Here's a peek behind the scenes here at the ZMFTS!, partly intended as an apology for the lack of new content this month, but also partly as a demonstration of my commitment towards building a complete collection of Final Fantasy IV enemies. This is a partial assembly of some of the toys and collectibles I've amassed with the intent of transforming them into Final Fantasy IV monsters. Obviously, this isn't the entire bunch (there are some pieces I have yet to acquire, and still some projects I have no idea how I'm going to bring to life in three dimensions). Feel free to guess which of these toys are going to become which Final Fantasy IV creatures. Of course, I may change my mind about using some of these before it comes time to actually build them! That's just how it goes sometimes! I also invested in an electrical air compressor for my airbrush. Previously I'd just been buying cannisters of compressed air here and there, but it seems like I've been using the airbrush more and more lately, so I figured investing in the air compressor made sense (and is better for the environment). It just hasn't been a productive month. I did catch a nasty case of bronchitis which knocked me down for over a week, and that kind of derailed my intentions. I think that, going forward, I'm just going to have to accept that some projects may take longer than a month to complete. I feel like I rushed to get the Gargoyle and Hooligan done, just for the sake of unveiling them before the end of June, and that does a major disservice to these projects. Nobody else is showing the monsters of Final Fantasy IV any love, so these need to be the best representation of these creatures that I'm capable of putting together. If that means they're occasionally going to take more than 30 calendar days to complete, then so be it. I don't answer to publishers or editors who demand monthly content. Just rest assured that even if I don't have something ready to unveil every single month, I'm always working on something behind the scenes.
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Happy Easter! In honor of the annual holiday, and because it seemed appropriate and timely, I have an Egg to share. It's not just any ordinary Egg, though. It's a Mystery Egg. Maybe it's got a juvenile Green D. inside of it. Maybe it's got a hatchling Lamia. We just don't know. I'll tell you what I do know, though. I know my April projects still aren't ready, so this is all you get this month. I like revealing new and exciting projects on a regular monthly schedule, but unfortunately this isn't always practical. Sometimes real life gets in the way of my hobbies. How dare it. I plan on sitting down with life and having a long, stern talk with it at the earliest opportunity. (I'll let you know how it goes.) I seem to somehow have developed a following of hundreds of unique visitors a week. Stop it. Seriously, people. You're making me feel guilty that I didn't do a March update now. (I could offer excuses about how it was my birthday, and then I took some time off to paint my daughter's room, and then, uh, there was this zombie apocalypse. Two out of three of those things may actually be true.) So here's a tiny, insignificant offering by way of apology. I have a bookshelf for all my Final Fantasy IV projects now, and I envision it as being less a display shelf and more a diorama. I'm trying to populate it with props like trees and rocks and things that make sense for the environment in which these monsters tend to appear in the actual game. I might even try to print backgrounds from the actual game and use that as a backdrop. I'm not sure. I haven't gotten that far yet. Anyway, my point is that I've also been collecting treasure chests and things, because obviously those factor into the game mechanics. Cecil and his buddies find these damn things all over the place. They're in castles. They're in forests. They're in the desert. They're on the Moon, for crying out loud. Figure that one out. This particular one is from the Animal Jam series of blind-packed figurines by Jazwares. I had been planning to buy up a whole bunch of these when they went on clearance, but I mostly missed out. I've got one, at least. I guess it makes sense that there would be a lot of different-looking treasure chests if Cecil is finding them all over the world. (Selective rationalization is how I sleep at night. That and Advil PM.) Also, directly below is a sneak preview of what I'm working on right now. These guys are from the Skeleton Warriors toy line that Playmates Toys sold in the 1990's. The character's name is Aracula, and he used to have six arms. You would not believe how much people were charging for these things on eBay during Halloween. Like, I don't want to break the bank on used action figures from 20 years ago, especially when I'm just going to hack them apart with an X-Acto knife. |
DAVID GRAHAM EDWARDS
Illustrator, writer, painter, sculptor, collector of toys and cats, observer of things. Categories
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