But why are the pictures gone?

Hello all... Long time no post on here. Seems it's been much easier for me to throw pictures and updates up on my facebook page recently than to come onto here separately to do the same. I kinda feel like I've neglected this blog. (not that I ever said anything interesting, it was mostly for images of work)

Speaking of images.. it also seems like I might have *accidentally* deleted all my photos from one of my Picasa albums, without realising they were actually the images from this blog. All of them.

Oops.

I'm not sure there's an easy quick way to get them all back, and I don't have much time to look into it at the moment (what with painting and sculpting and everything) so my site is just gonna have to look a bit horrible until I manage to sort something out. Maybe I'll just wipe the whole lot and start again... or just scrap it completely. Even if I DO like having a website with my name on it. (what? I'm allowed a BIT of vanity)

Anyway... I'll figure something out, but I can't see me finding and uploading all the pictures from all the posts one by one... that would be a NIGHTMARE.

Anyway... just wanted to say that yes, I know the pictures have vanished... and yes, I'll do something about it. Soon. Ish.

Speak soon! And Don't forget to Like™ my facebook page, I practically live over there.

Darren

Wrath of Khan crew - so far...

As always click for larger pics :)

McCoy 'Wrath of Khan" - FINAL sculpt

Hooray! It's finished.
(now I carry on with the other million things I have to get finished!)

What do you guys think? Does it look like him? I hope so... it almost killed me getting this right (hey! I'm still learning lol)

Anyway... onwards and upwards, more work to do!

Darren x

(as always click for larger pics)

Will Smith "I Am Legend" paint job...

I was sent this Will Smith head to paint up, which is now on its way to a happy customer. I'm very happy with the results. :)

As always click for larger images.

McCoy sculpt updates

This is where I was up to last time... getting there but not 'right'

...and after several months resculpting the entire thing over and over again there is where it had improved to.

These pics are from a while ago now, it's pretty much finished.. just no pics yet. Coming soon!

But hopefully you can see the face is MUCH better. (hair & wrinkles were done after these pics)

now mobile friendly!

Well, we're all using our phones more and more for going online these days (I know *I* am).. so I've finally made my website 'mobile friendly'. Instead of loading the full site with all the graphics and everything it now loads a more simple version that is sized to fit your phone screen perfectly.

You still get all the text and photos I post (all the important stuff!) but now it will load in your phone much quicker and be much easier to navigate.

Enjoy!

Why is the rum gone??!

I was sent the Hot Toys 'Cannibal' Jack Sparrow to repaint a while ago, here's the before and after pics. :)

(as always, click pictures for larger)
BEFORE


AFTER

Game Over Man!

I was sent this headsculpt a long, long time ago to be improved. It's my oldest commission and the customer has been so very patient with me... it's good to finally be making super-fast progress on this. I figured I'd put up a few in progress pics.

ORIGINAL - PRE-CHANGES. (Supposed to look like Hudson from the movie Aliens)

This is the resin head sculpt that was sent to me to be resculpted to be more accurate. For me it didn't really look like him, and had horrible badly sculpted, and wonky eyes.

MY FIRST ATTEMPT.

This is half way through my first go. At this stage I'd never sculpted anything from scratch before (like I do now), and so I was merely re-sculpting the original head by adding bits on and taking bits off with a dremel tool. I was also being very careful to not touch the eyes as, even though they were terrible... I couldn't sculpt eyes! (or so I thought)

I never finished this version, as soon after I would learn that I could indeed sculpt much, MUCH better than this. (When I did the Spock head)

THE CURRENT VERSION.

Once I'd realised I could sculpt PROPERLY, I decided to drop that first head completely and start a TOTALLY NEW ONE from a block of wax. I knew this would give me more control over things like proportion and shape, and also would let me fix those stupid eyes!

This is where it stands at the moment, and already you can hopefully see it has more realistic proportions and a much more 'Hudson' expression!!

"GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER!!"

or maybe..

"WELL WHY DON'T YOU PUT HER IN CHARGE??"

Also it's good to finally be flying through this now making great progress, as this customer has been waiting for FAR too long (indeed it's my oldest commission) and it will be great to get it finished, cast, painted and sent to him!

Another couple of pics of the sculpt, but with some Aliens Marine armour plonked on to give an idea of how it will look.


There's still work to be done on this sculpt obviously, but with the sculpting & painting explosion I'm having at the moment it's great to be making so much progress on so many commissions.

Wow, been a while.. huh??

It was just pointed out to me in an email that I haven't updated this blog for a while. I just came here to have a look, and... JANUARY??

Oops.....

You all know the reason, too much work and not much time to think about blogs and the like. (Plus it's often easier for me to upload pics to my facebook fan page than here). I will vow to remedy this!!

In the meantime, here's a few pics of a recent paint job that went out to a customer. It was sculpted by Sean Dabbs (details here and here) and looks really good when painted. I'm very pleased with it, and thankfully so was Sean! Enjoy.

Back at my desk!

well.... today is the first day back at my desk after what feels like forever off dying from Swine Flu. Today I'll be making a start on my emails and forum messages that piled up while I was ill (I just checked.... 420 of the buggers to go through!!!!), then tomorrow... SCULPTING AND PAINTING. hoorayyyy!!

An apology for my absence.....

I've just managed to drag myself out of the bedroom and crawl into my studio onto the computer to type this. For the last week/longer both myself and my wife have been totally incapacitated in bed with the worse life-draining flu I've ever had. (note: NOT just 'man flu' as we've BOTH had it). We've both been unable to move/no energy, coughing our stomachs up/throwing up, unable to eat, unable to drink...

‎...unable to sleep, having the shakes, feeling too hot, feeling too cold, every muscle aching, even your SKIN hurts, and with the worst feeling head ever. Every slight move of your head results in the whole world spinning making you nauseous. Literally all we could do was try to lie there sweating in our own shivers... but we were unable to do even that.

It has been truly terrible (and isn't over yet... but i HAVE been able to get myself to the computer to type this message to you all)

I know many of you have been waiting for either emails or statues/heads from me.... and annoyingly I was doing them before I got struck down with this. They're all on my desk/computer still... and I promise that as soon as I'm able to concentrate on them without having any shakes I'll get back onto them and get them finished and sent out to you.

I know it seems I've dropped off the face of the earth lately, but... well that's pretty much what has happened! I'll be back with you all soon I hope. (and I hope my wife will too... poor thing) Darren x

More stuff for sale.....

As part of the 'selling stuff to bay for vet fees & bills' thing, here's another couple to add to the list...

First up is the Hot Toys 'Bank Robber' Machine Gun, perfect to use with you DX Joker to get that "come on.. hit me!!!!!" pose. Excellent details on this thing.

CLICK HERE

And secondly it's the one item I never wanted to sell, the amazing EFX Next Generation Mark IX Science Tricorder, as seen in First Contact.

This thing looks amazing in pics & video, but in hand its just unreal. Made of metal, cold to the touch, *heavy!* .... its astounding. I hope it goes to a good home!

Here's the link.... and below is the youtube vid I shot to show it. (the vid is also in the ebay auction)

CLICK HERE

Selling some figures...

As many of you know our pet cat Ollie is slowly dying of kidney failure, so I'm selling some of my figures to help pay for vets fees and other stuff. These are great collectible figures, and I didn't even get a chance to display them so they're literally brand new, and I hope they go to a good home. Click on the pics to be taken to the auctions.

Good luck!!

When technology slows you down.....

To any customers etc waiting for emails from me I apologise, I've had no real computer access for a while (other than this phone) as my old one was dying, and I've spent the last week backing up and copying over to my new replacement machine (different OS just to complicate things). I should be finished by the end of today so I'll get messages started going out from Sunday/Monday. My apologies for the delay.

The Doctor - work in progress

Hot Toys Superman Returns - repainted

Here's the head from the Hot Toys Superman Returns figure, which I was sent to repaint and try to get a better Brandon Routh likeness from it. I honestly didn't know how this would turn out, as I always thought the likness was a bit rubbish... the figure just didn't look like him.

I did my best though to use some sneaky painting to try to change the visual shape of the face, changing the shape of the eyebrows, the lips, the shading on the cheeks and skin, the hairline, and the eyes.... and I was really surprised with myself that it actually looks like him now!!

This is the first of many for a particular good customer of mine (Robert DeNiro is coming up next) and I'm really pleased with how it turned out in the end. Can't wait to show the rest. Hope you like it :)

(as usual, click on the pics for larger)

30 days to go...

Just 30 days to go now.... and I'm only up to 15 miles in my training. It seems I didn't realise that my skeleton just isn't designed to do long distances. My ankles, knees and hip joints start to cripple me with pain after around 10 miles... but I have to keep pushing.

I've got huge blisters on both feet... I've lost one toenail already... and another is about to come off.... Oh my god this is hard work!!

I'm aiming for £500 to give to the two charities (heart disease & epilepsy) - I have £80 so far. Pleeeeeease sponsor me!!! (and remember to tick the 'gift aid' box, the government adds to the donation)

Thank you so much! Hugs to all of you

Darren x

40 days to go....

As I sit here at my desk getting ready to start painting and sculpting for the day, I look at my computer screen and the little countdown widget tells me "40 days 'til the marathon". That's quite a scary thing to read first thing in the morning!

Two days ago (Sunday) I did my longest run ever so far, seventeen miles. And I'm just about recovered now. My muscles don't hurt too much when I walk up and down the stairs, and my joints seem to have forgotten about all the pain they were in for the last 48 hours. This is good news.

I really want to be able to run this marathon 'from start to finish' without needing a single walking break, all 26.2 miles... but that is looking difficult now. My fitness isn't the problem, I think (!) I'll be ready on the day... or at least I'll be able to push through the pain. What is the problem however are my joints, specifically my ankles, knees and hips. You see I'm not designed for running. I was always flat-footed as a child, and as if that wasn't enough I had knock-knees. I still have these things... and when I'm running I look like someone doing a "see how far you can point your knees in and kick your feet out to the side" dance. It's really quite special. Also my knees hit together all the time. And I kick my ankles. Basically my body is telling me "WHAT ARE YOU DOING RUNNING A MARATHON?"

Now I understand that most beginners like myself end up doing lots ofwalking through their first marathon... but I want to run it. The whole five hours. (This is roughly how long I think it will take me)

On my last few runs of 13 & 15 miles I've had to stop because of massive ankle, knee and hip pain and this lasted for more than a week on one occasion leaving me unable to run at all. It's really quite possible that 15 miles is about as far as I can go. But one way or another I WILL complete this marathon. Even if it's my only one (Although I'd like to run many, many more). In order to do this I allowed myself the horror of actually stopping *gasp* during my seventeen mile run. I stopped at 6, 11 and 15 miles in order to grab a drink and some jelly babies (I usually do this 'on the run'), and each time I stopped I did a little stretching for a couple of minutes to hopefully ease out the pain.

When you eventually see the video of this (yes, I've been recording all my training!) you'll see that the pain is still there... boy can you see it.... but the massive upside is that I MADE IT HOME. Seventeen miles. Take that you stupid 'made the wrong shape' body!!!

Now in five days I have to try 19 miles... and I can hear my joints screaming at me already, begging me not to do it and asking me what did they ever do to deserve this?? The simple answer is... I want to run a marathon. I want to achieve something great. Something beyond my reach. And I want to raise £500 for two important charities while I do it. (British Heart Foundation & National Society for Epilepsy)

So if you see someone slowly plodding around a park in Liverpool this Sunday, with a face that looks like he's being stabbed in his leg joints with knitting needles.... allow yourself a little giggle at his expense, and give him a wave!

....not that he'll notice.

BRING ON THE 19 MILES!!!

(go here to donate/sponsor - and help people with epilepsy and heart disease. http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DarrenCarnall - £500 target, £80 so far)

It's been a good week!

Hi folks. This has been a good week in my life, let me tell you why.

As many of you will know, I have epilepsy. Around 14 years ago I was a financial adviser, and my childhood epilepsy that was previously controlled with drugs kicked off again... This resulted in me having to hand in my driving licence and stop working. I started to receive Incapacity Benefit (disability payment for people who can't work through illness).

after years of doing nothing I got so bored that I started to do oil paintings as a hobby, and even sold a few... and for a while I thought I'd be able to turn that into a business, but ultimately it never went anywhere. (not enough people buy original oil paintings)

I'd tried going back to work doing some basic office work for my brother's finance business... photocopying, answering phones, filing stuff... that kind of thing. EASY stuff. But the side effects of my epilepsy were (and still are) so strong, that trying to do more than one (simple) thing at a time.. results in my brain slowing right down to the point where I get confused and forget what I'm doing/where I am etc. It's such a pain... considering what I used to do for a living. Anyway I really wanted to work, so I stuck with it for a whole year... hoping it'd get better, but it didn't.. it just got worse. And eventually the doctors pretty much said "Darren what are you doing, you're going to give yourself seizures again" - and so I gave up.

A few more years passed, and I started to collect 1/6 figures from Sideshow. I'd already repainted a few small 7" Star Trek figures for myself and a few others, but nothing much. My very first 'proper' resculpting and repainting of something was the Anakin Skywalker that I did. And I got so much interest from that from people who wanted me to do custom work for them, that it turned into a nice little 'hobby that occasionally paid'.

Over the last three years the level of work that I've done and the level of interest and requests from people has shot through the roof, to the point where I realised "I could do this for a living... oh my god... this could get me off Benefit... *this* could be what I do for a living!!"

I've been going through the process with the various agencies involved, and on Friday last week, I officially signed the paperwork to sign myself OFF Incapacity Benefit, and am now officially self employed. In charge of my own destiny... or someting lol

more importantly, it's now wholly up to me to bring money into the house. *gulp*

It's both very exciting (VERY!!) and a little scary. No safety net now... this is it, my own business, self employed... all by myself.

and I'm LOVING IT!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all your support during this time! You guys are great!! x

an update (and a bit of an apology)....

Hello everyone!

I'm aware of the fact that I've been a bit slow replying to comments, emails and questions lately... and haven't posted any pictures of any new (or old) work in a little while. Basically every inch of my desk is filled with commissions going back a while, that I'm trying to get through, so I'm putting all my desk time into that.

I'm lucky in that I have the most patient and courteous customers in the world!

I've been putting all the energy from my marathon training into my painting & sculpting, to make me faster and more productive. I'll be finishing and sending out more commissions in the coming months than I have in a long time!! Thanks for being so patient and sticking with me, guys!! Really means a lot!

Darren

x