This website is about any and everything that sparks the creative genius in all of us. By profession I am a Graphic Designer, and enjoy all aspects of design. From traditional to urban from resin to vinyl, these are all great mediums and deserve to be explored. On top of that everything from music to movies from guns to graffiti.
When I look back at the start of my toy collecting I think possibly of those early days of Star Wars figures, then I think upon my first sight of some of the early 1:6 figures and Kaiju I saw coming out of Japan and HK. But I think the real thing that cemented my love of collecting was the customs. I can't think of many figures that come out of production that push the envelope as much as the stuff being created by the customizers out there. Save for 3A possibly. In fact it was that kind of attention to detail and the added bonus or articulation that led me to collect 3A. And while I love Ashley Wood's figures I still can't help being drawn the the customizers that take it one step further.
Fortunately for me 3A has drawn in some of the best artist's from around the world, be it designers, illustrators, sculptors or even in some cases professional toy designers. To stop by the 3A forum and look through the customs section is always a treat, and it always makes me want to push my own art further. So I thought I'd share a few of my favorite customizers with you here from time to time. Today I'd start with toy customizer WWWetworks.
WWWetworks hasn't been in the world of custom toy building long but in that short period his stuff has come up and captured many people's imagination, myself included. What sets his stuff apart i think id the fact that it's wholly his own in most cases. While he works mostly in 1:6 figures right now, you can see his mind turning to other projects both in 1:6 bots and other avenues as well. So Lets take a moment and ask this artist some questions. Hit the jump for more! So let's start this off the right way, please tell us your name and a little bit about yourself? Hi, I'm Carlo, a 29 yrs old web-designer and design addict
So how long have you been making customs? and what drew you into it? Just started building these customs about 6 months ago, though I've been wanting to do this kind of stuff for a long time, My good friend Malte/Muffinman got me inspired and I think the main turning point is when I saw his custom bramble and it totally blew me away, and of course a big part also is 3A
What is your favorite items to use for customs? I love to work on 1/6 figures but I would like to push the boundaries and explore different platforms
What do you collect and why? Strictly Ashley Wood/3A figures only, awesome stuff from a great artist
What are you currently working on? Working on some commissions as well as my own stuff with a day job on the side
If you were to dream big, whats your one thing you'd love to make? Money's no limit.... I guess not literally but I would like to make my own mark in the toy designing art world, I would love for them to remember the name wwwetworks
Taking a look at some of your pieces I'm drawn to how great your paint and weathering skills are, as well as your sculpting skills. Did that just come natural or have you done this type of thing in the past or maybe have those skills from other hobby's? This is my first time to do sculpting as well as painting and weathering, tutorials and research helped me a lot in developing my skills and also a lot of patience and hardwork.
One of the things I love is your tackling 1:6 figures. We don't see that too much here with exception to Mostly Military or themed kitbashes. Is this something you plan to continue? and what are your thoughts on the current trends in the toy market? Yes, I believe 1:6 figures is my passion right now, I love the size and the articulation, guess the current trend now is the 1:6 figures and it is evolving, more and more great artists are coming out to share their skills.
And one last question, if someone wanted to contact you for custom work how would they go about doing that? Please do drop me an email atwwwetworks@hotmail.com, thank you
For more information or to just gaze at his newest additions take a look at his flickr page.
It's no secret 3A has a huge following with a rabid fan base that is always eager for the latest news and info. Fortunately we have Gimbat for that, but recently we've started to see many fans seeking to share their love of all things Ashley Wood and as a result a few fan based sites have come along giving the 3A collector even more choices to share in both the love of 3A toys and art as well as a chance to share their thought and opinions with others.
Recently it started with the ThreeA Wiki. A great resource and depository of all 3A knowledge and a great place to go when you just have a quick question about a toy or possibly to read up on some of the history behind the bots.
3A Radio came next. This is a Podcast on all things 3A as well as toys in general. Here you'll find fans sharing their love of toys along with product reviews, news and other great items of interest. 3A radio can be found both online here and at itunes podcast page here.
And the most recent to this is the new 3A chat board created by 3A member Bot Bambina. I had a chance to chat with her upon spending some time at the new chat site. I asked her a few questions as it intrigued me to see people stepping up all for the love of toys. So Bot Bambina, tell me a bit about yourself: I started collecting 3A toys in November of ’09. My love of 3A started when I began taking pictures of my fiancee’s new Tomorrow King. I didn’t really like it at first but when I started playing with the articulation and taking pictures I realized how awesome they were.
I collected barbies (laugh if you will) until I was 15 or 16. I spent a lot of my money on accessories. Mattel is a far cry from 3A, but when you see the tomorrow queens, you see what I WISHED I had to play with when I was a kid.
Our collection is primarily 3A. We are lucky enough to own an DIY de Plume and we just purchased the 1:1 Merc square which we are super excited about.
Tell me a bit what inspired you to do the chat room? The chat site was just an idea that I had. I didn’t think anyone would care for it but Nocash pointed out to me there was a thread asking about a Legionnaire chatroom. So I made one. I went through TONS of sites and put people through a lot of confusion before I found a good one. I wanted there to be a site like this for drop nights mostly. But its turning out to be a pretty regular hangout for some. Its a lot of fun in there!
The 3A chat site is live now and while it's not always busy I expect it to be very busy on drop days. With a few possible drops this coming week i look forward to seeing how people will use it. To check out the chat simply go to www.legionnairebunker.com
Look for more news on 3A radio as well as a interview with it's founder soon...
Another beautiful evening in San Francisco, and another art show is in the books as Gallery 1988 SF played host to the first "Crazy 4 Cult: Customs" show, that gave artists the task to tackle only cult film characters or themes... and unlike all the previous Crazy 4 Cult shows, which primarily focused on traditional paintings, this show featured nothing but custom vinyl pieces, and thanks to our SF correspondent and uber talented artist DrilOne, we have these pictures from the opening night!
I really can't see one custom that I did not like, in fact I would love all of these in my collection, but a few really did stand out to me... the first being Andrew Bell's "Sloth" custom O-No Sushi, this was just brilliant! I really also enjoyed the Willy Wonka themed custom by Scribe and 64Colors, their work is so clean. Lastly the Doc Brown by TaskOne and the Jaws from DrilOne are just top notch pieces! This show is going to be up until September 24th, so if your in or around the area be sure to stop by before they take it down... and hit the jump for a photoslide show from the event!
Manuel Heischel aka Cikcuk Dunia Fantasi has just sent over a teaser for his custom Jouwe figures, and not only did he complete 1, but he did 2, as he is sending the the Cyan one to LA for the Toy Art Gallery Show, and the Magenta one is going to Germany for the show at ArtyFarty Gallery... both shows happening on October 2nd! Manuel has a very distinct style,a nd he approaches the majority of his custom with this same color pallet... I can't wait to see the end result!
OsirisOrion just sent over a really cool video that he shot on 8/19/10 where over 40 artists including Nemo, Jon G, OsirisOrion and many others were invited to take part in G2's Group exhibition curated by artist Mike A. Check out the video as there are some good shots of some rad art... also to note after the show artist Nemo and Benny of Tenacious Toys talk a bit about the upcoming Tenacious Toys Marshall blind box series... and they also show some off!
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