Building a Better Dr. Manhattan

Watchmen. Loved the film, even though I could see the rough edges where valuable story info had been excised. Liked the figures as they truly captured the likenesses of the film counterparts. I thought they were all spectacular, even Ozymandias.

The only quibble i had with the figures is that Dr. Manhattan seemed rather "flat". I know that the translucent version of the figure was a little more dynamic, but not by much. My main problem is that Dr. M in the film had so much going on under the surface, and so much texture that his figure seemed a little monochromatic and dull:

So, as I am wont to do, I took it upon myself to jazz him up a little:


It didn't take much to bring him to the level that I wanted. Again Tim Bruckner's sculpt was awesome (albeit not quite Billy Crudup's face) and all it took was an application of some dark blue metal flake paint to really up the "grittiness" factor of the figure. From there is also redid the eyes to more closely match the film version. Basically he was originally just given white eyes and dark bags, but I added more of the stylized shadow from the film and did the eyes in silver, then added white corneas for effect. From a distance it looks like he just has white eyes, but up close, as in the movie, his eyes show definition.

Pretty pleased with the way this one turned out as he looks more like his filmic counterpart. Check out the gallery below for more detailed shots.

Buliding a Better Black Canary

DC Direct just released their Kevin Maguire inspired JLA figures with the first wave consisting of Batman, Ice, G'nort & Black Canary. The Black Canary figure is decked out in her feathered hair 80's crime fighting outfit, and for the most part it's spot on. What made me flabbergasted is her facial sculpt. Here she is straight from the package:

Now I consider Tim Bruckner to be a god when it comes to rendering these sculpts, but this seemed WAY off to me. She looks like the character in the movie Outland whose spacesuit springs a leak and he explodes from decompression. Her head seems to be in danger of popping!

Needless to say I wanted to set this right and came up with a solution. I separated her hair sculpt from the head and proceeded to heat and stretch it so that it framed the face a little more, reducing the bloated effect. From there I glued it into place and touched up the eyes a little for good measure. She now looks like this:

Definitely an improvement, and more like the BC I remember form the 80's. Amazing what a little plastic surgery can do.

Soap Box - (or How I Suck at Blogging)

Hi there,

If you've come back to the site after my long absence, welcome back. Thank you for your patience and dedication to my work. It is truly appreciated.

If you are a newcomer, thank you for joining! But I must warn you that I am notoriously negligent in updating the site. It doesn't mean that i have lost passion for my craft, but i think I should explain....

It seems as though the information revolution that began with blogs has become ever increasingly faster:

Blogs: Updated monthly or weekly, many people do it daily / hourly

Facebook: Let's people know how you feel RIGHT NOW and how all of your friends are doing at the same time.

Twitter: Let's people know what you are thinking THIS FREAKING SECOND!

Eventually we may all just have chips installed into our frontal lobe that just dictate our random thoughts on to the internet, and that will be it.

I've tried to keep on track with updating Facebook & Twitter and this blog and ultimately I have to ask myself, does anyone really care what I had for breakfast or if I am in a grumpy mood just that second?

Probably not, and I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that people visit Project:Custom for anything other than looking at the work I have completed recently. And it is for that reason that I don't update the site with drivel, but rather only bring it up to speed when I have something of merit to show.

I hope you gentle readers can appreciate that, and that I won't tax your valuable time with trivial musings. But also please don't take the inactivity on this site as an indication of a lack of passion for the art of creating action figures. On the contrary, when i have completed a major project for release, you will be the first to know.

*Steps down off soap box*

Thanks again for your patience and patronage. Please check out the newest offerings that will be posted on the site in the next few days.

Until then, you should know what I had for breakfast today: 4 sticks of Doublemint gum. Breakfast of Champions with Nice Breath.

Cheers.

Testing...testing..is this thing on?

*Blows dust off of blog*

Wow...almost a year. Wonder if my two fans are still paying attention....or are even alive. (Well, I know my Mom is.)

What have I been doing with my time? Trust me, I've been busy!

Stay tuned and watch the roll out over the next couple of days.

Cheers!

And lo, through the darkness came a posting....

Howdy everyone!

Normally this is the part where I apologize for being late and that I want to post on a more regular basis...yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, here's the good word from my busy corner of the street:

- Created some wicked awesome new customs! Included in these are a Mego style Beast, The Jackal and a new ToyFare commission of Nova! Click on the links or the pictures below to see their gallery entries!

- Interesting to note that the customs of Beast & The Jackal above were part of the artistic cultural exchange that I have going on with Art Baltazar of Tiny Titans fame (if you haven't bought it yet, you should! Keep my man Art in green!). For the two hand crafted beauties above, he is preparing a widescreen painting of the Justice League to go with my Firestorm!
Can't hardly wait to get it!

Here's a work in progress shot:

- There's a new ToyFare article featuring my customs! Click here to check it out!

- Finally I did some routine site touch ups, making sure that links were working and images were showing up.

Well I'm off, but who knows, you might here from me again very soon!

Or maybe not....

Soon, that is. You'll hear from me again regardless....

I hope!

The Story So Far....

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delay between posts, but there have been some interesting developments that have got in the way of completing regular posts. Trust me though, some great work has been done and there have been some cool developments. So without further ado:

• New Job - One of the more interesting things that has happened as of late was my movement to a new company and new position. I had been dissatisfied with my previous employer and was looking for a change, and this opportunity came at the right time. One of the cooler aspects of this job is that my office is located in THE BAXTER BUILDING:

That's right, I have offices on the third floor of the Marine Building in Vancouver, BC. This building was the Baxter Building in both FF movies and the Daily Planet in Smallville. One of the great things is that the lobby is full of fantastic art deco accents and architecture.

• New Action Figure Display - For months I have been planning and designing a complimentary DC display to match the Urban figure display that I had set up a few months ago. Finally the time and funds were available to proceed and I constructed it. Taking it's cue from the old Mego playsets, this display incorporates a live LCD display, LED spot and running lights and a multi-tiered stage in a slick & glossy package. Click on the link above to see the feature on it!

• New Customs - Needless to sat there have been some new customs made in the past few months:
• House, MD
• Custom Designed Superman
• Stargirl
• The Super Skrull
  

Cool story behind the Super Skrull custom. This was a commission from Art Baltazar of Patrick the Wolf Boy and Tiny Titans fame. He was kind enough to create a one of a kind painting for me in exchange for bringing one of his favorite Marvel baddies to life in all of it's Mego style glory. In exchange for this service, Art presented me with his bad ass version of Firestorm in his own electrifying style! Check out the shot below for this prized piece that has a place of honor on my wall, and click on the link above to see The Super Skrull!

• New Twisted ToyFare Theatre - There are some new pages from current TTT episodes up! Of special note is the article they did on ToyFare's top 10 custom figures used in TTT. Hmm...I wonder if any of mine made the cut? Click on the link to find out!
  

Well, that's it for now. I know I'll promise to write again soon and only break your heart, but you know I love you, don't you baby? I'd never hurt you on purpose, please forgive me and let's let bygones be bygones..(Turns on Barry White, and as Art B. would say)...AWWWW YEAH!

She is here!

It is a woman's prerogative to be fashionably late, and my lady is no exception.

Finally the M3C female Mego style body has been completed.

Click here to go to the M3 page and click on M3C to see her. There's also a Quicktime 360 view!

My lady awaits your review....

SHE IS COMING......

By this weekend, she will be here.

Years in the making, a solution to many a Mego custom issue.

Stay Tuned.....

Update!

Hello everyone,

Just throwing up a few pictures to the site that I haven't had a chance to format yet. I'm using a new web widget as a faster way to post quick updates on projects. You can click on any of the objects in the box and it will open the item. Great for photos, and it will play MP3 files using the built in player.

Included are:

• - Shots of my Christopher Reeve headsculpt in progress
• - Shots of the finished House MD figure
• - A full BBC radio drama of the Trial of Superman!

Feel free to post comments!

Thanks,
Vince