I've been kinda focused on trying to grow my Youtube channel these days. I just finished writing a couple of magazine articles too. One for Fine Scale Modeler Magazine ( my 2nd ) and one for Fantasy Figures International Magazine. September was a crazy busy month and the following months look crazier.
My Youtube uploading was so sporadic the past year. I skip months of no uploads. But this year, I am more consistent and there are months that I am hyperactive. Like 3 to even 5 uploads a week since August. I was also very active back in March to April, to help promote my Maquina Painting book.
Youtube is very time consuming. Not really "hard work", as you like what you are doing. But it is very time consuming. Like 10x more time consuming in comparison to blogging. But much like blogging, Youtube is very fun and fulfilling, as you get to share your artworks to many people.
My daughter NICO, who is into gunpla these days is also very active at Youtube. She has her own channel and is about to reach 1,000 subs! Nico's most recent video upload is crazy good ( super bias Dad here ). She is now getting comfortable at recording her voice.
People who follow me or been friends with me since I started this blog back in 2009, might be surprised a bit as I am coming back to Gunpla and Miniature painting again.
I previously tried to come back to the hobby a couple of times before ( 2012 and 2015 ), but ended up focusing on my career ( employed artist in 2012, freelance illustrator in 2016 ).
I was focused in being a professional illustrator ( I do not use the term artist, as anything you do with a computer is art these days ).
I have illustrated more than 50 published children's books in less than 3 years already. I have also drawn a ton of ink illustrations from Star Wars, Wargaming characters to Gundam. 90% ( maybe 98% ) of my illustration clients are from abroad tho. My wife ships traditional art, rolled inside a plastic tube through our local post office. Here is the link to my ART portfolio.
Drawing monsters and robots at home, for a living is so fulfilling, You do not have a ( insert expletives here ) boss after all. It won't get you rich like crazy, but you will have enough to put 3 kids to school and slowly ( really slowly ) build a house / home studio - Blue Brick, at the same time.
FAST FORWARD
I'm really back as a Gunpla, Miniature Painter, Scale Modeler this time!
NO, I do not think I will be joining GBWC ever again ( I am conflicted ). I used to join Bandai Gunpla competitions in 2008 to 2010.
My Kampfer luckily won as World Champion in Hong Kong back in 2008 ( it's not even in the Bandai site anymore ) I met so many awesome people there. Back in 2010, Bandai created the expert category for multi time champions.
I think mostly to prevent us from joining the Open category. My Gilgamesh Projectwon as Expert Champion. There are only 3 multi champion participants including me, in the expert category tho. A ton of LOL!
The old "Expert Category" of Bandai's competition back then, is one of the reason I stopped doing Gunpla. I shifted a bit to painting miniatures. Miniatures take less prep work, but are harder to paint. But it was also fun stuff!
I AM REALLY BACK THIS TIME
I am really back this time. Promise. LOL
I am actually waiting for a shipping of my model kits ( from the Gunpla Distributor from Singapore ). Yes I do not even get my kits locally these days ( lol ). I am so excited, but afraid of the custom taxes at the same time. haha
I will also have a ton of personal Gunpla and Miniature projects. I like to do some restoration work of my older dioramas and vignettes and do some quick painting of smaller kits and minis.
I am expecting a whole year's ( 2020 ) amount of kits. Not sure if they are sending the whole lot I listed tho. But never the less, I am sooo excited!
I did some DC23 logo variations to start my day ( woke up later than usual ). I am starting to confuse our different social media accounts and I wanted to unify all the accounts at the same time. So voila! Same logo in different variants.
These are just quick and rough variants. I did not do them in Ai or something. No plans ( as of this writing ) of printing them on shirts or whatever. So these will do. They look good as profile pic / avatars. I am still getting used to them at the moment.
I used the logo with the youtube icon for all the DC23_mecharts accounts ( IG, Twitter and Facebook ). Albeit DC23_mecharts at Twitter and the Fb page is now named Don Suratos ART. I want to promote my new Youtube channel with the logo. I am still building up the channel tho. Building up your channel is hard work, but is so fun.
The DC23 logo with the rising sun background is for our DC23 clothing brand. Our first set of 3 designs are Samurai / Gundam inspired. Also I love anything Japanese ( obviously ).
We are shipping another batch of DC23 clothing custom shirts today. We really never thought these custom shirts will sell this well. I personally hand drawn the shirt designs / illustrations with a Japanese brush on paper. Scanned it and had my art printed on shirts. Awesome stuff!
There are only TWO more extra large Sazabi inspired shirts. And a handful of the Zaku and RX inspired shirts. We might re-print these Samurai line again. People like them. Thank You!
That's it! Thanks a ton as always for dropping by! Until next update guys!
Nahhhh! I just wanted to give this blog entry a cool title. Blogging versus Facebook sounds so thought provoking.
Seriously tho, I have been active here the past few days ( maybe a week ), and I am enjoying blogging again. Most, almost all of my fellow bloggers 10 years ago has moved on to Facebook. Obviously, forums are also dead. Facebook ( also twitter and Instagram ) are generally great for everyone. It kinda gives a more accessible platform in comparison to the old forums. Social Media also feels more interactive ( or engaging ) than blogs and websites.
Everyone is at Facebook these days. Everyone is at Twitter and Instagram too.
Also, Youtube these days is bigger than Youtube years ago. Everyone watches Youtube.
Do check out my new Youtube channel... Please subscribe even if my channel is still just filling up.
Anyways, back to blogging...
I do interact at Facebook like everyone else. We've just started our art gallery / art studio of sorts, that we call Blue Brick. We also just launched the first 3 designs of our DC23 clothing. I have always been active at my old Facebook page ( they call it fan page way back ) DC23 mecharts, albeit I renamed it to Don Suratos ART last year. All of these are all at Facebook ( and IG and Twitter ).
However, I am my most talkative self here at my blog. I feel like sharing everything here unlike anywhere else. I actually share too much here. This old blog... is like my public diary of sorts.
This old blog used to get 100k visitors per month back in 2010 ( it is getting 5k per month during the past inactive 2 years ). I know that even if I become active in Gunpla / Gundam again, blog all of my updates and projects, post a gazillion tutorials here... page views here will never be the same. People like scrolling at Facebook or Twitter or Youtube or Instagram, than click links to a blog or website.
Don't get me wrong, I love all of the Social Media platforms... these are just ramblings of a dude that is about to sleep. lol.
Anyways, I fully embrace that blogging ( or at least my blog ) will never get the same traffic per month again. But I still really love blogging. Imho, Blogging feels more permanent. Facebook is too fast pace for me. I love to chill. I like chilling here.
I love the "label" system, I love that all my posts are properly archived, and I love talking here a lot.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Woot, I am sleepy now. Photo dumps here are all the photos I used to edit for the edit of my Youtube video intro. I also use this design as banner to my Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Okay... I am really sleepy now. Thanks as always for wasting your time here! Until next update guys!
Cheers!
SHOUTOUT as usual!
I only use Vallejo Acrylic paints in all my builds - Acrylicos Vallejo
I really really apologize for the photobucket issue my humble free blog is having right now. Pardon that all the gallery thumbnails are screwed and some tutorials are experiencing the same.
Please bear with me as I cannot fix this issue as of the moment. I will deal with this problem as soon as I can. Thank you as always for the support!
Do follow me at my Facebook page to continue to get updates on my ongoing projects for the meantime. See the link below...
First of all, THANK YOU to all the well wishers at Facebook and at Instagram! Your warm support made me feel better sooner than later. I had surgery to remove my gallbladder last Tuesday (4 days) and is now at home recovering.
The doctor adviced me to rest for a week, which is great! I have a week to do Gunpla and will start today!
Just wanted to share the story behind my most precious Gunpla as of now... My little Bandai Gundam Age advance grade Genoace II kit!
The day of the operation, I asked my wife to get me this kit as a memorabilia of the day I had my first ever surgery. And so she did. When I was about to snapfit the kit, a nurse entered my room and told me that they need to prep me for the surgery already. I then told my darling eldest daughter to snapfit the kit for me.
My daughter assembled the kit while I was having the surgery.
I am a sentimental guy, so I must say that this is now my most precious Bandai kit to date! I love it!
I am really surprise with the quality of this cheap Bandai kit. It lacks articulation everywhere... Only the neck moves freely. However, the standing pose looks great! The very pose that is difficult to achieve with other grade kits. Crotch forward, arms bent backwards, waist bent a little backwards and chest forward. Great handsome pose for any kit.
I might cement the seam lines, and might even paint this guy some time. Special kit that deserves special treatment one day.
Again thank you to all the well wishers! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby!
Hi Gunpla Builders of the world! I thought I'd compile all of the interviews done by Gunjap so far ( will continue to update this ). I have only seen the last episode of the recently concluded Gunpla Builders series as I do not really watch much Gundam. I thought of watching it after reading Becky's article.
Anyways will continue to update this post ( add thumbnails or even create a page for it ) as all the interviews are an entertaining read. Below are the list of Interviews arranged by dates ( except Master Kawaguchi's ).
Just a shout out post to my new partner ANIME MACHI of Jakarta, Indonesia!
Anime Machi has four shops in Indonesia and they obviously sell Anime stuffs, Bandai kits, paints and other hobby supplies. Beautiful shops as you can see in the photos.
They just decided to put up a facebook page and all of my tutorials are noe there! Do check out their Facebook page that showcases their available Bandai kits, tools, supplies and paints. Their Facebook page is
I am not so sure, but I think in my more than 1,500 posts in this blog I have never ever posted about my stand regarding bootlegs. Today I suddenly felt the urge and felt obligated to state my stand.
I support BANDAI against it's war over pirated model kits.
I owe Bandai my blog traffic ( 15k to 30k visits a week ), as I almost only post Bandai model kits here in my blog.
I get free model kits from Bandai! I got so many free Gundam kits for winning in official and non-official ( HLJ, Forums ) competitions.
I owe Bandai my sanity. I am a manager and I usually manage 10 to 15 people everyday. Blogging about Bandai model kits keeps me sane during and after work.
I owe Bandai for meeting so many great people all over the world.
However, I will not disrespect people who buy bootlegs...
I do not care where they put their hard earned money. I do not care if they always have a hard time assembling bootleg kits as parts do not fit well. And I do not care if they cannot join Bandai sponsored competitions. As I've said, I will not disrespect them BUT will never support them of course and I do not care for them at all.
I will disrespect people who will try to enter bootleg kits in Bandai sponsored competitions AND much worse use bootleg parts on commissioned works though.
Using bootleg parts to kitbash with original Bandai Gundam kits is so foul specially if the client paid a premium price ( say 5k to 19k ) for a commissioned Gundam kit! Most specially if that client does not support bootleg kits at all.
Commission works are like actual work in the office... you don't and should never submit fake reports to your boss about the number of output you did for the month!
So if the client wants the real and original Bandai Gundam model kits for their commissioned works, Dang! Please give them their due and work on original Bandai kits!
I have been enjoying posting at Instagram ( IG ) for a while now. Friends at Facebook knows that I post a lot! Biking, my bikes, daily stuffs, my kids, my toys and of course Gunpla. I just reached 1,000 followers today which includes family, friends, office-mates, and fellow modellers. Thank You to all who follows me at IG!
This is just a shout out post if a handful would like to follow my posts at IG. Basically I blog way less during weekends coz I blog at work ( hehehe ) and I do not stay online at Facebook much. Well, I am online but totally inactive sometimes. However I post quick photos at my Instagram everyday.
Now that I am back with doing Gunpla, I am pretty sure I will be posting a ton of WIP photos specially during weekends! I post all my Instagram photos at my Facebook account, but if you do not like me as a friend, at least you could follow me at IG ( No friendship requirement at all, LOL ).
So if you have an Instagram account and interested to see quick Work in Progress ( WIP ) photos, do follow my account at Instagram... my user name is...
My previous blog post was back in May of 2013, it felt like a decade ago though. I plan to get back to the hobby once I have set up a nice work station in my house. No plans of getting back to 210 lbs though. My house is currently under construction, which gives me hope that I will finally be able to set up a work station for this hobby I used to love so much.
Basically I lost my house a couple of years back, my camera broke then eventually my trusty old laptop broke down too. All these events led to being lazy with the hobby.
I sincerely apologize to all my pending commission projects ( international and local ). I promise to make it up to you some way or another. I plan to finish all those commish if everyone is still interested or I could give back your down payments. No excuses whatsoever, just had a rough patch these past few years.
I am back on top of the hill now! Not really, but I think I can go back to the hobby sooner than later.
I should be meeting with an old Gunpla friend in Kenny Lim ( of Singapore ) aka TOYMAKER this month. Just seeing the dude should fire me up! That dude sure will inspire and motivate me again to pick up my art knife. Kenny is that handsome.
I will try to update my gallery with kits and toy repaints I finished last year. This blog should be fun or at least busy again this year. I just need to re-learn how to tweak with htmls and stuff. Hope to show stuffs soon.
As I was working with my HTML code in my office a couple of days back, my blog sort of crashed! All of the widgets are in the wrong places and the post summaries suddenly does not work. I tried to revive the old template but failed to make a backup before tweaking it.
Anyways after the crash, I then decided to start from scratch with a new template. I opted to use a semi darker tone to the overall look and gave the main post a lighter background than the sidebar. The readers of this blog is now permanently on top of the layout and I added better widgets as well.
Notice the floating share buttons on the side? that is a new very cool looking widget that anyone could use to share my posts @ Facebook, Twitter and Stumbleupon. I have been doing minor tweaking since the crash and I could say now that the blog renovations is complete!
Aside from the totally new banner, layout, template and look. I also edited my pages on top of the blog. My gallery is now divided into three pages, first is my ordinary builds, then my contest builds and my commission builds. I also placed the mech arts community forums link and themacforums featured modelers on the tabs.
Currently still in a very relax non-Gunpla mode and watching the Lakers - Mavericks game 3 playoff game. So decided to work on my dot TK home page during commercial breaks and foul calls. BTW I want the Lakers to lose as I do not want Kobe Bryant to eventually get a 3-peat championship. I do not want him to match Michael Jordan's 2 3-peats basically.
Anyways, I hope you'll like the new and better version of the welcome page of my dot TK. Unlike the older version wherein I just dropped a ton of photos in a collage, the new welcome / home page focuses on my BLOG, FORUMS and my FACEBOOK pages.
I think first time visitors of the page who does not know me would get to know me and more modelers if they eventually visit the forums and the Facebook pages. Photos of my builds are just my builds, a ton more and some better builds are in the forums after all.
Hope the dot TK changes would get us more friends from both our Facebook pages and forums and more readers to follow my humble free blog. Thanks for dropping by as always! Til' next update guys! :)
