SPOOKY CREATURE SUITS

From time to time I poke around the wild world of the internet to look up among many things creature suits aka rubber monster suits and this is what I found:

IVY MAN


CREATURE CORPSE SKIN


The suits are from a company called Spookyworld FX, and they are groovy! Not only do they make these suits, but they are also utilized in their own haunted house attraction. If you got the money to burn for you next flick or haunted house attraction then this place is for you. Check 'em out.

UPDATE: 3-26-08

Things are slowly looking up for me. I'm not so depressed about how events are unfolding. I've been reading Stephen King's book on writing and getting a bit motivated from that.

I've started work on the next podcast episode which should be out in a week or two. Doing a podcast seems to be more of a arduous task for me, as of late. There is long hours put into it that amounts to nothing more than thirty minutes or less of pure drivel. In a ideal world I would do several episodes back to back and then just upload them a few weeks apart at a time, but I never can get it together long enough to do just that.

As for the Robot Suit and the Sea Monster Suit; everything in that department is looking up. My brother was the first to try it out and when the head is placed on the body it all comes to life. It's weird to see it in action. The robot's head is far too small for the body, which I dig, it gives it a cartoonish look to it which is what I am looking for anyway. So it all snaps together nicely.

Drawing has taken a backseat for now. My main concern is just writing and props. Speaking of props I might try my hand at creating a BEN-10-esque Omnitrix bracelet and a DICK TRACY inspired communicator watch. My daughter gets a kick out of BEN-10, so I am sure she will dig the Omnitrix Bracelet prop. It won't be a duplicate per se, but definitely inspired by it for sure. Stay weird!

WHAT'S NEW?

Things around here are still a bit stagnant. A flash flood came and went so there was little to do in terms of outside work. The wife mentioned that someone we sorta know is getting paid $5,000 for a website design gig, and even though it shouldn't, it bugged me. I'm not a envious person by nature but it just made me feel like I'm not doing much with my life these days. It makes me feel like I am a loser. A terrible feeling for anyone to have.

I am now in one of those kind of moods in which I question the actions I have made to get to the point I am at today. But dammit, it's hard to be a good dad, husband, and moviemaker. There is just never enough time or money for anything. I look back on my youth and think of how stupid I have been. All of those wasted moments-gone.

Fear and self-doubt is the two reasons why I know I haven't made it far. I know that for a fact. Lack of time and money may not exactly help the situation, yet it is constant self doubt that kills my projects each and everytime. The one thing I want to do is to somehow break away from that and just do something worthwhile. I'm not expecting a Sundance winning flick to somehow spring out of my head, but something that I can look back and say I did that.

THE NEOPULP MANIFESTO

Fellow artists, writers, moviemakers, what have you, this is for all of us. Now let's make something groovy. (via Pulp 2.0)

PATTON OSWALT ON DEATH BED (NSFW)

(WARNING: NSFW FOR LANGUAGE)

I've posted this on the other blog, but wanted to mention it here as well. The thing that stands out about this flick and Oswalt's take on it is the simple truth; despite the way the film turned out-the damn thing was made.

All self-doubts, writer blocks, moments of questioning whether it was a good idea or not were all pushed aside to finish this flick. I can't even make it past ten pages before I begin to think a script sucks. Say what you will about DEATH BED, but that flick got made.

HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY!

Here is a clip of Leprechaun keeping it real from LEPRECHAUN 5: LEPRECHAUN IN THE HOOD.

RAPTOR ARTS STUDIOS

Vincent Chiantelli from Raptor Arts Studios is the man. It's no secret that one of my passions is rubber monster suits and so you can imagine my enjoyment when I discovered this guy's website and the work he has done.

The amazing thing that can be learned from his work is to sculpt the foam rubber before adding it to suit to give the final product more of a definition of muscle. I don't know why, but that idea never struck me till I saw his website.

Another cool thing about his work is that he has used the duct tape body form to make his suits. I've tried it before and failed at it, but seeing pics of how he did it makes me want to try again.

Anyway, check out his site to check out cool pics of his suits and tutorials.

OWN A PIECE OF B-MOVIE COOLNESS

A friend of Mark Polonia is auctioning off two copies of the Polonia Brothers DVD FOREST PRIMEVAL for a worthy cause. Each DVD is signed and sanctioned by Mark Polonia and his brother John Polonia who had recently passed away which make the discs a rare thing to own. The auction is here if anyone is interested.

SO WHAT'S HAPPENING?

I've been busy lately for two reasons. The first being that days around here are a bit warm, meaning that I can now do some real work outdoors. This includes the MR A.M. Arillo and his body and...monster suit. A sea monster suit, at that!

I've started on the skeletal structure of the suit and can tell you at the moment that it differs greatly from most diy suits that I've seen. At the moment I have a loose idea as to how all of this will end up. When doing this kind of stuff I end up being like a caveman. I just grab a bunch of stuff together and slap it together, and always hope for the best. It might take awhile, because I am still on a tight budget, but I hope to make it all work. Stay weird!

SKETCHBOOK #3: TEENAGE ZOMBIE

Here is another rough sketch of mine. It's also my first attempt at digital coloring. Not quite what I wanted, but it looks alright, I guess.

LINKS TO SHARE: 3-8-08

Check out these damn cool Luchadore pics over at Deadilicious.

I am not exactly what you would call a people person, yet the lives that people lead fascinate me. the weirder the better and this documentary is just proves how strange some can be. However I must say that I don't see the problem with owning that many books. Yet the scary thing is my garage is beginning to look like a hoarders paradise. Maybe it's time to lay off the recycling for props a bit.


POSSESSED from Martin Hampton on Vimeo.

WHEN DID CRAYONS BEGIN TO SCARE US?

I posted this over at my other blog Lost in Schlock but wanted to post it here as well:

Over at Pulp 2.0 HQ Bill Cunningham mentioned a link to a this mini mag/zine on how to be creative (see below) and what caught my attention was this question: "They're only crayons. You didn't fear them in kindergarten. Why fear them now?"

Never have I seen such a complex notion simplified in such a way. When did we become afraid of crayons? What was the moment in our lives when we decided that our drawings or anything else for that matter had to have some sort of validation? What was the event in our lives that made us withdraw from the freedoms that we had as children when we thought anything was possible to now as adults when we have to second guess everything we do?

I could remember being very young and thinking that everything was possible. There was nothing to fear in terms of what people would think of my art. Now when I write, draw, or do anything there are nagging thoughts that creep in my mind telling me that either it sucks or I need more money. In the end all that seems possible at first becomes impossible.

To me this is a bit of a awakening. It's time to retrain my brain and start at square one. Think like a child and reclaim my crayons.

Here is that mag in case anyone is interested:

TWISTERS AND SNOW

To say that the weather around these parts is acting strangely would be a gross understatement. In less than 24 hours we have seen two twisters, thunderstorms, strong winds, and a impending snowfall.

I woke up yesterday to a relatively warm day, went to the local wal-mart to pick up a few things for a day at the park, and when I left the store it was as if someone had flipped a switch to freeze. It was a windy and very cold day at the park. Not exactly something I would recommend.

The wife and I joked about Strawberry Spring/Indian Summer and sure enough the last several days or so was nothing but that-a illusion. A taste of what could be. However, I did manage to do some latex work outside and the robot puppet's body is coming out a bit more smashing than originally imagined. So I guess it was a bit of a even trade there. Stay weird!