Brainsynch: Dominic Qwek

Artist Dominic Qwek may be a newcomer to the Garage Kit hobby, but he's no novice when it comes to being an artist. Dominic has been a 3D artist for the gaming industry for a number years, and he's been working for one of the biggest companies in the industry, Blizzard, since 2008.








Dominic's recent foray into the GK hobby has resulted in a very nice 1/6th. scale resin bust titled, "Brainsynch". I was immediately attracted to the character for it's Guyver and Kamen Rider qualities. When I began painting the bust I very consciously wanted to avoid ending up with a Guyver styled paint scheme in terms of color. However, as I worked on it here and there after work it slowly but surely started to adopt that very look. So I had to step it down a few notches, grunge it up, and this is what I came up with.


Brainsynch is Dominic's first sculpture to be printed in 3D, and if it's any indication of what will be on the horizon, then hobbyists who are fond of original designs will be in for one Hell of a treat indeed. Be sure to have a look at Dominic's website, www.dominicqwek.com

The skull... of a Locust Grenadier

Luis de la Fuente, the sculptor of monster skulls.

Ever wonder what those cinematic beasts look like on the inside with their leathery hide, layers of bulging muscle and alien blood stripped away? Nothing left but the smiling, gleaming skull. Luis is like the Predator hunter (yeah, he sculpted one of those, too): he collects the skulls of monsters from all over the universe and realizes them in clay to reveal them in all their ossified glory.

Here's my painted version of Luis' most recent skullpture, the Locust Grenadier, from the Gears of War game.

Buddies

Like many of us, the Christmas season really wears me down; namely in financial regards. To try and remedy this I've made it a point to come up with creative gift ideas that won't break my fragile checking account; something I enjoy to do like painting, and I began giving gifts like that to my daughter several years ago. I bought a few pre-painted statues of horses, stripped and re painted them, and after painting horses for her as gifts two years in a row I decided on a different creative gift: a drawing.

Knowing that my daughter is an animal lover to the core, I again focused on that. I've taken hundreds of photos of her showing animals at a local 4-H competition over recent years. Last summer I took quite a few that turned out really nicely. I found one that just sung to me. This particular photo I liked so much because of the ambiguous expression on her face. I couldn't quite figure out what she might be thinking of. Without a doubt she was in full showmanship mode, but there was much more than thoughts of victory going on in there.

Drawing is a skill I've not nurtured more than twice in the last ten years, so I was nervous about how my sketch would turn out. But I brought it to finish, framed it and gave to her on Christmas Eve, and the look on her face... " It's Buddy ! ", she exclaimed. She was so Happy...


...and so was I... :)