Super-Heroes and Templars.

There has been a PS3 competition running for a while now in which you have to immortalise your best online gaming moment, and so naturally I chose Assassin's Creed...

 

It's not finished yet, and the deadline is fast approaching, so I may not complete it in time, but in any case I vow to complete it regardless.

 

And when I say that, I mean it this time.

 

No, really.

 

So, here's what I have so far:

 

 

As you can tell it needs a few more pages yet, about 3 or 4 in total... as I am doing this around work it's taking a while...

 

I have a few more images ready to scan and a plan for the next few to draw, so I should probably get onto that... but there is one small thing I have to do first.

 

Which brings us to:

 

Hobbycraft Super-Hero Day!

KA-POW!!!

 

Indeed.

 

I'm currently tasked with making a poster and coming up with activities.

 

Very kindly Graham Beadle (the owner of the Grinning Demon comic shop) has agreed to help out by wrangling up a few illustrators for us, and in the meantime I have been working on this...

 

 

The most action-packed bout of crafting you will ever see is clearly about to happen.

 

I still have to make some blank activity sheets for a nifty competition that we will be running and various other bits and bobs...

 

So, in the meantime, I shall leave you to wonder what magical nonsense will follow in my next post.

 

Will it be dinosaurs, will it be assassins, will it be more spandex wearing crazies?

 

Probably, yes.

 

Eye Glasses. (Illustration Friday)

Hello again!

 

Long time no see!

 

I was taking a stroll through the interwebs and noticed that the new theme on Illustration Friday was "Eye Glasses", this was terrific because I have been meaning to edit an old comic that I did called "Ordinary".

 

The opening to the comic was me waking up and putting my glasses on...

 

Ordinary was the first comic I ever worked on, so it had alot of rough edges, it was laid out terribly etc., which is the main reason that I have never posted the full book here.

 

That and it's about 30 - 40 pages long.

 

I always had a casual plan to fix it some day, take all my images and the core story and re-structure it into a better looking book, so that's what I have done here.

 

BEHOLD:

 

Ordinary, Page One.

 

 

Merry Friday everyone!

"Ask me about:"

As some of you may remember, I made a badge for work a few weeks ago to show customers where my knowledge lies... now, thanks to the recent snow, rain and repeated beatings that this badge has received I have decided that it should retire.

 

And so.

 

I have a dilemma, so I make a new version of the old soggy, torn, armless badge, or do I go the extra mile and make an entirely new design?

 

I opted for the latter.

 

So far I am considering making it dinosaur themed, but I can't decide on a design as of yet...

 

To inspire me, I have been doodling T-Rexes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am thinking of maybe doing something similar to the end scene in Jurassic Park where the T-Rex saves the day and then does a big dramatic roar while the words "WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH" float down on a banner... except it would be "MODEL MAKER AND ILLUSTRATOR"...

 

I could also use this as the header to this Blog.

 

More on that later...

 

Speaking of later, I have beeing beavering away on my Fiora Action Figure and she now has a fully painted face and torso!

 

I still haven't faced my old nemesis, the scalpel, to finish carving out the lower details yet...

 

But I will...

Eventually.

Valentine's, Vikings and Bison's Birthday.

Welcome back intrepid Blog viewers!

 

Since your last visit I have been rather busy, why not make yourself a cup of tea, relax and I'll walk you through it all...

 

First up, Valentine's Day.

 

As some of you (all of you) may know, Valentine's Day has just passed, and for this year I wanted to make something special again, but after making the Bison soft toy this task has been somewhat complicated...

 

Holly is trying to diet at the moment, so in keeping with her plan I set about making her a tasty treat that fits into her dieting... and so, I decided to make a personalised choclate bar.

 

Dark chocolate is her chocolate of choice, and for filling I chose dried cranberries and various nuts and seeds that she enjoys.

 

My plan was to make each chocolate about 30 calories, but this made them rather small, so I increased this to 100 calories per piece.

 

I started by making a 3D model of what I wanted the bar to look like from Fimo clay, I then attempted to create a cast of this from Fimo Bake & Bend clay which resulted in a sticky lumpy blue mess... and so, I decided to make an inverted version of the chocolate bar from scratch... this is the result:

 

 

Above is my prototype, and below is my inverted mould... covered in chocolate...

 

 

You may notice that I inverted the cat face in the second one, and yes, this was deliberate...

 

What was not deliberate however was the apocalyptic drama which followed.

 

Somehow, with only some baking paper, some dark chocolate and a microwave, rather than creating a tasty treat... I created fire.

 

 Upon this revelation I behaved in a similar way to Neanderthal Man discovering said element, and after the smoking heap made it's way out of my window and an extensive flat ventilation I tried again...

 

The second attempt was more friutful, giving me these:

 

 

I then scoured the shops and interwebs for a container, but after 2 weeks found nothing suitable, and so I decided to make a container too...

 

 

It's a very sturdy 300g cardboard box lined with layers to keep it rigid and cover all of the glued joints.

 

Inside it has 4 dividers that keep the chocolate from touching the box which can be re-used again and again.

 

And to finish, Lazy Red herself is on the lid along with a heart.

 

I think I may be more proud of this than my Viking ship...

 

Speaking of which, I finally finished all of the decorations, aka the word "VIKINGS" and some birds and clouds...

 

 

And, being the genius that I am remembered (after only a few short weeks) to take a photo of the ship in-store.

 

So, without further hesitation, here it is...

 

 

Ta Da.

 

And of course, last but not least...

 

Bison's Birthday.

 

As it is Valentine's Day, or rather it was, that means that Bison is another year older... at the ripe old age of three his fur is matted, he looks constantly surprised, but he is healthy and well.

 

We celebrated his Birthday with an epic amount of sleeping, fatty food and strawberries covered in white chocolate, and of course, Bison got a cake...

 

 

As an added bonus, here's a photo of him in December on our Anniversary (Holly and I, not Bison)...

 

 

He's still the same Bison, he's just lost his baby fluffiness...

 

I haven't yet finished any of my other little projects yet, so until next time, cheerio.

 

The Mighty Viking LongBoat...

The Mighty Viking LongBoat Instruction sheet.

 

 

If you are having trouble reading the text simply open it in a new tab or download it!

 

To see the actual LongBoat either scroll down (if you're on my main page) or click the link below this post (if you're not)!

 

That is all.

 

http://alexsnowling.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/vikings.html



'Snow day like a snow day!

I am aware that my ability to create puns has diminished somewhat lately, but I digress...

As many of you are no doubt aware it has been snowing recently, which in my opinion is excelent!

It also gives me an excuse to unveil two mini projects I have been having fun with...

1. My Chewbacca hat.

I received a Chewbacca "snood" from my fiance's parents at Christmas, so before the cold weather set in I decided to transform it into a sort of Russian hat, or Kashyyykian hat...

Note - Chewbacca is a Wookiee, Wookiees come from Kashyyyk.

After modifying the hat I decided to wear the removed scarf parts as Wookiee arms for a few hours...

2. To complete my winter look I then purchased a new (second hand) coat.

This was for two reasons, firstly we had another dress up day at work so I decided to be Scrooge with an old man jacket, pyjamas and top hat, and secondly as my old coat had disintegrated slightly after 8 years of constant use...

After costume day at work (which was similar to being steamed thanks to the heating being fixed and this being a particularly good winter coat) I went to a tailor nearby and asked them if they could edit it for me; the coat is a thick old trenchcoat with an open V shaped collar and I wanted a closed collar, new buttons and little decorative bits like shoulder pads to make it look a little more like an 18th Century Military uniform, but with a personal twist...

The nice women in the shop ran up a total and gave me a price estimate, and so of course I went home and began to plan how I was going to do it myself.

Unfortunatley I don't have any "before" images as I just launched into it and completed the entire thing (Chewie Hat and Coat) in 2 days...

These top two images show the coat as it was, an open collared coat. The buttons are all new, as are the cuffs and shoulder pads.

The next image shows the coat when all of the buttons are done up.

The top button is hidden under the right lapel which functions as an actual button, the second button down however is concealed under the left lapel and is purely for decoration so that I always have access to my inner pocket without the need to unbutton my coat... "form and function" as my Product Design Tutor used to say...

Here are some images of me in my new creation:

 

 

 

And here's a picture of me with both items on...

And so, geared up in my Kashyyykian hat and Epicoat we ventured out into the snow to make a snow dog together, and here she is, "Harriett Dinky Snowling"...

Merry Snow Day Everyone!

VIKINGS!!!

At work we are doing a few new activities and fancy fixtures to inspire creativity in visitors, one of these was a volcano, and another was a Viking Longboat, so naturally this challenge fell to me...

Using only paper I made a simple to make Viking Longboat and (hopefully) easy to follow instructions as well as a little watery shelf display and two simple flat Vikings...

Here are some pictures:

This is my tiny prototype model which I made in a few hours after work.

After getting the go-ahead on the design I quickly made the final ship (which is 3 times bigger, just a bit longer than A4) and two little Vikings...

I took the boat into the store where it was decided that it needed a base, or at least something to sit on like foamboard... and so, the following evening I made this...

These are now on display in the Hobbycraft in Maidstone!

I also made a little paper me (using my Make-a-Me template) which is pinned to my front with a little chalkboard, but I forgot to take pictures... plus he is currently in a locker...

Here's a flat version:

More on that later...

Probably.

In the mean time, here's a rather nifty link to the instruction sheet for the LongBoat!

http://alexsnowling.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-mighty-viking-longboat.html