Metacrypt: Shub Zeroth

I broke down and bought myself a Shub Zeroth figure for my Christmas present this year. Painting vinyl figures is new for me, and I never imagined I'd put so much money down on a plastic toy, but ever since getting a hold of October Toys' Deadbeet a few months back I am so hooked!  I've been finding myself searching online art and toy shops for blank vinyl figures I can add to my collection. It's torture discovering these amazing artists along with their wild creations that I just can hardly afford.

This Shub Zeroth figure was designed by Justin "Hateball" Jewett and Brian Ewing and sculpted by Siccaluna Koubo...and painted by yours truly.

And here are some shots of Shub next to Scott Tolleson's Deadbeet, sculpted by George Gaspar and painted by me:

As always, thank you for looking.

Random Projects

Here are some illustrations I've done recently. This one below was meant to be a poster or postcard available along with the OMFG Series 3 figures, which by the way are for sale here: octobertoys.com. I'm not sure if postcards will ever get made, so I'm showing off my design here.

Next we have an illustration I just finished for a friend on the October Toys forum. This is Beast Blossom, one of Angela Pileggi's cute little creations. She has been designing and sculpting mini figures called Amusing Mini Paranormals (AMP). Check out her shop here: www.etsy.com/shop/Meadowknight or visit her on the October Toys forum: http://www.octobertoys.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=12138

Here is a photo of one of her little guys I painted with a Beast Blossom figure in the background. Stay tuned for a possible Kickstarter involving her AMP figures, and be sure to check out her art thread over at the October Toys forum to see her other minis.

And as always, thank you so much for looking.

Sick Box finished

Here are the two finished Sick Boxes I'll have in my store for sale this week joewhiteford.storenvy.com. An unpainted version went to Canadian artist Angella Powell for a custom Christmas edition, so check out her work and stay tuned http://angellapowell.com/ 

These two boogers are my final casts for this year, and I'm not sure if I'll ever get back to recasting any of my 2013 creature series which were the Shitfer Brain & Buddy Dung sets, Mumpkins, and now these fellas.  I've got some new ideas brewing and some other projects in the works, and between the new material Harley Poe is working on, commissions, and other garbage, I probably won't have time to revisit these guys for awhile. Sick Box will be for sale later this week, so stay tune!

facebook.com/josephwhiteford

Sick Box and Custom Painted TMNT Groundchuck

I've begun work on my 3rd and final resin creature for the year 2013. I'm calling him Sick Box and will have three uniquely painted pieces available in my store very soon. I'll also have three Buddy Dungs available in strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla. Yum! Vanilla flavored shit sounds delicious! 

I used up the rest of my resin for this year. After these Sick Boxes sell, I won't be making any of these fellas available for awhile. I've got some new ideas brewing.

Also, over the weekend I custom painted Groundchuck from Playmates original TMNT toy series. I never had this character as a kid, but my brother did and I've always thought he was a neat figure. I believe he is a David Arshawsky sculpt. He must be, because the details in this figure are incredible, and that's what makes Arshawsky's work so freakin' awesome. If this figure wasn't originally sculpted by Arshawsky, somebody please let me know. It's hard to find the artists responsible for these bizarre and amazing characters.

As always, thanks so much for looking!

Koopa Slash!!

Here is my custom painted TMNT Slash figure. I've given him hair and a color scheme based off Bowser's look from Super Mario Bros. Hope you dig him. He will be in my store soon with all his weapons, unpainted.

Bug-Eye Ghost

The only Ghostbusters toys I owned when I was a kid were the GhostZapper and the Slimer that came with food accessories. I cherished those toys until they disappeared. I had always wanted the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, but it just wasn't meant to be--well, at least not until this last summer when I got my stubs on two Stay Pufts, one Slimer, a GhostZapper, a Ghost Popper, and two Bug-Eye Ghosts, all via eBay and/or the local Kokomo Toys & Collectibles shop. I had borrowed the Ghostbusters DVD box set from my mom so my oldest son could experience the 1980's classic. Well, both of my boys fell in love with the movie, and now my three year old requests to listen to the Ghostbusters theme song nearly every morning since I introduced it to him. So I'm doing my part to keep awesomeness alive.

Anyway, though I never owned the Bug-Eye Ghost when I was a kid, nor do I remember knowing that he existed back then, I went ahead and bought myself one as well for no other reason than to give him some new skin. My boys weren't about to let me paint theirs, but I just couldn't get over the amount of detail on this figure. I had to paint him, and yesterday I finally had a moment to sit down and do just that. Check him out.

Also, if anybody has any information on the artist responsible for sculpting this figure, please please share with me. Thanks!

More Mumpkins!

Here's the second batch of Mumpkins available at my store tomorrow evening.

http://joewhiteford.storenvy.com

This first batch sold out quickly, so don't delay.

Mumpkins are here!

Hey all, three Mumpkins are available in my store. Each is uniquely painted and cast from a mold made from my original sculpture. He stands 5" tall and comes with a magnet featuring an original Mumpkin illustration. These guys make perfect decorations for Halloween. Available at http://joewhiteford.storenvy.com I tentatively plan to paint three more and make them available in about a week if time permits. Thanks so much for looking, guys!

Mumpkin #1

Mumpkin #2

Mumpkin #3

Original artwork

Harley Poe Halloween 2013 (and other good news)

Hey all, Harley Poe Halloween is on its way and you can hear us play our new album from start to finish along with all our classics. So be sure to make your way to at least one of the several Halloween shows we'll be doing this month. We'll have our new record Pagan Holiday for sale on CD and vinyl, and on the 26th an exclusive purple record will be available at the Ohio show. We'll also have new glow-in-the-dark t-shirts available only at these Halloween shows.

Poster Design by Nathan Hanneman

Here are the dates:

Oct. 11th at The Brass Rail in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Oct. 12th at The Well in Knoxville, Tennessee

Oct. 19th at Foam City in Lafayette, Indiana

Oct. 25th at 3rd Street Dive in Louisville, Kentucky

Oct. 26 at The Northside Tavern in Cincinnati, Ohio

Nov. 1st at Generic in South Bend, Indiana

Nov. 2nd at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana

We'll also be playing in Saline, Michigan on November 16th if you can't make a Halloween show.

There is info for most of these shows on our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Harley-Poe/125643458059 So Google this shit, do some research, get off your asses and come celebrate with us this Halloween.

Also, I just did a podcast interview with the Church of the Holy Weirdo's Richie Yates. Check it out here: http://weirdochurch.com/podcasts-2/conversations-weird-episode-3-joe-whiteford-harley-poe-interview-podcast/ I usually hate interviews because I malfunction often and it's a scary thought knowing that my ramblings will be forever floating around on the internet, but this good fellow held my hand the whole way through and shopped for panties for me afterwards. Go check out the website http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.weirdochurch.com%2F&h=VAQEeac2Z and then watch his charming short films here: http://www.youtube.com/user/weirdochurch?feature=watch Here was my introduction to his work. Enjoy!

And now some more news! Watch this video:

Want one of those guys? Want one painted by me? If so, go support the Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/244627251/kaiju-kaos-super-robot-stratomaxx

Okay, one last thing. My buddy Kevan Chandler wrote a book. It's a zombie book with old people. He had me write the introduction to it, so of course I had to read it first. It was a quick read. Exciting, funny, and it actually had a very touching message. Support this guy; he deserves it. http://www.tinyurl.com/hargood Then go become his good pal on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vanpchandler

Oh wait! I have more! Remember my last post just the other day regarding fucking up my Mumpkin character? No? Well scroll down, asshole! It's a sad story, but due to a little encouragement from my wife and some cronies on the October Toys forum I decided to give my little guy one last chance. Here's a teaser. Stay tuned.

These limited edition resin Mumpkins will be custom painted and available at my store throughout this month. This busy busy month.

Mumpkin

This is Mumpkin. I sculpted him a week ago and realized I had not enough silicone mix to make a mold. So I dished out another $80 and ordered another bucket of the shit. This guy was supposed to be my new project available this Halloween with some 2D artwork, but now I plan to put him on the shelf. Maybe I'll attempt to mold him next year.

But before I do that I'll have to fix him. I'll need to get out the polymer clay and touch up some spots as well as glue his head back on. As I write this post I am fuming. I am disappointed and so angry, but I have no one to blame but myself.

First of all, this figure required a two part mold and I tried to make it a one part. Secondly, I didn't mix enough silicone and was in a hurry so I eyeballed more mixture, that as you can see, did not cure over night. So I had an uncured mold with a figure trapped inside. Stupid...just stupid.

Expensive silicone wasted. Time wasted. I feel like I neglected my boys so I could get this guy finished in time to sell at the beginning of October and now I have nothing to show for it. I'm a bit too dispirited to try again so I'm just going to take a break and reflect. 

So upsetting.