Thursday, September 30, 2010

Halloween-y

Man, this Halloween is TOUGH! I honestly can't figure out what to be. Yet I can plan years ahead for conventions... *sigh*

So last night I had decided I wanted to be a Mogwai.


Daaaaaaaaaaaaw.


Today during lunch I thought "wouldn't it be fun to be Dr. Elli Sattler?!". But I don't think that would exactly translate to something recognizable.


Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

I've got great news!

Awesome article about an "earth like planet" found 20 light years away. I wonder if it is inhabited, and if they are human like mammals...did they screw up as bad as us?

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/09/29/5202633-alien-planet-looks-just-right-for-life

My favorite comment from the lot:
"Great. I'm stoked. Now, how many billions will this take away from education and infrastructure to provide a new pet welfare project for NASA and JPL engineers and science geeks so we can zip right over and see if there's water. Please... spare us all another useless space conquest, or get Bill Gates to finance it." - Stryke

I mean, because education doesn't involve teaching things we heave learned over centuries, mostly via exploration and science, right? ...Ooooh wait a minute.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Hello, Old Friend.

Holy Moley it's been a hot minute since I've updated.
I ended up landing an aaaaamzing job out here in LA and have been working my ass off since, hence the lack of updates or art in general. That and my Mac is still back in the swamp lands of FL. Ick. So yadda yadda, on with the show!

This year I missed my beloved Dragon Con. If you don't know what that is, imagine Comicon, but without the corporate bullcrap. 50K nerds of ALL genres, in costumes, getting drunk.. or as I lovingly call it "nerd mating season". Going to DragonCon is my idea of a good vacation. I get to see old friends and get to geek out to the extreme. And yes, I dress up.
Oh it started small... wearing an old Halloween costume out to the second year for s and gs. But soon the artist in me took over. Drawing the blue prints, sewing, sculpting, painting props. It's everything I love rolled into one art project. Plus when you dress up you are 210% more likely to meet new people. Many people will show up to the convention to heckle us geeks so the "normals" are sometimes avoided. (I suddenly am thinking of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBXyB7niEc0 ).

Since I missed this year I am determined to go next year. And this has lead to two costume ideas, each own it's own scale of massive proportions. One mostly fabric driven sewn piece, and one electronic fiberglass goliath. MWAHAHA. Ahem.

So to keep with the spirit I am going to turn this blogs direction to these projects for the time being. Leaking blue prints, fabric samples, junk yard finds slowly. Part of me wants to keep these plans "top secret" for the surprise factor. And part of me just wants to geek out with readers in real time. We shall see what I decide.

As a warm up, here is just a small sampling of costumes I have loved making, from simple to more in depth.



Overly simple ET costume. This was for the last day of Dragon Con 2009 for when I was sick of gluing on the mustache and putting on my spats (explained further down). And I am being a creep with Doug Jones. I really admire his work and grabbing a photo was on my to-do list.



Heh. Ok. I am an AVID dog lover. This was just me having a bit of fun and taking a jab at your run of the mill lazy zombie costumes come Halloween time. Was worn for Castle Halloween in Ybor <3




Tank Girl for Halloween 2009. Was a last minute thrown together piece. I love the character and had fun being a bad-ass chick for this one.



Crispin Glover's version of Willard. Had a doctor's bad filled with rats as well, but that was an awkward prop. I did dye my real hair for this. I usually go natural hair due to extreme announce from bad wigs.



Marty McFly. Tho seeming simple, I am VERY proud of all the detail in this one. Hot as hell with a t-shirt, button up, jean jacket, and vest. This was the first costume for DragonCon and it was so much fun having people ask me if I jumped ship. and Indiana Jones wanted a picture with me *swoon*. Thus the con bug was formed.



Full shot of my most in depth project to date. Bill the Butcher from Gangs of NY. I don't think I saved all those blueprints but the ENTIRE thing sans the hat base and shoes was hand made by myself. I made sure it was screen accurate from the way the knives hung on the belt, to the size of the hand made tassels on my belt sash thing, to the proper fabric and the right count of buttons on the vest. I painted the knives from a bright green to look more natural, and weathered the clothing some to look more battle ready. SNAFUs included making the shirt one size too small (whoops!) and forgetting that silk conducts electricity and burning my hand while making the vest.




This is a more detailed shot of the prosthetics I had to endure for this. Mustache, mutton chops, eye scar. And I made that damned leather hat which was a bitch. Oh and my horrid hair cut that I gave myself to be accurate. Ugh.




This is my wonderful wonderful group of friends and I for Dragon Con 2009. Everyone had such great costumes and it was just an amazingly good time, albeit the lack of sleep or proper nutrition. God I miss these kids so much! ARGH!

Coming up over whatever time period... Sketches for the first costume, a steampunk inspired super villain.