The Last Stand of the Gin-Wog, hand-painted prototype.

Last week, in our newsletter we wrote about how House of Gog builds its statues in its own workshop. This time, a closer look at one piece in particular: The Last Stand of the Gin-Wog, our most recent statue with Skinner.

Skinner is an Oakland-based artist whose work draws from psychedelic horror, old-school D&D, Heavy Metal magazine and a lifelong love of monsters and cursed artifacts. The Gin-Wog comes straight out of that world.

The Gin-Wog was originally designed as t-shirt art. We chose it for a couple of reasons. First, we thought it was a sick design and character. But we also thought he would pair really well with our now sold-out Goraxx, also from Skinner.

We wanted to keep some continuity within our Skinner line and, considering how well Goraxx was received by collectors, to introduce more characters from that same corner of Skinner's work. With Goraxx as a magic-wielding summoner, we needed a warrior. That is how the Gin-Wog joined the line.

Skinner's original artwork

Starting from a single perspective

With an analog artist like Skinner, we start with one view of the character. The drawing tells us a lot, but it does not show us everything. Our sculptors have to extrapolate what the character looks like from the back, underneath and from angles that do not exist in the original artwork.

Sometimes we use our own judgment. Other times, we go back to the artist.

For the Gin-Wog's sword, Skinner provided references for the hilt so our team could reproduce the detail according to his original vision.

Skinner's hand-drawn reference for the hilt.

The hilt as sculpted from that reference.

The finished hilt on the hand-painted prototype.

The same happened with the back of the Gin-Wog's hair. Our sculptors are capable of developing those details themselves, but when the original artist can provide a reference, we would rather use it. It gives us a direct connection to the artist's vision and helps keep the final statue faithful to the artwork.

Our first pass at the hair, with Skinner's reference drawn over it

The finished hair sculpt, and the same detail on the hand-painted prototype.

The conversation does not stop

That is one of the advantages of working directly with the artists and producing the statues ourselves. The process does not stop when the drawing is handed over. There is an ongoing conversation between the artist and our team all the way through production.

The result is a piece that holds up from every angle, including the ones Skinner never drew.

The Last Stand of the Gin-Wog

-16 inches tall
-100% polystone resin
-Strictly limited edition of 150 pieces. No restocks or second run
-Hand-signed and numbered by Skinner
-Handmade and hand-painted in our own workshop
-Deluxe collector art box
-Metallic card
-Small art print
-Certificate of authenticity
-1200$

Preorders opened in May and remain open, with production scheduled to allow shipping to collectors in Q1 2027.

Flexible payment plans are available through Partial.ly at no additional cost. We ship worldwide.

See the full piece, the close-up photography and everything else on the product page.

The Last Stand of the Gin-Wog, a story by Skinner

Here burns the divine wrath of the Gin-Wog, in all its transcendent defiance! Declaring his otherworldly rage against the tide of men’s conquering dreams that wish to seize ownership of this world. Dreams that mutilate the forests and lands where weird spirits dwell, reborn as castles, swords and blackened ramparts that bite into the edge of the world until there is nothing left to eat. 

Yet in all their plans and dreams, they never could have guessed the lasting thirst of the Gin-Wog‘s blade. Never have they known the furious will of one who no longer skulks in the folklore shadows as hags, gnomes and kobolds have! The Gin-Wog has chosen not to disappear into the aether of the strange beyond, like its brethren, but to enter the world of men and battle in exquisite savagery until they are gone! 

In the bloody years of the Gin-Wog’s battle vow against the encroaching hordes of men, he became legend among the villages and kingdoms he waged his holy war against. Hiding in the forests and hills like a ghost, only to appear and slaughter any groups that dare engage his unearthly skill. He was a living nightmare that saw victory through night and day and across all seasons, and yet The Gin-Wog began to see everlong into the future, where a truth was laid bare. He saw no real end to this war, and understood that no command or control could be exerted against the destiny of this realm that would soothe his just desires. There would be no end to the rivers of men and horses, armor and swords, that would not rise like hungry waves to eventually drown this world. With every slice and parry, the Gin-Wog came to understand that all the death, blood and violence, only changed him to be like those hoped to destroy. He became the screaming contorted faces of the men he killed, lost in the fury and endless desire for triumph. The Gin-Wog spoke the language of brutality and poisoned himself in the process, lost from the grace of the faerie world he knew.

Realizing all at once, the folly with which he clutched and clawed against the inevitability of it all, The Gin-Wog felt the call to let it all go. Any need to destroy mankind began to slip away. The warm sunlight of enlightenment had held the Gin-Wog’s face in its hands, and the warrior finally felt all as it truly was. The time had come to rejoin the blessed people of the mounds he left behind. The changelings, Nixies, and imps wait for him amongst the stars and endless light that illuminate new fields in which they could escape the world of Men. He will join them once again.

In one last howl of dread laughter, he lifted his sword and challenged the sea of armored men, knowing that this was the way back to the sweet oblivion of the impossible realms where he belonged.

This death is a final exit home. This is the last stand of the Gin-Wog.

-Skinner

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Love ya,

-Selina
House of Gog | Community Dev.
"Always the illest for the illests"