Ok… here we are… a little less than a week from “GO” time. I’ve been biding my time waiting for the competition to start… trying to balance letting people know with not having anything new for folks to see yet 
For those interested, I thought I’d post my process for the sculpt.
First step was the armature:
Like I mentioned here, I haven’t done any sculpt since High school making mugs. But looking at how people have done it, and watching the extras on “Wallace and Gromit” and “Chicken Run”. I knew that the armature was important. I first sketched out the pose I wanted to do, and used that as a guide when building the character. (as a side and completely “some-what” related note. The sunglasses in this picture were eventually lost at the circus…. )
Time to add some clay:
Features start coming together:
For the details, I used a calligraphy pen tip I had. I preferred it to the actual clay tools.
Here’s it finished, ready to head into the oven. Thought this gave a good idea on how big it is. At this stage it was still pretty pliable, so I did do some pose adjustments before baking it. To guarantee that it would’nt flop over while cooking, I rigged up a stand for it using a toothpick and a little bit of clay at the base of said toothpick. There’s a tiny hole right under the bandana where it propped up the figure.
A few weeks ago I picked up some Super Sculpey to mess around with. This was the result:
Basically, I thought it would make a great “Thank You” gift to those that have supported me and Araknid Kid, the only thing is, there’s only one and many of you. So I’m gonna give it randomly. The longer explanation is found here, so I’ll be brief. Sign-up using the form below to win one of many “thank yous” I plan on giving away in July (with the Grand Prize being the sculpt). It’ll register you for the newsletter that will give you advanced viewing of extra materials before they’re posted publicly, but MOSTLY it’ll add your name to the master list that I will be randomly drawing from.
Well, they’ve just announced the contestants for the July Invitational! This is gonna be crazy! Just a quick post for now, wanted to thank everyone that nominated Araknid Kid to return, I’m looking forward to everyone checking out the new pages. I’ve got some, what I think anyway, fun things that I hope/plan on doing throughout the month. Let the games begin!
The Zuda competition has concluded, the votes have been tallied and the winner named! Thanks everyone for your suport!
While Araknid Kid finished 6th, it was a pleasure to be a part of the competition and I look forward to maybe being a contender again ;). All rights to my submission and property have returned to me, so now it’s on to the next stage! The first Araknid Kid story! I’m outline the first adventure where our hero goes up against the brain & brawn duo of KRACKER & FLEA!
Here’s a few glimpses of what’s in store (you’ll notice this image contains another villain… IPPY CAC! The poison spreading, robot piloted by a rat!…. I had posted it earlier)
Took a few moments to add some color to Franco’s pinup, still could use some tweaking, but here it be!
Ok folks! Slipped to 6th place and only 2 days left (ends on Friday). If you’ve voted, Thank you. If you haven’t (VOTE FOR THE KID ;) ), register and vote. Get your wife, your kids (13 and older? I dunno if there’s an age limit, as long as they have an email address), your great grandparents (show them how to use that computer), your friends, your friends family… and VOTE!
Thank you.
The Knave of Krypton has interviewed Araknid Kid (along with the other competitors in this month’s competition) check it out here!
http://www.knaveofkrypton.com/intaraknidkid.html
Another fun piece of fanart from Jody! Thanks for your support!
There seem to be a trend with the pinup/toons I’ve posted, it seems my character shares my love for ice cream! After talking about it with my good friend Chad, he mentioned I should get my own Ben & Jerry’s flavor (my favorite brand of ice cream…. FAVORITE! “Wavy Gravy” is my ultimate fav flavor…. but alas it’s been in their “Flavor Graveyard”, I’ve emailed them requesting they bring it back and call it “Wavy Back From The Gravy” ;) ). Thus “ARAKNATOPIA” was born, Chad named it and I flavored it (Peanut Butter Ice Cream, Chocolate Fudge Swirl and Crisped Rice Spider Shaped Chocolates). So I did what any designer would do, and grabbed a couple minutes to photoshop this (emphasis on a couple minutes…. it could be tweaked ALOT more to look better… just wanted to add that disclaimer):
Ever since I was a kid it’s a dream of mine to have my own Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor…. maybe it’ll happen someday. It’s been in the same list that consists of “Being a guest star on the Muppet Show” and a contestant on “American Gladiator”. With NBC’s rebirth of the latter…. I may have my chance yet 
This weekend also brought an Araknid Kid pinup from FRANCO!
Franco is one of the founder’s of Blindwolf Studios and half of the creative team behind DC’s New TINY TITANS
If you haven’t already, head down to your local comic shop and order yours today!
Thanks Franco!
(when I have a few moments I’m hoping to add some color to this as well… stay tuned)
