Merry Christmas!

Hey all!

Thanks to those that helped vote on my last blog post – great to know that most people prefer my “Koi” image to be made into a poster! Look for that coming soon – I’ll post more info when I get it! As for other projects, well none right now; my preggo wife should be delivering our first child soon, so that’s taking away all my concentration for now! Therefore I’ve decided to take a well needed break this week and just chill and play some video games; I want to play the “Undead Nightmare” on Red Dead Redemption! I haven’t played video games in months so want to play, chill, get some sleep (which I’ll lack when baby girl comes) and enjoy Xmas! So hopefully have some good stuff to post in the next year!

So on that note, wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year; wishing you all the best in love, luck, and health! Thanks for all the support!

Allen
“AW177”

Poster Question – Please Help Me Decide!

Hey all,

Was thinking of making one of my biz cards into a poster, but not sure which one would make a good one. For those that take the time to read my blog, can you spare 5 mins of your time to help me decide? Can you please vote on which image you prefer BEST and would buy if made into a poster?

Thanks so much!!!

Which image would you buy if it was made into a poster?

Kinda Quiet…

I know I’ve been kinda quiet lately but hopefully next month/January, you’ll see some big moves! Really busy for me lately, w/ an about-due pregnant wife and all, so I’m kinda on the down low as of late; plus want to concentrate more on 2D work. I’ll throw a custom here or there or join a show here or there, so keep watching this blog for more updates! Peace!

Oh and w/ the copyright issue below, thanks to “Kriskitten” from Twitter for the help!

Computer Arts Projects Big Question!

On Twitter, one of my favorite magazines, Computer Arts Project, asked the Big Question: “”What’s your favorite aspect of Japanese creative culture, and how has it influenced your work?” I thought I would take some time to answer that question on my blog.

There is not just one aspect of Japanese creative culture that influences my work, but from many different concepts – traditional, manga, technological, etc. I like to take some varieties and mix them with Chinese aesthetics to create a colorful, bright, powerful and happy feel to my work, whether it be in printed or graphical form to customized viny art toys. I love the traditional simplistic look of the cherry blossom, the colorful and imaginative form of manga and the powerful technological strength of the Gundam and robots!

My mini business cards contain elements of Chinese and Japanese cultures mixed together to give it a more pop feel to them:

My customized art toys like my “Lucky” Miao & Mousubi, uses the basic form of nature elements, like the cherry blossom and rising sun, to give a sculpture like a lucky cat a modern appeal:

To me, the Japanese have always been leaders in the technological field, as most gadgets and toys (like Transformers) have influenced me to become more technical, and this has made its way into my art: the combination of the concept of Yin and Yang with harmony in a modern, technological world:

Also, what fan boy of Japanese robots be without customizing a Gundam?

I take inspiration from my Chinese roots but am always awe-struck at the art of Japanese culture. I feel as an artist you cannot be scared to mix different ideas and cultures to create new ones; don’t let others tell you what you can and cannot do, take influences in your life and add them to forms of art that inspire you and you’ll be surprised at what you can come up with!

Thank you Computer Arts Project for the great question! And for more pictures, you can view most of my art on my Flickr: AW177 Flickr

What’s Next? Baby Costs = $$$! Help Andy!

Well New York Comic Con 2010 has come and gone and I was very happy w/ the experience. I would love to go again next year! However, I prepared a bunch of customs and for some reason, none sold. Honestly I’m a little surprised that none sold and thought my prices were very reasonable. Perhaps people don’t like my work? Perhaps people don’t have the money? I’m not sure, but whatever the reason, I may step back from doing too many customs for now.

It’s not because none sold, it’s more because I’d like to concentrate on doing more digital art and character design. I’d love to create my own characters and I’d love to do what Simone Legno did, create art, characters, etc. and have them become a brand. That’s my ultimate goal; so while creating customs is fun, my main goal is to hopefully one day, w/ much hard work and some luck, have my own brand. Hopefully.

So to accomplish this, I need to do more graphical/digital/pencil/whatever work. Of course I’ll keep doing customs here and there as well!

Also, for those that don’t know, my wife is pregnant w/ our first child and wow, does baby products cost a lot! So if anyone can, it would be helpful to me if you can buy a custom or even a promo pack from my web store, not only are you helping me but you are helping my child. Props to those that do!

AW177 Web Store: http://aw177.bigcartel.com/

I’ll also be working on a small 8″x8″ wood ‘Year of the Dragon’ canvas piece to raise money for Andy from Toys R Evil. For those that don’t know, Toys R Evil is one of the best designer toy/toy/etc. web blogs out there, run by one man show, Andy Heng. Andy has been helpful and informative to the entire toy community, and he recently suffered a stroke. Luckily he is doing better now and I’d like to raise some money to help him out. So I will be selling a small canvas coming out soon and hope some great and nice people out there will be willing to buy it to help out a great guy like Andy. Props to Andy for always getting my back and w/ NYCC! Be strong bro!

That’s it for now – oh and the 25th Anniversary of Back to the Future is out on Blu-Ray; go cop it, love the trilogy! Talk soon!

AW177 on NYCC Video + Birthday + Custom Sale!

More news today – yesterday at the last day of NYCC, I was interviewed by a blogger named Lynette Chiang from Fast Company.com regarding executive toys and NYCC at the Tenacious Toys booth. She is a friend of Benny’s, and we spoke and she filmed a small clip of me talking (and way too close to my face!). Nemo is in it w/ me as well, so it was fun and you can view the clip here:

NYCC: A Glimpse at the Industry of Delight – Full Story

I’m featured somewhere around the 4:30 to 4:31 mark!

Also, today October 12 is my birthday! Yes I am old and yes I won’t tell you how old! And to coincide w/ that, I will be releasing my NYCC “Lucky” Miao & Mousubi custom on my store; it was made w/ spray paint, paint markers and blood, sweat and tears! I’m really happy w/ how this one came out, and w/ the size and effort placed on it, I don’t think the price is too high! So if you like it, please support me and bring it home to cherish and enjoy! Thanks!

AW177 Store

NYCC 2010?

How about Kevin Gosselin x AW177 for NYCC 2010? Perhaps…

AW177 Work in Progress for New York Comic Con 2010!

Got a few customs working for New York Comic Con 2010 – wanted to give a WIP shot of it. This is a collabo custom w/ a great sculptor, artist and friend of mine (revealed later).

Time for a Break…!

Hey all,

I noticed lately that I’ve been moody and been rushing my custom making process and end up making a ton of mistakes. It left me exhausted and frustrated, and really made me want to stop. I know I need to concentrate more on graphical/digital design and art, but since NYCC is coming up, I know I need to push out some customs (more details on that later). But rushing it is not really helping and just making it more difficult. Plus w/ a pregnant wife and baby coming, it is really getting more tough on me.

Hence why I took a break away from my customs for a week already, and going to do it again for another week. I will start fresh again by the second week of August – need to take a mini-vacation. Once it’s over, I’ll be in full swing again and hopefully do things right and do them well!

So peace out for now, will be back soon!

Long Time No Updates!

Hey all,

Long time no updates – been busy after my last few posts and been working on computer art more than custom/toy art! I am working on a few new customs now in time for New York Comic Con – have some news about that! So stay tuned!

AW