Make sure you’re not standing in line, buying exclusives, talking to friends, standing in line, taking pictures of costumed heroes, standing in line or passed out your hotel room during these three DST panels!

Thursday - July 23
11:00-12:00 AFTimes.com Toymaker Q&A— Ever wanted to know why one character was chosen for production over another? Why your favorite character was limited or just what toy companies are thinking? Here’s your chance to ask the manufacturers about their favorite figures and statues. Panelists include David Scroggy (Dark Horse), Chuck Terceira (Diamond Select Toys), Eric “Cornboy” Mayes (4 Horsemen), Kevin Winnick (president of Toy2R USA), Joe Petrollese (Tonner Doll), Clayborne Moore (CS Moore), Corrine Robinson (McFarlane Toys), and Scott Neitlich (Mattel). Room 32AB

Friday - July 24
5:30-6:30 Like WOW! Action Figures Return to the ’80s!— The ’80s are back in a BIG way in the world of toy’s and Action Figures. This year alone has seen the return of Masters of the Universe, Ghostbusters, Marvel’s Secret Wars, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero’s 25th Anniversary, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 25th Anniversary, Transformers, Flash Gordon, and more! What is it about the properties of the ’80s that still draw collectors? Panelists include Scott Neitlich (Mattel), Dave Vonner (Hasbro), Jason Lenzi (BifBangPow!), Chuck Terceira (Diamond Select Toys), and The Four Horsemen (The Four Horsemen Studios). Moderated by Daniel “JuliusMarx” Pickett of ActionFigureInsider.com. Room 30AB

Saturday - July 25
12:00-1:00 Diamond Select: Minimates 2010 — Learn the latest about this popular and highly collectible action figure line direct from the source: Diamond Select Toys!  DST’s Chuck Terceira will be on hand to answer your pressing Minimates questions, discuss new Minimate licenses and even debut an all-new Marvel Minimates box set sure to please comic book fans of all ages.  Plus, free gifts!  Room 2

U.S.S. Enterprise ship packaging.

Remember Ghostbusters HQ?  First they had the flat sign on the front of the building, but when they made the big-time, they had a double-sided logo sign hanging from the side of the firehouse.  Well, with the success of the Slimer and Stay Puft banks, we thought it might be fun to recreate that logo sign as a bank too.  Here is the first look…

While I always enjoy working on the Minimate posters we create, there’s an initial overwhelming feeling when sitting down to a blank piece of paper. With this round of posters, it was up to me just to handle colouring duties on Uriel Caton’s line work. You’d think it would be less intimidating to have the lines available before me, but all that white background that needs to be filled is just as daunting.

With the Dark Reign poster, I began with Captain America because he was one of the main focal points. Despite being taught to start with backgrounds in the past, I always figured if I didn’t get the main focal points right, then there’s no point in continuing until they were.

By the time I had finished Captain America’s base colours, the feeling of intimidation wore right off, as it does on all other posters. I then get into some kind of zone, where I just colour like mad. I usually come out of the zone hours later, wondering why it’s now dark out, and curious as to why I’m hungry. At least at this point, there’s a great poster coming through on my screen.

After shading Cap, I moved to repeating the process on Iron Patriot, and the background elements. I then made some layers of lighting effects to help mimic the reference, but something was missing. It just didn’t have the same feel as the original. The flatness of the background colouring, despite the shading, just didn’t feel quite right.

I realized there was no real texture on the background elements. Fortunately, my parents were considering a renovation on their kitchen at the time, and had many samples of various counter top and floor tile textures handy. After some quick snapshots of marble, granite, sandstone and others, I had a library of textures available. Some Photoshopping put them in place and I think they really helped add that little extra to the piece.

Later, moving onto the Secret Wars poster, I had that same daunting feeling when I got the line work of not one or two but sixteen characters. There wasn’t really one specific focal point here. So, I went with a personal favourite and began with good ol’ Spider-Man.

While I do so on all of my work, this poster really hits a huge point of basic Photoshopping. Use layers in your work, and label them intelligently! You might have to move some elements around after you’ve begun working on them, so it’s best to create separate layers for as many items as you can. I may go overboard, but each colour on a character gets its own layer, in its own character folder. I can then move them around freely, or change colours at will without affecting the others.

It always makes me groan to see files with “Layer 1” through “Layer 186” listed, all out of order, with no rhyme or reason to what’s on what layer. Need to change that green tone to Hulk’s flesh? Good luck finding it. In my file, I would look under Characters > Hulk > Colours > Flesh. Maybe it’s a bit much, but it’s a lot less frustrating this way. Especially if months later if a revision is needed and it’s not so fresh in your mind around what number layer that green flesh was on.

For Beverly Hills Cop, I used the same colours I’d chosen while picking out colours for the actual Minimate as a basis, and then tweaked them to my liking. Since I had recently worked on the Marvel posters, and there was only one character and a background to focus on, it was a lot less intimidating to work on. Still, the initial pang of “where to begin” was present.

In the end, I’m really proud of the works Uriel and I were able to create. As mentioned above, I really do enjoy working on these posters. It’s always great to see them used in advertising material, or on the packaging themselves.

What does DSTChuck have in store for you this week? How about answering all of your Marvel Select, Back to the Future, 3 3/4 inch, Transformers and Ultimate Quarter Scale questions! So to find out the odds of a Marvel Select Deadpool, keep reading! (more…)

DSTChuck tackles your Stargate and Battlestar Galactica questions this week - including what figures you might find at Toys R Us, potential figures for a continuation of the Atlantis line and a Boomer overload on the way.  Check out the full list of questions and DSTChuck’s answers after the jump! (more…)

Without a doubt, working on the Minimate control art is a great deal of fun, it’s very much like a roller coaster ride, where you have your exciting high points, your pulse-pounding dips and the pleasant straight-a-ways. If there were a moment that I could describe as icing on the cake, it would be when I get to draw a Minimate poster.

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