Bert "gatchabert" Gatchalian

Posts

January 18, 01:49 AM

So, Super 7 is hosting a custom Mummy Boy show with a contest attached to it. Each entry will be for sale and both regular and pocket sized Mummy Boys will be up. It should be a great show and I'm pretty excited to see what others are going to do. Some have already finished their pieces. I've posted a teaser on flickr but I'm posting the actual piece here for you guys that read my blog. I based the colors on a vintage toy but tweaked the colors a bit. I'm happy with what I painted and I'd be glad to keep this guy in my collection.


The show will be at 6PM at Super 7 on January 28.
Super 7
1427 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
November 26, 03:15 AM

Using a stripped Kozik Pickle Chaos, I decided to try out some new paint...which happens to be almost the same colors as the old Pickle Chaos...


Mori calls it vegetable color...hahahaha!!
September 29, 05:40 AM

On October 8th in Boston, various monsters will invade Lot F Gallery. The show will feature people that use Monster Kolor paints. For the show, I painted 3 toys.

This one is from Maxtoy Co. It is their Drazoran, painted in a more traditional style. Painted with blue, green, silver, purple and some brown on milky/clear glitter vinyl. I had painted a Drazoran before but I didn't like how it turned out so after sitting around for a few years, I repainted it to this version which I think is much better. It will be on sale for $150.


This next one a mini walking Hedoran made by Gargamel. Silver base with some blue sprays and a black wash. Nice and simple for a classic toy. I've painted a few of these in the past but, I think this is my favorite one. It will sell for $80.

The next last one is Party Ball. The character is made by Paul Kaiju and produced by Super7. Painted with silver and brown with a wash of black, and some light blue. It will sell, also for $80.

I'm bummed to be missing this show. It would have been fun to go to Boston for the first time and meet up with some buddies that I've met through collecting toys. There will also be a few toys for people to paint and take home with them. It should be a fun night.
September 28, 10:58 PM

Nothing fancy with this one, just wanted to paint the toy into an Oni.



September 06, 05:43 AM

Super Cooper has invited me to participate in a show at Munky King called, Stop It! Cooper says "The art show is about school bullying and cyber-bullying. It is to raise awareness to stop bullying!" and will open on Sept 10th from 6pm-10pm. Part of the sales will go to GLIDE (Gays and Lesbians Initiating Dialogue for Equality) and CHIME Institute. I wish I was able to make it to the show, at least I'll be there in Spirit :)


The drawing is a boy in a homemade superhero outfit holding a Stop sign as a shield. Other kids are behind him, cheering him on for standing up to others (with a bit of blue as a sign of hope). He doesn't look mean or menacing because rather than be harsh, he is calm and kind...but his stance is aggressive and he is ready for anything!..and yes, he wears a pink cape. The piece is 8"x10" mounted on an 11"x14" frame and will sell for $80. Anyway, click the link above for the show and check out that long list of artists. That is very impressive.
September 02, 02:35 AM

It's that time again for Toy Karma at Rotofugi curated by Mark Nagata of Max Toy Co. Knocked out 2 drawings for the show. Both are 8"x10" drawings. The first one is taken from the James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only.


The second is from a song by The Blue Hearts, Linda Linda Linda with Ultraman and a few characters.


Unfortunately, I won't be going to Chicago this year. Hope you guys like the drawings.
August 30, 04:31 AM

It's that time of the year...well every other year...for Toy Karma 3 at Rotofugi, curated by Mark Nagata of Max Toy Co. This time the format is very different. Custom toys are only painted by the manufacturer or the creator of the toy and no one else. That means people like me can't send in custom painted toys. However, I am able to send in drawings or paintings that are kaiju themed/inspired. I'm kinda happy about that and thought about what to make. I wanted to have Mark's character, Lady Maxx in the drawing but wasn't sure what to do with her. Then it hit me...






I wonder where Lady Maxx is...
June 29, 06:27 PM

So today I finally got to try Himawari in San Mateo during lunch time. We were pretty lucky when we got there and only waited for about 5 minutes for a table. Small place, I think Santa Ramen is bigger but bigger is not always better. I had tonkotsu with extra kakuni...what I like to call the pork medley. One thing to note before I go on. After we were sat down, we were given glasses of what I thought was water. As it turns out, it was barley tea...and cold. It was both odd and refreshing, and a few minutes after taking our order, my ramen arrives. You could see the fat glistening on the top of the soup and at the first sip, I knew this was going to be good and it was. Each sip had nice flavor and you could even get a hint of sake when you take a bite of the kakuni. That really makes me want to come back. The bowl itself seems to be a bit high in price at around $9...then you add .50cents-$3 more depending on what you add. The bbq pork was also good but no match for the kakuni's flavor and more sips of the soup and still no saltiness. The noodles were thin but had a nice bite to them. I like a bit thicker noodle but these did the job well enough that I wasn't missing the thicker ones. By the end of it all, I found no saltiness, some really good kakuni, and sweat from having my face near the bowl the whole time I was eating. I had to take off my hoodie. I need to bring some other friends so we can try the karaage as well as the other soups.

May 10, 04:16 AM

Tonight it just struck me how we all take something like the internet for granted. A few years ago, there was nothing like the internet and the only way we could show someone on the other side of the world something, was to send them a picture. Now, it's almost instant...or can be instant depending on what you use to connect. It really struck me when I posted the pic below on twitter and tagged the owner of the company to show him the custom paint job I did on one of his toys. Here's the toy I painted:


...and here is a clip of the feed:

You can see when I posted mine and then about 8 minutes after my post, the owner chimes in to thank me and tell me that he likes it. Seventeen minutes later I thank him for making such a good toy and a minute after he responds with a smile. The things we take for granted...
April 14, 01:46 PM

I just received the Kibou prints from Monster Worship and they look great. They will go on sale soon for $35 and will be signed and numbered and all the sales will go to Japanese earthquake relief (like Japanese Red Cross ).
One note: the line work is rough because it is meant to be that way ;)



April 12, 01:09 PM

So I was asked by my former manager if I could make a little drawing for her. She was a great boss and I do owe her...but even if I didn't, I'd still help her out. Spring cleaning is coming up and she needed a small drawing of Pogo's mascot. At first I thought it was going to be a small poster but then she says it's going on her email. That's great cause then I can make a drawing on 8.5"x11" paper, scan it and then resize it smaller. With spring here, she just needed Spike doing some kind of cleaning chore...so, here is Spike :)

I did this mainly with colored pencil then scanned it in. Nothing too fancy but still a fun little project. It's a bit rough but then I did this in 1 sitting.
February 13, 09:06 PM

A contest from Grasshut just ended and the competition was top-notch. Bwana had posted some time ago that there would be a contest and the topic was Globby and our interpretation of the cute fella. Here are some of the entries:

By Jesse (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghostandflower/)


By David (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcoffman/) - this was my favorite.

By cralya


and myself  :)


There were a few others but they were not posted on the Grasshut forums. I didn't really think I'd win but they picked my pieces as the winner. I'm really excited to win as Globby has slowly become one of my favorite characters. It was fun making this piece and I will probably send it off to Bwana as soon as I get the address. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!! Thanks Grasshut gang!!
January 26, 11:02 PM

Well...since a friend of mine decided to take screencaps of my other submissions, I might as well show them. I had the pics set so only friends would see them. I can't do anything if friends ignore that setting.


I've been asked, along with a few others, to paint one more toy for the show on Jan 29th. Needless to say, I won't be posting a pic of it anywhere til the day of the show.
January 25, 12:47 AM

This is one of my pieces for the show this weekend. It is Gameppa by Gargamel, one of my favorite fight figures of Gargamel's line. There seems to only be a handful of people that collect fight figures and that sucks. Companies like Secret Base and Gargamel have just about stopped making their fight figures. Secret Base still does but releases are at a much slower pace. Oh well, no sense in supporting a dying market :(


Super7 "1 Offs" custom vinyl toy show
Over 30 artists premiere personal visions incorporating Super7 & Gargamel Toys.
Opening Sat. January 29th, • 6pm - 9’ish
Super7 Located at
1427 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
415-409-4700 • info@super7store.com
Show is cash n’ carry so get there early!
January 23, 05:13 AM

So I was going through some events listed in my Facebook tabs and clicked on the All Hands On Deck show. It's a fundraiser and proceeds go the building a skate park in Jamestown NY. Click, click, click and all of a sudden I see the skate deck I painted for the show on the front of the webpage:


That is my Shibaraku skate deck that I painted about 3-4 months ago. I'm glad I'm part of the show and thanks to Active Artists Alliance, Arts Council For Chautauqua County and Suburban Blend for letting me be a part of this show. It was only the 2nd skate deck I've painted and I like it. I hope they have a successful fundraiser.
Here's the skate deck in case people missed the original post:
January 15, 03:04 AM

On one of the forums I browse through, there was a posting to make your version of Bwana Spoons' Globby character. Globby is a cute little guy and I am hungry for something sweet so...I made Globby wanting some taiyaki (YUM!!!). Sadly there is no place open at midnight that has taiyaki.

January 10, 05:12 PM

January 8th, 2011. The first show for us in the new year. Thanks to Dragatomi for putting the show together and just being awesome people, and thanks to everyone that came up to check out the show.

Pics from my flickr: Dragatomi Monster Party

Close ups of my stuff:
December 31, 09:17 PM

So I finally got to try Ajisen Ramen and while I wasn't expecting much, I wasn't disappointed...but maybe cause I wasn't expecting much. I got the house ramen...Ajisen Ramen for $7.50. From what I could see and taste (cause there wasn't much description in the menu), it had seaweed, half and egg, shreds of lettuce and some...well, a but more than some, garlic in tonkotsu broth, and some pieces of pork. The ramen itself wasn't bad. Thin noodles with a bit of bite to it. The broth was ok but the garlic was a bit too much. The lettuce...well...it didn't add to the ramen so why was it even there? The pork wasn't too bad. Just dry enough to sop up some of the broth and some nice bit of flavor. I like that this place is downtown so if I ever find myself there, I know there's a ramen place I can go to. Overall, it was a good bowl for the price and I would probably go here over the highly overrated ramen place that is also downtown on Geary :P. Service was a bit lacking. I went with my brother and we waited almost 10min for the server to take our order. After we had ordered, my brother got his before me...which is odd cause he got tonkatsu. Really? You can fry a pork cutlet faster than you can make ramen? I didn't know that was possible.

December 31, 08:47 PM
Dragatomi will be hosting Monster Party, a custom toy and art show featuring Mark Nagata, Lil Japan, D-Lux and myself.

Monster Party - January 8, 2011
Dragatomi
2317 J Street (Btwn 23rd and 24th St.)
Sacramento CA 95816
916-706-0535


...and more.
November 22, 08:02 PM

Come join us on December 11th 2010 for Love Movement at New People's Superfrog gallery in San Francisco.




http://www.newpeopleworld.com/arts/love-movement

Thanks to www.jeremyriad.com for curating
November 13, 07:51 PM

So I managed to get into a fundraiser show in Jamestown NY. Here's a blurb about the show on the Active Artists Alliance webpage:

"All Decks on Hand" AAAlliance X Suburban Blend X Arts Council Fundraiser Show / Auction of skateboard decks, designed and hand-painted by local, regional, and national artists. 100% of the proceeds from this show will go towards the new Public Skatepark Project in Jamestown, NY. This show will hang for the months of January & February.

Rather than prep the skateboard, I painted directly on to it...sort of how Kabuki make-up is. You can still see some of the board through the paint and the lines are a little imperfect, but from a bit of a distance, it looks more crisp.


and a detail shot...


You can see a bit of the metallic paint I used in the face, just enough to catch some light and make it stick out a bit.
November 05, 08:11 PM

I got to try Ramen Club out in Burlingame a couple of days ago. It was okay. People have said that it is hit or miss and I guess we were right in the middle. I ordered the Stewed Pork Ramen and didn't ask what the soup flavor was. They have 3 kinds, shio, shoyu, and miso. The bowl came and had the stewed pork, about 3-4 pieces of a decent size each, half a hard boiled egg, and seaweed. The pork was ok. Nice and tender but not as much flavor as Santa Ramen or Saiwaii's stewed pork. The noodles were okay. They had a nice bite to them. The soup...well, it had nice flavor to it but it was more the flavor of the stewed pork. Not sure if that's suppose to be but if it wasn't for the pork sitting in the broth, I don't think I would have ordered it. There was also a bit of sourness in the soup. I'm not one to try a place and never go back if I didn't like it or think much of it...unless it is absolutely terrible. I'll give Ramen Club another shot someday and try the shoyu or shio ramen. For now, it's just okay. There was really nothing special about their ramen, nothing memorable but at least it wasn't terrible.

October 10, 02:10 AM

Some one was complaining on yelp that the egg she got in her ramen was raw. Really?!?!


I'd say that egg was perfect. I had this a few weeks ago at Saiwaii Ramen. I usually don't like Shio broth because most places just make it way too salty but this was really good. This time I had the pork cheeks instead of the belly. While the cheeks were good, the belly is just so much better....at least for me. My friend liked the cheeks better. I didn't finish my bowl, but that's because I ate lunch kinda late and dinner was way too soon afterward. Their Shio broth was great. It felt really light and wasn't overly salty like most places...and I felt...refreshed after eating what I could.
October 02, 10:05 PM

So I finally finished my Qee for the upcoming show at Dragatomi. It took me a while to figure out what to do. Originally it was going to be more elaborate but I went simple and stuck to my Filipino theme.


Hala bira! Qee

September 27, 09:11 PM

I finished working on my piece for the Skate This Art show at Art Space here in San Francisco. It's the first time I've done art on a skate deck and not too sure how I like it. I am pretty happy with what I came up with.


The show will be at 2183 Mission Street @ 18th Street.

Profile

QA Tester/Editor at Electronic Arts
Computer Games | San Francisco Bay Area, US

Experience

  • Jan 2011 - Jun 2011
    QA Tester/Editor / Electronic Arts
    I read through at least 2 stories a week, looking for spelling and grammar errors. Also make suggestions to the story citing things like characters being out of character or holes in the plot. I also make builds for the in-house team to test, and verify a build before sending it to the live server.
  • Jul 2008 - May 2010
    QA Tester / Electronic Arts Inc
    Find and verify bugs. Help train new hires on different tools that were used in testing (ScureCRT, DevTrack, DevTest, and some back end tools). Help run project meetings. Help think up more efficient ways of working for some team projects. Close bugs as needed.
  • Oct 2007 - Jul 2008
    QA Tester (PC) / Flagship Studios
    Find bugs for each new build. Verify bugs for fixed or failed status. Check models in high and low poly for bugs using a proprietary tool. Run a desktop server for multiplayer when needed.
    6/2005 ­ 10/
  • Jun 2005 - Oct 2007
    QA Tester / Electronic Arts Inc
    Find bugs for each new build. Verify bugs for fixed or failed status.
    4/2005 * 6/2005
  • Jan 2004 - Jan 2005
    Language Integration Tester / Electronic Arts Inc
    Verify that each build contains the proper localized text, audio, and graphics for the territories the games will be shipped to. Make sure all text and graphics are readable and all audio is clear and begins and ends at the right time.
  • Jan 2004 - Jan 2005
    Language Integration Tester / Electronic Arts Inc
    Verify that each build contains the proper localized text, audio, and graphics for the territories the games will be
    shipped to. Make sure all text and graphics are readable and all audio is clear and begins and ends at the right time.
  • Jul 2003 - Dec 2003
    QA Tester / 2n Productions
    Find new bugs. Verify bugs for fixed or failed status. Make recommendations to gameplay.
  • May 2000 - Jul 2003
    Sales Representative / Buyer / Skate Pro Sports Inc
    Educate customers on the products. Educate customers on maintenance of the items they purchased. Package items for shipping. Receive incoming inventory. Repair skates as needed (sharpen, re-rivet, replace brakes for customers, stretch boots). Place booking orders for coming season.
  • Sept 1999 - May 2000
    Sales Representative / Oakland Ice Center / Pro Shop
    Help customers make the right purchase for their needs. Repair skates as needed (sharpen, re-rivet, stretch boots). Balance the end of the day. Make deposits.
  • Feb 1999 - Sept 1999
    Sales Representative / Yerba Buena Ice Center
    Help customers with purchases. Ring in sales. Place special orders in system for customers.

Education

  • 1988 - 1992
    California College of Arts and Crafts Oakland
    Industrial Design
  • California College of Arts and Crafts Oakland
    Industrial Design

Additional Information

Websites:
Interests:
Japanese monster toys, art (mostly low-brow stuff), hockey

I draw stuff, paint stuff, and collect toys

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