I love books! I love art books! I love books created by people that I know! I love books that feature people that I know! Soooooo... all that being said, I think I will love this new book titled “Newbrow: 50 Contemporary Artists” which was created by Shane Pomajambo of
Art Whino! It features newbrow art of 50 contemporary artists from across the US, Denmark, Germany, and Australia... which includes:
Aaron Jasinski, Aaron Kraten, Angry Woebots, Billi Kid, Blaine Fontana, Brandon Hill, Brendan Tierney, Brett Amory, Caia Koopman, Casey Weldon, Charlie Owens, Chris Sheridan, Craig Skibs Barker, Cutthroat, Daniel Fleres, David Chung, Dave Lowell, Emma Overman, Gigi Bio, Glenn Arthur, Graham Franciose, James Walker, Jimbot, Jim Mahfood, Joe Iurato, Joey D, JoKa, Justin Lovato, Kelly Castillo, LECKOmio, Luke Chueh, Mary Spring, Melanie Pruitt, Morten Andersen, Mr. Christopher, Nick Morris, Nils Westergard, Patrick Haemmerlein, Paul Chatem, Peter Adamyan, Richard Salcido, Ruben Ubiera, Scotch, Scribe, Sylvia O, TMNK, Tony Philippou, Ursula Xanthe Young, Walt Hall and Yosiell Lorenzo
This book measures 9" x 12", features 188 color photos of a ton of work from super prominent artists in the scene, is 112 pages of hardcover goodness and is priced at just $29.99 a piece! Do yourself a favor... head on over
HERE now to pick this up, and thank me later :-)
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Misaki Sawada recently created an awesome sculpture under her 'Furrybones' line of products, and decided that this figure dubbed "Scorchie" needed to be cast in resin... with the above image being the end result... RAD!!! This piece is limited to only 300 worldwide, is made from cold cast resin, and will be ready to ship starting this August! Standing at just 6" tall, "Scorchie" is packed full of detail... and can be picked up
HERE right now on a pre-order basis for just $50!
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As per our previous post
HERE... we wanted to do a little follow-up on this awesome new figure coming out that we spotted at SDCC 2012... why? Because it's RAD!!!! We stopped by Justin "
Hateball" Jewett and
Brian Ewing's booth during the con to snap a few more shots of their "Shub Zeroth" prototype, and I am still blown away at how rad it is in these photos... oh, and I was equally blown away to hear that this is Brain's first crack at a vinyl figure... WTF?!?! Concepted up by Justin, sketched by Brian, and sculpted by the master Siccaluna Koubo... this goat-like, cycloptic creature is in metamorphosis... and as you can see, it's turning into one badass looking beast! A few more steps in refinement are going to take place, and once that happens, the prototype will find it's way on a plane to Japan to be produced by Luke "
Grody Shogun" Rook and Ricki "
Velocitron" Wilson. I can't wait to see the final version, and we will keep you updated on the progress once we find out more info!
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Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this new mini-labbit series by
Kronk may be the first artist designed Labbit series other than the ones by Kozik... and I am liking what I am seeing! Adorned with Kronk's stylistic vector work, these 2.5" mini "8 Deadly Sins Labbit's" look awesome! Which is your favorite: Greed or Lust? Pride or Wrath? Gluttony or Sloth? Envy or Dejection? What ever one is your favorite... they all look quite fantastic, and as a set... forget about it!!!! These are set to drop on July 26 at Kidrobot stores,
kidrobot.com, and select retailers worldwide for $9.95 per blind-box. That being said, should these have even been blind-boxed? I say no... only 8 pieces. I would however love to see these sold as a set... and I am fairly certain they would sell well that way. Thoughts?
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Oh, what is this???
DC Comics x
Medicom x
Bearbrick. KABLAM! Swooping in on July 29 and is limited to 600 caped crusaders, it will set you back roughly $20. Cheap as chips if you ask me. Get ready!!
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Hey folks... after seeing the new 'Hell Lotus' figure from
Mighty Jaxx in person at SDCC... all I can say is WOW! That being said, the pre-order period to pick up this rad box-set is closing very soon, in fact, the last day to get in on this awesome deal is July 23rd at 11:59 EDT! The set includes an Hell Lotus 8″ figure, interchangeable parts, Authenticity card and a signed limited edition print as well as all pre-order customers will receive complimentary in-store credits for their next purchase as well as a FREE sample of Mighty Jaxx other upcoming products (once it's ready of course). Head on over
HERE now to pull the trigger on this upcoming figure release... you won't be sorry!
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Grimsheep meant to have his three interpretations of Marvel Comic's
Punisher done in time for the
San Diego Comic-Con, but — alas — it was not meant to be. As such, these wonderful 7-inch Munny versions of the ultra-violent Frank Castle will be dropping in
his web store on Wednesday, July 18th at 9PM EST with a price of $300 each.
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I don't know how much of a
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan
Don P is, but this Mecha-Raphael custom he did is actually a perfect match for the "T4, The Turtlenator" character that was supposed to be introduced in the Dreamwave Comics series. You'd probably like to think I'm joking, but I'm not…
I really like the look of this 3" Chuckboy Dunny piece, which obviously required a good bit of sculpting work to make into a Ninja Turtle character. Now, unfortunately, I grew up loving the Turtles… so the fact that Raphael is supposed to be carrying Sai isn't lost on me (Leonardo was the one that carried Katana blades), but I'm willing to overlook this; it's a rather minor, nit-picky nerdy point. Overall, another fantastic Don P piece… speaking of which, we're informed that Don P has a couple of openings in his commission schedule for the remainder of the year, so please
contact him if you're interested in being added to that prized list!
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Abandon all hope, ye who wish to buy the above custom… for
JC Rivera created it on commission. Entitled "Someone's Inferno" and inspired by Dante's allegorical journey through Hell, this 8-inch custom Dunny really allowed Rivera to embrace the fine painting aspect always present in his work. Lots of amazing details — including what seems to be a never-ending river of skulls — truly make this a three-dimensional painting.
But after working on Hell, Rivera opted to do some Salvation for a bit… though, admittedly, his Salvation Ink custom, "Create," is a bit nightmarish looking with the Day of the Dead style face and base cluttered with skulls. And his Rebel Ink custom, "Pain," is a fantastically detailed boxer character. Unfortunately, both of these were commissions as well. For those dying to own a Rivera piece, he has a handful in
his online shop and/or you can always
contact him about commissioning an original piece.
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When the "
Most Wanted: Behind the Hype" group custom exhibition opened, the response was fantastic… So the
Most Wanted crew have put together a Take 2 for you. Okay, so this is actually a collection of the very few remaining pieces from the original show… but, with no gallery in the equation any more, the prices have dropped by as much as 50%. And yes, a lot of these were VERY expensive at the exhibit, so you might've lusted for them but not been able to pay the amount being asked.
Take 2 will begin Friday, July 20th at 12 Noon PST and will end, without warning, at any given moment. The pieces will all be in the
Most Wanted online shop and will include works by:
Ryan the Wheelbarrow,
Ian Ziobrowski,
Lickyourelbow,
Igor Ventura,
RunDMB,
Pause,
Tim Munz &
Luihz Unreal.
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If you are new to this column, it is truly meant to be read from the beginning to the most recent.
Please start with the first installment, "What are Designer Toys?"
A reader asked me how a Designer Toy gets made, as in the actual manufacturing process. While this is far from my area of expertise, I'll try my best to give you the broad stroke steps that production is accomplished for resin and vinyl figures, whether self-made or produced in a factory. This is meant to be more of a "This is how it is done" essay and not a "This is how you do it" tutorial… having never done it myself, I feel ill-equipped to write a tutorial on the matter.
Hit the jump to continue reading for the full explanation…
As opposed to my normal Designer Toys 101 columns, this one is going to be rather image heavy, showing you step-by-step how it is done. For this topic, I'm going to use Paul Shih's wonderful pictures of the process he used to make his "Bevil" resin figure. And, like most things, it all starts with a design:
Some people have a vivid image in their head and skip sketching it out, going straight to sculpting, but they still have the design in mind first and foremost. And, for some, this is it for them: they've designed the figure, someone else will sculpt it and actually produce it. Regardless, someone does sculpt it and (in Shih's case) usually does a tight front and back illustration.
As you can see, Shih not only made a finalized design to scale but also sculpted the base figure out of tin foil. This isn't uncommon at all, in order to conserve more expensive materials like actual sculpting clay.
He then starts layering on more and more clay, building up the final form. All the while he is referencing his tight illustration to make sure it is coming together at the proper height and proportions. In this instance, he used 'scrap clay' (material he doesn't like) for the inner base over the tin foil and then covers it with easily malleable material he does prefer so that he can sculpt the details in.
Oh look, like magic the sculpt is done! Okay, so a lot of work went into sculpting it, but I think you get the point. In the end, he has an original sculpt of his figure. Now some clays are air drying and some need heat to set, in Shih's case he needed for his figure to take some time in the oven to firm up.
And once it comes out, Shih will have a finished sculpt of "Bevil." Now if he was going to have it produced in vinyl, he'd more than likely send this off to a manufacturing plant and they'd create a mold from it, cast a wax version of the figure, send it to Shih for approval, and then they'd cast the vinyl figures using a process known as rotocasting. Rotocasting involves taking a small amount of the vinyl and placing it in the mold, then spinning the mold rapidly so that the vinyl is dragged to the outer mold layers by centrifugal force.
But Shih, on the other hand, will be casting the figures himself in resin, so he builds up a container for the figure to be placed in and the mold to be poured:
At the very bottom of the container is a soft, non-hardening clay that the figure is actually set into. This creates the two halves of the mold perfectly, so that the finished mold can be easily split apart multiple times.
Here's the mold being poured by a jerry-rigged method. From what I understand, a slow mold pour helps ensure it sits more thoroughly and doesn't form bubbles. Once this mold is dry, Shih will pop it out along with the figure and then pour the other half of the mold in a similar manner. But, once that is done…
…you have a finished mold (that blue thing next to Shih). He's now mixing the resin, which is readily available in either solid white or clear, though both versions can easily have their color altered by adding pigments to the mixture. Once he has the resin ready, Shih will tie the mold halves together and pour the resin in through a hole he's cut in the mold. At this point, some people use a vacuum chamber or pressure pot to ensure that no bubbles form in the resin, but either way you pull out a completed piece at the end:
And the finished "Bevil" is then hand-painted to give some color variation and definition (a step already done for the piece pictured above). To make more, he just keeps using the same mold and hand-casting each one. My understanding is that a mold will typically last for 20 to 30 figure castings before the form degrades noticeably, but then you just cast a new mold off of your original figure.
So, in the most broad terms, that's how Designer Toys are made. If you're interested in making your own, I strongly encourage you to seek out proper tutorials on-line and not use this as a step-by-step method.
Next Week: Are those action figures Designer Toys?
Designer toys used in this week's colume are:
"Bevil" designed & self-produced by Paul Shih, 2012
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Like most people, you've surely lusted after some of those amazing
Frank Kozik busts… but at $200+ each, not everyone can afford to splurge on one. Enter
Kidrobot with a solution: 4-inch mini busts! Each of the five designs is cast as a solid, single color piece of vinyl and you get to choose with dictator you want: The Pyong Yang Player, DJ Aya-Holla, Lil Ilych, The Gipper, or The Havana Slammer. Though each does come in an assortment of colors — electric blue, magenta, yellow, black and white — which you don't decide on. But retailing for a mere $9.95 each, how can you pass these up when they drop on July 26th?
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The talents of
Tara McPherson and
Jeff Soto seamlessly blend in this collaborative rock poster print they designed for the recent
Pearl Jam with
X tour. The 6 color screen print measures 19.5" x 35.5" and comes signed by both artists in a numbered edition of only 200 copies. Retailing for $70 each, these wonderful pieces of art will be on sale today, July 17th at 12 Noon EST in the
Cotton Candy Machine online store.
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Everyone has experienced the blind boxed Dunny mystery: What's that design with the vague outline and question mark actually look like? And — while I'm sure I've seen this joke done before —
Kong Andri's reply is: It looks exactly like that! A Dunny with a question mark on it! While the design might not be complex, the execution is picture perfect on these "I'm The Real Chase" customs.
That's some extremely tight paint masking on the fronts and especially the backs; no hint at all of smudging or feathering from mask removal, which is quite impressive when you get that fine a line. Each color is limited to only 7 copies, which make these 3-inch Dunnys a real steal at only $45 each (or $80 for a pair)… and they are available now in
Andri's online shop.
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While
Kreativ31's custom "Bane" Munny might not be pristinely sculpted or painted, it does show a relative newcomer who is pushing themselves… which is exactly how one learns. I actually like the idea of a flat color for the fleshy base juxtaposed against the washed tones of all Bane's gear. This piece was commissioned, with all sculpted elements created out of polymer clay and the painting done with acrylics.
And, of course, this concept is quite timely given The Dark Knight Rises release!
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