Phillip Valdez

Finally got to work on my Hercules Beetle Mask. The whole mask will be gilded gold with both black and jade enamel. I still have to work on the wings and attach the bug parts.

New Mask on the Horizon.

Elisa and I are starting a new series based on beetles and other insects. This first one is a Hercules Beetle. I’ve posted my idea-then some of the bug parts (the two wings and the head piece). The group shot also includes the body carapace(the final design has the model’s face covered), the head piece, one wing cover and the legs. The mask is in the corner. The last two are the faux finishes with the enamel treatment in progress. Working on the wings and the legs-will post soon.

I made these several years ago for the 4th of July. The two planes are bottle rockets, Godzilla has a mini Roman Candle in his mouth (and the buildings are rigged to blow),  Wiley E Coyote is self explanatory (as the Rocketeer). The Carousel is mounted on a fence spinner thing and the outhouse is rigged with a smoke bomb and some fire crackers (a nice self portrait of me going to the can). None survived.

Commission I did for author Heather Shafeddin promoting her newest book: Damaged Goods. The 1971 Charger is completely made of paper, except the windshield. Came out pretty good.

Commission I did for a Stefan Bucher’s Daily Monster for a trade. It’s based on one of his favorite creations.

Wanted to show this again (here you go Chris). Created for a Halloween Party for a friend.

A trade that I created for another artist. This creation is based on one of Stefan Bucher’s monsters (DailyMonster.com) and I got a book that he designed….and then gave as an Anniversay gift to my wife. Thanks Stephan. I am married for another year because of you!

Here are some process pics of the bridge project I did for Paper Portland. It was huge. I will post the pic of me sitting next to the bridge to show scale……but I have to find that one.

Thinking of doing some silhouette work. Was inspired by an illustration I saw in CreativeArtist at work. Will update credits when I can find it (it disappeared from my desk).