Ben,

assuming you are referring to me.

I honestly didnt' read the rules. when you posted, I went back to the site and checked and realized it did say the eyes are supposed to be covered. my bad I suppose.

as for customizers checking egos and thinking about the toy, history, subject matter, theme, purpose, etc..... i'm not sure what you mean. it's a custom show. We customize the Debris Japan figure. Abe sent me a note and told me he loves it.

what's the problem?

It's a great custom, and you definitely put some hard work into it. I've just been really noticing and frustrated lately with custom shows with artists that 99% resculpt the subject matter or don't take the time to think at all about what the point of the show is, besides their own self-pimpage. When I saw the contest, the first thing I did was check the rules and whatnot, and I found it really fun to work within those guidelines to make something interesting while following those constraints. Some people just don't operate that way, I guess.

Ben,

I understand what you're saying, but I think we have different views on what a custom show means. When I think about customizing a toy, I like to see something that is so different from the original toy that it's hardly noticable. To me, that's the entire point of customizing. To take something and make it entirely different. a good example is when your buddy Matt from Onell take a toy, puts it on it's side, cuts a bunch of stuff and makes it a vehicle for his Glyos figures. I love that. Of course, you still see the essence of the original toy, but completely in a different context.

I totally understand both points of view.

I've taken various art courses in the past. Typically, we were given some sort of guidelines to follow for each assignment. During my first few experiences, I was so anal about the guidelines, I worried my ass off that I might have done something which could be considered a break in the rules, resulting in a poor grade or a harsh critique from my professor and my peers. Come critique day, I found that more often than not, people would break the rules one way or another, and more often than not, it would work to their benefit. At first it was upsetting, I would think, "what the hell man, my ideas were limited because I was under the impression that we weren't allowed to do that." Eventually, I just took it as a cue to break the rules myself from time to time. From my personal experience, when it comes to art, it would seem rules are indeed made to be broken. However, when it comes to a contest or a competition such as this where a prize is involved, I guess it would be pretty frustrating if the winner didn't follow the rules, while the ideas of others were limited due to following the set constraints laid out for the project.

I don't agree with the comment in regards to artists only thinking about their own "self-pimpage." Well, maybe I agree to an extent with the comment, but the way in which it was stated was a little demeaning, as if artists shouldn't express themselves through the use of copyright media without full consideration of the artist of the contributing media's true vision or intention. In the past, custom shows have been an opportunity for artists to take hold of a model and make it their own, "pimping out" a toy in their own fashion, or in cases like Kirkland's entry, making a memorable homage to a figure from popular culture the community can really touch base with. I don't think entries would be nearly as exciting to look forward to if artists didn't take this approach. Don't get me wrong though, it's awesome when an artist can pay respect to another artist's work, working in line or making reference to the original concept or subject matter, building on the lore, but it would get old really fast if everyone took this approach.

Following the rules or no, Kirkland's version of Debris Japan is downright spectacular. Bravo.

Bert's entry doesn't have the eyes covered, and it's up on the site.

I'm sure the Debris guys don't mind as long as there's badass work to be submitted. And although you have a badass custom, toybot.... I highly agree with this:

.... maybe you could've gave him some crazy ass looking goggles?

i didn't enter this show to "win" anything so if i'm disqualified because I didn't cover the eyes, it won't bother me a bit.

Well...Kirkland's piece is up as well. So I guess it doesn't matter if the eyes are covered or not. If it's such a big deal, then Restore would have DQ'ed both entries...along with 2 other entries (one from Atom.a)... And if it really is such a big deal, then you could always write to Restore and tell them to take down 4 entries. There's probably going to be more coming since the date is pushed out.

Oh come on, that's as poor an excuse as 'haters gonna hate'. You didn't catch the machine-translated and easy to miss rule, no big deal. Don't play it off like you 'just don't care'... you took the time to make a great figure, and felt it was worth submitting to the site. Don't back-peddle because someone called you out. Own your (good) custom and tell me 'fuck the rules' or 'Yeah, I missed that part'.




I agree that shows/contest/whatever serve as a place to celebrate both the medium and the artist. I just take a more conservative view, where I think we've gotten so coddle-ey that anyone can submit anything, and we never ever dare tell them 'hey I don't really think that fits the spirit of the show' or 'hey, I can't even ID the toy you started out with' for fear of burning a bridge or losing some points. Can a custom that you can barely recognize the base model of be awesome? Of course. I just also think that customs with a little extra conscientiousness or extra thought to do something interesting within a set of constraints can be really great, and they offer an interesting challenge that is rarely tackled by most customizers today.

I gotta finish mine up so I can take some pics. I'm gonna trow him in a sack and just cut out the feet and hands to make sure there are no issues with covering the eyes

I think you guys need to let the judges judge. This is just a contest for fun. Paint / modify the guy however you like and submit. I honestly like everything I have seen so far. Bens, kirklands both are bad ass in their own ways.

Lets not make this a pissing contest. When do we get the chance to do a contest like this anymore. Lets just enjoy it and not get so hell bent on the details none of us are even judging.

Separated at birth...

Thats what I'm talking bout !

RESTORE CONTEST RULES:

"Basically, please hide eyes and the contents of fundoshi (Japanese underwear) of DEBRIS JAPAN. (But it doesn't necessarily mean you must use a blindfold & fundoshi.) If these parts were hidden, there's no problem anyway."

So all this fighting about not using the blindfold or fundoshi is for nothing.

Great job to everyone that submitted.

Nobody said it had to be a blindfold. Also, nobody's trying to start a fight. Why is a criticism automatically assumed to be hostile? I thought we were having an interesting discussion on different ways to approach customizing, while ignoring the people who can't bear to see anything besides '+1' comments.

I don't get it, I know the surprise under the loin clothe. I think we all do as it's been posted, even if we haven't held the toy. So I get don't show that. But the eyes, maybe I'm missing something, they look pretty standard, what you'd expect under the blind fold, no big surprise.

There's some good use of dry-brushing on Bert's piece. Check the hair and the close-up of the head.

I'm not back peddling.

I was merely responding to HBcoffin's comments that it would be "frustating if the winner didn't follow the rules..."

I didn't follow the rules because I didn't really pay attention and I also don't really give a fuck. the two are not mutually exclusive.

would it really make you feel better if I put on the blindfold on and re-submitted pictures?

Maybe the other 3 entries should do the same as Kirkland and put the blindfolds on as well
I mean if it really is bothersome, write to Restore and tell them those 4 entries should be removed. Kirkland wasn't the first one to submit without the blindfold. There were 3 others before him.

Haha, it's very hard to determine tone over the internet unfortunately.

In regards to the apparent over acceptance of everything that's thrown up, there's plenty of people who are willing to step in and give some constructive criticism, but they are definitely outweighed by the excessive amount of praise going on. It is due to this imbalance that when someone does come forward to say they don't like something, or that it could have been executed better, they come off as being rude. However, they may be a little more aggressive with their words in disbelief of the excessive praise given to what they consider to be a poor execution, resulting in what would be defined as rude behavior. People just need to learn how to properly give and accept criticism (myself included, I'm a person who's guilty of taking things to the heart in my personal life).

Kirkland, your custom is incredible! Regardless of whether or not it would be considered fair to declare you or anyone else who overlooked the guidelines the winner, if I were judging, it'd be hard to not take the work you put forth consideration. My favorite so far, alongside this here Genie:

This 'Berserker Oni' just went up, and it's probably the best entry yet. I was really hoping the garage kit crowd would make the jump from resin to vinyl like Restore did, and embrace this figure. Debris Japan has such a model kit sensibility to it, and this guy (who's name machine translates to 'Decomposing Dog', which sounds about right for a garage kit firm) nailed it. The skin tone and the clarity of the details is incredible. Just a tour de force of finely tuned paintwork.

I would have liked it better without the blood.

I gotta agree with Rich... or maybe just less blood... but yes, Ben, I also hoped to see some GK guys get in on it, so this entry is awesome to see. And while I'm here, killer work all around by the 'brainers who've entered! Looking forward to seeing yours in full, Rich...

Whoa. Knuckles entry is amazing.

http://www.restore-created.com/entries-gallery/#