Monday, March 7, 2011

The Monkees?! 1977 Albert Bigley Art! Davy Jones!?

Another 70s attempt (by me, age 12) to depict The Monkees in pencil form! Culled from a then-recent teen magazine article on the group (their popularity re-ignited due to after-school reruns of the show), here is the group in all their psychedelic glory! Dig that KISS-like logo I also provided! One of my early stabs at celebrity caricature (always difficult)...At least the composition is interesting! Sheesh! Click to enlarge!


Thursday, March 3, 2011

Star Trek MR. SPOCK 1973 Model Kit Re-Issue! AMT! Aurora! Nimoy!

Yes! Here are pics of my newly-assembled STAR TREK "Mr. Spock" figural model kit! Actually a re-issue of the famous 70s kit from both AMT and Aurora, this iconic kit was re-issued last year, using all the old molding and tooling from the original! A great kit, and one I've never made before (and I've made ALL the Aurora "Monster" kits, the "Superhero" line, and even some APES, SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN kits)! Click all images to enlarge!



As you can see, I chose to greatly customize the base, adding tons of grit and rubble during the priming phase, as well as gradations on the rocky areas, all in an effort to make it seem as "alien" as possible... I also decided to paint the serpent a black/deep red/orange color, emerging from a deep rock pit (pebbles added from model railroad accessories helped) ...





I paid attention to high-gloss areas (Spock's hair, weapons, and boots as well as the serpent), and matte surfaces (base, Spock's pants and shirt, etc...). I hand-drew facial details, as well as Spock's shirt insignia and sleeve piping...

The kit was a lot of fun, but, based on the box art, I painted and detailed the kit to be displayed from Spock's right side, tho you can't see much of his body unless displayed from the opposite side! If I had considered this from the start, I would have turned the figure more to the right before affixing it to the base, or the serpent to the left, depending on how I wanted it displayed...Something you learn only after assembling the kit many times, and seeing how this was my first time with it...