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Jan 31, 2006
Acid Head Release Party Video @ Urban Testing Ground
Did you miss the release party for Tim Biskup's Acid Head Dunny from last Thursday? Watch the video ;-) Joel Kuwahara shot, edited, and posted a really nice polished video of the party on his blog Urban Testing Ground. Joel's blog has lots of video of various "urban" events including the Tequila release party. Definitely worth checking out.
Direct link to the Acid Head Video (For IE, right-click, save as, and then view from disk)
Dr. Bao's Debut @ Future Plastik
Dr. Bao is featuring his first work for Future Plastik with a custom hand painted vinyl record of a geisha playing a bamboo flute during Spring time. It is painted in mix medium of True Colorz spray paint, acrylic paint, ink and black fine liner. The vinyl is then elevated 1'' from the back of the frame and framed with a 16'' x 16'' wooden frame. Along with this vinyl, Future Plastik will also carry his Ho scale train graffiti. Both items are available via the website. Stay tuned to more Dr. Bao's work from Future Plastik.
Jan 30, 2006
Thomas Han: Painkiller Dunny + Print Sets
To celebrate his first vinyl toy, the Painkiller Dunny in the LA Dunny Series, Thomas Han has a sweet surprise for his fans: a very-limited combo set of a 3" Painkiller Dunny in display case and a 2.5" x 3.5" trading-card sized giclee print with its own hard protective case. Both the Dunny and the prints will be individually signed and numbered. The print is only available as part of this set and is limited to 20 pieces which are stamped on the back to ensure authenticity. It comes in a clear plastic screw-down case, which having seen it up close is quite slick.
Only 20 sets will be available for $40 plus $5 for shipping and handling. Each set was hand-packed by Thomas himself. They will go on sale tomorrow (Tuesday, the 31st) @ Noon Pacific time in the Merch section of Tomorama.com. You must be a member of Thomas Han's mailing list to purchase one of these sets (email mailinglist@tomorama.com with your name and if you're not yet a member). As you might expect, only one set per person. Payment can be made either via Paypal (merch@tomorama.com) or money-order (email for info).
These sets are very cool and will likely fly off-the-virtual-shelf! If you're a serious Thomas Han Fan, you'll want this as it commemorates his first of hopefully many designer vinyl toys!
More Plush!!!
Here are additional plushes that are going to be hanging out at the upcoming Plush Week show at Gallery 1988. The first set are from Klayco and they are called Friggers.
They were definitely made for the adult in mind. The usage of 50s
subdued colored plaid material and their simple clean lines makes these
plushes a playful addition to any body's home. The second set are from tsai-fi and
her cuddly creatures are almost too cute to handle. Their bright colors
along with their punk rock style makes them hard to resist. Check out
the artist's website to learn more but better yet, swing by Gallery 1988 and see all these critters for yourself. From the looks of things, there are something for everyone!!
Klayco
tsai-fi
Sam Fout @ NY Comic Con
Major Ripper
A few events are unfolding next month in New York that we toy collectors are keeping our keen eyes on. One being Toy Fair which is a trade show and NY Comic Con which is open to the general public. Many artists have plans to reveal their art and toys at one of these events. One of them being Sam Fout who is the creator of Project: Neptoon. He is going to be at the Con for 3 days signing the exclusive Project: Neptoon Chimp Pansy stake decks. These are a limited edition of 85, extremely high quality 7.75 x 31.5 decks, produced by the same house that brings the world Unbelievers/Jeremy Fish decks. These will only be available at the show. He will also be unveiling the new sculpt of Major Ripper sculpted by renowned Disney Marquette sculptor Jason Peltz, and of course tons of Neptoon merch, including canvases & prints, stickers, shirts, will be available. The Con is from February 24-26 and Sam will be at booth #103. So if you are attending, make sure you stop by for a chance to snag some cool loot. In the mean time, check out Startmobile for some out of this world images of Sam's work available for download for cell phone wallpaper.
Jan 29, 2006
Touma's Goon - Slightly More Revelaed ;-)
Touma's Goon looks like it's going to be an amazing figure. Wonderwall is SLOWLY revealing one of the colorways (yup, the tease is in full-effect). Here it is though -- the paint job on this edition looks amazing. Oh one other bad piece of news, the release is now apparently scheduled for May. :-( Looks like it'll be worth the wait though.
Save Huck:LIV3R's custom Scout and Clone Munny @ MODA3 (2.17.2006)
Here's a belated look (sorry ;-) at LIV3R's custom munny done for the Save Huck show @ MODA3 (2.17.06) in Milwaukee. This Star Wars inspired pair is titled Scout and Clone. This one has liberal sculpey use both on the clone trooper's armor and his blaster. The Scout is quite cool as it packs a working light attached on a bendy tube plus hey I'm a sucker for 'tech' details. This should bring in a hefty sum for Huck Gee's defense fund! Btw, Rebelscum is LIV3R and PhuEk.
Brian Taylor's Rustboy from Android8
Brian Taylor's Rustboy is the lead-character in a 3D animation project done on a low-budget in-home basis with amazing results (though sounds like a commercial project might be in the near future!). Brian's keeping a running diary complete with storyboards of his work on the project at the rustboy.com. Thanks to the innoative Android8, Rustboy is now a lovabe yet quirky vinyl toy. This one stands 7" tall and is limited to 850 pieces. Rustboy is a character that you find yourself staring at only to have those big almost human eyes return your gaze. While its appearance reads as mostly machine, the vaguely human head and features give it just a touch of a cute yet slightly melancholy Frankenstein-ish feel. Need Rust? Acquire him at Android8.
Designer Toys from Russia
Straight from our friend Sergey 'Iron_Lung' Safonov in Russia, here's a look at the pieces that were submitted to the paper toy design event, Stikovka. The paper toys were Granula which is an in-house design and Brickboy by Sjors Trimbach. Over a period of 3 months, 70 submissions from 40 artists all over Russia were received and from what I see, there are some mighty talented artists in our neighboring country. Enjoy and stay tuned for more great designer toy news from cold Russia!!!
Continue reading "Designer Toys from Russia"
Gary Baseman @ OX-OP
Gary Baseman was kind enough to shoot over photos of artwork from his recent show at OX-OP Gallery in Minneapolis. The show ended yesterday but you can still view the pieces via the website. There were a series of paintings that were done on pages of Chinese religious text. However, I had to read it upside down and paintings of Gary's naked Marilyn sort of got in the way. Nonetheless interesting!!!
Jermaine Rogers' Squire, The Herd, from Wootini
The Tempter
The Observer
Jermaine Rogers, the father of Dero, has a new toy about to drop, the striking Squire figure. Produced by Wootini, Squire appears to be part four-legged beast and part human. The kind folks at Wootini sent along these nice high-res pictures of each variant: regular edition squire 'The Tempter' (600 pieces), the Shadow Squire 'The Observer' (250 pieces), the GID Squire 'The Facilitator' (50 pieces), and the Clear Squire 'The Stalker' (25 pieces). Unfortunately, the ultra-limited Clear variant was only available as part of 'The Herd' complete set whose pre-order has come and gone. The hunt for both the clear and the GID should be pretty challenging given the very low numbers.
The Facilitator
The Stalker
Jan 28, 2006
Save Huck: MAD Ape Custom Munny @ MODA3 (2.17.06)
Wow... Check out the MAD Ape Custom Munny. This was done for the upcoming Save Huck Munny show at MODA3 in Milwaukee which opens on February 17th. This has to be MAD's best custom to-date. This one is incredible. First off the cartoony ape design looks great and has a tight synergy with the monkey-based Munny canvas. Second, the blue color scheme is really easy on the eyes -- too nice. Finally, I love the screaming (growling?) effect achieved by the positioning of the Ape face on the original Munny's forehead and the use of the original "mouth" as the ape's chin. Nice execution. Love the MAD Ape ? Wear it proud on a MAD x Rotofugi hoodie.
Save Huck: Play's'kewl's Crazy Play Munny @ MODA3 (2.17.06)
Update: Show details were wrong. This is part of the MODA3 show in Milwaukee ;-)
The whole designer toy community has pulled together to help Huck Gee with his recent immigration nightmare. There are several custom munny shows/auctions in the works to help out Huck. Here's a very dope custom, Crazy Play Munny done by Play's'kewl. The clean black/white design from top to bottom is pretty standout. Also, check out the sweet job on the TV accessory -- nice touch! Looks like this one is a self-portrait custom too! This Munny is part of the Save Huck Custom Munny Show (2.17.06) at MODA3 in Milwaukee and will be auctioned off with all proceeds going to Huck's legal defense fund.
Jan 27, 2006
Florida eXtravaganza (FX) Show (1.28 - 1.29.06) in Orlando, Florida
It's almost time for the '06 edition of the pop culture dream fest that is the FX (Florida eXtravaganza) show. The FX Show is a sci-fi, comic book, and designer toy show rolled into one -- all the better to lure in collectors and enthusiasts of all types :-) Nakanari has helped to increase the designer toy presence at FX by working with companies and designers to bring their stuff to the show. For '06 the designer toy participants include: Owlmovement, Wootini, Yanbi, MPH, Hi-Fructose, Clutter, RockAmerica, TwinkToy, Kumacentral, Brandon Sopinsky's Wabbitz, outtamymindcreations and Nakanari.
Central Florida Fairgrounds Exposition Park, Orlando Florida (INDOORS)
4603 W. Colonial Drive, Orlando Florida 32808
January 27th - 29th, 2006
Friday (preview) 6:00PM to 10:00PM
Saturday 10:00PM to 6:00PM
Interview with Wheaty Wheat's Richard VanOver - Part II
Richard VanOver founded Wheaty Wheat Studios with his wife, Debbie Yoon, with the goal of producing art toys of the highest quality possible. An artist in his own right, Richard's passion is helping talented artists turn their 2d art and characters into living breathing 3d toys. We recently had a chance to visit Wheaty Wheat Studios' brand new building and talk to Rich about his company and his perspective on anything and everything about the designer toy biz.
This is the conclusion to this interview. The first half of the interview appeared yesterday (Thursday).
The MAD*L 2k5 show at Oulous was sweet, any chance we’ll be something similar soon?
Let’s put it this way we might be seeing a big show but maybe only somewhat similar. We’ll know more about that later this spring.
Are you planning on ever releasing toys in blind-packaging?
The [MAD*L] minis.
Will there be chases?
There might be. If we do that, then it’ll probably be a different style.
What’s the biggest challenge in the designer toy game?
Trying to keep the character of the piece when it translates to 3d. So the 2d art to 3d art and still make it feel like it’s a translation of the artist’s character. To keep that life in it, is fucking crazy. It’s a hard thing.
What’s been the biggest success or the best day for Wheaty Wheat so far?
The best day was moving into our new building. Biggest success. I’d have to say, just out of pure numbers, the MAD*L’s, have been the biggest success. Because in under a year we’ve sold 8700+ pieces. Which is pretty freaking good and they’re not all the same. We did two phases in one year which I didn’t expect to do. Holy crap. Those moved and phase three is on the way. Success wise, that’s been our best.
Were your surprised by the degree of success of those?
Yeah. In a way. Not because I didn’t think they’d sell. When I think of designer toys, I’m thinking more on the art level. You don’t expect that many to move, you know? It feels like it was a lot longer time than a year. To have something move that much in a year, I thought was kinda amazing to me. Until MAD said something at Comic Con to me I realized that it’s only been a year since Phase 1 debuted and phase 2 already came out and we’re already sold out of ‘em.
Scion tC for Installation '06
Beyond designer toys, Wheaty Wheat is also involved in several other interesting projects. You’re involved in the Scion ’06 art tour, can you tell us more about that.
Sure, as much as I know. I guess they did a 12” car before that they had artists do their designs on and just recently they put on the Installation Scion Art Tour. We were picked up by Scion to do the tC car through our friend Random. He was a great help in getting us the job. He showed ‘em the 20” MAD*Ls and said we were the people to go to. I believe the show starts in January with 20 artists doing their designs on the cars and then they’ll be auctioned. It’s the same premise as the recent painting show. MAD is one of the artist on the car
And those are 3 foot cars?
Yeah. The cars are 3 feet long from bumper to bumper. They came out beautifully with the help of Joe Brogno on the modeling. I’m really excited about that because I’m a nerd.
My other favorite toy, 21c has an m1a4. It’s basically a light tank but it’s 1:6 scale. So G.I. Joe sits in it. I’m just a big nerd when it comes to big shit like that. The giant MAD*L’s were so cool. It’s almost like you feel like a little kid, it’s a toy and you’re scaled down. I’m always a nerd for big stuff, the bigger the better as far as I’m concerned.
Any chance we’ll see 20-inch toys?
I’ve had them priced out so yeah there’s a good possibility. I don’t know if they’d be painted on or they’d be solid colors. Not sure how it would work yet. There’s a good possibility down the line. They would be really limited.
Kathie Olivas' Custom HoneyB
Does the level of fan interest or collector interest in designer toys and the artists behind them, surprise you? That it’s getting so big?
No. It’s art. People are really into art. They just can’t afford most art. This is very affordable for people. Dude, I’ve got a ton of people I’d like to buy paintings from but I can’t afford a Mark Ryden, I can’t afford a Lucien Freud painting. I just think it’s so popular because everyone knows these are limited pieces and you can afford them. So you can collect art on the average Joe level. I just think it’s popular because of great designs and they’re affordable. Even the paintings and prints that people put along with them… -- when could you by a freakin’ print that’s hand numbered and hand signed from an artist for like 60 bucks? That’s what I see. That’s why I love this whole genre, just because it brings the art to the people who appreciate it I think a lot more than some of the people who buy a 90,000 dollar painting just to buy it and say they bought it.
Stick it on the wall and not think about it?
Yeah. Probably not even look at it twice.
So you definitely see the toys you make as art?
Oh yeah. Bite your tongue if you don’t think that <slaps hands together>.
Chris Lee
Andrew Bell
Did you ever imagine that people would line up more than seven hours in advance to buy the lava bunny?
No.
Did it freak you out?
I think it freaked me out in a good way. That just shows we’re doing it right. It’s a huge compliment to the artist and to the people who produce his toys. No, it didn’t freak me out at all. I was more amazed. I thought that was bad ass and I’m just appreciative of all the people that took the time to take the day off to stand in line. That’s just so cool. I respect those people because they’re motivated to purchase something that they really feel connected with. I think that’s what runs Wheaty Wheat Studios, being able to connect with the people that love this stuff. Know that they love it because we’re doing a good job and they’re appreciating it and that’s how they show it. It’s more about that than anything to me.
Continue reading "Interview with Wheaty Wheat's Richard VanOver - Part II"
"El Panda Revealed!" Part 4
Using Muttpop's comments and suggestions as a guideline, Monster 5 made the following tweaks while posing El Panda in the turnaround stance:
- Brought El Panda's head lower to his body.
- Made the shoulders, chest, arms and body more massive.
- Reshaped the wrinkles in El Panda's clothes to give them a cloth like texture.
As a luchador who convincingly holds his own against Tequila, it was of the utmost importance that El Panda looked like he could kick some SERIOUS behind. Monster5 demonstrates, once again, that his sculpting skills can do the job. Included below are 7 pics of the first version of the "posed" El Panda. Enjoy!! Check back next week for further El Panda revisions!
Report: Acid Dunny Release Party and Signing @ KR LA (1.26.06)
Kidrobot LA hosted Tim Biskup for the release party and signing of his sweet 8" Acid Head Dunny on Thursday night. At 4PM, the line was about 20 or so people and continued to grow as the doors opened at 6PM. While the turnout was pretty incredible, things were much calmer compared to the release of a super-rare toy such as JLed's Lava Bunny. Even though many people waited patiently in line in the cold (well for Southern California), they seemed quite happy and content! The KR staff handled the line quite well letting in people only when other customers left the store. After all they were about to buy an Acid Head Dunny, meet Tim Biskup and have him sign their new loot.
Tim started signing right at 6PM with Tigerlily on his lap. As is always the case, Tim was laid back and quite friendly. He took the time to ask peoples' names so that he could personalize the toy along with his signature on the foot of the Dunny. He also doodled on the "face" located on Acid Head's chest. The expressions varied from angry to content to happy. Tigerlily commented on several and gave her opinion of each doodle's mood. A couple fans had Tim do sketches for them and a few also purchased Munnys for him to customize which he did. Oh btw, asking Tim or any artist to personalize a toy to "Lucky Winner" is NOT very classy -- one might even say it's a little insulting.
These large events are a great place to chat with toy collectors as well as other artists. Several big-names dropped by for the event including Bwana Spoons, Thomas Han, Gary Baseman and Luke Chueh. Bwana Spoons is in town for his solo show today, Friday, in Santa Monica. Thomas Han has lots of things cooking including a limited edition print and LA Dunny set. More on that soon!
Oh... You want to know what else was available besides the Acid Dunny... Ok, here goes!
Several art prints were available for sale at the show. 5 huge framed giclee's were going for an eye-popping $4500. These were the nicest giclee's I've seen though ;-) The ?show-exclusive? print was available unframed for $150 and was quite nice with spot-use of metallic inks. The super-swanky day-glo Black Helium serigraph on wood was also available (?$1000?). Finally, there were several Jackson 500 original mini-paintings ($600) and a handful of even smaller paintings ($250).
There were a few custom toys at the show including a hand-painted prototype Acid Head Dunny, a very nice Bad Acid dunny, and a blue munny with a calli head. In addition to the customs, a few Yellow Callis were available as were the Ceramic Stack Packs.
Props to Tim Biskup and the entire KR LA staff including the manager, Jason, for a great event!
Black Helium
Continue reading "Report: Acid Dunny Release Party and Signing @ KR LA (1.26.06)"
Jan 26, 2006
A Closer Look at Tim Biskup's Acid Head
Today's the day that Tim Biskup's Acid Head 8" Dunny drops :-) How to get it? You can trek out to Kidrobot LA and get it at the release party which starts at 6PM tonight. Or you can get it online at Rotofugi. That's it as this is a Kidrobot x Rotofugi exclusive. This is a little late (just a tad!), but here's Acid Head Dunny up close and personal. The box artwork is drool worthy!
Interview with Wheaty Wheat's Richard VanOver
Richard VanOver founded Wheaty Wheat Studios with his wife, Debbie Yoon, with the goal of producing art toys of the highest quality possible. An artist in his own right, Richard's passion is helping talented artists turn their 2d art and characters into living breathing 3d toys. We recently had a chance to visit Wheaty Wheat Studios' brand new building and talk to Rich about his company and his perspective on anything and everything about the designer toy biz. Since Rich had a lot of insightful stuff to share, we've broken the interview into two parts. The second part will follow tomorrow.
Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself? What did you do prior to starting your mega empire?
Ohhhh… Mega empire. I like that. I might have to put that up front. Well, I went to art school in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Institute of Art. I moved out here, because I had a couple friends that moved out from school and they were working for a big prop company doing things for theme parks and stuff like that. I got hired and moved out and then started doing the large sculpting out of foam. I worked there for about 2 or 3 years and after that I went into special effects where I worked on Dogma, Three Kings and also worked on a bunch of commercials. From special effects I was hired at Disney, back to doing large foam sculpting. Well I was at Disney I worked on Tokyo Seas Disney and California Adventures. I worked there foe one year before getting laid off. From Disney I went to Gentle Giant Studios and began my career of toy prototyping. When I left GG I began Wheaty Wheat Studios out of my garage.
In art school I was a painting major with a print minor. I did maybe one semester of sculpting, In the 4 years I was there mostly wood I used. I never really sculpted figures before moving to California. So it was all pretty much taught on the fly. So that’s what I did before I started my mogul empire!
People on the boards probably think you’re a mogul. You must be right? You make your own toys!
Yeah… Till [we let them know that], “Yeah it’s just me and Debbie in our house and garage” (surprised sound) (chuckles).I told someone that and it fucking freaked them out. It was great. And it was the truth you know. And the product was packed up around me and I was sitting out there trying to sculpt in a tiny little space smaller than a prison cell.
And it was almost like it was your warehouse as well.
Yeah, I had all the Pinocchio Product we did with Gris Grimly in there and then we had MAD’s Phase 1, 6000 units total run and Phase 2 packed in there. Basically I had just a tiny space to do my molding, my sculpting, my casting and sanding. What a toxic nightmare!
Lobby
Warehouse
You almost didn’t have a house anymore. It was full of toys.
Yeah. Well the office was full of toys. And the office was coming out into the dining room and taking over that space. Debbie was getting tired of not having the house be a house. So we made the leap of faith to the new building.
Do you collect toys and if so what?
Toys. Yes, I do! And my favorite toy… Well, I collect some vinyl. And of course I have my own product. Who is my favorite? I love MAD’s anything! I dig his work allot he is very talented. I’m humbled just to be able to work with all the artists under the WW banner. Brandt Peter’s new piece we are doing are sweet! I’m in love with the 30’s animation style. Tristan’s designs are one of my favorites, Nathan Juervicius, Michael Lau. Those are probably my two overall favorites outside of the Wheaty Wheat clan.
But my biggest love is “Johnny West” by MARX toys. Johnny West was a cowboy action figures when I was a kid. Those things are just… I had the whole freakin’ set. Out of all the toys I had, Those were my favorite. I had the covered wagons, the horses, the Indians, the soliders, and the women, the whole set. Then my mom gave ‘em all way. But I just bought from Marx re-released of Johnny West and his horse Thunderbolt in the original packaging from the original molds. I believe they did a low run of those. I’m a huge fan of the Marx toys because the articulation in those for the time was pretty sweet.
So you still do prototyping for mainstream toys?
Yeah, we try to keep it flowing. We do a lot of stuff for Sideshow right now. We’ve worked with Jakks, and Mattel. It pays the bills!
Some of Rich's Toys
Bricks by Design
Favorite artist?
My favorite artist [is] Lucien Freud. His paintings are badass! He just did a show at MOMA, maybe a year ago. Lucien Freud has to be my favorite painter of all time.
And my other favorite artist is Tom Waits, just so you know.
The Musician…
So 2 spectrums.
People who have motivated or influenced you?
My DAD -- with the back of his hand. No, my dad was a good motivator. I think my parents taught me on pretty well how to work. They gave me a good work ethic – nothing’s handed to you. If you wanted it badly enough, you worked for it.
Thanks Mom and Dad!!
On your website you mention that Wheaty Wheat was started with 500 dollars and a dream. What was that dream?
The dream was just to make the best toys I could. To be able to do what the other companies I worked for are doing but be able to do it on a better level. And not… It’s hard to explain. You have to work in this environment. When we did toys – you were a sculptor and made these things bad ass and then they’d go to China and then they’d come out like crap. Because everybody wants to cut corners and make it cheaper. Not all places. Sideshow Toys is fucking phenomenal. Their stuff is so beautiful, it’s unbelievable. They take the time to do that. A lot of companies just…
Here’s a quick story. I was work for this company and we made these Lord of the Rings Toys. They were going to be the Burger King premiums. They were only like 2 or 3 inches tall and they stood a pie shaped base. You could put them together and the ring was in the center. We spent allot of time working on these pieces We had a lot of scans of the actors and what not but you had to go in there and tweak everything and make them into their poses. They were going into detail like sculpting their irises in. It was just insane detail and painstaking, because it was just never enough detail. And the client sent them out to the factory, we got test shots back to adjust. Oh my god they looked like lead soldiers. All the detail was gone, washed out and it was just like a blob for a head, two black dots for eyes. It was just really crappy looking, clubs for hands? That to me was just --- you know these artist are working very hard to make something nice and crap comes out at the end. I really couldn’t take that anymore.
So I wanted to be able to do my own thing and do it right. Make sure we can make the best product we can.
Artist Series 1 MAD*Ls
MPH MAD*Ls
When did you found Wheaty Wheat?
I think it was 2001. January 1st, 2001.
Continue reading "Interview with Wheaty Wheat's Richard VanOver"
Artist Series MAD*Ls : Sket One Videos From Wheaty Wheat Studios
The MAD*Ls are coming, the MAD*Ls are coming! The first of the Artist Series MAD*Ls will be dropping very soon now. In their continuing efforts to improve the production process, Wheaty Wheat Studios is trying out a new approach to communicating complicated changes of a figure to their factory in China. Instead of relying on markup of 2d images, Wheaty Wheat's modeler, Joe Brogno, created two videos featuring 3d model turnarounds for Sket One's Artist Series MAD*L for the factory to use to make final corrections. Enjoy these two short and sweet quick-time videos!
Sket One MAD*L Artist Series videos by Wheaty Wheat Studios (click thumbnail to play)
Gary Baseman and Toby invade Italy
What happens when Two Americans hit Italy? Straight from the man himself, Gary Baseman sent over these photos of him working on a huge canvas at an Action Painting event at Luisa via Roma in Florence. But I have to say the star of this trip seems to be Toby. Sorry Gary...Check out what happens when Toby takes in the sights of Florence.
Nakanari x Bloo Empire: Unnatural History @ Wootini
It sounds like a science class gone wrong but Unnatural History is the name of a upcoming show at Wootini by Bloo Empire and Nakanari. The pieces planned for the show focus on animal characters by both artists. Bloo kindly sent along pics of four of his canvas pieces. Enjoy! There will also be new custom toys by the artists. Bloo Empire who lives in Charlotte will make the 2 hour trek to Wootini for the show opening. So if you are in the Chapel Hill area, drop by for toys, drinks and music.
Pre-Order Jermaine Roger's Squire @ Wootini (Today @ 3PM Eastern)
Jermaine Rogers' long-awaited Squire figure is almost upon us. Wootini will be accepting pre-orders starting at 3PM Eastern today (Thursday, 1.27.06) on their website. You can pre-order the set of four ($300) which includes the regular edition squire 'The Tempter' (600 pieces total), the Shadow Squire 'The Observer' (250 pieces), the GID Squire 'The Facilitator' (50 pieces), and the set exclusive Clear Squire 'The Stalker' (25 pieces). You can also pre-order the blue regular edition Squire for $35. The Squires stand at 5" tall and each comes with one randomly inserted print (3 variations, including one that's hand-signed and doodled by Jermaine himself). The sets are being strictly limited to one per person. There is no limit on the regular edition Squires. Also, please be aware that the system will show each item as 'sold out' until the pre-order opens.
If you want a set, set your watch and make sure you hit the website right on the dot at 3PM Eastern today (Thursday)! Good hunting! Here are the direct links:
Pre-order Regular Edition Squire 'The Tempter' for $35
Pre-Order the Set of Four Squires for $300
Jan 25, 2006
Huck Gee @ Mechanized
Utah... Land of sweet custom toys? Well, for one night at least! Check out Huck Gee's pieces from Saturday's solo show at Mechanized Records. These pieces are straight up awesome and they definitely brought the toy community of SLC together for a playful night. Thanks to Ron of Mechanized and Huck for sending these awesome pics taken by Stirling.
Continue reading "Huck Gee @ Mechanized"
Behind the Scenes: Upper Deck All-Star Vinyl “The LeBrons”
Upper Deck will soon unveil their brand new All-Star Vinyl designer toy line. Holding exclusive licensing contracts with iconic athletes such as Michael Jordan and LeBron James, the concept is to introduce an athlete themed designer toy line for sports enthusiasts and kicks collectors. All-Star Vinyl launches with a series of figures in partnership with Nike and based on their popular ad campaign “The LeBrons.” In the ads the high school phenom turned NBA superstar, plays four different personas of LeBron: Athlete LeBron, All Business LeBron, Wise LeBron and Kid LeBron. Upper Deck is releasing four figures, one for each of Lebron's personas. To sneak peek the full series, Upper Deck will be releasing an exclusive version of Athlete LeBron during the week of the NBA All-Star Game—featuring the red all-star edition Nike Zoom LeBron IIIs he’ll be wearing in the game. The Chosen One Edition, the standard release of the 4 figures, comes out in April.
We're excited to bring you a concentrated four-week or so behind-the-scenes look at the development of the Athlete Lebron figure. First up, we have a series of initial sketches done by Upper Deck’s lead designer on the product line, Chris Brunner. Chris was given the challenging task of designing the figure and turn-around sketches based on a photograph of LeBron from the ad campaign. Chris talks about the challenge and the solutions:
This project was pretty far out of my comfort zone. I really didn't know where to begin. I just had to keep beginning again. Coming from a background of Comic Books, Concept Art, Illustration (all 2D), I'd never come up against the problems of working in 3D. Even though 2D work is real and 3D in my mind, designing for an actual 3D piece meant so much of my usual "tool box" was useless. Can't rely on composition as it would be seen by any angle, can't rely on the line quality to communicate the personality, can't control the light source. Whatever the piece was, it had to contain the "idea" independently of the surface quality. In that sense, it was similar to designing a logo--there's a million ways the McDonalds “M" can be, no matter if it's a neon sign, airbrushed mural or a yellow crayon drawing, it's still the "Golden Arches". Although I had a million pictures of LeBron to work from, like anyone else he looked different from picture to picture. The goal was to condense all that into one stylized exaggerated shape that still rang true as LeBron, not simply recreate one image in particular. Not to over blow it, it's just a different medium, had to learn new tools is all, solve new problems.
Look for the next installment of our look at the 1st Upperdeck All-Star Vinyl figure next Wednesday.
