FANARTI STUDIOS FANTASTIC PORTRAITS

The talented Matt Farra created a customized portrait for this Geek Daddy to demonstrate the impressive works available through his Fanarti Studios online store on Etsy.com. Ever imagined what you would look like as a Star Wars Jedi, Star Trek Captain or student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry? Submit a photograph of yourself, a family member or friend to Fanarti Studios and Matt will customize a hand drawn illustration with the face from your submitted picture incorporated into one of a number of templates you can choose from. What a great way to immerse yourself in your fanship of Harry Potter, Star Wars or Star Trek.

I am one with the Force and the Force is with me. I choose a Star Wars template depicting the prequal era Obi-Wan Kenobi for my Fanarti Studios portrait that shows me as a Jedi. Attempting to do my best to replicate the look on the face of Obi-Wan, my wife snapped a picture of me to send over to Matt. He then replaced Kenobi's face with a hand drawn sketch of my own. 

Voila! I have a nice piece of artwork depicting me as one of the last Jedi preparing to take on the villainous Darth Vader in an effort to save the Galaxy from the Sith. I was so geeked for the opportunity to be portrayed as a Jedi in a quality piece of artwork!

You can purchase just a digital image to be sent to your or pay a bit extra to have Matt send you the image printed on High Quality Lustre Paper. Framing isn't included so you'll need to pick out one on your own. If you are interested in seeing yourself as a Jedi, head over to Fanarti Studios on Etsy and use code JEDI30 to get a 30% discount off your order. Let Matt know you saw his artwork on ageekdaddy.com! 

Templates you can choose from include a Star Wars Jedi like in my portrait or a Luke Skywalker inspired Rebel pilot suit; Harry Potter inspired images including Hogwarts' school uniforms and quiddich robes; and a variety of Star Trek scenes depicting the Captain's Chair on a number of different starships. Which of these custom portraits would you like to see yourself in? There is also the option to have Star Trek or the Wizarding World of Harry Potter personalized caricatures drafted up. There is even an option to have a cartoon of your pet sketched into a caricature with you. 

With so many impressive options to choose from it may be hard to select just one. With the reasonable pricing for this artwork it is reasonable and affordable to order a number of customized personal caricatures and portraits from Fanarti Studios. I'm thinking of getting portraits done of myself as a Star Trek Captain and my daughter as a Hogwarts student as well as a caricature of my son as Harry Potter. So many awesome templates to choose from!

Matt Farra has absolutely earned a Geek Daddy nod of approval for the hands on approach to catering to his cliental, excellent customer service and impressive art. Head over to Etsy and check out his portfolio for yourself. His work is FAN-tastic!

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 100

After eight years of adventures, the heroes in a half shell have shown enough turtle power to reach a milestone issue in their IDW Publishing comic book series. Arriving on store shelves on this New Comic Book Day (Wednesday, December 11, 2019) is TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #100. It wraps up loose ends from a number of story arcs, ends the journey of one significant character, and opens up new directions for the future of other characters as the series moves forward into future issues. This extra-sized 50 page comic book is a must to pick up for TMNT fans and comic book collectors.

Let's flip through the covers leading up to TMNT #100:



Plus check out this cover art created by original TMNT co-creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. It is the first time in decades that the two have collaborated. But this is just the beginning as it has just been announced the two will be co-collaborating on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles story arc for IDW Publishing coming out next summer titled The Last Ronin. There is a sneak peak at the end of TMNT #100 so make sure to flip through all the way to the back page of the comic book to see it.

There is a lot going on in TMNT #100: CITY AT WAR -- THE END. Shredder has been separated from his head and Karai has replaced the deceased warrior as leader of the Foot Clan. While this is going on a Mutagen bomb has been detonated over New York City by another villain creating hundreds of new mutants. And they aren't all as friendly as the Turtles!

Master Splinter and a bunch of orphaned children are being held hostage in the Foot Clan's headquarters. The Turtles partner with an android named Bishop and his armed force of militants on a rescue mission only to be double crossed. So it is total anarchy as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles must battle through menacing mutants, Bishop's forces, and the Foot Clan in an effort to rescue Master Splinter and the orphans he is caring for. Of course Bebop and Rocksteady aren't going to miss out on this battle royal.

If that isn't enough an immortal witch has created a headless zombie Shedder as part of a magical ritual to summon a giant dragon. As a humongous dragon emerges over New York City have the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles finally met their match? Holy Chalupa! This comic book is certified turtlefied!

I'm not going to give any spoilers as everything I've mentioned has been led up to in recent issues building up to #100. So grab yourself a slice of pizza and pick up TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #100 from your local comic book shop. You can find stores carrying the issue at comicshoplocator.com. You can also purchase print and digital editions online at idwpublishing.com

BUDSIES PLUSH CREATIONS

Wow! What kid wouldn't love having his or her doodles and drawings turned into a toy that can be hugged and played with?! Thanks to a service called Budsies children's artwork can be transformed into custom stuffed animals and other plush creations. Budsies brings to life children's creativity and imagination through a personalized experience that provides boys and girls with cherished play companions that are sure to become memorable childhood keepsakes.

The nice folks at Budsies reached out to ageekdaddy.com challenging my son and daughter to dream up their very own plush creations to share with our audience. Challenge accepted! They had a fun evening drawing up all sorts of ideas. Magical creatures from fantasy lands, new Pokémon video game characters, and comic book style super heroes were all ideas that were sketched up by the kids.

My son finally settled on a dinosaur that he imagined up named REXY. Combining characteristics from a variety of his favorite, REXY is a dinosaur that is both fierce and friendly. He decided to create REXY because we had recently enjoyed a day full of dinosaur themed activities and my son thought his Budsies plush creation would be a nice way to keep reminding him of the fun times our family spends together.

My daughter loves flowers so she decided to create one that could be snuggled. Inspired by the "bud" in Budsies, she created a budding sunflower. Her plush creation shows a sunny disposition and highlights its cool personality by wearing shades and showing a warm smile. Loving a good hug, her sunflower also has welcoming leaves that resemble outstretched arms. She is so excited that unlike the plants in her garden this is a flower that can be cuddled with.

With their drawings complete, I scanned the artwork then submitted it to budsies.com. From there the company has designers that craft unique plush toys inspired by the drawings we submitted. They then create a custom 16" tall stuffed animal or doll that is promised to be incredibly detailed based upon the imagery that they received. Orders can also be upgraded to enhance the size of your plush creation by super-sizing it to 30" tall. 

We stuck with the 16" variety but I did enhance our order with Budsies "Sneak Peek" upgrade option. This had Budsies send me a picture when our plush were completed. With this upgrade, I was able to take a look at our Budsies before they were shipped out to us and suggest revisions to the products.

So I just received our Sneak Peek and have to say the kids' Budsies look perfect! I didn't need to request any changes and authorized them to send us our custom plush creations right away. Check out our Budsies Sneak Peek for yourself:

The kids haven't seen these photos yet. I'm going to let my son and daughter be surprised by how great these plush toys turned out when the packages arrived and we unbox them. Of course, I'll be sharing this experience with all of you when our Budsies actually arrive and provide a close up look of the actual REXY and SUNFLOWER when my kids get their hands on them right here at ageekdaddy.com.

Free book of Marvel comic art paying tribute to classic Hip-Hop album covers being distributed in January

As part of its effort to appeal to a younger and more diverse audience of readers, when Marvel relaunched its comic book universe with an all new lineup of titles this fall it included in its branding efforts a series of variant covers that pay homage to classic hip-hop albums for all of its #1 issue releases. In the comic book industry, a variant cover is when an issue is distributed with multiple covers each featuring unique art for consumers to choose from but the same story inside. There will be a primary cover which has artwork that relates to the story of the issue and than variant covers that may be based on a special theme  or highlighting work by various artists which are meant to either gain the attention of potential new readers who may be more interested in the subject on the cover than the story inside (but once they read the story may want to pick up the next issue) or be a more exclusive item for collectors than the main run of the comic book.  Variant covers are nice in that they really focus on the art aspect of the comic book genre and that they often have some really cool images that are great for framing to decorate a room or for enhancing a collection to make it a bit more interesting and unique.  Some recent variant cover themes by various publishers have included replicating action figure toy packaging covers, classic movie posters, monsters to tie-in with Halloween, 1980s Saturday morning cartoon characters, and WWII recruitment posters.

Marvel's most recent variant campaign takes the album artwork from artists like Dr. Dre, De La Soul, Lauryn Hill and Vanesa Del Rey and re-envisions it portrayed by characters from its comic book universe.  For example 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Trying" is remixed and featured on the hip-hop variant cover of Invincible Iron Man #1.

For those people interested in viewing and collecting Marvel's run of hip-hop inspired variant covers and didn't get around to picking up the individual issues featuring the art work you will want to swing by your local comic book store in January.  Participating retailers will be giving away a FREE 32-page comic book that will feature 14 of these hip-hop inspired variant covers on January 6, 2016.  The artwork in the book will include:

Invincible Iron Man / 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Trying"

Doctor Strange / Dr. Dre's "The Chronic"

Ms. Marvel / Lauryn Hill's "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill"

Extraordinary X-Men / De La Soul's "3 Feet High and Rising"

Amazing Spider Man / Tribe Called Quest's "Midnight Maruaders"

Web-Warriors /  Clipse's "Lord Willin"

Captain America - Sam Wilson / A$AP Rocky's "Long Live A$AP

Sneak Peak at Upcoming Princess Leia Comic Book Mini-Series

Marvel Entertainment will focus the reintroduction of its publishing STAR WARS titles in 2015 (they originally had the licensing rights from 1977 through 1986) with three new comic books - a Star Wars ongoing monthly series beginning in January, a Darth Vader ongoing monthly series beginning in February and a 5 issue Princess Leia mini-series beginning in March.  Here's a sneak peek courtesy of StarWars.com at the first few pages from the first issue of the upcoming PRINCESS LEIA mini-series written Mark Waid (Daredevil) with artwork by Terry Dodson (Uncanny X-Men):

 

The first issue of the mini-series begins with the medal ceremony that took place at the conclusion of the film A New Hope ( aka the original Star Wars movie).  The theme of this comic book mini-series will be on how does Leia handle being a princess for a world that no longer exists. Waid discussed the plot in an interview he did with StarWars.com about Marvel's new publications:

"So it's a five-issue story that takes her across the galaxy in search of others of her kind to try and pull them together," Waid says. "Of course, some of them are going to be suspect, because they suspect this could be some sort of weird trap by the Empire. Some of them are going to be very angry, as they rightly or wrongly blame the house of Organa for what happened. Obviously, Leia will be traveling as low profile as she possibly can. If and when the Empire gets wind of the fact that Leia is doing is this, they're going to be very interested themselves in what she's doing, what she thinks she's doing, and what information there is to be mined from these people."

PRINCESS LEIA #1 will be available to read in March, 2015.

Download a FREE Alternative Cover for your Guardians of the Galaxy Blu-ray or DVD Case

I've heard a lot of people refer to Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy movie as the Star Wars for today's generation.  Inspired by that premise, artist Matt Ferguson created a mashup of the 1977 Tom Jung theatrical poster for Star Wars with a Guardians of the Galaxy spin to it.  He is providing a FREE download of this artwork as a custom jacket cover you can place on your very own Blu-ray or DVD case.  Matt did an incredible job with this artwork and if you are a Star Wars fan who also enjoyed Guardians this is a must have.  Just remember this is for your own personal use only - download it, print it out, and attach it to your blu-ray or dvd case - please don't take advantage of it for any other purpose.

CLICK HERE to download your FREE alternative cover for Guardians of the Galaxy Blu-ray/DVD cases.  If you like Matt's artwork follow him on twitter @Cakes_Comics and tweet him a compliment or a thank you for the free jacket cover artwork. And if you haven't bought Guardians of the Galaxy on blu-ray or dvd yet CLICK HERE to do that now.

Marvel Provides a First Look at New Darth Vader Comic Book Series

Beginning in February 2015, Marvel Comics will begin publishing a monthly serial titled Darth Vader. The Dark Lord of the Sith will be featured in his own ongoing series which begins at the ending of Star Wars: A New Hope ( aka Episode III, aka the original Star Wars movie) and will focus on the war with the Rebel Alliance from the Empire's perspective.

I'd been excited about Marvel Comics new Star Wars series until I recently saw that the first issues were priced at $4.99.  Buying these comics at $5 a pop on a regular basis was a prospect I was having some second thoughts about.  Fortunately, I found out that the issues will be regularly priced at $3.99 which while that is still somewhat pricey it is the current industry average for a comic book.  The reason for the price increase I noticed was that Issue #1 for both the new Star Wars and Darth Vaders series will be 48 pages while subsequent issues will be $3.99 for 32 pages.  For Darth Vader's launch in February it also appears that both Issue #1 and #2 will both be published that month to kick off the title.

Marvel recently announced that the Darth Vader series will be written by Kieron Gillen and its artwork will be by Salvador Larroca.  They also posted for fans the image below along with a gallery of artwork from the Darth Vader series on Marvel.com.  CLICK HERE to view the full gallery.

ISSUE #1 - 48 PGS./Rated T …$4.99
ISSUE #2 - 32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
On sale in February 2015!

November is "LEGO MONTH" for DC Comics

DC Comics is going LEGO in November! Twenty-two of its comic book titles will have variant LEGO covers in addition to the standard print versions of the edition that month.  Why?  Well it could be that DC likes to create multiple cover art variants to encourage more collectors to buy additional issues each month.  It could be that DC knows that LEGOs are cool and a hot property right now with Millennials and a tie-in would help increase attention with young consumers who the industry really needs to increase sales with .  The correct answer though is that a new video game LEGO BATMAN 3: BEYOND GOTHAM is being released in November and DC is looking to help promote its sale through these comic book covers.

So if you want to see your favorite characters LEGOized stop by your local comic book store in November to check them out.  Note the covers will feature the LEGO artwork but the actually comic book stories will be the traditional portrayal of the characters.

Monthly variant themes is becoming a trend for DC Comics.  In July the publisher featured 75 variant covers across its titles to celebrate Batman's 75th anniversary; August has a "Selfie" photo theme; in September they will have 3-D motion covers with a Futures End theme; and in October they are going with a Halloween theme and will have Monster variations for a number of its titles (check out one of the Monster covers below). Than it is LEGO in November. Enjoying the artwork on covers is a favorite part of my collecting...you just have to be disciplined and not buy too many issues just for multiple covers but rather just pick up the ones you really like.  Most of these variants won't be worth anything to sell as collectibles so you need to purchase them for your personal enjoyment; but I'll also note having a collection filled with interesting covers makes the hobby a whole lot more fun in my opinion.

CONTEST: Show us your Child's Vision of the Land of OZ

Submit a Drawing by your Child

for a chance to win

LEGENDS OF OZ: DOROTHY'S RETURN

Bluray-DVD-Digital Download Prize Pack

Munchkins, Flying Monkeys, Talking Scarecrows, and Wicked Witches were just a few elements that captured my imagination as a child when watching the 1939 classic movie the Wizard of Oz.  I remember wondering in my youth what other fantastic creatures and characters might also live in that magical land that never made it onto the silver screen. My grandmother's fridge was covered with pictures filled with my images of the wonderful land of Oz and as class writing projects I submitted to teachers a few essays that were my take at sequels to the story originally crafted in L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel. 

This year there is a new motion picture that has been released featuring the land of OZ to inspire a new generation of fans. LEGENDS OF OZ: DOROTHY'S RETURN hit movie theaters this spring and will be released for home video on August 26, 2014.  Kids of all ages will love this musical animated journey back to the magical world of Oz that features a number of recognizable voices including Lea Michele from TV's "Glee," comedian Dan Akroyd, Martin Short the voice of PBS Kids' "Cat in the Hat,"  Patrick Stewart aka Captain Picard from "Star Trek: The Next Generation,"Kelsey Grammar of "Fraser" fame, and many more talented actors and actresses.  The  film's plot involves a devious new villain, the Jester, who rules over Oz.  Dorthy must return from Kansas to rescue her old friends: the Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man.  Set to some great songs from Academy Award-nominated singer/songwriter Bryan Adams and full of delightful new characters this animated return to Oz that is sure to become a family-favorite movie.

For a chance to win a free Bluray / DVD / Digital Download prize pack send in your son, daughter, niece, nephew, or grandchild's impression of Oz.  Submit a picture drawn, colored or painted by a child between the ages of 3 and 15 that shows how Oz appears in his or her imagination.  You can earn up to 2 entries by emailing pictures to thegeekdaddy [at] yahoo [dot] com before 11:59 EST pm on Monday, August 25th, 2014.

ENTRY #1  email a work of art created by a child between the ages of 3 and 15 that portrays the wonderful land of Oz.  Submissions shall constitute a waiver by the entrant that they have the child's parent or guardian's permission to submit the art work on behalf of the child and that the picture may be published on this blog and on social media such as Twitter, Google+, Instagram & Facebook.  Entries must be submitted by a resident of US or Canada over the age of 18 and include the child's first name, child's age, adult's full name and mailing address.

ENTRY #2  if artwork submitted in ENTRY #1 is shared by A GEEK DADDY BLOG in a blog post or via our social media outlets such as Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and Facebook prior to the contest's conclusion that submission shall receive a second entry.  Selection for ENTRY #2 is entirely at the discretion of A GEEK DADDY BLOG.

The final winner will be selected by a random drawing of all eligible entries.  The quality of the artwork will not be judged.

To help sweep up your child's imagination towards the Land of Oz our friends over at Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment have provided some fun activity sheets that can be downloaded to inspire them.

 

DISCLAIMER: All valid entries will be assigned a number and one random entry will be chosen to receive the Oz movie combo pack. You must be a US or Canadian resident to enter over the age of 18.  For a chance to win submit your entries before Monday, August 25th, 2014 @ 11:59pm EST.  A Geek Daddy Blog will select the random winner on Tuesday, August 26. A Geek Daddy Blog will be responsible for selecting the winner of this contest, but TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT is responsible for providing the prize and its delivery to the winner.  By participating in this contest you waive any liability towards A Geek Daddy Blog or its publisher that may arise from your involvement with this promotion.  Only one entrant per mailing address per A GEEK DADDY BLOG giveaway.  If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win again.  Winner is subject to eligibility verification.  P.O. Boxes are not allowed as mailing addresses for this contest.  E-mails collected are only used to notify winners and are deleted after the conclusion of this promotion. E-mails collected are not used for any marketing purposes.  By submitting an entry you allow us to post your name on this blog and its social media channels announcing you as the winner if you are selected to receive the giveaway prize.  Normal policy is to post the first name, last initial and state where the winner resides in such announcements. By submitting to this contest you acknowledge you have permission to submit artwork on behalf of a minor and grant us permission to publicize such artwork on this blog and through other social media platforms displaying the submission and listing the child's first name and city of residence.

A Geek Daddy Blog did not receive financial compensation for this post and hosting the contest, but did receive complimentary movie combo packs for it to review the movie and to utilize as a prize for this contest.

#OzInsiders

Wouldn't it be cool to be a professional Etch-A-Sketchist? Woman turns passion for Etch-A-Sketch into a career

One of the best ways to develop a successful career is to find a niche for yourself that you have a passion for.  I recently met Jane Labowitch, at Disney's "On the Road" Bloggers Conference in Chicago, who has taken that advice to heart turning her love of the classic Etch-A-Sketch into a professional career. Jane travels the country under the moniker Princess Etch-A-Sketch attending corporate events, private parties, and other happenings where she is booked to create one of a kind portraits of guests or to provide interesting creations for people to enjoy.  At the Disney "On the Road" event I attended, Princess-Etch-A-Sketch was re-creating popular scenes from Disney movies and provided one lucky winner whose name was pulled out of a hat (well Mickey Ears to be specific) with a personalize portrait.

While it would probably take me a few hours to draw a crude stick figure recreation of the Shootout at the OK Corral on an Etch-a-Sketch, Labowitch can create highly detailed caricatures of people within 5-7 minutes and can normally handle doing 10-12 per hour at an event.  She has a process in place so that once the drawing is completed it can't be erased and people can take home an Etch-a-Sketch she provides them with their portrait on it as a nice fun momento.  In addition to creating people's portraits, Labowitch can be commissioned to create art exhibits featuring unique images displayed on Etch-a-Sketch boards that will amaze and wow people.

Labowitch has been tinkering with etch-a-sketch's since she was 4 years old.  All the time she spent playing with the toy helped inspired an interest in art which led to her graduating from the American Academy of Art in Chicago with a BFA in illustration.  Once she had her degree, Labowitch turned to her passion with Etch-a-Sketch that led her down an artistic path in life to create a career.   Since launching Princess Etch-A-Sketch, Jane has been booked for events across the country ranging from Los Angeles to New York.  So what does Ohio Art, the maker of Etch-A-Sketch think of what Labowitch is doing?  They commissioned her to go to Paris and sketch out recreations of some of the world's greatest works of art on their product.  Labowitch has even caught Disney's eye, which commissioned her to do Etch-a-Sketch portraits of their theme park castles (check them out here on the Disney blog) and invited her to participate in their Disney "On the Road" tour which had stops in Chicago, Philadelphia and Phoenix this year which provided the opportunity for me to meet her.

I have to say that Princess Etch-a-Sketch's talent to create detailed portraits on a child's toy by spinning around some round plastic knobs that shift around aluminum powder and beads across a small display screen is truly impressive.  Jane Labowitch being able to transform a dream into a career is an inspirational example to all of us that if you put in hard work and effort it is possible to turn a passion into a profitable and fulfilling career.  If you would like to see more of Labowitch's work or contact her about booking an event, visit www.princessetchasketch.com.