Can't Decide....

I'm in a dilemma at this moment for not being able to decide on what to buy for my next toy purchase. Just finished paying for the shipping cost of my previous online purchases, which were earlier this month and as this month's salary is around the corner, it is time for my next round of purchase. No point for me to stop buying now, or even just to think of stopping, as I'm already way too deep in this toy collecting arena.

My wish list just keep on getting longer and longer with every passing days... and when I'm ready to make the purchase, I can't decide which item to buy first. If I choose to let go an item, will it be available again next time? I believe this is the kind of problems that any other toy collectors with limited budget are experiencing all around the world, at any given time. But, I also believe, this is the fun part in toy collecting, other than the happy moment when we receive the parcel itself.

As for the moment, there are 6 items that really got my attention to bid/buy. All these items are quite rare and insanely expensive to buy locally, if its available here in KL, and all of it has about 2-3 days bidding/buying time left. In other words, I have to decide fast.

Here are the items in random order...


1. Transformers G1 Sixshot


2. Medicom RAH Ghost Rider


3. Medicom RAH Wolverine


4. SDCC 2009 Exclusive Baroness


5. MOTU Classic He-Man


6. Darth Vader Real Action Doll Collection by Tomy Direct

Come to think of it, I'm actually lying to myself about the 6 items. It is actually a lot more. The list, and this post, could goes on forever. Darn it....

Maybe I'll sleep over it for a while...

Dragonflies, spaceships & those neverending office works.

A few weeks back, I was given the task of designing a logo for our PE-PATUNG Group, or at least to come up with some design proposals that can be modified later by the other PE-PATUNG members. After all these years working as a 3d Illustrator and using graphic software all day at work, I always knew that graphic logos weren't really my thing, but still it is something that has to be done somehow for the sake of this group.

My first step on that matter was to download some images of some dragonflies.... never expect that there are so many species of these insects. Later, I imagined myself as a robotic dragonfly, flying around enjoying my little robo-insect life, hopping around a little here and there on some metallic branches of some unknown alien type trees and moments later, viola!... ideas & images began to pop up in my head.

But that was then, at the beginning of the process. A few days later, after developing some weird looking shapes in Photoshop, office job began to pour in like crazy since last week and I was stuck with a halfway done robo-dragonfly drawn in a plan view. Far away from what I've imagined earlier which was supposed to be a logo with some sort of 3 dimensional view.

As an alternative, I've decided to used some of Rampage Studio's older, unused works, hoping to recycle it somehow to make it look acceptable enough to become a logo with that robotic dragonfly touch. This is where I need all the help I can get from the other creative peoples at PE-PATUNG Group. Its always been a team effort after all.

So, here it is, originally this was a personal spaceship design project that I came up with sometime about a year ago. Supposed to be for some sort of a space strategy game thing but it never happened. Sorry about the watermark and low resolution images, which is necessary at this point as a protective measure because these are work-in-progress protected materials. There are actually 2 different design of ships belonging to 2 clans at war, but I will only post one which is more suitable for the development of the logo. The other design is also a bit lame and embarrassing so I'll just keep it in my hard disc for now.


This is the Battle Cruiser.
As you can see, the front portion of the ship is highly inspired by The Imperial Cruiser from Star Wars. I was thinking to modified the rear end of this ship to make the head part of the robotic dragonfly, and some modification on the wings to make it look more insect-like. Hope this will work.


The second ship here is the Carrier. Just a slight improvisation of the Battle Cruiser which I haven't got the chance to finished but I think it still looks alright as an unsymmetrical ship design... and yes that landing deck thingy was inspired by none other than the Pegasus from Battlestar Galactica. Haven't really decide yet what I can salvage from this one to be use on the logo. The landing deck's arm will be the dragonfly's legs perhaps.


This third image is just a close up view of those ships, showing the clan's insignia. Haven't got the chance to fully develop any story lines behind these designs during that time, so I just put the insignia as Clan Rampage. All these drawings were done fully in Photoshop 7, with standard effects and filters without any additional plug-ins.

Well, thats about it for this post. Hope to get all things in order after this. PE-PATUNG really need its own blog space up and running soon.

Wassalam...

If They Can Do It...

After 33 years of my life, yesterday I did something which I've never done before. Bought myself two packets of stuffs that I wanted to buy for sometime but never did, up until yesterday.

It all started last Friday night when I followed my 'partner in crime' Spooky P to see his buddy Jeff, of 3d Whiz-Art. Yes, it was that time when I started to have that fever as mentioned in an earlier blog. With a feeling of mild aching began to crawled up my head plus with an empty stomach, I forced myself to tag along because I really wanted to meet Jeff and to see his artwork for myself.

Eventually, it was not a bad decision after all. Headache & hunger aside, it was a very worthy little experience for me that night. We spent about 2 hours inside Jeff's studio/workshop somewhere nearby Taman Len Seng in Cheras and that moment was really an eye opener for me.

Jeff, a very talented artist and also an independent businessman... or shall I say, an entrepreneur, were cool and kind enough to tell us the story of his life on how he started his sculpting & casting works plus some tips & tricks.... and believe me when I say that in this line of work, it is quite difficult to find someone whose willing to share that knowledge.

My only regret for that night was that I didn't have my camera with me, hence, I cant show any kind of prove of how good Jeff's works are.

Beside his works and his charming persona, one other quality about Jeff that one can noticed at first sight is his superbly positive attitude whenever he wanted to learn something new or experimenting with new techniques of casting. During our conversation, actually it was him who did most of the talking while me and Spooky P were in awe most of the time, there were several times that he mentioned something like "If they can do it, why cant I"

Hearing that from a successful artist like Jeff himself, it is expected that those simple sentence could turned out to be a form of enlightenment for me that night, thus making me want to try out something new.

So, here it is, those two packets of stuffs that I bought yesterday.



They are modeling clays. Sorry if you're expecting something else.
Yes, I'm going to try my hands at sculpting, which I haven't got a single clue on how to start. But, at least I've got the raw material with me now, and with Jeff's enlightening words "If they can do it, why cant I", I hope I can achieve something.

Wish me luck... wassalam