Gupified: Series One! A short time ago, Nick Tay, Co-Owner of the Gup Gups, a designer vinyl toy company approached the Modelshop and asked us to customize two of their 15 inch large Gup Gups for display and promotional purposes. Supplied with a blank "canvas", lead Pipeline Artist, Keith Lau took on the challenge of the first Gup to design and put a unique spin to the DIY (Do-it-yourself) vinyl culture. The result is a Steampunk themed Droid.

Look for Pipeline’s second Gup titled, Gupified: Series Two by Howard Lau, Pipeline lead artist to be released in the near future. In the meantime, watch for the Steampunk Droid to make the rounds at various Gup Gup shows and vinyl community websites. For further information on the Gup Gups, please visit their website.

Keith Lau, painting the Steampunk Droid.

Working in conjunction with Art Director, Richard Simpson of Freeworld Concepts, we were enlisted to design and manufacture two 8ft x 8.5ft specialty displays for the Princeton Museum. Finishing by Freeworld Concepts.

Below is the completed installation at the entrance hall of the museum.

A behind the scenes look during the manufacturing process.

We had a blast providing character design development and sculpting duties with SFX Studio for the Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series. Below are some photos of our work as it appears on screen and some behind the scene photos.

 

Baraka played by Fraser Aitcheson. Make-up applied by Joel Echallier.

  

Kano played by Darren Shahlavi with faceplate and silicone appliance. Make-up applied by Joel Echallier.

Kano with silicone busted eye appliance. Make-up applied by Joel Echallier. 

Baraka sculpture with teeth sculpt (quick photo composite). Ultimately, the Director opted for a smaller set of dentures.

Artists: Keith Lau and Howard Lau

Progress photo, while sculpting the prosthetic blender on Kano’s faceplate positive.

Artist: Howard Lau

Kano's busted eye prosthetic sculpt (left). Swollen eye sculpt (right).
Artist: Keith Lau

After a lengthy process in creating our tribute bust of "the Iceman".  The following is a photo montage of "Making of Chuck". Enjoy!

 

After all the hair-punching we brought out the hair clipper to shave off Chuck's trademark Mohawk.

Keith Lau hand- punching individual hair strands (eye lashes, brows, beard stubble, and "The Iceman's" distinctive goatee and Mohawk) into the silicone skin.

Harlow putting on the final details of freckles and spotting.

                                        


Harlow MacFarlene airbrushing layers of pigment to base out the flesh tones.

 Seaming and patch work completed.

 Eyes before they're put in the finishing silicone casting. Hand-made artificial resin eyes made by Jamie Salmon.

Howard Lau at work during the moulding the process. Setting up the wall, making a two part silicone mould with ultra-cal jacket.

Collaborative free-hand sculpture by Keith and Howard Lau, and Shaun Noelte.

A sneak peak revealing the people behind Pipeline Modelshop's projects and processes.

Modelshop Artists: Keith and Howard Lau assist Pipeline friend and collaborator, Jamie Salmon of Avatar Sculpture Works during the epoxy moulding process of his latest sculpture master piece. Please visit his website http://www.avatarsculptureworks.com/ to view his larger than life hyper-realism sculptures.

Pipeline works on Heart & Stroke Foundation (Vancouver) Campaign. Working in conjunction once again with SMAK Marketing, the Modelshop had to manufacture the organization’s guerrilla marketing promotion to reach out to the general public of preventive and tips to detect the risks of heart attack and stroke. Please visit http://www.takethepressuredown.ca/ , for more information.

Location:  In front of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, B.C, Canada

 

Location: W.Broadway and Granville St., Vancouver, B.C, Canada

Adding the final touches.

Designed by Pipeline Creative with flash animation by Tony Tei.

A couple months ago, we worked on ABC Television Pilot in association with SFX Studio. The show titled, "No Heroics" was suppose to air this month, unfortunately the network decided not to move forward with the series and canceled the premier due to current U.S economy and high budget concerns. Below are some photos of what the costumed heroes would have worn.

Pipeline was brought on to lead the designing and manufacture the shows lead characters costume elements. Below is the completed "Brainstorm" helmet. (Design, sculpting and finishing by Howard and Keith Lau)

Below is the character, Cross Fade's  brow mask. Design and cosmetic finishing by Keith Lau. Sculpted by Shaun Noelte. 

Finished clay sculpt of Ultimatum's shoulder armour prior to moulding.

Done by Keith Lau.

 

Finished Brainstorm brow mask sculpt. Done by Howard Lau.

Work in progress. On location at SFX Studio.

It’s been a while, but we finally set-up shop here in our new studio space in Richmond. Below is some picture of the current space and how it was prior to our move. More photos coming.

Before