Here’s my submissions.... who knows maybe this year is my year!! Thanks again Kit for your endeavour. Top man.
CALENDAR UPDATE WHATEVER CAN THIS BE WOT I'M TEASING FOR A BONUS PAGE? Bonus optional Beast Wars upgrade from Shitbot to Shitbat. Yup, that Magnus has INSPIRED ME. Sure it's not a jigsaw (I'm not that mad) but it's gonna be a fully transformable cut out Shitbot! Just waiting on some art to finish it off but the prototype proves it really works!
Annnd saveed @MyTea Boc and @Brum Bot. I think it might be your year Brum, I really like the Galvatron pic, I need to see if I can get portrait to work...
CALENDAR UPDATE OMG. Rebuilding the 1989 Micromasters backgound into vectors for the calendar was an utter ballache. I thought it would be a piece of cake but upon dissecting it I realised how much went into it last year... a lot. Layers and layers of transparencies and all sorts of jiggery pokery went into this background. Not like the 1990 Action Master Backgrounds, they literally took me an hour or something. Whoof. But I'll be honest, the sodding thing looks great. at least the 1989 Decepticon BG should be a piece of cake... only have to recolour stuff and draw a Con symbol in Vectors...
CALENDAR UPDATE. I have been lurking, mainly because I'm cracking away with the Calendar.... Well. I should be but instead I've done a picture to subit to my own calendar. And this is it. Nepotism at it's most extreme? Maybe... I have made it landscape (the exact aspect ratio I need!) and also made it topical (Studio Series Blackout did come out this year). I even crossed it with GI Joe, that's Scarlett, Ripcord and Duke from 'Rise of Cobra' rushing to their doom. Sure it's kinda heavy on the Photoshop... but at least I didn't use the radial blur. And I will be fair, it'll only keep as long as it's one of the best 6 Decepticon themed pics... because y'know. 6 pages are Autobot themed.
CALENDAR UPDATE. So, the 1989 Decepticon background has been completely rebuilt, meaning all the current backgrounds have been redone. Doing the faction symbols in vectors took me longer than simply farming jpgs of the internet but now it means I can scale it with absolutely no loss in quality! I have to make a completely new background... and right now I'm not 100% sure which yet. Then comes the really long part, doing each page month by month and putting all the dates in... Hmmm. That reminds me, I need a gif in there.
CALENDAR UPDATE Whelp, this one is a big one. All the existing backgrounds used in previous calendars have been rebuilt and (as I have every year) I've done a new background, which this time is 1992 late G1 Europe! Thusly with placeholders from this years @Sixo and @Avon you can expect the 2019 calendar to look a bit like this. The colours are a bit super saturated (oh the joys of working in CMYK and then exporting to JPEGs which prefer RGB) but you get the gist. As great as this is though, it's probably not the most epic thing to come out of this calendar. Remember I was doing a 3D cutout of Shitbot? Well, I've managed to rope in @scubaboy31 to provide line art for him and guess what? OMFG this is AMAZING. I need to colour it but yeah, that's one of the bonus pages. I can't wait for this thing to be finished now. Which brings me back to submissions, if you want your pic to be in the 2019 calendar please submit them to me for consideration! Bribes are also gratefully accepted. Edit Saved @Sponge!
CALENDAR UPDATE OK, so I was struggling a bit to come up with something new for the Calendar cover, but last night inspiration hit me and I cracked on with it today... BEHOLD! Marvel UK issue #113 Geoff Senior Shitbot homage! The logo needs tweaking but yeah this came out pretty darn OK I think. Back cover to go (and 2 more bonus items) and I reckon we're good to go! Also, still need picture submissions! It's been quite slow this year!
Hi Kit, couple of alternative shots to the Turbomasters one I submitted in case you wanted something a bit more seasonal for the winter months
CALENDAR UPDATE Whelp, aside from picture choices the calendar is nearing completion! The lastest hurdle to jump was instructions for the build a Shitbot. I reckon they're clear enough right? Anyway once I've finished the back page I will (officially) start taking preorders! Which should be soon. If you do want to preorder make sure I respond to you, that means I've noted your name on the list!
CALENDAR UPDATE. Okies, this is gonna be a big update...! Everything... is done. Bar the credits, the odd tweak (and the pictures of course) you can pretty much expect the calendar to look a wee bit like this... *Phew* Toldja it was a big update. The cover, 12 months, bonus page and back cover are all finished! I will also be including a full size top trump Shitbot card (because last years card is undersized like the rest of them) so you can play with Shitbot in the card game, but you don't need to see that card again do you? I must say, I wasn't sure I could top last years calendar (with it's rediculous hidden code and prize), but y'know what? I reckon I have. I've shoved in a (easier) code for fun, rammed in a few references, not only is the cover a homage to issue 113 of the Marvel UK comic it's also referencing my favourite restaurant from when I was a kid (Bernii Inn!). I still have the FREE #113 from then... but it is a bit battered these days. I must also give a hearty thanks to @scubaboy31 for the sterling work he did on the art for the Shitbot cutout. So, the only thing left to do is select pictures to stick in the calendar, and I will be accepting submissions until the 31st of October! If you want, send me your favourite picture you've done this year for consideration! Also, because everything is done preorders are NOW OPEN. The price 'should' be £15 plus p&p but I will confirm this tomorrow when I chat to the printers and confirm. If you want a calendar please PM me and I will add you to the list. Make sure I respond to you, if I don't it probably means I haven't added you to the list.
CALENDAR UPDATE In a nutshell. I have to make a test Shitbot, to test that it will actually work. A prototype if you will. I've printed a paper one out and it's been sitting there for a while but I've not had the urge. Earlier however, I was using some clear plastic packaging to make clear diamonds for my kids... which got me thinking. I have a Laser Printer don't I? And Laser printers can print onto plastic...? It wasn't as trouble free as I would have liked, the 'sheet' of A4 plastic went in OK but the laser printer heated up the plastic so much (to set the toner) it completely scrunched inside the printer as it went around the back. And then it cooled down and stayed scrunched up... whups. Error, paper jam... However, the miracle of STEAM flattened much of it out (seriously) and then I put it inside some grease proof paper and used an iron to do the rest. So, it's taken around 4 hours but here's clear Shitbot in all his glowry. Ghost Shitbot? Shitbot shows off his features! Look, his arms are articulated! His chest is hinged to reveal the detail beneath! Optional Beast Wars upgrade wings! And of course, he's fully 'transformable'. So Shitbot can definitely be done, but I will say this though it's hella fiddly.
CALENDAR UPDATE. Just a quick FYI to those interested, I just read the email from my printers (which was sent on the 8th... bad tikgnat) and the cost of the calendar is the same as last year! Which is £15 plus £1.74 (total £16.74) Picture submissions are up on the 31st, after that I will decide which pictures will be used where in the calendar and I will post the final result! Order deadline for the calendar is Nov 30. Please get your order (and payment of £16.74) to me by then, otherwise you will not get a calendar. Calendars are printed to order and there will be no more after this initial run!
