Top Ad 728x90

Court of the Dead

Dec 9, 2012

Loam by Loz Hausofboz

by


What's that little bump, rustling around in the leaves?

It's probably just Loam.

He's very busy at this time of year, there's a lot to get done. He has berries to ripen, leaves to pull down, and hedgehogs to jostle.


He spends most of the year, snoring in a hollow log, waiting for the first day of autumn to come. Then it's his time to shine, filling your garden with fallen leaves, and glazing the mornings with a light frosting, and once he's suitably irritated everyone that way, he's off into the heart of the forest to jab at sleeping hedgehogs with twigs, shine up all the mushroom caps, and whip up the winds into a frenzy.

Every time a leaf lands in your garden, or slaps you in the face in the street, you know it's his way of saying a special Hello.

Loam is a 3" custom Kidrobot Dunny, sculpted on and painted by hand, and finished with a real cubic zirconia stone, and varnishes for UV protection.

He'll be available to buy at 8:00pm GMT (DST+1) on Thursday 13th December at www.lozboz.bigcartel.com
 
Follow Loz Hausofboz here
Facebook
Site
Store

How-To: Image Management for Artists Selling Online

by
TENACIOUS TUTORIAL

One issue in my line of work that pops up more often than most is image management. I deal with a lot of images of artwork (in my case, toys) coming from artists. And so I spend a lot of time fixing those images up for use on the web. One image is easy. But editing 100 images becomes an all-day affair.

I want to remind artists that if your intention is to sell your artwork on the internet, your work is only half done when you have completed your piece. The next half of the process is taking proper images and sending them to the proper people in the proper manner such that they might be efficiently posted to the internet to sell the item.

Many times I will get an email, and just opening that email up in my mail program will take forever.

Why?

Well, for one thing, my computer is a little outdated. And until our new one arrives in a few days, I'll dealing with a machine without a lot of RAM or disk space. But the real reason this type of email opens slowly is that it might contain 10 images which are are 10MB each, so my poor old machine is trying to open up 100MB of images just to show me the email.
Not an issue for many people working on brand new machines, but certainly an issue that many people deal with. This week, it's me. (edit: working on my new computer now, but principle still applies)

The second downside to these giant emails comes when I start working. By working, I mean I need to take those images the artists send to me, and I need to change them in several ways to make them web-ready.

Common Issue #1
: The images are huge.
I cannot upload images bigger than 2MB to my Blogger blog, or pics above 1MB to my website. Each of those sites has a limit to the size of the images it'll allow me to upload. If you send me an image that's 180dpi (dots per inch) and it's 25 inches tall, guess what? You just sent me a 45MB image. Too big. My next step, therefore, is downloading all those images to my hard drive and opening up Photoshop, and opening ALL those images in Photoshop. I then have to individually change the image sizes for all the images. I could do this en mass in iPhoto, saving time, but when I'm in Photoshop, I need to do a few more things, so Photoshop is my tool.

Common Issue #2
: The images do not have titles.
This is the problem for me: the images are all of different pieces, and each piece has a title, yet all the images have filenames that have been unaltered from the time they left the camera. Images titled "IMG_0934.jpg" tell me nothing. And if I am putting many items up for sale at once, I'd have to retitle the images so I can figure out what is what. I have tens of thousands of images on my hard drive. Their titles must be descriptive.

Common Issue #3:
Crappy photography.

The images are dark, blurry, too close-up, or have multicolored backgrounds. Please use sufficient lighting, step a bit away from the piece so your camera can focus, and use a seamless, even if it's a makeshift seamless made out of a piece of white paper. That works fine, and it's what I use. I don't own a "real" seamless. It's very hard for me to fix blurry images. For distracting backgrounds, I can sometimes remove them but that takes me 5-10 minutes per image if no seamless is used. Do not take pictures on your lawn, outside with complicated backgrounds, or standing on something dark colored when the wall behind is white. Help me sell your art and give me clean backgrounds.

I can lighten and adjust color balance and contrast and a number of other factors, but all of those steps take time. Repeat them 40 times a day and a significant chunk of my time is used up. If part of the cost of running a toy shop is calculated based on the value of my time, then my margins are SIGNIFICANTLY diminished or eliminated if I spend an hour editing images of an artist's work.

There's lots more to discuss but for now, that will help all of us sell more art online.

SUMMARY:
To sum up, for those of you who are taking pictures of art with the intention of selling it online:

1. All images MUST be 1MB or smaller if they are being used online. In general I find that 72dpi images measuring 6 x 8 inches work fine. That results in a 700MB image. Just big enough for web users to see the piece, small enough that it'll upload and download fine.

2. Title your images on your own computer before attaching them to emails. This will help you organize, and it will help the recipient of those emails organize. Give them a title like ARTISTNAME.titleofpiece.jpg or something to that effect.

3. Take good pictures. Mini tripods can be as cheap as $10. Buy one. No more blurry images. Use proper lighting, preferably from 2 angles. Use a seamless to remove the background and make it uniform.


We're trying to SELL your art here, and the image is all the customer has to go on. Let's make the images GREAT!

I understand that many artists cannot afford to buy Photoshop. But your computer probably came with some sort of basic image editing software (Macs come with iPhoto) so please explore that and learn how to use it. If you have no clue what to do with a digital image once it leaves your camera and gets to your computer, please ask one of your friends for a lesson.

Jc Rivera's 3 inch Dunny's in our shop!

by
Time that someone grabs these insane 3 inch Dunny's in our store, only 75 dollars (BARGAIN!!!). Grab them before Jc will rise his prices!

Riker's Island Death Row Inmate 7043


Riker's Island Death Row Inmate 5412


 Riker's Island Death Row Inmate 6111


Riker's Island Death Row Inmate 3125

      

Fred & Ginger

by
Starting customizer Bash showed us his new custom Munny's. The work of this guy looks promising for the future!

Meet Fred, he's an old and wise gnome that lives together with Ginger. Ginger is a forest dragon that lost her parents at birth due to a kitchen fire. Fred found here all alone in the woods and took her in. The only problem is, Ginger loves eating mushrooms...

Follow Bash here:
Facebook 

Gingerbread blindbox series

by
Look at this amazing Gingerbread blindbox series by Button Eyes Toys. I am HUNGRY NOW!

Button Eyes Toys Gingerbread Blindbox Series, Edition of 5 including a chase, hand painted with acrylics. Stands 3'' tall, comes signed. Finished with a nice layer of Matte sealer. Each dunny comes with a "no peeking" box.

Gingerbread's arms, swirl and button are hand crafted with super sculpey. www.buttoneyestoys.com 12.10.12


Follow Button Eyes Toys here:
Store
Facebook
     - Don P 

Dec 8, 2012

Message In A Bottle - Resin Artifacts from We Kill You!

by

We Kill You! has just one of each of their new Message In A Bottle resin figures still available for $52 apiece in their store.

These unique beauties, the Young Grobold, Vishnu Paramata, and Germinal Goon, are hand cast resin with bits of found sea glass and come in mason jar half full of sand, along with a tattered message and map. Jump on this right now, because they aren't going to last much longer.

Iron Ox by Chris Dobson x Creo Design drops Dec 14

by
Hot on the hooves of his forthcoming public debut at the opening of alto's 'Unfold' toy and print show (https://www.facebook.com/events/371034992973152/), the first Little Ox colourway - Iron Ox - is ready to venture out into the world.

A collaboration with Creo Design (www.cdtoys.co.uk), Iron Ox will release on Friday 14th December 2012 at Noon (GMT) via the alto website - http://www.studioalto.co.uk/

An edition of 10 (including 1 secret chase), Iron Ox represents the first in a series of Little Ox colourways. The world is about to become a little more bovine...

Iron Ox will retail for £25 (approx. $40), excluding shipping.

Dec 7, 2012

Joe Ledetter and Nathan Jurevicius show opening TONIGHT!

by



'Creatures of the Night' opens at Cotton Candy Machine in Brooklyn! The show features new paintings from Joe Ledbetter and Nathan Jurevicius. A preview of the what's available can be found here. I hear the pieces are pretty reasonably priced too so they may make some great holiday gifts.

Opening party is TONIGHT from 7pm-11pm, Directions HERE. Joe Ledbetter will attend the opening and is bringing some special edition prints and a customized inflatable unicorn!!

See you there!

If you can't make it to the opening tonight (which is lame) you can stop by another day, the show is open until January 13th.

Apocalypse Calaverita by The Beast Brothers

by

The Beast Brothers recently released the "Apocalypse Calaverita" for purchase. This limited edition 6" fiberglass Calaverita is hand painted, signed and numbered by the artists. The bright colors pop against the darker color of the Calaverita, making it a great addition to any collection. I expect to see more limited edition Calaveritas in the future, of all sorts of designs and colors. That is unless, the apocalypse actually does take place.

From the Beast Brothers Apocalypse Calaverita product page:

 
 There are many legends about the apocalypse skulls but no one knows for sure their origin. The secret Knights of Quetzalcoatl were the guardians of the skulls, but once the conquistadores came they where hidden in a secret chamber and forgotten.


This ancient artifacts' sole function is to balance and contain within the forces that could bring the apocalypse upon this world. The Mayans, being the Aztecs enemies, tried to burry the knowledge of this powerful skulls, making the World think that the end was imminent. But there is still hope that once these skulls are scattered all over the world the balance will return, avoiding the end of our civilization.
Each 6" fiber glass skull is hand painted, signed and numbered by the artists.

Available for purchase now on the Beast Brothers store for $150 plus shipping and limited to only 21 pieces. While you are at it, why not pick up the Black Calaverita as well.

-Mark-Anthony

Bitta Critta by Scott Tolleson an outsmART Originals T-Shirt

by


Up next for outsmART Originals artist apparel collection is Bitta Critta by Scott Tolleson. Based on another original character by Scott, expected to be released in 3D form sometime, the Bitta Critta is first making it's public debut in T-Shirt form. The design appears to be printed on an olive green shirt which compliments the colors of the art very well. Even though there are no diamonds on this design, the colors also scream Scott Tolleson.

As with all outsmART Originals T-Shirts, this pre-order is limited to 200 shirts printed on 100% cotton American Apparel Fine Jersey t-shirt, at only $25 each. Available exclusively at outsmART Originals in both men and womens sizes (up to 3XL). Keep in mind that this design will only by available for order from December 7th to December 17th. or when all 200 t-shirts are sold, whichever comes first. Delivery is expected to happen in early January.


Bringing collectors exceptional designs by exceptional artists – wearable art for the art-official intelligent – that’s outsmART originals.

By now, you should already be placing your order for this awesome design! Don't forget to mention that I helped you decided to purchase one of these shirts, you get some free air in the shipping box when you do.

- Mark-Anthony

Dec 6, 2012

Mostly Harmless Vinyl Customs - Undead Androids & more!

by

Mostly Harmless has been featured here before for their amazing vinyl customs, but work this great deserves another shout out, and there is no shortage of new product being made available in the Don't Panic Store.

First you may notice the prevalent undead theme (I'm not complaining), like with these adorable face munching Androids, which are made to order.


Then you'll see there are a number of other platforms and styles represented, from the obligate Dunnys and Munnys to BUDS, even some Unicornos. For the serious collector, there's this undead 10" MadL for a cool $150. Not a bad deal at all, in fact all of the prices are quite reasonable for such face-melting works of art.


Keep watch on Mostly Harmless on Facebook or DeviantArt and snag something nice for your own shelf this holiday season. You deserve it!

Dec 5, 2012

Dead Toy Soldiers by Ron English and Made by Monsters

by
I was just asked by another blogger if I am going to be carrying these Dead Toy Soldiers by Ron English and Garage Works... initially I said no, because they make me sad and depressed about the loss of our troops overseas. I am personally against all wars we are currently conducting on foreign soil. I disagree fundamentally with the motivations behind all of those wars. I believe deep in my soul that all the geopolitical reasons the politicians give us to justify the wars are facades for our real motivation: poppy fields in Afghanistan (heroin) and oil fields in Iraq. In other words, money. I am deeply troubled by the deaths of American soldiers, and the citizens of all of those countries, that have occurred during my lifetime.

But then I realized that this type of collectible is indeed thought-provoking, and got me to think about these issues once again today. And as we all know, Ron English is a master at creating collectibles that force you to take sides, discuss, argue, disagree, emote... and in that sense these figures are very successful.

But I still struggle with selling an item like this- would that make me a bad person? Would that mean I am glorifying the deaths of American troops, or would it mean that I am trying to shed a light on hot-button issues that are poignant and relevant?

What's everyone think? Leave a comment!

Dec 4, 2012

Tokidoki Unicorno Blind Box Mini Series Two!

by
Tokidoki recently released a new Unicorno mini series. It is equally delightful and as fun to look at as the first Unicorno series. Tokidoki never fails to please with their adorable and original designs. There are a lot of muted tones in this series which contradicts a bit with the rest of Tokidoki's work. But even though some pieces don't have a lot of colour they nonetheless pop and the series still shines. These pleasant creatures stand at two inches tall and are available for eight dollars in the Tokidoki shop. I'm dying to get my hands on the super cute Day of the Dead looking unicorn. After all a Tokidoki toy can brighten up anyone's collection, let alone day. 
-Ashley Gallagher

Jon Paul Kaiser's Star Wars themed Customs Available Online at Yoyamart

by
Following UK artist Jon Paul Kaiser's custom Star Wars themed show, A New Hope (originally posted about here), Yoyamart has put up 50 of the remaining customs for sale online. These primarily black and white customs, range in price from $200 for a 5" custom, to $2250 for a huge 16" custom. Jon Paul Kaiser is best known for his meticulously detailed black and white style, although he does dabble in color once in awhile. Some of the small little details on these customs are amazing and somewhat mind boggling. I've had the honor of seeing Jon Paul Kaiser draw on small 3" dunnys while I was in the UK, he definitely has steady hands.These customs won't last long once word spreads, so don't hesitate and pick up one or more of these awesome JPK customs. Here are a few of my favorites.

 
Death Star Gunner Mini Munny by JPK
Stormtrooper 2 T" MonQee by JPK
Boba Fett 16" Toyer by JPK

To see more of Jon Paul Kaiser's Star Wars customs and/or to make a purchase, head on over to Yoyamart's online store.

Follow Jon Paul Kaiser here:
Site
Twitter

As always, tell them I sent you in the notes and get some free air in your package!
- Mark-Anthony
BB-8 Star Wars Premium Format(TM) Figure
Court of the Dead The Chronicle of the Underworld Court of the Dead Book