 more figure after the series drops that will be made with GID resin but this time the head and body will be resin, and the mask will remain opaque. I need to raise some dough for comic con so I hate to do it but I'm gonna be auctioning it off and the winner might just get to pick the face. 

Too much to do before comic con. I will officially be sleeping 4 hrs or less a night until I leave.