Final Touch Ups
After doing video and photo shoots some toys needed some touch ups. We bought a sealer that will protect the paint from scratching off. Teddy and I work on it together for 5 hours.. finally the toys are officially done!
darkmatters fb Fan Page! (part 2)
Visit the facebook fan page here!
We're at 125 fans now! Thanks to everyone who became a fan, it means a lot to us!
We're at 125 fans now! Thanks to everyone who became a fan, it means a lot to us!
dakrmatters fb Fan Page!
Woot Woot! We are at 100 fans on our facebook after 2 days. We would like to thank all our friends and family for all the support and hope to see more new people come on board to our facebook fan page :)
Photo Shoot Part 2
Yesterday was another exciting day for darkmatters, we were fortunate to have such an awesome photographer to help us with the photo shoot for our toy. I met Michael Ching when I use to work in Blacks Photography. From the very beginning we instantly got a long at work and even become good friends. When I asked him if he was willing to do this favor for me he said yes without a doubt.
It was a pleasure to work with him, everything was very professional.It was the first time I've experienced a real photo shoot in a studio. Michael specialize in Fashion Photography but his product shots are just as skillful. Nevertheless, I'm very impressed and how well they all turned out.
Video Promo Sneak Peak
Four hours ago we were all in Dexter's room filming a short promo for darkmatters toy. One of the found members of darkmatters, Jefford Lam was our super star for this film. Nevertheless, on behalf of darkmatters we would like to personally thank Amy Chan for helping us on this video project. We were very lucky to have her to make this special promotion film for us.
Here are some short footage of us filming:
PACKAGING DESIGN
The night before I started to print the boxes, Teddy and I finalize the design together. Here is a quick line drawing i did for the packaging design, referenced by Jefford's x ray image of his teeth.
I was not prepared to print all 40 boxes would be so much work. On the other hand the packaging looks stunningly beautiful. Thanks to Leah's printing expertise I was able to finish them all in one day. It took use about 7 hours to finish them, without her help there was no way I could get them done on time.
Here are some more pictures of the box:
Painting Progress Pictures
+ I've document most of the progress of making this toy on my blog but here are some sneak peaks of unrevealed pictures!
SEPTEMBER 14
+ The first demo toy took about 4 hours to experiment with colours to mimic the teeth surface. I did some preliminarily researching of different kinds of teeth. This give me time to study what teeth really look like using pictures and even looking at Teddy's wisdom teeth as my references. I observed where the dirt naturally collects on top of the molar and how the colour is "off white" with a stain of yellow. Every part of the teeth was analyzed to create this little master piece.
SEPTEMBER 18
+ I tried different transition between the molar and fingers but I chose to focus on the teeth more than the fingers. The colour is very subtle but the amount of detail of the fingers really makes you look twice.
SEPTEMBER 14
+ The first demo toy took about 4 hours to experiment with colours to mimic the teeth surface. I did some preliminarily researching of different kinds of teeth. This give me time to study what teeth really look like using pictures and even looking at Teddy's wisdom teeth as my references. I observed where the dirt naturally collects on top of the molar and how the colour is "off white" with a stain of yellow. Every part of the teeth was analyzed to create this little master piece.
SEPTEMBER 18
+ I tried different transition between the molar and fingers but I chose to focus on the teeth more than the fingers. The colour is very subtle but the amount of detail of the fingers really makes you look twice.
update!
blog updates have been long overdue! we've actually done a lot despite the lack of activity here. i'm showing here just a photo of the toys freshly coated with the base colour and lined up ready for paddy's detail work.furthermore, i'd like to reveal our logos! a short and long one for different applications, special thanks to Calvin Yeung for the help. stickers are coming up, so keep your eyes, ears and all phalanges out for them! they will also be included inside each box, wink wink blink blink.
lastly! duh duh duh, our first figure has a name; nga4. confused? it's the cantonese pinyin pronunciation of the word tooth! the 4 denotes the intonation. follow this link and click nga4 to hear it: http://usa.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?cdqchi=%E5%BD%88%E7%89%99#.
Dental Work In Progress
+ I started painting with model paints last week but it turned awful. I emailed Chris Ryniak for some advice and surprisingly, he replied back sooner than I expected. He suggested using just basic acrylic paint and spray a sealer for the finish. Here is an example of what I've done so far. The gums are not finished, but once it is done, I will post more updated pictures.
first resin cast!
I'm kidding, just some touch-ups before molding.
mold preparation.
half the mold is complete.
the other half must set.
and a bonus be@rbrick knock-off mold!Alright, we're almost there. Tomorrow we de-mold and begin casting Thursday. However, I'm falling behind on the logo...
darkmatters is official!
After infinity billion forms and several hours later darkmatters is officially a legal business! Finally we are making some physical progress:
+ the first model is ready to mold and cast!
+ materials are bought
+ logo is coming up
+ website is under development
If all goes as scheduled we will be ready for launch on Halloween! Look out world.
*I can't wait to claim my first coffee as a business expense!!
+ the first model is ready to mold and cast!
+ materials are bought
+ logo is coming up
+ website is under development
If all goes as scheduled we will be ready for launch on Halloween! Look out world.
*I can't wait to claim my first coffee as a business expense!!
Modeling Clay - DONE
+ For the gums I used Fimo polymer modeling clay for better control and finer details
+ It took at least 2 days for it to air dry
+ Using inexpensive carving tools(could be found in art supplies or hardware stores) to do additional fine details
+ You can always re-work the dry clay by soaking it in water again
