ECHO BASE FORUMS: STAR WARS CUSTOMIZING CONTEST

Hey everybody!!

Mike Martinez a.k.a. Mercury Art Studios is throwing down a challenge to all customizers & artists around the web! The topic is STAR WARS, the greatest saga of all time! The theme of this contest is simple: customize something Star Wars! It can be a character from The Clone Wars series, the Prequel Trilogy, the Classic Trilogy, the Expanded Universe, and even original fan-fic characters! You can use anything for this contest, Dunnies, Mezits, Mighty Muggs, G.I. Joes, Marvel Universe, Marvel Legends, a Coca Cola bottle, a deodorant stick, a cardboard box, an X-Box, a rock...the possibilities are endless!

CONTEST RULES & DETAILS

Mike Martinez a.k.a Mercury Art Studios is the judge and he will be judging based on the following criteria:

* Originality
* Paint Applications
* Sculpting (if any)
* Combination of parts, parts used, and materials
* Artistic Expression

Five (5) winners will be selected for this contest


RULES

* Customized projects must be for this contest alone!

* Previous customs used for other contests or posted on other sites will not be allowed. If you want to show off a previous custom please do so in Echo Base Forums customizing threads. If you submit an old entry, your item will not be judged and you will be disqualified.

* No picture stealing, this means browsing around for somebody else’s work, snaggin’ a couple pics and posting them to hustle!

* Winners outside of the United States must pay S&H cost for items won! (unless stated otherwise)

* Customs bought from other customizers are not allowed to be entered as your own.

* Customs have to be Star Wars based!

* Original fan-fic creations must be submitted with a small background story!

* All customs must be submitted by July 31, 2011 @ 11:59 pm EST.


Maximum submissions allowed: Three (3)


Have fun!


Feel free to contact michaelm@echobaseforums.com with any additional questions you may have.


Prizes will be announced at Echo Base News & Custom Action Figure News on June 30, 2011. Trust me, they will be worth it!!

Contest Launch Date: May 29, 2011
End Date: July 31, 2011

We are announcing this contest 2 weeks in advance so you can have an early start & extra time to work on your project(s) the goal to this contest is to have fun & help spread the word about this wonderful hobby & art-form.


"Thanks so much everybody and I am looking forward to your customs."
-Mike Martinez

Mercury Art Studios.

JEDI MINSTREL ADDED TO "CUSTOMS I WISH I OWNED"

Jedi Minstrel has been customizing for 3 years. After coming across some websites that feature custom action figures, he has had the bug and just can't stop. His latest project includes creating customs for all the major characters from the Republic Commando novel series by Karen Traviss.

Jedi Minstrel




You can see these, as well as other customs, at imperialshipyards.net. If you are interested in a commission piece, please send a personal message through imperialshipyards.net.

Dad's "JEDI MINSTREL" Video Featured on the Front Page of IMPERIAL SHIPYARDS

TRANDOSHAN JEDI

With the close of Clone Wars Season 3, "Wookiee Hunt" had me wanting to make a Trandoshan custom action figure. I dug around in the fodder box we have at home and I came up with all the parts that I would need to make a cool Trandoshan Jedi. I assembled all the pieces I had and finished the build, but I had a problem. All the pieces of the Trandoshan were in different shades of green and my custom action figure didn't exactly match. I called in a little support from Dad and he gave my Trandoshan one cool paint job that pulled it all together. Working as a team has really paid off lately.

TRANDOSHAN JEDI

Our "TRANDOSHAN JEDI" featured on the Front Page of Imperial Shipyards.

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with Kualan from the UK, or his Star Wars web-comic Tales from the Clone Wars, but his work is one incredible piece of graphic fiction. Kualan recently paid me the honor of including my custom Trandoshan Jedi as a character in his latest installment and I couldn't be more excited. The web comic features some really cool fan fiction characters as well as established characters to create one cool narrative with plenty of action to keep you on the edge of your seats. The graphic art is just amazing and I'd love to know how he does it. Check it out, I'm sure you'll be hooked too!

Joe Crowley, Kualan, lives in the UK, where he studies Creative Writing. He has been a fan of Star Wars since he was just a kid watching his father's old VHS tapes of the original trilogy, and spent most of his childhood running around the school playground pretending to be Luke Skywalker or Han Solo. In 2010 he decided he wanted to make his own tribute to the Star Wars universe and set out to make a web-comic after being partly inspired by the likes of hangarbay94's X-Wing Alliance series and several other action figure customizing photo-novels.

Excerpt's from his latest installment:

"The Clone Wars have ravaged the galaxy, and show no signs of halting any time soon. As the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order fight tirelessly against the droid hordes of the Separatists, entire star systems are torn asunder; leaving in their destructive wake ample opportunities for the lesser factions to pillage and plunder what they can.

Whether it be the Hutts and their criminal empires flourishing in a wartime black market, the Mandalorians reviving their crusades against the Jedi from era long past, or even the enigmatic Nightsisters of Dathomir emerging from the shadows to seize power, everyone in the galaxy has a stake in the conflict; and everyone has a side whose victory they would benefit from the most.

These are the Tales of the Clone Wars; from the heroic Anakin Skywalker, to the merciless General Grievous, and to those who you've never heard of before, follow the exploits of the war's heroes and villains in their constant battle for galactic supremacy."

To read "Tales from the Clone Wars" click the link below:

www.talesfromtheclonewars.com

Dad's "Hangarbay94" Video featured on the Front Page of Imperial Shipyards

We posted this "Hangarbay94" video back in February, but it was featured on the Front Page of Imperial Shipyards today.

Customizer Spotlight #14: Wraithnine

Wraithnine is a 40 year old customizer from the southeast coast of Essex, UK who has been customizing Star Wars figures and vehicles for about 3 1/2 years now. He mainly creates custom action figures of astromechs and clone troopers, but along with the astromech we purchased, we were able to obtain some awesome looking Mandalorians that he recently created too. Wraithnine not only spends his time customizing, he also reviews Star Wars products on Youtube under the name Rasputin37. Wraithnine is currently a moderator on www.imperialshipyards.net and has been a die hard Star Wars fan since '77 . When we saw these figures for sale on Imperial Shipyards, we knew we wanted to add them to our collection.

R7-A4

Wraithnine is well known for his custom astromechs and it isn't hard to see why.

We love Wraithnine's use of water slide decals to enhance his custom action figures. He did a great job using water slide decals on the head of this astromech.

R7-A4 was turned into a trading card by Kessel Run Imports.

FYNN ST'ANN

These Mandos are awesome. Great paint applications and again masterful use of the water slide decals.

DHUR' KAN

It's cool to see how Wraithnine used the Pre Vizsla action figure to create two totally unique action figures.

Mandalorian Bounty Hunter
Kel Sha'rak

See these action figures that we own in Episode 7 of the Kessel Run Review.

These next two droids were both created by Star Wars action figure customizer Wraithnine.  When Dad heard that Wraithnine was selling the R2-C2 that he created, Dad thought it would be cool if we gave him a home next to the Ziro the Hutt that he created.  Dad bought him right away as a birthday present for my ninth birthday back in October. 

What's even cooler was that Wraithnine sent me a R2-T8 astromech as a birthday gift from him.  Thanks so much Jay! That was very generous of you.  The droid is a shining example of why you are the astromech king! I love seeing Ziro and R2-C2 next to each other.  Your droids make my room seem magical.

 "Ziro's Droid R2-C2"

created by Wraithnine

"Ziro the Hutt" created by Darth Daddy

"R2-T8"

created by Wraithnine

D-SQUAD

created by Wraithnine 

So I have added D-Squad to my collection thanks to the "Astromech King". Yes, Star Wars customizer Wraithnine recently created the five-member droid squad formed by the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars, that consisted of QT-KT, U9-C4, R2-D2, M5-BZ, and Corporal WAC-47. Led by Colonel Meebur Gascon, D-Squad was sent to steal an encryption module from a Providence-class carrier/destroyer. This fun group appeared on Star Wars: The Clone Wars in the following episodes: "Secret Weapons", "A Sunny Day in the Void", "Missing in Action" and "Point of No Return". These episodes were a lot of fun to watch. These figures are really special to me because I was interviewed on the Voice of the Republic podcast with Dad the same night voice actor Ben Drisdin (WAC-47) was interviewed and I got to talk with Ben that night.  WAC-47 was my favorite character from those episodes and it's really cool that I was able to add this whole set of droids to my collection.

M5-BZ 

& Colonel Meebur Gascon

created by Wraithnine

WAC-47

created by Wraithnine

U9-C4

created by Wraithnine

QT-KT

created by Wraithnine

R2-D2

created by Wraithnine

Star Wars customizer Wraithnine's 501st troopers: (from left to right) Dogma, Hardcase, Jesse, Tup,  and Kix.

You can see more custom action figures from Wraithnine here on Imperial Shipyards:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=768.0

Wraithnine has a channel on Youtube under the name of Rasputin37 that you can find here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/rasputin37

He posts as Wraithnine on Rebelscum.com here:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=4418696&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=93&fpart=1#4418696