Chidi Okonkwo's Blog, page 22

GOKU AND VEGETA DRAGON BALL Z FAN ART BY DSNG!

Today I'll be sharing some exclusive fan art with you guys. And it features the characters created roughly 28 years ago [back in 1989] by the Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama. I'm referring to the Dragon Ball Z creator. And these characters are the classic Super Saiyan rivals, who later became friends: Goku and Vegeta.

Back in the day, before I got to college, I did follow the DragonBall Z saga [right past the "Cell battles" and up till the end of the "Majin Boo saga"]. But I really didn't keep up with the newer DragonBall Super anime series, and I haven't watched most of the cartoon movies. I heard that the newer series was not that interesting, but that's a tale for another day.

 

Vegeta [on the right] has always been second to Goku [on the left], in terms of their comparative power ranking. And while Goku is a goodhearted Superman type of guy, Vegeta is the badass anti-hero, the villain who the fans loved to hate, until he turned good - but he still had a proud chip on his shoulder, since he was a Saiyan Prince back on his former planet.

Anyway, DBZ is very significant to me, because along with Star Wars, it helped to inspire me in creating my DSNG Techpunk Universe; simply because my super-soldier characters like Prince Azzar, Vince and Yatalia all exhibit diverse superhuman abilities.

Levitation is almost standard for my characters that hail from planet Avera [one of the seven major planets in my Makuran Galaxy]. But the good guys are capable of projecting diverse energy beams, along with displaying other unique gifts. And my DSNG villains have special powers as well.

Back in 2013, when I launched the ebook DSNG Book 9 over at Amazon, I created a blog article that talked about it, and that article showed off some of the Top the villains over HERE. But honestly there are over 500 characters in the DSNG universe, since I've been writing and drawing this stuff as sketches since 1999. And at this point, DSNG is up to 17 ebooks, and I don't plan to stop anytime soon...

Anyway, have a great week and remember to share the DBZ art with your buddies on Twitter / Facebook etc!- Article written by the artist & author of the DSNG Sci Fi Series
[http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com]

CUSTOM MARVEL LEGENDS KILLER FROST TOY BY DSNG!

All right today we will look at another custom action figure. And after two months, I’ve finally completed her. She's Killer Frost from DC Comics!!!
This particular character design is from the animated movie Batman: Assault on Arkham, which was released back in 2014. That cartoon movie was a sort of prequel to the Suicide Squad movie that was released in 2016, since it featured several characters including Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, King Shark and a few others.

Honestly Killer Frost [ aka Ms. Louise Lincoln ] was my fav character in the cartoon movie and she’s one of my Top 5 DC Comics characters. Of course Batman, Supes, Harley are in that same list. But I’m really picky about which characters from DC that I really Really like. Killer Frost is a femme fatale and she’s not really a Goth chick, she fits more into the Punk Rock category in my opinion.
 



She has ice powers and she has the ability to absorb heat from external sources and transmute it into waves of cold. And she actually displayed a frosty "kiss of death" in the cartoon movie.

Anyway, I was inspired by the work of another customizer named Anthony’s Customs, who is on Youtube and Facebook. He created his version of Killer Frost back in 2015, and its one of my fav works that he’s ever done.

The base figure that I used is Marvel Legends Captain Marvel [Carol Danvers, shown over Here]. And I had to use putty to sculpt her black lines, and her boobs and booty. And her hair was fully sculpted - so it's hard, and it doesn’t move. The ice spike that I created for her hand was based on the semi-transparent "energy fist effect" that ca,e with the Captain marvel toy. I had to sculpt some sharp points for the spike and them glue them to the top o the energy fist effect. And then I painted the whole thing white and added two shades of blue as highlights. She can stand on her own, but I used the "House of M" toy stand just to aid with balance, as I spun her around for the pics.
The last pic of Killer Frost below is made from screenshots from the Assault on Arkham cartoon movie, in the scene that she was getting dressed.

 



FYI You may have to click on the word-link below that says "Older Posts" to see more pics from the blog archives! - Article written by the artist & author of the DSNG Sci Fi Series
[http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com]

CUSTOM MARVEL LEGENDS DOMINO, CABLE AND DEADPOOL TOYS BY DSNG!

All right, today I'll be presenting the second part of the recent gallery featuring the Custom Domino toy, along with a custom Cable. The Deadpool figure was standard [straight out of the box], although I did repaint his 0.45-inch caliber handguns, but that was pretty much all I did, beyond adjusting his limbs.

The original article that shows the gallery of the Marvel Legends Domino toy is over Here.
As for Cable, he is the futuristic time-traveling leader of the X-force team [which Deadpool and Domino are known to work within, along with other mutants / X-men].
And I repainted and modified Cable's standard guns [the two large ones that he holds in his hands]. Plus I added two more guns to his frame [one is a rocket launcher taken from Deadpool and the other is from the Gears of War toyline]. Plus I added a dagger to his right hip from the Nuke toy, while I added a "stone-wash effect" to his blue pants.

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During the photoshoot, there was a "piggyback riding experiment" that I tried with this dynamic trio... and to my surprise, it actually worked. During the modifying stage, after adding the thick strap across Cable's chest and the bandanna over his mouth, I also reinforced the boots of Cable, and all of the shiny silver parts on him were additions that I made with putty [I use the Milliputt brand]. And I repainted those additions with acrylic silver, shown in his boots, his belt, his right gauntlet and his left shoulder pad.
Thus with the larger boot heels, Cable was able to stand and hold Deadpool's weight, without any toy stand supporting the big guy. He even got to carry Domino as well! 




 

Figured I should also add this joke pic from the photoshoot... just imagine what Deadpool had to say, when he saw Domino riding the big guy as well, a few minutes later. ...Anyway that's all for now. Stay tuned for more! And follow me on Facebook  where I past most of my updates HERE!

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FYI You may have to click on the word-link below that says "Older Posts" to see more pics from the blog archives!- Article written by the artist & author of the DSNG Sci Fi Series
[http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com]

CUSTOM MARVEL LEGENDS DOMINO TOY BY DSNG!

I recently created a Domino Custom toy, based on the female Marvel Legends Captain Marvel frame. A few close pals have seen teasers of this project. And now, after completion and cleaning up the rest of the batch of pics in Photoshop, I decided to share them with everyone.

The classic Marvel Legends Epic Heroes Domino toy that dates back to 2002 isn’t a very good looking figure [even though it came with a lot of cool guns], and the current Marvel Legends line is yet to revamp Domino. Thus a lot of customizers have been making their versions of her, over the years.

This pic series will be divided into two articles, since there are almost 30 images. The first article, this one, will feature only Domino, and the second set will feature Domino, Cable and Deadpool.

Created back in 1992, Domino, whose real name is Neena Thurman, is a sexy gunslinger / merc. And she has probability altering / jinxing powers, which help to survive in a fight against all odds… it’s like the dice is always rolled in her favor at the end of the day, regardless of how beat-up & battered she gets. As a super hero, she was created as a result of a failed attempt to duplicate the Captain America super-soldier serum… I think. In terms of her appearance, she has black hair and white skin [the permanent results of the experimentation upon her entire body]. And she has a distinct birthmark placed over her left eye, like a large oval dot. And truthfully, she is a Gothic character… just like Batman is Gothic character [just face the facts guys: Batman wears grey & black, he thrives in darkness, he has black hair and he constantly works underground in a dark cave filled with black vehicles, extra dark costumes, black bat-weapons and diverse combat relics].

Anyway, as a team-based character, Domino has been linked to the X-Force team, along with Cable [the initial team leader], Deadpool, Fantomex, Warpath, Psylocke, Puck, Wolfsbane, Bishop, Archangel, Wolverine and others [the roster has changed a lot from the 1990s to the 2000s]. In terms of romance, she’s been linked to Wolverine, Cable and Colossus. But in general, Domino is almost like a loner.

This Domino custom toy used some modified accessories from a Nick Fury toy [her gun holster and two of her smaller handguns, along with the machinegun added to her back via a magnet]. Her two larger handguns, which looks like 0.45-inch caliber guns, came from an extra Deadpool toy that I had. And her upheld right-hand machinegun came from a Scourge toy, while her grasped left-hand semiautomatic Mack10 handgun was custom made. The dagger located down at her boot was from the Deadpool toy as well, but I had to make the custom dagger’s holster and the two custom gun holsters that are glued to her hips.

 

 The skin-tone of her body was made from Vallejo Model Air Light Sea Blue paint, heavily mixed with plain White paint. I didn’t want to paint her skin just plain white, since I figured that a very light-blue skin-tone would allow for “white highlight camera flashes” when the photo session takes place.

  

 

And her hair was given some dark-blue highlights. Speaking of her hair, I sculpted her curved / swirling hair strands on top of the standard Carol Danvers hair [which was short and blonde], before I painted it with a base-coat of Tamiya Black paint. Her belt and belt accessories were all custom made, while  her boots were from the Mockingbird toy, although I sculpted over them and added more straps & details. And I glued the final gun holster onto her right boot.

As usual, I upgraded her features, so my Domino is thicker / more busty than the standard mold. I was inspired by a variety of costumes and other toy customs made by some artists that I respect, and I like how this action figure turned out.
Enjoy and stay tuned for more, coming later this week!

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FYI You may have to click on the word-link below that says "Older Posts" to see more pics from the blog archives!- Article written by the artist & author of the DSNG Sci Fi Series
[http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com]

MUSING ON THE ORIGINAL JESSICA RABBIT

I've had this new pic on my desktop for over a week, and it was teased on Instagram a few weeks ago. It's a pinup of Jessica Rabbit, the classic character from the "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" cartoon that dates back to 1988, although she was also presented in a book titled "Who Censored Roger Rabbit?", which was published roughly back in 1981. Jessica was created by the author Gary K Wolf.

I'm including an older Jessica Nurse pic that I did back in 2009, just to show a comparison, and my art style evolution over time.

 


Although it is claimed that Jessica was inspired by a cartoon gal shown in an old Tex Avery cartoon from 1943 [titled "Red Hot Riding Hood"], in my opinion the original human inspiration for Jessica Rabbit may have been a lady called Julie London [shown on the right], who was a redhead gal and a sultry singer that lived from 1926 - 2000.
In fact, one of Julie's sultry songs titled "Why don't you do right" was performed by Jessica Rabbit, in the 1988 cartoon.

From my research / reflections, a couple of things stand out about Julie...
1. She was very laid back and calm-natured
2. She was short & cute, standing at 5 feet 2 inches tall.
3. She had hair... lots of hair, that stood on her head like some sort of reddish crown [Google "Julie London" and you'll see what I mean].
4. She had a deep raspy voice. And there are few female singers who have that kinda tone and sound good.

On the other hand, Jessica Rabbit was tall and junoesque, meaning that she was like a busty Greek goddess. Jessica did have two voices in the cartoon [shown as a clip below]; and one voice actress [Kathleen Turner] would provide her regular speaking voice, while there was someone else that would sing for her. Some fans see Jessica as a classic shapely milf and others view her as an animated muse.
Frankly, I just see her as... Jessica. And you can hear her sing over HERE


While doing my research, I did listen to a few of the classic tracks by Julie, and they were... like an aged wine.... sweet and sensual, and yet tasteful. I liked some of Julie's songs better than others of course. And the song "Cry me a River" that Justin Timberlake sang in 2010... well, Julie London had an old song with that same name back in 1955, which was very different, in terms of its message and its solemn tone.

Nevertheless, inspiration for a comic character can be drawn from a living or a late muse, a cartoon character or even real person, as long as they inspire the artist.

I know that for a fact, since my popular DSNG gal Elena Eden, was created as an original character, way back in the early 2000s. But later, as I kept drawing her, I was inspired by the physique of Coco Austin, the wife of rapper IceT.
That's all for now. Don't forget to Like and Share...
##### - Article written by the artist & author of the DSNG Sci Fi Series
[http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com]

THE DSNG CUSTOM ASHOKA TANO ACTION FIGURE TOY!

Those fans who follow me on facebook and Instagram were aware that I was working on this project. And today I present to you the finished custom Ashoka Tano toy! Any hobby can be time consuming; and this one took a while, roughly 2 - 3 weeks, because I was learning along the way, and trying out some new things.

For those who don't know this female Star Wars character, Ashoka [pronounced Ah-so-kah] was introduced in the 3D animated cartoon series called Star Wars: Clone Wars [which ran from 2008 - 2014]. She was the young spirited padawan apprentice of Anakin Skywalker, before he joined the evil Emperor and the ways of the dark side. Per her alien race, she is a a Togruta female, having orange skin and three thick octopus-like hair strands, which don't move freely. FYI, I had to shorted her hair strands in my toy model, and her people can also have blue or red skin tones [Like Shaak Ti, who was drawn in this blog over HERE].

Yet Asoka did make a cameo in the new Star Wars: Rebels 3D cartoon that commenced in 2014, but I didn't keep up fully with that series, since in my opinion, in comparison to the Clone Wars series, it took roughly 5 steps backwards in terms of the overall art style, the character design models, the storyline and the choreographed action scenes.
Although she is a highly skilled Jedi, Ashoka Tano has never been featured in any of the 7 or more Starwars movies, to my knowledge. And at the end of the 2nd season of the Star Wars: Rebels 3D cartoon, she was supposedly Missing In Action, after a battle inside a Sith temple against Darth Vader [Anakin] on the small planet named Malachor. But of course we all know that she's still alive :)

 

 
 

The base body of the Ashoka toy was the Marvel Legends Wasp figure, and I used the hands from a Black Cat toy. I used the same base mold for the lovely Elena Eden toy, which was previously shown over HERE.
Ashoka's boots were taken from a Marvel Legends Mockingbird toy, before they were customized. After sculpting some details like her top segments and her belt, I used the Tamiya Gray Primer Spray to coat her body... although I still had to add more details after that, as her design evolved in my mind. And I had to make a custom hair sculpt for her, which I pained carefully, in order to add most of her tribal marks and her blue-colored hair marks.
And yes... baby got back....
I finally painted her by hand, since I find that process to be very therapeutic. For the colors, I used Tamiya Flat Brown paint for her straps, DecoArt Metallic Purple for her boots & gauntlets, and Vallejo Game Air Warlord Purple for her combat bathing suit. Her skin tone was a custom orange that I got by mixing about 4 different colors, including orange, white paint and Vallejo sunny skin tone. Both of her swords were custom-made and painted light-blue and white.

 


 




 

 After I was done, I used a Taskmaster toy [also from the Marvel Legends series] as her opponent for a small light-saber duel, which I presented in the photos above. And of course she kicked his ass and stomped on his face, because the heroic Jedis always win in the end... at least I think so, until some old crooked Sith jackass gives the goddamn command for Order 66 - LOL.
Stay tuned for more via Facebook updates!

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FYI, if this is the only article that you can see, then you may have to click on the word-link below on the right side that says "Older Posts", to see more posts from the blog archives!- Article written by the artist & author of the DSNG Sci Fi Series
[http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com]

THE FIRST CUSTOM ELENA EDEN TOY / ACTION FIGURE BY DSNG!

Today I'm quite proud to present this lovely gal... those of you that have followed my work since the late-2000s probably know who Elena Eden is. She is one of the prominent Original Characters from the DSNG Sci Fi Series. And if you google "Elena DSNG", you will see lots of pics of her.

Elena was always designed to be voluptuous and sexy, but years later, her design started to slightly resemble the shape of Coco Austin, the wife of rapper IceT - and I've freely used Coco as an art reference for Elena in the past.
 
Having an upbeat personality and a cheerful disposition, Elena is a supermodel and an entrepreneur and she is currently dating General Obed, one of the Top 5 Centura Elites. And the Centura are the unified military force of planet Avera - one of the 7 major planets in the Makuran Galaxy, where the DSNG saga is based.
Prince Azzar Omenus [the main protagonist in the DSNG Chronicles] is a Centura elite as well, but he is not grouped among the Top 5. Instead he is the SCO, the Senior Commanding Officer of the Centura; while his powerful and lascivious cousin, Titron Omenus, is the King of the Averans.
Yes, the King is rather lustful and he has a ton of classy girlfriends aside from his regal wife, Bella Ezen Omenus, who is a friend of Elena [and Bella is a former girlfriend of Azzar; but trust me, it's a looooong story].
 
Now I'm sliding in some process pics, showing the early development stages, along with the putty additions. I use Milliput for my sculpting, and it's quite good ;)

 
 
 


Prince Azzar, King Titron, and the Centura Elites are all super soldiers. And Azzar is grouped with the highly respected Alpha Senturis - the Black-Ops soldiers. And during some of the future adventures in the DSNG ebooks, there is one gifted gothic gal that was added to the Centura elites, and her name is Yatalia.... so perhaps they are now tagged as the Top 5 + 1 or Top 6, or something like that...

Those new fans who are intrigued by the saga can start reading more about it over HERE, in this Blog. And that link will take you to the "Exploring DSNG" series of Blog articles, and they are filled with tons of pictures and info that I've presented over the past 3 years, showing the main heroes, villains, vehicles and locations from the DSNG Sci Fi Series!
[And here's a shout out to the evil golden gal Kinera Foxx, damn it! LOL]





 

 

Anyway, roughly a month ago [yes it took me that long], I started working on the action figure of Elena, based on the Wasp mold from the Marvel Legends toyline. And it took longer than I expected... because I was learning and working. I've customized several cool Transformers in the past, but the 5 to 6-inch tall action figures require a lot more precision, in my opinion.

But finally, Elena is done and I like the way she turned out. Clearly I had to enhance the original mold. And although it's hard to get Elena to stand by herself, I gladly utilize a figure stand to accomplish that feat.

Below is a comparison of the evolution of Elena's core design; the pic on the left was drawn back in 2011, and the other two pinups [with the colored version] were done in 2017. Her hair and face are a bit different, but you can tell that it was done by the same artist ;)


 

And I've called this the first Elena toy, since I may make more in the future. It is my dream to have toys like this mass produced, so that the true fans can have a piece of DSNG history sitting on their desk, at work or at home. Stay tuned for more, & don't forget to like and share!- Article written by the artist & author of the DSNG Sci Fi Series
[http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com]

CUSTOM TOY SUV BUILD BY DSNG: REVELL HUMMER H2!

[image error] Those faithful fans who follow me on Instagram are aware that I was recently building a Revell toy model SUV, a Hummer H2, from a box of disassembled parts that had roughly 80 pieces in it, including the stickers.
It was a fun hobby build, but towards the end, it got hard... really hard; because after the main assembly, I had glued certain things together and I completely built & glued the carriage separately from the chassis... but some of those parts were to be assembled together, not separately, so that there would be no snap-together problems due to the tight fitting clearances.
Thus I had to break it apart and cut various edges with a small saw, and then glue it back together...

Alas, that's what happens when you're too cool to follow the instructions LOL.

Anyway, the pieces of the SUV truck came as plain white plastic, which looked quite dull. So first I painted it White as a base coat [with the paint and primer combined, purchased from Home Depot], and  then I painted it with Tamiya X-8 Lemon Yellow. I had to add 2 coats of Tamiya Lemon yellow, or what I call "classic X-men yellow", and then I kept adding more and more paint to even things out.
There are a few spots of paint on the windows of the vehicle, because I added the paint after the assembly of the glass panels, and I should have done it before that stage. Plus the entire interior cabin, the dashboard, the seats, center console and the rear trunk area had to be assembled, glued, snapped-in-place and painted, as shown in the pics below.

 





 

Nevertheless, I am proud of the outcome. This toy SUV doesn't roll fully, per the glue I added in one of the axles, but I don't care. It was created as a display piece, not a rough-edged play toy.  I almost wish that I had chosen to build something easier, as my premier model vehicle project. But on the other hand, per the tough obstacles that I encountered and conquered during the assembly, I'm pleased with the experience points that I gained.

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I did add the Scorponok Transformer toy during the assembly phase [before I started encountering the tough problems]. And when the job was done, I added a 3.75-inch Steve Rogers Captain America toy [purchased for like $6 on ebay] just to give you an idea of the scale.
The Hummer H2's scale is 1:25, and it it roughly 7 inches long from end to end, and less that 5 inches tall. In a way, I feel that this yellow Hummer H2 would be good as a beefed-up adult version of Bumblebee, who is often shown as a teenage Chevy Mustang... but that's just my opinion ;)
Remember to like and share!- Article written by the artist & author of the DSNG Sci Fi Series
[http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com]

THE OPTIMUS PRIME SUPER TOY BY THE COMPANY THREEA!

There was a time that toys were akin to plastic bricks with arms and legs that didn't even move. And back in the 80s, the transformers toys had as much articulation as a standard Lego man.
But times have certainly changed. And a few years ago, the company from Hong Kong named ThreeA produced an Optimus Prime collectible item that has over 60 points of articulation.... granted some of those points are linked to gears and piston movements, but that's still more articulation that the human body.
Prime stands at roughly 19 inches tall, and that is more than 6 inches taller taller than the standard 12-inch ruler used in classrooms. And although it cannot transform, this guy still looks extremely imposing and dominant. His stoic eyes and the circular headlights mounted on his chest can light up, per small batteries installed within him. And this toy should come with his two classic energy blades, a bladed knuckle, and a large mega-striker cannon [as seen in the right pic below]. And his metallic fingers are articulated, so he can point forward or pick his nose if necessary.

The thing is, Prime's overall design hasn't changed too much in each of the Micheal Bay movies. And although he looks like a fearless Robo-Knight with a sword in the latest promo pictures for the fifth TF movie, his upcoming toy designs still don't look that different [per what Hasbro has revealed so far]. Hence this toy by ThreeA will be relevant for years to come, even though its design is based on the Transformers Dark of the Moon movie that is roughly 6 years old [since DOTM was released back in 2011].


 


Honestly, I can't even comfortable call this item a toy. Its more like a trophy that you buy and it sits in a lighted glass case in your bedroom; and it stares at you every morning, while you're wearing your fancy underpants.
And this collectors item is on sale for $430 at BigBadToystore.com .... so.... yyyyyeeaaahhhhNo. I shall not be buying this item any time soon. Not unless Prime can get up and mow the freakin' lawn and cook me some damn waffles every morning :)

- Article written by the artist & author of the DSNG Sci Fi Series
[http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com]

CUSTOM MARVEL LEGENDS BLACK CAT TOY!

[image error] All right guys, in my opinion this was $19 well spent, doing something that entertained the hell out of me. As my hobby, I usually customize and repaint certain Transformers toys, rather than action figures. But recently I decided to grab a Black Cat toy from the Marvel Legends /  Edge of Spider-verse toy line that was launched back in 2014 from Marvel.
And she was already shapely per the toy mold; but I repainted her with a darker gloss black and I painted her gloves and boots with a brighter acrylic white - as shown on the left. But before repainting her, with some blue putty, I gave her a bigger butt. Because I can. LOL.

Anyway, here a are a few before and after pics. In my memory, Felicia Hardy aka the Black Cat was best portrayed back in the 90s Spiderman cartoon. As a rich heiress that was transformed by the same super-soldier serum that created Captain America, the Black Cat was a sexy femme fatale and she had a crush on Peter Parker. And Peter [Spiderman] always seemed to be a bit too timid & geeky to take full advantage of the opportunity with the hot blonde Felicia, maybe because he was still hooked on the sexy red-headed girl-next-door, Mary Jane Watson; or maybe it was his lingering emotional link to the late Gwen Stacey [who later became SpiderGwen in an alternate reality / timeline].
But in my toy timeline, Spidey is obsessed with Felicia.... and with dat ass :)
Anyway, enjoy the pics.

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Some people can recall the old summer jam from 2002 titled "It's getting hot in here", by the rapper Nelly... figured it would fit as the song that Spidey and Black Cat were listening to, during the photoshoot.
#####- Article written by the artist & author of the DSNG Sci Fi Series
[http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com]