Tales of Woe

League of STEAM Vampire Hunt

2009-11-27T12:18:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday I shot this video with the League, documenting our exploits as we went on a vampire hunt at the opening night of Twilight: New Moon. Hilarity ensued.

Check it out:

Adventure of the League of STEAM - "Monkey Business"

2009-11-12T16:19:00.000-08:00

Check out the premiere episode of the League of STEAM's new web series, shot and edited by yours truly:

Stay tuned for more episodes and information, subscribe to our YouTube Channeland check out The League of STEAM Website

Starting up again...

2009-11-11T17:29:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

So, I just realized that it's been almost a year since I last posted here. And what a year it's been. In this time, I've directed a short film (and presented it at a few festivals and conventions), completed my BFA and graduated from RISD, moved back to Los Angeles, participated in a TON of events with the League of STEAM, and more.

Since I realized it will help me to keep up with old friends and increase my online presence, I'm going to try once again to start posting regularly. I make no guarantees, but I'm giving it a shot. In the past, my posts have been exclusive to my artwork and usually had lengthy explanations to accompany them. This time around, I'll probably be posting fewer descriptions (if you want to know the stories or processes behind what I'm posting, just ask and I'll elaborate) and I'll also branch off of just posting artwork.

I look forward to getting back in the habit of this!

-Von Fogel

Recent Makeups

2008-11-24T14:13:00.000-08:00

Two updates in one day? Unbelievable.

This week I did two makeups for my friend's thesis film. In the world he's creating, most everyone has some kind of scar or injury, so I'll definitely be getting a lot of practice!

The first is a gravedigger character with a scarred face, tired eyes, and dirt stains. The second, a big arm wound (sans blood in this photo) with the rest of the arm discolored as a result of a virus. Both makeups are done with 3rd Degree silicone and Skin Illustrator makeup.

Halloween / Artist Ball 2008

2008-11-24T12:31:00.001-08:00

This year for RISD's Artist Ball, my friend Nick and I finally went through with a costume idea we've had for a very long time...

So here we are, as Buzz and Woody from Toy Story!

Kate was Tiger Lily from Peter Pan, which worked out well because then the two of us were a cowboy and an indian.

Here are a couple photos of the Transformers pumpkin that I carved. Autobots on one side, Deceptacons on the other!

Transform, and roll out!

Oh, and once again, please click the little button on the left that says "follow blog" so that you can see when I update!

A Post, Finally

2008-11-19T16:55:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone.

I know I don't update this as often as I should, but thanks for bearing with me. I've added the "Follow Blog" feature, so please follow this blog and then you'll know when I actually get around to updating! I've got a few new things to share, so there should be some more posts during the next few weeks.

Anyway, here's some illustrations that I did for "What's Your Story?" with Mary Jane Begin (it's an illustration course focusing on narrative work). Our assignment was to make three images that tell the beginning, middle, and end of a pre-existing text. I chose to use the song "Big Iron" by Marty Robbins, which is a classic cowboy ballad about a gunslinger riding into a town to kill an outlaw. I'd also been wanting to draw reptiles, so... yeah, here it is.

"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day

Hardly spoke to folks around him, didn't have too much to say"

"Texas Red had not cleared leather 'fore a bullet fairly ripped
And the Ranger's aim was deadly with the big iron on his hip"

"He might have went on living, but he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger with the big iron on his hip"

Stay tuned, folks. More to come soon. I promise.

Snazzy Photos

2008-08-04T22:51:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Claire and I went to Vasquez Rocks to take some photos... Here are the results:

Photos by Claire, Photoshopping by myself. Please click on the photos to view them full-size so you can see the detail.

I kept these ones in color, to show my costume and the scenery a little more accurately:

Here's Claire. I took this photo, and she retouched it herself:

Comic Con 2008 - Day 3

2008-07-28T17:40:00.001-07:00

Not a whole lot to report from day 3, since it was mostly spent wandering the exhibit hall, picking up free stuff, and buying a ton of comics, books, and t-shirts. I wore my Phenomenauts cadet uniform to help promote the band, and a number of people recognized it and told me they love the Phenomenauts. A couple of people even thought that I was one of the band members!

My dad wore his officers jacket as well...

Marvel had the Iron Monger suit on display...

All in all, a great year at the con!

Comic Con 2008 - Day 2

2008-07-28T13:19:00.001-07:00

Saturday was Terminator day for us. Me dressed as the T-1000, and Claire as Sarah Connor in T2. From the moment I got to the convention center, people were stopping me constantly for photos.

In the morning, Claire was saving a spot in the enormous line to get into Hall H, and I was on my way to meet up with her. As soon as I saw her, I broke into a run towards her and chased her all over the line. The hundreds of onlookers waiting in the line cheered for us and applauded when our chase ended with Claire throwing herself down on the ground and shooting me with her machine gun.

We ran into a guy who was dressed as the T-800 from the first movie, and posed for photos with him:

A very nice police officer let us pose for pictures in front of his motorcycle:

Now, the highlight of the day... the Terminator: Salvation panel, which was held in Hall H (the convention center's largest presentation hall, holding 6,500 people). Claire and I lined up at the microphone for the Q and A portion. Instead of describing it in detail, I'll just show you IFC's coverage of the panel on youTube.

Watch the part between about 6:30 and 8:30 to see the part we are in... I also show up around 11:00 when Common answers a question.

It was an incredibly surreal experience... The cast members were all really nice to us, and for the rest of the day people were coming up to us saying, "you were great on the panel" and "you guys were so funny!" Also, since then articles covering the panel have popped up around the internet, and there have been more than a few articles that talk about our appearance at it.

Here's a write-up from Ain't It Cool News, including a great photo of us on the stage.

Also, an article from Entertainment Weekly online, which mentions us at the end.

There are countless others, but those are a couple that stood out as being really great. IMDB also has a great photo of the cast and us at on the stage.

Anyway, it was another fabulous day at the Con...
Sunday report will follow soon.

Comic Con 2008 - Day 1

2008-07-28T11:15:00.001-07:00

Friday at Comic Con was wonderful! Even though it was too crowded to get into many of the panels, we had a great time wandering around the exhibit hall, and saying hello to friends.
The jetpack was a big hit. Although a few people were confused and couldn't figure out what character I was supposed to be, the majority of people who approached me recognized it as an original steampunk design, and were very impressed! People liked the fans in particular. I think it was too dark at the ball to see the fans properly, and too bright at the Con to see some of the light functions.

Claire joined me in wearing a steampunk outfit, premiering her new corset that she made in her digital fabric printing class.

The highlight of the day had to be when I stopped by the Weta booth, where they had a number of their ray guns on display. Their newest model is a huge ray-blunderbuss! The people at the booth were very impressed with my outfit, and suggested I pose for some photos with the blunderbuss and its designer, Greg Broadmore!

After posing for the photos, I got the chance to meet Richard Taylor, the head of Weta Workshop, and a great hero of mine! He was incredibly friendly, and told me that the jetpack was "bloody marvelous!" I just about fell over right there.
I spent the evening having dinner and socializing with the League of S.T.E.A.M.... a wonderful end to a wonderful day!
Day 2 report is on its way.

Jetpack Project, Part 2 (The Finished Product)

2008-07-14T19:00:00.001-07:00

Well, it's finished! I'm really pleased with how this came out... I got a little lazy about taking WIP photos as I got further into the process and got more crazed in trying to finish it in time for the ball on Saturday, but I think there aren't too many changes in the structural development of the pack, mostly just surface details.

Anyway, enough blathering. Here it is!

It's all treated with a brass coating and Ferric Nitrate patina to give it an authentic aged look. Then, I dripped some acrylic down it and airbrushed India Ink to give it that nice filthy appearance.

Here's a back view to show how the leather straps are fitted. Apparently the 99 cent store is the place to go for inexpensive leather belts!

Detail of the thrusters (formerly vegetable steamers) at the bottom, complete with glowing LEDs.

The "intake fans" at the top were CPU fans, run off of a battery in the control box.

Detail of the control box. The switches and knobs are functional, with switches controlling each bottom thruster light, a switch for the top fan lights, and one extra in case I ever decide to add anything. The knobs are potentiometers that can activate and control the brightness of the control panel lights and the speed of the intake fans. The little rivets you see are all cast resin, and the weld lines are made of hot glue.

Here's a rare shot of me in my outfit, along with my friend Kelly, at the Masquerade Ball on Saturday (I had to take this on my cell phone, since my digital camera's batteries died).

It's difficult to see in the picture, but I also modified my welding goggles to match the jetpack, with brass edges and faux wood sides, along with tarnished wire mesh to replace the dark lenses (much easier to see things at night that way!).

And finally, a back view, to show how it looks while being worn.

I'm really happy with the way this came out... everything came together very nicely, all the electronics work, it's not too heavy, it looks like my original concept drawing, and even though it looks filthy, it really is the most finely crafted prop/costume piece that I've made yet. I didn't compromise on anything really, and in fact I think I outdid my original plans, especially in terms of the functionality of the lights and motors.

Now... time to start planning for next year's ball!

Jetpack Project, Part 1

2008-07-04T01:08:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, this is an in-progress post about my current project: a Neo-Victorian jetpack! This is something I'm making as part of the outfit I'm wearing to this year's Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball in Hollywood (in exactly one week).

Anyway, here's a piece of concept art to give you the general idea of what it's going to look like.

The back piece is a big huge sheet of 3/16" High-Impact Styrene. It took many hours of patterning, cutting, sanding, dremeling, and hand-molding with a heat gun in order to get the nice elegant Manta Ray shape. Definitely worth it though to have a nice solid foundation.

The engines are two 18" lengths of 4" ABS piping, bolted to the back piece.

The bottom thrusters on the engines are collapsible vegetable steamers! Since I was a young lad, I've always enjoyed playing with these and they've always made me think of some sort of science fiction device, so I'm finally using some in this project.

The control box is made of wood, and will provide the housing for all of the fully-functional switch- and knob-controlled battery-powered functions, including lights in the thrusters, spinning intake fans on top of the engines, lights above the fans, and indicator lights on the control box.

I'm very proud that I've self-taught myself some fundamental skills of electronics and circuitry, as this is going to be my first attempt at a costume/prop that includes lights and motor functions that I've made by myself. In the past I've adapted other devices (LED tap lights, etc.) to suit my needs, but now that I'm doing it myself, I can achieve results that are much more specific to my needs and are truly custom-made for the project itself!

Anywho, as you can tell I've still got a ton of work to do this week (wiring, assembling, painting, sewing of the leather harness, etc) but I'm really pleased with the results thus far, and I'm feeling very motivated and I anticipate that it's going to look great when finished!

Back for the Summer

2008-06-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this will be the first in a bunch of catch-up posts, and up-to-date summer posts. I'm really terrible at this, but I'm going to continue trying anyway.
In my search for a summer job, I put together these portfolio pages, to send out to various special effects makeup shops in the area. I figured this might be a good thing to post here as I transition back into more regular posting.

Working Stiffs

2008-03-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

This film is my final project for Intermediate Film from Fall semester here at RISD, but it's finally cleaned up and ready to share with the world. It's a short mockumentary about zombies in the film industry. Shot on Kodak Vision2 16mm color film. The end credits song Undead was written and performed by my wonderful friend Brynna Campbell.
Enjoy!

Characters Galore!

2008-03-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

This semester I'm taking an amazing course in Character Design, taught by the wonderful Shanth Enjeti. Here's a bit of work from the first few weeks.

Please be sure to view the full-sized images to see all the detail!

The first week, we were supposed to do any character design, simply to demonstrate our skill level. So was born Jet Quasar, Astro-Man:

The next week we were told to illustrate, in the form of a character, our best trait and our worst trait. For my best, I chose "smart":

For my bad trait I chose "elitist":

The next week was the same assignment, but for traits we saw in other people. For the bad trait I decided on "deceptive" and came up with this. I think it's a decent concept, but I'm really frustrated with how it turned out in terms of style. We were limited to using flat color, and I couldn't really figure out how to retro-style this one, so it came out looking like a weird blend of realism and stylization which I really dislike. Oh, well... here it is anyway:

This one I love. It illustrates the good trait of "hard-working" and I had a wonderful time trying to simulate cut-paper illustration:

All of these were done in Photoshop CS2.

Anyway, that's it so far. I'll post more as I create more characters.

Finally!

2008-03-02T22:29:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone...

I can't believe it's been this long, but I'm finally getting around to update. I've been extremely busy as of late, but the upside of that is that I've got lots of new work to show, so I'll most likely be updating the blog a bit more frequently. Anyway, on to the matter at hand... (no pun intended)

During my Winter semester, I did an independent study project in which I explored some special effects techniques. The first half of the semester was devoted to creating a realistic severed arm. To put it bluntly, this project turned out to be a real bitch. The main problem was really just the availability of materials here in Rhode Island that really caused some delays and other problems. In the end though, everything worked out and I wound up with a great looking finished product.

The arm is made of latex filled with polyurethane foam. The torn muscle on the end is plain old latex.

It was painted with acrylic paint, with a couple layers of clear nail polish on the fingernails. I used my brand new Iwata Eclipse airbrush and Sprint Jet compressor to paint the arm!

So, there you have it! I look forward to getting back on track with a more regular posting schedule. Sorry again for the long hiatus!

Movie Time!

2007-11-27T15:25:00.000-08:00

For Intermediate Video class this semester, we've been working on a series of "Call and Response" videos for RISD.tv, our online video site. The idea of the series is that we each upload a 30-second video, and then respond to one another's videos with another 30-second video and so forth. This one was my first submission, based on the classic metaphor "a man's home is his castle". Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T16:13:00.000-07:00

I'm about to head off trick-or-treating with a large group of friends, so this will be brief. This is my Halloween costume this year: a Victorian-era vampire! I've been focusing a lot on my films and on the fetus project, so this was a quick one but I'm really pleased with how it came out!
Please be sure to view the full image to see all of the wonderful vein detail in the makeup! More pictures soon.

Look What I Did to Kate...

2007-10-22T21:21:00.001-07:00

...she was a very cooperative model for my makeup test!

Also, I still have MANY FETUSES FOR SALE!!! E-mail me at fogel.andrew@gmail.com if interested!

Fetus for Sale!

2007-10-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been quite some time now, hasn't it? Sorry to everyone for the long gap in my posts. I really have no excuse, but now I once again hope to get on top of posting at least somewhat regularly. I think the problem is that I hate posting incomplete work, and it often takes me quite a while to complete anything. Anywho, on to the matter at hand: fetuses.

Another view of the fetuses:

Yes, that's right. I've spent the past few weeks making a large group of six-legged mutant mammal fetuses in jars. I had created these curiosities with hopes to sell them at the Alumni and Student Art Sale here at the Rhode Island School of Design, last weekend. As the case may be, I produced sixteen of the little buggers but sold only one. Thank you Rob Hummel.

A less interesting but clearer-looking photograph of one specimen:

So, now I find myself with a handful of mutated fetuses in jars. If you are interested in purchasing one of said fetuses, please do not hesitate to contact me. They will cost $30 USD each, although if I get a lot of responses, I might be able to lower the price.

I can be contacted at fogel.andrew@gmail.com for anybody interested in owning one of these incredible oddities, if you are interested in commissioning a different sort of creature, or if you have questions about anything at all. They are a wonderful desktop conversation piece, perfect for any home, and they make an excellent gift!

Fetus, sans jar to show detail:

Oh, Nose!

2007-08-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the horrible pun in the title... I couldn't think of anything else really.

Anyway, on to the business at hand - Kate's wonderful costume at the Labyrinth Masquerade, and the makeup job I did as part of it. As some of you might know, I've been interning at American Makeup and Effects this summer, so I've picked up a lot of skills in terms of creating special effects makeup. So, both as a favor to Kate and as a way to experience the process of designing and creating a makeup effect from start to finish, I did this for her:

For those of you who don't know how something like this is made, I'll explain the steps. First, we did a lifecast of Kate's nose, using alginate (kinda like the stuff they mold your teeth with when you go to the dentist). This gives us a negative mold of the nose.

Next I poured ultra-cal (a really fine cement-like compound) to make a stone positive of the nose.

On top of the positive, I sculpted a plasteline clay version of what I wanted the nose appliance to look like. Then, I made another ultra-cal mold from the sculpt before destroying the sculpt and removing all of the clay from the positive. This creates a negative space where the clay used to be, between the two parts.

I mixed a silicone compound called 3rd Degree and put it between the two parts of the mold, thus forming it into the appliance. I applied it with a silicone-based adhesive called Telesis and I airbrushed white Temptu Dura makeup onto Kate's body. The little bolts were made of a lightweight resin and the rust drips were with Mehron metallic and precious gem powders. Finally, there was a light misting of a Skin Illustrator platinum colored makeup to give the whole thing a kind of shiny look.

The finished outfit and makeup:

A Fantastic Masquerade

2007-07-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

My apologies to everybody who has been waiting to see the photos from the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball on July 14th... There's really been not a moment to rest, as after the event I immediately swung into high gear to finish up my attire for Comic-Con International in San Diego this weekend.

Another piece of news is that I now have a domain name, http://www.baronvonfogel.net/ ! I'm still working on constructing the website so for now the URL forwards directly to this very blog. If you're visiting for the first time, I haven't got a portfolio or anything set up, so feel free to look through the archives of this blog. I tend to post most things I feel are worth sharing with the world. Enjoy!

Anyway, here are some photos from the ball:

First, here I am displaying my new bionic arm! (Detailed post to come)

...and flanked by some very fine Steampunk Gentlemen:

With the lovely Katherine, whose makeup I did for the event. This photo was taken by the wonderful Neil Girling, an tall and lanky eccentric with a bowler hat, goggles, and camera. His work can be viewed at www.theblight.net if you're interested in seeing more from the ball.

I will post some detailed photos of Kate's costume and makeup after I return from Comic Con International in San Diego!

Z-DAY 2007 Video

2007-07-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

Here it is, ladies and gentleman... the Z-DAY 2007 video. Scroll down to see some more photos from the event. The video was edited by the wonderful Casey Hallen and shot by her, Bennett Springsteel, Sarah Tricker, and Peter "Awesome Peter" Lefferts. Hope you enjoy!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must return to my laboratory where I am completing construction on my bionic aether-powered arm attachment.

Sisyphus v2.0

2007-07-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I do apologize for the lack of posts during the past month, but it's because I have been so busy with projects that I didn't have time to post them. So, in the next couple of weeks there will be a barrage of all sorts of fun and exciting things. To start, here's the video of my robot animation, done for my stop motion animation final project this past semester. Enjoy!

Robots in space!

2007-06-01T18:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot of the puppets and set that I made for my final puppet animation project. It's a re-telling of the myth of Sisyphus, but on a moon. With robots.

View the full version of the picture to see the puppet detail... Both are made from wire, balsa, and epoxy putty. I'll get the video uploaded soon.

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

2007-05-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

I'm currently in the midst of a hellish week of finals, and it's been about 30 hours since I've slept at all, but I've got a moment to spare while I'm at work so I figured I'd post some recent work.

This is the video of the animation that I did for my Intro to Puppet Animation course with the Jabberwock puppet that I showed a few posts ago. The video was a collaboration with Jon Betz, who created and animated the spaceman character. Sorry about the poor video quality, but it's better than nothing. Enjoy!

How's that for a slice of fried gold?

2007-05-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

Here they are, folks! More Z-DAY 2007 photos for your viewing pleasure. I'll have some albums with hundreds of photos in them pretty soon, but I'm waiting for my photographers to get me high resolution copies. Anyway, you got to see the group photo in the last post, so here are some nice shots that highlight individual zombies.

Yours truly as a wedding zombie. I digitally enhanced the eyes.

My beautiful zombie girlfriend Kate Walsh.

The lovely Claire Hummel as a Prom Queen Zombie ("Prombie" if you will).

The amazing and alliterative Alex Austin as a homeless apocalypse prophet zombie.

Matt Cavallaro as Dr. Zombie, M.D.

Photos by Andrew Fogel, Kelly Berg, Michelle Yoon, and Hiromi Ueyoshi.

We're coming to get you, Barbara....

2007-04-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

Last night was the second annual Z-DAY at RISD here in Providence. You might ask, "what, exactly, is Z-DAY?" Well, I think that this photo should pretty much answer that question:

That's right! I organized a massive army of the undead! Last year's group was great, with around 35 zombies, but this year we had a whopping 140 in attendance! We had an amazing time terrorizing the neighborhood and wreaking havoc on the campus of our neighboring college, Brown University. Anyway, this is just a sneak preview. I'll post more photos and videos as I get them!

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves...

2007-04-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

So, it's been quite a while since I posted on here, but here it is, an update!

This semester I'm taking an amazing Puppet Animation class, and for one of our projects I built this puppet. It's a Jabberwock, based on the Lewis Carroll poem, complete with jaws that bite and claws that catch!

The puppet is built from a wire armature around a bass wood core with brass tubing. The exterior is made of foam, with a layer of nylon stretched over it and a few coats of latex and acrylic paint. The head is sculpey.

Hopefully I'll upload the video of the animation I did with him sometime soon. Until then, you can check out these photos of the puppet!

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

Creature Creations: Part 4 - Final Creature

2007-02-14T14:24:00.000-08:00

After many weeks of hard work, it is my pleasure to present to you...

...and...

Behold, these amazing denizens of the deep!

Watch as Dakkar struggles with the fiendish Herbert!

Notice the bizarre breathing apparatus on Dakkar's back!

Dakkar's first public appearance in Providence, RI.

Creature Creations: Part 3 - Preview Continued

2007-02-03T14:02:00.000-08:00

My creature is almost complete! All I have left to do is a bit of painting and detail work, and a brown jumpsuit to go underneath the armor elements. Though I'm still going to withhold showing a head-to-toe shot until I am entirely done, here is one of my early concept sketches. The finished creature looks somewhat like this:The colors will be slightly different, but this gives you a general idea of what he's going to look like.

These are the creature's hands. The finished version will probably have a bit more in terms of striped markings on the backs of the hands. The webbing between the fingers will also be a little bit darker.

The color on the "metal" parts will probably have some greenish copper rust elements or maybe some dark green spots of lichen.

Anyway, the costume should be done sometime this week, so I'll post full-body shots soon.

Creature Creations: Part 2 - Sneak Preview

2007-01-29T06:57:00.000-08:00

For the past few weeks I have been toiling away for hours and hours every day in the Big Nazo Lab here in Providence, as part of the Creature Creation Workshop course I am enrolled in. Here is a sneak preview of the what I have been making. To give just a hint of context, the creature puppet costume I'm making is a sort of steampunk fish-man who wears a metal suit to allow him to travel above the surface so he can explore dry land. Check it out:

Partially completed leg pieces, made out of 1/2 inch blue ester foam.

A leg piece a little while later: foam bolts attached, some areas covered with a layer of nylon, and the whole thing sprayed with a thin coat of spray glue, to seal it.

Last but not least, a shot of the creature's back at the same stage in the process (foam construction, nylon, and glue). The two holes you see are sockets for short lengths of tubing that will connect from the back to the chest, as a sort of breathing apparatus.

That's all I'm giving away at the moment, but keep checking for more updates. After a coat of latex and then a nice paint job, the creature should be complete shortly.

Creature Creations: Part 1

2007-01-18T17:59:00.000-08:00

This semester I'm taking a course called "Creature Creation Workshop" in which we construct full-body foam rubber creature puppets. It's most definitely the coolest class ever. Our first assignment was to create a "blob" creature, so that we could get used to working with the foam. Mine came out to be a cyclops-like blob.

Here is what it looked like after the initial foam construction:

This is the blob after it was painted with a mixture of liquid latex and acrylic paint:

Holiday Greetings

2006-12-25T21:43:00.000-08:00

This is a little thing I put together to send to my friends on MySpace as a holiday greeting of sorts. I figured I'd post it here for all of those who did not recieve one. So, happy holidays to you!

The Pursuit of History

2006-12-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

This semester I worked on a Theatre Department production at Brown University. Apparently my reputation as Providence's "Zombie Guy" got around to the director, who approached me to design make-up for a cast of ten singing and dancing zombies. The show was called The Pursuit of History and was about Egyptologists in the '20s who discover a tomb, only to find it full of zombies. Sorry about the poor quality of the photos. They were taken by a cast member backstage, but hopefully the high resolution production photos will show up soon.

Due to the structure of the show, ten actors had to have zombie makeup in approximately ten minutes, so I had five wonderful assistants to aid in the process of applying the makeup.

The makeup is all Cinema Secrets cream-based makeup: "Dead Guy Grey" base layer / "Forensic Blue-Grey" shadow layer / "Black" eye pattern and lips / "Wolf Brown" stippled to simulate dirt.

The director wanted the zombies to look distinctly Egyptian, and to appear as though they had been entombed for three thousand years, hence my decisions to feature Egyptian eye makeup patterns and the stippled dirt effect.

The cast was very cooperative in the process of putting on the makeup, and it was a pleasure to work with everyone involved in the production.

"The night sky was blacker than India ink..."

2006-12-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't updated in a while, mostly because I've been rather busy with finals and such, but I thought I'd do an update just for the hell of it. This is an older piece, from the Spring. It was my final project for the second semester of 2D Design here at RISD. It was a pretty open-ended assignment, as long as it included a metal folding chair, so I decided to do a single page comic, in a noir style. It's drawn/painted in India Ink on illustration board. Sorry for the poor image quality, but I haven't had time to to a scan or a nicely lit photo yet. Here it is:

Happy Halloween, and Namaste.

2006-10-29T13:38:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went with Kate to her parents' house in Framingham, Massachusetts to carve pumpkins. Of course, I brought along my set of carving tools, and this is what I came out with:

As you may already know, if you watch Lost, this is the logo for "The Swan" station on the Island. For those of you less familiar with the Dharma Initiative and the Hanso Foundation, here's what the logo looks like in the show:

So, on behalf of the DeGroots, Alvar Hanso and all of us at the Dharma Initiative, thank you. Namaste. And, Happy Halloween.

Are you watching closely?

2006-10-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

So, we all went to go see The Prestige on Friday night, and it was amazing. And we wore costumes. Here are some daguerreotypes... er... photos.

Andrew and Kate:

Nick and Fabi:

Claire and Lia:

=Science and Honor=

2006-08-30T01:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, so as many of you might already know, the greatest Sci-Fi Rocket Roll band in the universe is
=The Phenomenauts= If you're unfamiliar with them, check out www.phenomenauts.com or www.myspace.com/thephenomenauts.

Over the past few months, I have been working closely with them, and with my father (who is a writer/producer for TV Animation) to develop a show based on the band. I've been working on various character designs to be used in pitches and to promote the idea so that hopefully a studio will decide to buy it.

So, here's the main line-up of the characters:

From left to right, they are:
Orbit (the world's most handsomest space dog!)
Major Jimmy Boom (drums)
Corporal Joebot 2.0 (guitar / vocals)
Commander Angel Nova (guitar / vocals)
Professor Greg Arius (keyboards, etc.)
Captain Chreehos (bass)

You can view a larger version of the main line-up here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v135/floopy42/All-the-Uniforms-Color.jpg

Also joining the cast is Space Girl, the leader of a rival =Vector Squad= unit.

A vicious tyrant and all-around bad guy, Neptune Ted is the main villain.

As far as I can tell, this is what Neptune Ted's bickering little footsoldiers will look like. The design was lovingly ripped off from an amazing book cover from a 1944 edition of Planet Stories, which was a classic pulp sci-fi magazine. To my knowledge the image has become public domain now so I don't think anybody will have a problem with me using it.

I've drawn all these designs traditionally by hand, and then I've cleaned up the drawings and colored them using Flash. Hopefully the show will be picked up!

Finally... Comic Con Report: Day 3!

2006-08-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit that I should have posted this long long ago... but oh well, such is life. Anyway, that being said, day 3 was awesome. No costume, so I was free to walk around the exhibit hall, pick up a ton of free swag, and make some purchases. No panels really interested me that day so basically I just wandered around and it was wonderful. Here are some highlights:

At the Gentle Giant booth I got to see the one and only Ray Harryhausen hanging out with a giant sculpture of his Medusa... it was pretty damn cool.

I got to meet one of my biggest comic book idols, Mike Mignola (for those of you who don't know, he's the creator of Hellboy, one of my favorite comics). I guess he had just gotten there because I was like, third in line for an autograph. I purchased a nice little postcard-size limited edition print at the booth, and then I had him do a little drawing of Lobster Johnson (my favorite character of the series) on the back of the print! He seemed rather happy to do the drawing because he'd been drawing Hellboy for every one of the people who had been in line in front of me.

Kate will most likely read this so I can't say the gift I got her from the Con, but I did get something very cool for myself! Made by Haunted Portraits, it's a nice little antique photograph of "Uncle Percy" who is a handsome gentleman who, when you walk past the photo, becomes corpse-ified! How cool is that? Photos don't do it justice but the lenticular effect when you walk back and forth is absolutely amazing.

Of course nothing can capture the total sensory overload that happens at Comic Con but I think I covered most of the landmark events of the weekend. Now, to start working on next year's costume....!

Comic Con Report: Day 2

2006-07-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning, ready to face another exciting day at Comic Con. I suited up in my costume and after a quick breakfast we walked down to the convention center.

This is what I wore on Saturday. It's the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgement Day. I'll do a more detailed posting on the creation and the specific elements of the costume, but this pretty much shows what it looks like. Of all the costumes I've ever worn, I think this one got the biggest reaction, and I think that's saying a lot. We didn't even get a block from the hotel when a guy stopped me and asked to take a video of the costume. People were shouting out things like, "awesome!" "sweet!" "radical!" Okay, maybe not that last one, but as I passed I could hear everyone exclaiming, or even just pointing out to their friends that a terminator just walked by.

The day started with the LOST panel, which was a lot of fun. Of course they didn't reveal anything about what was going to happen, but it seemed like the panelists were having a good time so it was really entertaining. Afterwards I made a futile attempt to wander around the exhibit hall but I kept getting stopped to have photos taken of me. God knows who has photos of me. They're probably floating around the internet somewhere. I felt like a character at Disneyland or something, the way people were lining up to pose with me. It was awesome. Dad and I made our annual trip to Dick's Last Resort, a great barbeque restaurant where the staff are intentionally rude and insulting to you.

After lunch, we went to the SHAG panel. If you aren't familiar with him, he's an amazing painter who does these sort of retro tiki lounge paintings. They're really cool, and you should check him out at www.shag.com . I had to leave the presentation to go to the Disney panel, at which they presented stuff from Pirates of the Caribbean. They explained in great detail the effects used to make Davy Jones, and they even previewed some clips of the third film! It was quite awesome. Immediately after followed Sony's presentation of Ghost Rider and Spider-Man 3. The crowd went wild when the first actual footage of Venom was played on the screen.

I met up with my dad and the =Phenomenauts= outside the Adult Swim panel, which they had gone to, and the drummer Jimmy Boom came with me and dad to a couple of fancy cocktail parties for animation industry professionals. After getting weird looks from drunk people coming out of the clubs (I was still in my costume) we collapsed back at the hotel.

Comic Con Report: Part 1

2006-07-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

So, Friday marked the beginning of my 2006 Comic Con trip, and it was awesome. Claire rode down to San Diego with me and my dad, and we spent the day together. After parking the car and eating breakfast, we kicked off the con by going to the panel for Hellboy Animated, which looks absolutely amazing. I can't wait for it to come out. After that, we wandered around the floor and met up with my good friend Byron. We went to the beginning of the 20th Century Fox panel, but we had to cut out early to head over to Battlestar Galactica! What a great panel. Every one of the cast members and creators was so entertaining, especially considering what a bleak show Galactica is. After that we just grabbed lunch and wandered around some more for the rest of our day at the convention center. I guess before I move on to Friday's other events, I'll show some photos from the day!

Here is what I wore on Friday. It's the "Baron von Fogel" out fit again, but I'd like to point out a couple of changes since I last wore it! I made a tie pin out of a gear! And the buttons now look like little clocks! Yay!

People kept coming up to me and asking me what I was from. They seemed a little confused when I told them it was an original costume design, but I guess it's nice to know that people liked it enough to ask.

This is, without a doubt, one of the sexiest statues I have ever seen. I guess I'll have to dress Kate up as Leia sometime...

Weta Collectibles is making ray guns! This is one of three that they had on display. Claire and I were salivating just standing there looking at the pretty ray guns. Maybe some day I'll be able to afford one.

Later in the evening, we attended a =Phenomenauts= concert at the House of Blues! If you don't know who they are, go to www.phenomenauts.com and please check them out. You will be amazed. Anyway, it was a great show. The crowd was a bit intense and we got pushed around even more than usual, but it was a lot of fun. I don't think I've been covered in so much sweat in my life... and I'm not sure it was even my own. The Aquabats! were great too, of course.

=The Phenomenauts= also attended the Con, at which they decided to give out convention-exclusive pins! It was much to my surprise, then, that the pins featured the character designs that I had drawn for the cartoon show pitch! Each one of the guys had pins that featured the cartoon version of himself, and you had to find each guy in order to get that particular pin! It was just freaky though to be at the show and see everyone walking around with my art pinned to their clothes.

I suppose that's about all I've got to share from the first day. Stay tuned for more Con reports in the coming days...

First Post - An Enchanted Evening

2006-07-19T23:09:00.000-07:00

Well, even though this is my first post and I've got a lot of time to make up and things to discuss, I'll start with my most recent experience: The Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball! Wow, what an event. Not only did I get a chance to show off my own costume, but I got to see so many amazing costumes that other people had made. Unlike a run-of-the-mill Halloween or costume party, everyone clearly put a ton of time and effort into their costumes.

I attended in my trademark "Baron von Fogel" outfit. As the following photos show, the costume consists of a vintage collapsible top hat, welding goggles, shoulder armor (four aluminum plates that I cut, filed, curved, buffed, and riveted to a leather strip and a belt), and a vintage tailcoat (courtesy of Kate). Oh, and my Russian pocket watch made a fine accessory. But enough of this banter. Here are the photos:

While at the ball, I met up with a group of my friends from high school. Here's Minni's awesome costume:

I also met up with some people from the LA-based fan group Tolkien Forever. They seem to pop up at all the geek events. Additionally, I ran into Kato, an acquaintance from MySpace (She's one of Dr. Steel's nurses! If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to www.doctorsteel.com and check it out). Plus, I made some new friends there! I spent a good deal of time wandering around with a nice girl named Meghan who was wearing an awesome Arwen dress.

I chatted for quite some time with David and Paloma Candelaria, who are two of the most brilliant costumers I've ever seen. They were so incredibly nice, and they were very encouraging to me as a budding costumer. If you don't know who they are, please check out their site at www.palomadavid.com and prepare to be amazed.

I suppose that's all for now. More pics from the ball will come as they show up!