FEBRUARY 27, 2002 -- BEULAH IS BACK!

I'm working (as usual) on a couple of projects right now, but I am also striving to finish the Beulah. Check the Beulah page in the Workshop to see the latest update on her progress.

JANUARY 5, 2002 -- ELLIE CONVERSION FINISHED!

Happy New Year! My conversion from the Starling kit to an Ellie Arroway is complete. Check out her page in the Gallery.

NOVEMBER 20, 2001 -- MAGUA FINISHED AND ARROWAY CONVERSION BEGUN!

Magua is finally done! I'm glad he's finished. He now has hair and even a little earring. Check him out on his new page in the Gallery.

I've been wanting to convert a Starling kit into a bust of Ellie Arroway, the radio astronomer Jodie Foster played in Contact, for some time now. The project is underway and you can check it out in the Workshop.

OCTOBER 13, 2001 -- SCULPTING ARTICLE UPDATES!

I've been meaning to update the Sculpting 101 articles in the Workshop for some time and I finally got them done. There are new pictures and revised techniques for doing stuff.

OCTOBER 10, 2001 -- BEULAH & MAGUA UPDATE!

I've been alternating between working on the Beulah and the Magua. Added another pic of the Beulah in progress. Check the Beulah page in the Workshop to see it. I've also added pics of the Magua sculpture as it nears completion. Check them at the Magua page.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2001 -- POPEYE COMPLETED!

After some fast and furious sculpting, chalk off one more outstanding project. It's one of my childhood favorites, Popeye the Sailor. Check his page in the Gallery for an update. It's great to have another project in the can. Now I can concentrate on Beulah (see below).

SEPTEMBER 8, 2001 -- BIRTHDAY UPDATE!

Hey, I'm a year older as of today, and I just picked up the Beulah armature from Tom Seiler at Posigrade. Check the Beulah page in the Workshop for an update. I'm excited about working on this project and will be chronicling its progress as I go. I've also created a dedicated bio page in case you're so bored you want to find out more about me. Click Dan's Bio to the left if this is the case. Finally, I've added some more questions and answers to the FAQ page.

SEPTEMBER 7 , 2001 -- TOO MANY PROJECTS!

Whoa! I've got several projects (too many projects) in progress right now, and I need to concentrate on finishing them all. Some people have asked about the Last of the Mohicans and Rygel sculpts (see below). I will definitely be finishing those soon. To the left is a Worm Guy from Men in Black. I just finished him, so that's one thing out of the way. Click on the picture or this this link to see it.

I'm going to be sculpting like madman to get caught up with the remaining projects. What does this mean for you? More pictures, and some fun new sculptures. Stay tuned!

AUGUST 8 , 2001 -- YET ANOTHER PROJECT!

I'm spending a little spare time (while waiting to start on the Beulah) sculpting a likness of Magua (Wes Studi) from Last of the Mohicans . This is an exciting new step for me and I will chronicle its progress in the Workshop. Check it out here.

JUNE 3, 2001 -- NEW PROJECT!

Tom Seiler of Posigrade Creations has commissioned me to sculpt the "Beulah" creature from the Roger Corman B-movie It Conquered the World. This should be a fun project and I will chronicle its progress in the Workshop. Check it out here.

JUNE 3, 2001 -- CASTING TUTORIAL FINISHED

The third and final installment of my epic molding and casting tutuorial is done. This section deals with casting your parts in polyurethane resin. Check it out here.

MAY 9 , 2001 -- RYGEL'S HEAD IS DONE

The feisty Hynerian is done (or at least his head is--the body is still to come). Check it out here). I've got so many projects in the works, it's great to finish one (or a major part of one).

APRIL 29, 2001 -- SLIMER MK II -- NOW ACCEPTING PRE-ORDERS

Who ya gonna call? I'm finishing up the molds on the Slimer Mk II (Check it out here). I'm taking pre-orders now, so if you're interested in your very own Slimer model now is the time...

April 19, 2001 -- POST TAX TWEAKS!

Hands up--who hates taxes? Me, too! But I guess we have to pay someone to chlorinate our water and pave our roads. I've added a few little animations to the site. You'll have to look around to find them, like Easter Eggs! The title animation above is the most recent. It is, of course, from one of my all time favorite movies. He's the ghost with the most, babe.

March 1 8, 2001 -- NEW WORKSHOP ARTICLES!

Well, I've maxed out my web space in the process, but I have added two major illustrated articles (parts 1 and 2 of a 3-part series) on molding and casting. This is the culmination of a project I have been wanting to do for some time. Check it out here.

January 28, 2001 -- UPDATED RYGEL PICTURES!

I've been working steadily on the Rygel sculpture. The head part of the sculpture is nearing completion. See updated in-progress pictures. Check it out here. I've also added pictures of the studio itself. See them in the Workshop.

January 14, 2001 -- BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE OVERDUE UPDATE!

I just don't update this site nearly frequently enough. Even though I've cut out some extraneous freelance activities, the magazine keeps me pretty busy from month to month (it can be hard to make time for sculpting and model building). And as usual, there is a lot of exciting news here at the Studios. Let's get right to the update, shall we?

Sculptures and property returned
Just a few days ago, the former business partner who stole a bunch of stuff (including two original sculptures of mine) emailed me and offered for me to pick everything up. So I am very happy to report the return of both Cissy and Mangalore Aknot, as well as some miscellaneous equipment and supplies. I'm at a loss to explain why the guy suddenly decided to give my property back (for more details, see the previous update below)--in fact, I was completely convinced I would never see my sculptures again. In any case, II'm glad he decided to. I'm still out about $2000 in miscellaneous fees and lost sales, but I won't worry about that, and will close the chapter on a very unpleasant incident.

Digital camera mania!
On the same day I got all the stuff mentioned above back, I got my new digital camera. It's a Nikon Coolpix 800, and I highly recommend it--digital photography kicks ass! I've gone on a picture taking frenzy (I was waiting to do a site update until I got the camera (I was tired of messing with the analog camera equipment). So there are new pix in the Gallery, Model Shop and Workshop. Most exciting of these is the Rygel XVI sculpture (from the hit Sci Fi Channel series FarScape) I just started. Go explore and see what you can find.

I recently got a new dog named Dino. He's a good companion to Loki, and everything in the house is subject to breakage when these two dogs (each averaging about 60 lbs.) start roughhousing. Check the pix of the mutts here.

That's about it for this time out. I'm hoping that the next update will be sooner, since the digital camera has really streamlined my photography. Plus I'm trying to make more time for sculpting, so I'm hoping to beef up the Workshop and Gallery areas.

September 24, 2000 -- LONG OVERDUE UPDATE

Wow, a lot has happened here at the Studios. It's been a long, busy six months since the last update. Among other things I bought a house and won three Silver Awards at the most recent Wonderfest. So much has happened that I'm going to address each change in its own paragraph below.

DPS Model Kit line discontinued
I haven't really publicized this before now, but about a year ago, a former business partner stole $7000 worth of molds, original sculptures, equipment and supplies from Dan Perez Studios. Needless to say, this was a serious blow to the DP Studios. I had been planning to discontinue my line of well-reviewed model kits already, but the theft accelerated this. I tried to sue the thief, but my lawyers turned out to be idiots and it all went to hell. I take some small solace in the fact that the thief, a model kit producer himself, went out of business. Still, I had to deal with the loss of some of my original sculptures (Cissy and Mangalore Aknot), which was very difficult.

I will continue to sculpt, and I hope to do some prototype work for other model kit companies, as well as private commissions. I will also produce a model kit now and again, but they will mostly be extremely limited in their runs and not generally available to the public. Any that are, such as the Starling kit, will be noted in the Gallery.

Dan accepts editorship of Sci Fi Magazine
I'm very pleased to announce that I am now the editor of Sci Fi Magazine, the official magazine of the Sci Fii Channel. This is a major national magazine published all over the country. You can read more about this by clicking on the Magazine button on the menu bar to the left.

Sculpting news
Well, the Spectrum awards didn't pick the Alien Actor for inclusion in their book this year. However, he did win a Silver award at Wonderfest, and I'm happy about that.

Another Silver Award winner at Wonderfest was my model kit ofClarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs. This kit was originally going to be a one of a kind sculpture (done on commission by Gabriel Marquez), but I created a limited number of castings of it. If you'd like one, visit the Starling page in the Gallery for more info.

Finally, I'm pleased to announce the completion of my latest sculpture, the Slimer from Ghostbusters. This model kit prototype is available for sale. See the Gallery for more info.

January 30, 2000 -- SCULPTURE IN PROGRESS

I'm hard at work finishing my second sculpture of Slimer from the movie Ghostbusters. This one, by popular demand, has been made as a model kit. Check out the photo on the Workshop page.

January 29 , 2000 -- NEW SCULPTURE COMPLETED

I'm excited to announced that I have finished my sculpture entry for the Spectrum awards (see December 9 entry below). I literally finished painting it and taking pictures the night before I had to overnight it in to meet the deadline. Whew! Check out the photo on the Gallery page.