So, some people may have noticed a few things upon previous visits to my site. The primary thing being the fact that this website would cause a Google malware message to appear. It doesn’t now, because I took the time to clean it out. I had to educate myself on what a person should be looking for when cleaning out a website, and since harlancore.com contained many folders containing many files, a full clean up was anything but easy.

Regardless, I was hacked, and malware was uploaded to my site. A few months ago my Gmail and my Twitter accounts were hacked too. They were simpler to resolve. A few on-screen instructions later and I was back up and running.

At about the same time that my website was hacked, my Facebook account was hacked as well. I tried to log in, and was redirected to a roadblock page with some instructions as to how to turn it back on. Basically they wanted me to scan in a copy of my driver’s license and email it to them, then expect a lengthy wait while they deal with the large number of hacked accounts.

After a couple of weeks of ignoring this, I finally broke down and scanned in my license. I then pixelated all the information on it except my photo and name. I hoped that would be enough, yet here we are weeks later and still nothing from the Facebook team saying my account is back in my possession.

I got curious about the Facebook hack and decide to do a few Google searches and found that a lot of people have been hacked. Some people have been responded to while others are still waiting. I am still waiting.

But I have decided not to wait any longer. As far as I am concerned, my Facebook identity has been hijacked. So I am abandoning it. Although it may surprise many of you, I was actually able to survive without Facebook. It is possible. We did it before, we can do it again.

I did some digging into the people behind Facebook and discovered a few last names that I did not like, making abandonment seem like the only smart course of action. I am not asking anyone to do the same, my conclusions are mine alone and you will need to arrive at the same conclusions on your own.

What I am asking people to do is to PLEASE DELETE ME FROM YOUR FRIENDS LIST.

We can still be friends, but not on Facebook. And please do not send me any emails asking why I am doing this, because I will ignore them. Our world is changing and if you can’t see it, I cannot help you. I can only help myself.

I plan to continue to use Twitter, and although I have barely posted anything there, as spending all of ones time posting to a bunch of different social networks is incredibly boring to me, I do have more to say and will be saying it there. When will I start? I don’t know. I doubt I will be updating here and I seriously doubt I will be paying Dreamhost for another year, so come October, Harlancore.com may become nothing but a memory.

But I will still be around, and so will Boxpunx. Papercraft is the only way I truly have to touch the hearts of people all over the world, and I believe this is a very important power and not to be misused or abandoned, and I certainly do not take it lightly.

In fact, I urge all artists who can perceive beyond the real to help educate the world about the world, not to incite fear but to generate love and knowledge through their art.

Remember, having an open mind does not only mean liking alternative music, being a vegan, and having a gay friend or two. It means being receptive to all external points of view and finding a conclusion within yourself, not one suggested to you by another who says he has already done the research.

Do the research yourself. And as the world around you continues to become increasingly bizarre, continue to have an open mind all the way to the end, please. Stop acting like you know everything and admit to yourself that there are some things you do not know. Chances are you actually know very little about the world, as do I.

I love you all and thanks for being fans of Boxpunx,

Jason Edward Harlan

The first one is named Scarleah, the goblin witch! She is very boxpunx-like. Don’t let her appearance fool you, she is very generous and friendly.

The second one is called Nishwyndym, and although he can be a nice guy too, I still recommend keeping any and all small animals away from him.

These two characters and more can be found in PAPERTOY MONSTERS, now on sale! Click the picture below to be taken to Amazon.com to check it out!

Next post: who knows? I am starting a new book, called “Black Dirt And Pink Ocean.” And I have been working on some papercraft, not boxpunx, but some customs for some people. But know this: soon, both Boxpunx series TEN will roll out, then sometime after that… PersonaFAN series 5: Fan Boy Black Heaven. I have been working on both of these series for a while and will continue to do so until they are super tight. Here’s the promo for Disgaea 4. Finally, the moment in sprite-based video game history that I have been waiting for… art that is not pixelated, but SMOOOOOTH. And this game looks very smooth. Cheers.

Alright, download it if you would like. If enough people actually care, then maybe I will release the rest of it. Maybe I will self publish it, I don’t know. It is my first attempt at trying to write a book seriously, so it is hard for me to think that it something so great. BUT… maybe the next one, using everything I learned while making this one, will be the great one! All I know is that it was a BLAST writing this thing. I have lived in this world of mine for the past year, and I look forward to expanding upon it. The next story I want to write is called “Black Dirt and Pink Ocean.” It should be crazy, if all goes well. Anyway, feel free to send me your thoughts through email or facebook or come to Austin and tell it to my face. Whatever.

CLICK PICTURE ABOVE OR LINK BELOW TO DOWNLOAD:

“ANNA AND THE ELEMENTS”

the first 106 pages (8 chapters)

Here is a cool little Anna and the Elements boxpunx, not a character from the story, but just something with the logo on it. It’s my first papercraft of 2011!

But ok, all right, and all that. Thanks in advance to anyone who downloads my story, and double-thanks to anyone to attempts to read it. Tomorrow I plan to post some pictures of what the models I made for Castleforte’s “PAPERTOY MONSTERS” book look like. Until then…

Cheers.

Not too long ago I mentioned that I might be trying to write a book. Well, here I am almost a year later and I am half way through it. It’s already a couple of hundred pages and just reached the 70,000 word mark. But of course, none of you are here to get info on that, you are probably here for the papercraft. So how does someone like me go from making hundreds of papercraft models to suddenly writing a book? Why does an artist post things on his blog and then never finishes them? What the hell is wrong with this world, anyway?

The answers to these questions are rather simple, when you consider the history of what someone like myself has been doing for the last couple of decades. I enjoy experimentation and collaboration. I like trying new things and working with others. Sometimes when you try out something new, you end up really enjoying it and doing it for a long time. Other times you find it tedious, and not as enjoyable as you may have expected prior to trying it. Take airbrushing for example. I love the end result of many airbrush pieces, but when I tried it myself, I found the work difficult, and I wasn’t as good as it as I had hoped. The opposite happened with papercraft. I already loved to collect small toys, like Dunnys and Bearbricks, after seeing what some of my favorite artists did with them. I already had notebooks full of weird little characters, so at first, it was sort of easy. I never expected it to take off like wild fire, but now that it has, I can see how it makes perfect sense.

People need something to do. The cheaper, the better. The canvas has not gone out of style or anything (could it ever?), but for some, the canvas can be intimidating. Anyone who loves to draw, but can’t seem to figure out the best way to fill a normal flat canvas might find a home on a new 3-dimensional canvas. That’s basically what happened to me. I never really wanted to be a painter, and I certainly did not want to spend all the money on supplies, but I love to draw, and desperately wanted to find a canvas that was right for me. The rest, I guess, is history.

So how did we get from papercraft to a novel? What happened to that magazine you wanted to make? When is series ten coming out?

Papercraft to a novel… I guess that is how it looks, but really, I had this whole life before I ever built my first paper model, and although much of that life involved drawing and graphic design, writing has always been a big part of it all. In other words, before becoming a papercrafter, I wanted to be a writer. I never thought I was a very good artist, decent sure, I am not blind, but I never seemed to rise up to the level of my favorites. But I could not deny my imagination… it is always full of ideas, and I am grateful for this.

But how to present all these ideas? This has been the journey of my life, really. When I was real young, I wanted to play guitar in a band. I got a guitar when I was 15 and have played ever since. I played in a few less than serious bands, and jammed with many. The most enjoyable times were the improvisational sessions I took part in, because every time we played it was always something new. not always good, hehe, but definitely new. So although it was fun, I never really really tried to pursue it. In the end, I think I just wanted to taste it.

Back then I could draw, and because of this, I figured I should put all my effort into that. There were other distractions in high school, such as skateboarding and girls, and a few other things I shouldn’t mention, but the clever among you will probably guess immediately. This is the mid eighties by the way.

I skated and dated and made little fanzines and wrote lots of poetry and short stories. While writing these stories, I discovered that I could transcend my illustration work with the written word, meaning, in simple terms, I could write about things that I never seemed capable of drawing. At least not as fantastical as I had imagined them. I loved writing as much as drawing now, and although music was and will always be a big part of anything I do, I knew I would never be in a band. I was going to either be an artist or a writer.

Blah, blah, blah. So I dabble. I guess it’s like that phrase, “Jack of all trades, yet a master of nothing.” I didn’t intend for my life to be like that, initially, but looking back, that’s what it has been all about. TRY EVERYTHING, OR ELSE YOU WON’T KNOW ANYTHING. That was my motto for the longest time. I am almost forty now, and I believe it is time to focus on something, and try to put all my experience to some kind of use.

Hopefully that makes a little sense. We didn’t go from papercraft to writing, we went from drawing to music to drawing and writing to doing graphic design for a while, THEN we arrived at papercraft. Papercraft has been good to me, and it’s the first art project I took part in where people actually know my name! You may have seen my art or my typefaces before, but you never would have known that I created those things. I created so much work during my almost eight years working for Apple computers, most of which only employees saw. I enjoyed the work, but I wanted to have a name. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think so.

I am coming up on forty years old. I have spent so time time on this planet learning and experiencing and trying. Don’t worry, this is not about to turn into a “so I am leaving papercraft forever!” No way, I love papercraft! I love vinyl toys! I love making things out of nothing! But above and beyond all other things, I love that papercraft is FREE. I know some artists are packaging up their creations and selling them, which is awesome, and I wish them all the best. I am not against this idea, it’s just not what I envision for myself. I want Boxpunx to be what it is. If I don’t do anything else, it can stay in it’s current form, loved by many, and I can be happy about it because I didn’t ruin anything with it. I don’t want to be like one of those bands where you love the early stuff, but in the later years, all their new stuff made you hate what you used to love.

In other words, I should treat Boxpunx with care. I always have, and I will continue to do so.

Okay, Jason. Thanks for rambling on and on, but what about the magazine? How does that relate to any of this?

Here it is. In an attempt to collaborate with my roommate, Vin (who takes pretty much all the Boxpunx photos) I thought it would be cool if he took some photos of my collection. I have downloaded and built many toys by other artists, not just my own. I thought he would enjoy taking some creative pictures of some other toys. And while he was doing that, I could make a comic strip for the zine. The artist responsible for Three-eyed-bear posted a comic he had drawn on Nice Paper Toys, and I thought, why not have a place where artists, specifically papercrafters, could show off their drawings? I wanted this, and after seeing his comic, I figured others did too. So, since I wanted to take a break from creating new boxpunx, but did not want to stop papercrafting, I thought maybe I was the man for the job.

Vin took some photos, and I started illustrating a boxpunx-inspired comic. Then a couple of things happened, causing my interest level in the project to drop. The first I guess had to be the photos. They were all awesome, no doubt, but I was finding it difficult to create a layout with them. With Boxpunx we would take a lot of pictures, and I would pick what I thought was the most appropriate one. With the magazine, I envisioned the pictures having more variety. Maybe even different settings. We talked about this, and ultimately what I got out of that conversation, is papercraft is something I want to continue doing, but it was not something he wanted to continue doing.

The last thing I want is to make anyone do anything they don’t want, especially when it comes to art projects, so I just let it go. I approached him to take pictures of the IMPS, for series nine, and that is the last thing we have worked on together. He is now working on music, has talked about making a podcast, and I believe he is trying to take pictures of live models, which is what he has always wanted to do anyway. Vin is not just my roommate, he is also my friend, so of course I want him to be doing what he loves. I am going to keep doing what I love, thats for sure. ^^

That’s one thing, another is the comic itself. So, I wrote this script for it, and I really liked it. It was funny and bizarre, and represented Boxpunx in a way that I felt was completely insane. Exactly what I was going for. I started drawing. I penciled and inked about 24 pages, thinking I could put 12 pages in the first issue, and then shorten it to about 6 pages for the next two issues. I started coloring the pages when a thought hit me, right across the face. “The story here is way better than any of the drawings.” Ouch, but it was true. Some pages were awesome, most were kind of dull. I certainly did not want to re-draw anything, so I stopped the magazine right then and there and thought hard about what I could do with the work that had been done.

There is a third element to all this, that comes in the form of a RPG scenario I was writing. We had been playing Dungeons and Dragons occasionally, and I hadn’t ran a game in a long time. I didn’t want to run a D&D game though, I wanted to run a Gamma World game, and I wanted to try to use the old rules, if only because that’s what I have! I wrote tons of text, did some drawings, made some maps, and even created some new rules of my own. That was so much fun!

So, while working on the zine, and the Gamma World adventure, I started reading this series of books called the Dark Tower, by Stephen King. They were so incredible, in my opinion, and the one thing I loved about the books more than anything else was his use of modern elements to create a fantasy story. This concept is typically the basis of any Shin Megami Tensei game, my favorite video game series. Things were coming together in my mind. What if, I took the best ideas of the Gamma World adventure and combined it with the humor of the Boxpunx comic, and wrote a novel, in the spirit of The Dark Tower, or a Devil Summoner video game. Instead of doing a bunch of little projects, why not combine them all into one big project?

So, I stopped everything, and began writing a novel.

I brushed up on my grammar, and began reading everything anyone would recommend to me, or anything I saw that caught my interest, or anything that I knew I had to read, but hadn’t got around to it yet. I won’t list them all, some of them I have already listed, but in the past year, I have read fifty or more books, and learned a little something from each.

Especially the books on grammar, specifically.

Wow, you actually read all of that? Thanks.

Okay, I think that is enough. Even though you know me for papercraft, behind the scenes I have always aspired to be a writer, illustrator, or musician. With this novel I am trying to be all three at once, in a way. The image at the top is simply a mock-up cover I made, just for fun. The first section of the book is being edited right now by my good friend Mary Ann, whom is a super smart girl and I hope she will help me turn this into something really special.

What’s it about, Jason?

Well, to sum it up in as few words as possible, it’s about bored immortals. Using a few more words, it’s about the truth behind Earth’s past. It’s about sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, and magic. It’s about the most notorious punk rock cover band in the universe. What it’s not about is… well, it’s not about papercraft.

Maybe I will write a story about papercraft one day, but I figure I should see how this one turns out first.

What about series ten! I still plan to do it, but for now I am going to save it, and work on it slowly over time. If I spread it out just right, getting photos taken will hopefully not be an issue. If I can actually finish this book, I will then finish series ten to celebrate!

Before I go, I wanted to leave you with a few models that I have made but never released. My hard drive has a number of these misfits, and I may release a few more as time goes by. Right now, papercraft is exploding. So many people are making models and it is an exciting time for fans of the hobby. If you don’t know where to start, check out Nice Paper Toys.

Enjoy the models, and your life.

The model above is a larger version of the imp. The Steeping Room is the name of the tea shop I work for. You didn’t think I actually made money giving all my art away for free did you? P.S. Here’s a video, to make this post complete. I love Interpol. The new album is amazing.

Jason Harlan XXXOOO

Thanks again for visiting my website! I hope you find something you like!

So, I have decided to start making boxpunx series 10, and do some digital painting, boxpunx style. Here are four recent examples:

New coming soon images coming soon!

Above is an image of a life-sized Boxpunx model made out of paper mache by a New York based artist by the name of Wendy Curtis. She sent me this image and a link to a video about a week or two ago and I am just now getting around to posting something about her creation. Her idea was to build a sculpture that she could put on wheels and roll around her neighborhood and use it as a catalyst to spark up a discussion with her neighbors about what is art and community. The video below shows her walking around Harlem doing just that. I think this is a very cool idea and I am flattered to have inspired the model. It is based on the template hidden away on the URBAN PAPER DVD, and she calls it “Big 7″. After you check out the video, please go take a look at her website, she has a lot of wonderful art on display there. I love her drawings, and her “collage” type work is particularly creative.

Here is a link to Wendy’s site:

www.wendyleighcurtis.com/

Thanks to everyone who emailed me expressing their opinions about Series 9! It took a long time to come up with a new model, and I am glad everyone likes it! I realize that there are a lot of models with a small body and a big head, but how many are there that are glueless and do not require attaching multiple pieces together? This, essentially was the challenge I created for myself and I think it turned out really well. Not that I do not like templates made of multiple pieces, I do, some more than others, especially cubeecraft, I just wanted to see if it could be done a certain way. If anything, what I don’t like are models with tiny little tabs that my big hands can’t glue without destroying the model. So many attractive models are like this, and it sucks because I can’t build them! Oh well. We can’t have it all can we?

Papertoy Monsters is on the way, almost complete and available. You can preorder it it on Amazon now here. More on this once it is released. Hopefully my copy will arrive soon and I can tell you all about it. For now, just know it exists, or will soon. ^^

So what have I been working on lately? Well, I have been thinking about the proposed magazine project a bit, trying to think of what to do with the material I started to create for it. Basically I wanted a place to show off some of my drawings, and hopefully those of other papercrafters, but when I realized the comic strip I was doing was going to take a million years to complete, that when I started to think this idea was too ambitious. Plus it made me think I had no business making a comic strip! About a month ago I opened it back up and started coloring it again, and while doing so I thought that I am way better off just coloring all the various boxpunx-themed drawings I have been cranking out over the past couple of years. I have all these pencil sketches that no one has ever seen, and after taking a second look at it all, I feel some of it is really interesting, and instead of coloring a comic I need to ink and color and SHOW all the good ones. So, I found an old portfolio in my room, emptied all the pages from it, since it was all old and not at all like anything I draw now, and started to sort thru the new stuff, filling up all 40 pages of the portfolio.

I have been wanting to make an artbook forever, but I wasn’t sure I could “fill” one, and now that I have this portfolio set up, I can see a boxpunx artbook beginning to take shape. There is still a lot of coloring to be done, so for now that is going to be my main project. Finish all those sketches. Maybe I will do some new papercraft in between, it’s been a while since I customized anyone else’s models, so maybe I will a little bit of that. As far as Series 10 goes, I was thinking I could include a DVD with the artbook containing series 10, which will hopefully act as an extra incentive for people to buy it.

So, that’s the plan. Finish my drawings and publish an artbook. Make boxpunx series 10 and include it on a DVD and insert that in the book. Maybe I will call the book “HEAVY PAPER”. I still really like that title.

Besides drawing I have been reading and gaming. I have read “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” by Hunter S. Thompson, “The Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams, the first two Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer, and “The Prettiest Star” by Nina Antonia. The first two books are classics that I have wanted to read for a long time. The second two were recommended by a co-worker after learning how much I liked the show True Blood. The last is a biography of sorts, about a glam rock star that never happened, Brett Smiley.

I still haven’t finished Dragon Quest VII, and I never went back to Final Fantasy XIII. I over 150 hours into the Dragon Quest game, and still have not been asked to insert disk two. Unfortunately the boss I am at is freakin’ hard and I can’t seem to beat him. Not yet, anyway. I played a little bit of Fable II, and although I liked some of it, I was mostly disappointed. I could write a whole post about what I did and did not like about it, but really, why bother? It isn’t worth the space. Just know this: if you pick a female character, you will no doubt be an unattractive fat slob by the end. Yep, as you become more powerful, you get fatter. The developers will tell you, you have a choice, but really, if you level up your physique, which makes you more powerful with your melee weapon, you will become huge. What RPG player in his/her right mind isn’t going to increase their damage output when given the opportunity? It’s realism taken to a just plain silly degree. There are other examples of this “realism=silliness” style permeating throughout the entire game. One thing I did like was that there are inks available allowing you to color your clothing. That was really cool, and fun.

I also played a bit of Silent Hill: Homecoming (omg! so hard! but I like it!) and Batman: Arkham Asylum (that is a fun game, and you don’t have to like Batman to get into it. I was impressed by the “exploration” elements, so many things scattered about to find and collect. I like looking for things so this game ended up geing more fun than I expected…). Also, I have been playing Persona 3 PSP. Time moves forward in that game as you play, and I am 3 game weeks away from the end. Basically this is a level up part, getting ready for the boss, so I am maxing out my characters and taking my time. I am looking forward to finishing, because I can go play “The Answer” quest that was included with the Persona 3:FES disk, something I have saved for later, and later is almost here.

Fallout: New Vegas is on the way, and I am looking forward to that. I still haven’t done everything there is to do in Fallout 3, so I may go back to that for a bit. But as I said above, my focus is finishing the material for the artbook.

Ok, that’s enough rambling. Thanks again to Wendy for her Big 7 creation, and sharing it with me and others. Papercraft fans: I will try to do something soon. After ABZ made those wonderful IMPS customs, I feel the need to customize her Twitch model. I had always wanted to, now is a good a time as any! So, maybe that will be next. I am afraid to make any promises though, since after HEAVY PAPER, I don’t want to announce something and watch it fall through the cracks.

Oh! It’s also Tokyo Game Show time, which may or may not mean new cool toys, I haven’t looked yet, but I plan to check it all out soon. I am sure I will post something about the titles that interested me, so I may be back soon.

Until then, here is a the only video of Brett Smiley from the glam rock era, performing “Space Ace”. Like most of the music I post, it’s not for everyone. I thought it was great, and when I went to seek out the rest of his music, I discovered a most interesting story. If you like things like Ziggy Stardust, Jobriath, or even the London Suede, or the movies Velvet Goldmine and Cinderella (the 70′s softcore version staring Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith and, well, Brett Smiley), or just glam rock rarities/oddities in general, click the play button and enjoy. If not, feel free to skip this.

Above is a picture I found in a random forum of a storefront somewhere in Akihibara, Japan, advertising one of my favorite video games, Persona 3. I have been feverishly playing the PSP version for the past couple weeks, and of course I have been enjoying it. I have discussed my love of this series elsewhere on this blog, so I won’t go into it all over again. All I can say is if you played the PS2 version, and liked it, you will like the PSP remake. It is just different enough for fans of the original to find something new to love. Plus if you didn’t play it on HARD difficulty the first time around, now is your chance. At least that is what I am doing.

Since I don’t have any new models to show off (not yet, at least! but I am working on some!) I will show off a couple of Persona models by other people. First, here’s Izanagi Okami from Persona 4, by Franz Maxirus Feliciano:

Awesome work Franz! Great attention to detail! Next, here are a couple models by Geofrey Shank. Rasputin the MAD MONK and Tatsuya Sudou.

Geofrey has made a few other awesome boxpunx, like Spider Jerusalem from TRANSMETROPOLITAN, and also from Persona 2: Innocent Sin he made Joker and Hitler! (yes, that nazi bastard; if you ever wondered why P2:IS never came out in America, you have Adolf to blame!) If you want those guys, you need to check out his Deviant Art site: GEOFREYSHANK.DEVIANTART

Now, last but BY NO MEANS least, I want to show off these super sweet IMPS customs by my friend ABZ from OH-SHEET toys. She calls them “THE GLOOM CREW”. I love it! Click the image below for a slightly larger view of her excellent promo image!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ALL THREE MODELS IN ONE .ZIP FILE!

I totally love how these little guys turned out! Plus it’s always really amazing to see someone else’s art on your toy, and I am honored that all three of these people chose to color some boxpunx, thanks so much everyone!

I leave you with a video from the PERSONA MUSIC LIVE show, a performance of songs from P3, P4, and the animation “Trinity Soul”. There are videos of all the songs performed available on YouTube. For fans like me who can’t make it to Japan, this is a real treat. For the non-Persona fans out there, uh, well, I err….

When will I be back? I don’t know. Soon, Hopefully. ^^

Here it is, BOXPUNX SERIES NINE: IMPS! Imaginary Monster Papercraft! Download and Enjoy!

Click me or the pic above to go straight there!

Models by Jason Harlan, Photos by Vin Breau.

Check out the rest of my gallery while you are there if you haven’t before. There are a few new items! Just click the word “harlancore” in the upper right hand corner, before the “/IMPS”.

(More Crystal Castles, I can’t get enough!)

FIRST, and most very importantly, I have decided to CLOSE ALL COMMENTS. No more, the comments I get are very very very few, unless of course you count SEX and DRUG comments. I just don’t understand it! I have set up a variety of safeguards and filters, but every day, I get a handful of these ridiculous comments from people trying to sell for the most part TERRIBLE things. While I was away, I have amassed over TWO THOUSAND of these unwanted comments, and I am TIRED of clearing them all out. Even though I have now turned off commenting, I still don’t actually expect it to work. WordPress may be free and easy to use, but like most things in our modern world, it does NOT work well.

I have chosen the option for NO TRACKBACKS….yet I get trackbacks ALL THE TIME.

I have filters saying mark posts with specific words as SPAM…yet still they find their way into the “waiting for approval” list.

I don’t blame WordPress for this (I never expect too much from ANYTHING anymore), I blame the evil people sending these comments.

SOOOOOO….if you want to say something about a post or to me, send me an email or find me on Facebook. Most of you already do that anyway. And I think thats all I want to say about that.

Now for the FUN stuff: First, I want to show off an image I found of the winner of the Boxpunx contest held way back in Computer Arts Projects #126. The winning model was designed by the super talented DOLLY OBLONG. I have no idea how long ago this was announced, no one ever contacted me to let me know who won, I just kind of stumbled across it while trying to catch up on “what’s new” out there after being away from my computer for so long. If Computer Arts sent me an email, I still have not found it. And if it was announced in an issue, well, I don’t have constant access to their magazines, the book stores near may house only sometimes carry them. I had to drive ALL OVER TOWN to get my copy of #126. So attention kids, just because you are in a magazine doesn’t mean you will ever actually SEE it. Some publications have been gracious enough to send me a copy, others I never heard from again after the work was done. At first I thought it was unusual, but after a while I got used to it. And my experience matches other designers that I know, so whatever. Not a big deal, ultimately.

Either way, Dolly did a great job and congratulations to her, and every one she sent a copy to!

Next up, I want to show off a series of models by my buddy GAVIN STONE, curator of the awesome website CLAN OF THE FANBOYS, and contributing writer to a few others. I also asked him to help with HEAVY PAPER, so if we get back to that ever, he will be a part of it. These models were made just before and during my time spent away (Did I mention I was in the hospital?) and I am happy to finally be posting these! Anyone fond of STAR WARS or SPACE CHANNEL 5?

ULALA:

PURGE:

HAN SOLO:

I think they all turned out awesome! Gavin says he plans to make some other ones as time goes by (including Chewbacca!) and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with! Enjoy the models! Then go check out his site!

Boxpunx series 9: Imaginary monster papercraft (IMPS!) is all cut out and assembled. Now just to take pictures. I do not own a camera so I will continue to get my friend Vin to do me the honors. I don’t expect him to get around to it for a couple more days, but I will continue to bug him every day. I bet we will have something to show by tuesday, maybe wednesday. I am not the only one who has been in less than perfect health, I had face and tooth issues, he has had some back and shoulder issues. He says he is feeling better, after taking even longer off of work than I did, and going to physical therapy. So yeah, lots and lots of fun has been had over the past couple of months.

I think that’s enough posting for now. WordPress is sooooo slooooowwwww when it comes to uploading things so even though this post doesn’t seem very long, it took well over an hour to create.

I will end with a video from THE RUNAWAYS movie by Floria Sigismondi, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning. If you like rock n roll movies, you will definitely like this one. I do, and did. The band was very popular with the “big kids” when I was growing up in the seventies, and was where Joan Jett and Lita Ford got their start. The song is called “Cherry Bomb.” Hot stuff. This type of thing simply does not exist anymore.

At last, I am slowly trying to re-enter society. After a few health issues, money issues, and just sheer exhaustion issues, I again feel healthy, well rested, and all-gamed-out. I still haven’t finished either of the Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest games I mentioned last post, but I did play through the entirety of RED DEAD REDEMPTION. And yeah, I totally dug it. Two kudos! Highly recommended.

Also while I was away, I finally had the revelation I was so desperately searching for. What is Boxpunx series NINE going to look like? Well, I have seen it, and yes, it’s pretty cool! I call them IMPS, which to me means “Imaginary Monster Papercraft”. Expect twelve cute little creatures very soon. I am really proud of both the new model and the designs, but mostly I am proud of the possibilities the new model presents. I don’t want to say too much right now, I am only posting this to build hype!

So, anyway, I did say I wouldn’t post anything till I had made a new model, and since the last post I have made at least 50 models, trying to work the kinks out of the next series. Since they are still not ready to post (I wanna get some photos taken before posting any templates) I will instead post a new “classic” boxpunx model, the next entry into my “endless” series.

I have said before that I don’t typically do requests, but am totally not against being sent them, since there may be a good idea in there somewhere. A gentleman by the name of Tom Demeulemeester sent me one I thought was pretty great. He is a new father and asked if I would make a baby boxpunx! (Again, congratulations Tom!) So here is the baby boxpunx I made, not just for him, but for everyone.

I think it turned out nice and cute, I hope you do too!

There are many other things I could post, but I want to save some of it . Over the next few days I plan to post some of the models that have been sent to me, as well as some other cool things I have seen while I was away. I really want to get back to posting regularly, and I think I have enough material now to do so, so expect a surge in productivity from me as I try to get back into the swing of things.

Oh, and if you didn’t know, the book PAPERTOYS! has been released by MONSA, coutesy of Louis Bou (Thanks Lou!) and it looks absolutely awesome. Tons of photos and models are included within, and even if you can’t read it, it’s still worth picking up if you are a fan of papercraft. Here is the cover. If you click on it, it will take you to Amazon where you can buy it.

Ok, more tomorrow (if all goes as planned!) but for now I leave you with my latest musical obsession CRYSTAL CASTLES. Here is “Xxzcuzx Me”.

And here is “Baptism”. Toatally insane and brilliant.

Wait! One more thing…many people have written me asking about the HEAVY PAPER magazine. It’s true, I think I may have bitten off more than I could chew, since once I started creating the pages, I realized my presentation would take a looooong time to complete. But since work has been done, I think I should try to complete at least the first issue, let everyone see what I did, and see where we go from there. So I plan to return to it, but I really need to dial it back a bit. Too ambitious, perhaps. Maybe the first issue will inspire some people to offer their assistance…..hmmmm….