Trade Shows Part II...

Well, the next trade show up was the Licensing International Expo, a really cool show that had a lot of big players involved shelling out TONS of cash. Of course those areas were roped off and clearly marked as being for "bigwigs only", heh heh.

Right inside the door this is what greeted us and I knew the show was gonna be good. An actual Ecto-1!! Whew! There to promote the upcoming Ghostbusters game.

The place was enormous and actually was the same place that the Stationery Show had been. Downtown NYC at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

Who could resist getting their picture with Kung Fu Panda...not many I daresay!

A cool poster for an upcoming Dreamworks film. Don't know much about it other than the fact that it's based on a kid's book. Looks great though, love the conceptual art if nothing else!

LEGO, still going strong after all these years. It never gets old!


A slight pause now...for the random man who stopped by the Smurf to gaze uncomfortably at me.

Nickelodeon had an awesome, HUGE setup and it was cool to see Spongebob like 30 ft. tall.

Another outfit, can't remember their name at the moment, did lifesize bobblehead replicas and also regular hero/character replicas. Pretty neat.

If could afford it, this would definitely be in my living room. After some high-end family negotiations with my wife.

Don't know too much about him, haven't taken the time to check his material out, but I can't resist the Domo.

Do I look as uncomfortable as someone could who's been roped into getting his picture taken with 3 large blue gnome-like creatures? Yeah...heh heh...this is...fun. Yeah.

These huge wall scale graphics were really cool. Talk about punch! SMACK!

And of course, the caped crusader in Lego.

One of the more elaborate "booths" at the show.

Classic! How'd you like to have that for one of the walls in your house?!?

And then as we rounded a corner...

Not too much, they weren't giving a whole lot away, but this was some kind of one man earth mover prop to draw some attention. I hope the movie can live up to the hype it's getting and will receive!

And again, LEGO is everywhere! Go Speed, go!

Pit stop with the George.

Lucasfilm's booth was pretty amazing with full size replicas of the Clone Wars characters and the SW's movies playing overhead. Again, the perfect place for one of these replicas? In my home. :)

Let me tell ya', one of the busiest booths at the show was Marvel's! There were suits everywhere around this one. Even the higher up's have caught the superhero bug. There was a little standup on a table confirming what many may already know about a Captain America, Thor, and Avengers movie slated for release. And note the poster for Iron Man Armored Adventures. They were playing clips on a TV there and it really looks promising. Cool superhero action, doesn't get any better than that, eh?

Another special moment with giant stuffed dolls of the ugly persuasion.

So that about wrapped it up for the Licensing show. There was a whole lot to see and it was well worth the trip to get the creative juices flowing and exciting to look forward to what all these companies have coming up in the near future.

Next, and last, trade show of the year...Wizard World East in good old Philadelphia. Until then, excelsior!

Freelance, facebook, and a feline...

One of the opportunities I had this summer was to do some freelance work with a video game company called Breakaway Games. It was a lot of fun and I hope to work again with them. As soon as I get the okay to post some of that work it'll be up, but until then my lips are sealed or those same lips will find themselves in court. Heh heh.

Now for some it is gambling, for some it may be TV, and the list could go on, but I have found my addicition. Obsession, thy name is facebook. What compels me to download an application that will tell me how smart I am compared to my friends? Why do I need to know what LOTR character I am? Well, all I know is that now for some reason my day wouldn't be complete without knowing that I just outscored my mother in Bowling Buddies! ANYHOOO...

More importantly, Radikin Studios is now on facebook! You can search facebook under that name or follow this link:

Radikin Studios on Facebook

Sign up and become a fan. I'll be posting discussion topics, artwork, and other stuff that won't be available on my website or blog there so check back for updates when you get a chance. I recently added a batch of robot sketches which I'll be updating periodically so keep an eye out!

The summer has also been full of logo work for me which is most often quick but challenging work. My contact with the Teleosoft group is still going strong and here's a sample of some of the logo work I've done for them recently.

Proving once again that video game systems are not just a mindless waste of time, these next logos were done solely on my Nintendo DS using Colors. If you have a DS, are an artist of any level, and haven't checked it out I would highly recommend you do so! These were for some new groups forming at my church.

And finally, what blog post would be complete without a silly picture of a completely comatose and lazy cat? None I say, none! So here's my cat Hobbes, doin' what he does best.

Thanks again for stopping by and if you'd like to share a critique or just say hello, post away my friend, post away. I'll be uploading pics of the next trade show soon, so stay tuned true believers. Take care!

Trade Shows aplenty!

The posts have been few and far between for the last several months, but fortunately it's been due to a busy schedule. Such is the vexing conundrum of the blogger. So much to blog, so little time. :)

I've had the opportunity to attend several trade shows this year and this will be the first of 3 posts concerning the 3 shows I went to this past summer. All were interesting in their own way and gave me some fresh ideas.

The first show was the National Stationery Show in NYC. They didn't allow any photography in this show so I've compiled some samples from the company's websites that are representative of work I saw at the show. Lots of great stuff...who says greeting cards and wrapping paper are boring?!?

These first couple are from an outfit called Atomic Soda (site still under construction, but you can order their stuff here: http://store.heliotropehome.com/atsopago.html)



Cute stuff and great characters. Another quirky but very cool company that had some great stuff was Spitfire Girl (http://www.spitfiregirl.com). Those circus punk dolls have really taken off lately, pretty funny.


There was no shortage of really great Halloween material, here's just a couple of the many examples from a company called Ghastly Greetings (http://www.ghastlygreetings.com)


L|2 Design Collective (http://www.l2designcollective.com/) had some great stuff, my favorites were among the Halloween items.




Even some owls for Valentine's Day, who would have thunk it? Owls were huge though at the show, all over the place. It was definitely the year of the owl...more on that later.



One of my very favorite places though was a company called Hello Lucky (http://www.hellolucky.com/). I love anything with a retro style or feel and these guys had it down pat. Just check out these fun designs!




LOL, an octopus for Valentine's Day. Perfect!

And, as promised, just a small sampling of the permeation of the owl that seemed to be everywhere at the show. But hey, can you really have too much owl in your life?





As I said, this is just a sample of what I saw at the show, but some of my favorites. I was really pleasantly surprised how much the greeting card and paper scene stimulated some of my thinking. It was well worth the trip.

Next post...trade show #2! The Licensing International Expo with sneak peaks from Dreamworks, Paramount Pictures, Lucasfilm, Marvel...the list was big for this show. Keep an eye out!

Philly style...

Things have been busy at home and at work so the posts are slow in coming. Hope to have more soon!

The kids have been studying Philadelphia and it's history in school and to help out I created a series of icons that represent different historical buildings or locations in the city. We'll be visiting there in early May and the kids all have maps that these icons go on as well. Should be fun!


If you'd like a closer look at any of the icons just click on the links below:

Independence Hall
Elfreth's Alley
Franklin Court
Liberty Bell
Betsy Ross House
U.S. Mint
Christ's Church Cemetery
Christ's Church

After Christmas revisions...

Well, the game went over well! The kids really seemed to like it and are anxious to play it. Yes, that's right, they haven't actually played it yet! LOL! This is due to 2 reasons. One, their dad is obsessed with getting everything perfect before they do actually play it. And two, a cool gift like a Game Boy Advanced and a Nintendo DS tend to overshadow any other gift on Christmas morning! LOL!

At any rate, the game should be totally complete within the week. Here's a few more shots of some finished artwork. If you want a closer view most will be clickable!

"Inside the house" portion of the board:


House exterior:

House interior:
Spinner:
...and a pretty blatant clue concerning the name of the game. Heh heh. So stay tuned, all will be revealed shortly. It's nice not to have to keep it a secret anymore! It was driving me crazy!

Hope everyone's Christmas was even half as good as mine! Happy New Year everyone!

Is it time to freak out yet?!?

W A R N I N G !

For those of you who have contact with ANY of the kids, please remember that this is a surprise for Christmas. You've seen nothing...you know nothing...there is no gammmmmeee...thanks!

It's crunch time as Christmas draws near! Working hard on finishing up the game. I think there's some long nights in the not too distant future for me. Ah well, those munchkins are worth it!

Here's a couple more progress shots...some of the 3D elements and a look at the artwork for the stairs:

And then a sneak peak at the actual game board! This is a sketch of the outside half...you can click on the image for a closer view:

More progress on the game...

Made some more progress on the game...kid's game pieces are done as well as cards for two draw piles that will be used during gameplay. One for good things to happen, and one for bad! Mwaaaa haaaaa haaaaa!

This other shot is of a great set of test tubes I found at an online educational site that will be perfect as one of the game props. Will be a 4 player game so the number of racks and the fact that they turned out to be 4 different colors was very cool!

I do finally have a name for the game, but I think I'll wait and reveal that when I do the cover. Well, back to work!