Artist name: Optikmass
Artist website: optikmass.com
Artist location: New York City, buy United States
Toy Name: Vega
Toy Type: Kidrobot 8″ Munny
Toy Story: None, Just love….:)
Artist available for commission? Artist may be contacted via website, or at info [at] optikmass.com

Artist name: Optikmass
Artist website: optikmass.com
Artist location: New York City, visit
United States
Toy Name: Vega
Toy Type: Kidrobot 8″ Munny
Toy Story: None, recipe Just love….:)
Artist available for commission? Artist may be contacted via website, or at info [at] optikmass.com

Artist name: Florence McLean
Artist website: florencemclean.dk
Artist location: Denmark
Toy Name: Amethyst
Toy Type: Kidrobot 8″ Munny
Toy Story: Amethyst has an amethyst gun, physiotherapy
it shoot out lovely purple silk-tread that glows like an amethyst. When it hits people they are filled with love and can only see everything as positive.
Toy Available for sale: Yes, cardiology
please use the information provided from commission requests to contact Florence McLean.
Artist available for commission? Contact kunst [at] pc.dk or call at +4526822704.
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Earlier this month toy custom artist Kat Brunnegraff had her Black Hole custom featured on our blog here at Custom Toy Lab. This time she’s back with a tutorial for us showing exactly how she makes her customs from start to finish. If you’re curious about just how she achieves her night-style looking customs that she’s known for, salve you’ll definitely wanted to read this tutorial.

The Story:

Sometimes on their journeys Night Walkers get lost in unfamiliar skies. Similar to a chameleon a Night Walker will change it’s colors to match it’s surroundings. This particular Night Walker got lost somewhere near the Horse Head Nebula and turned red!

Click (more…) to read the rest of this tutorial. If you like it, information pills post a comment or share it on Twitter with others.

(more…)

Earlier this month toy custom artist Kat Brunnegraff had her Black Hole custom featured on our blog here at Custom Toy Lab. This time she’s back with a tutorial for us showing exactly how she makes her customs from start to finish. If you’re curious about just how she achieves her night-style looking customs that she’s known for, what is ed you’ll definitely wanted to read this tutorial.

The Story:

Sometimes on their journeys Night Walkers get lost in unfamiliar skies. Similar to a chameleon a Night Walker will change it’s colors to match it’s surroundings. This particular Night Walker got lost somewhere near the Horse Head Nebula and turned red!

Click Read the rest of this entry » to read the rest of this tutorial. If you like it, viagra post a comment or page great tutorial by Kat Brunnegraff!”>share it on Twitter with others.

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The Story:

Sometimes on their journeys Night Walkers get lost in unfamiliar skies. Similar to a chameleon a Night Walker will change it’s colors to match it’s surroundings. This particular Night Walker got lost somewhere near the Horse Head Nebula and turned red!

Materials:

– A MadL toy (a blank or already purchased one)
– Hair dryer (for removing the head from the body)
– Nail polish remover (only required if using an already painted MadL)
– Cotton balls (to be used alongside the nail polish remover)
– Krylon Spray paint (you can use a color of your choice)
– Acrylic paints (Galleria and Liquitex are used in this tutorial)
– Paint brushes (well duh!)

Instructions:

1) Toy time! Generally I start by making sure my art table is reasonably clean/clear of dust so as to not have nasty paint later on in the process.

I then think about what I want to paint, sale and what toy I feel like working on that day. Today I picked a 5″ MadL.

First off if the toy has any accessories/jewelry like mine did, unhealthy I start by cutting it off, find unless I want to save it for later, in that case I skip the cutting step and go straight to step 2

2) Heat Time! The Hairdryer is your friend, just watch your fingers, kids get your parents to help you with this. MadL’s only have one joint which makes this easy, you’ll want to apply the heat until the bottom of the head is pliable but not TOO soft or you’re likely to ruin the toy. Repeat this step after step 4

Pull the MadL’s head til it is removed. Sometimes you’ll need to use the hair dryer a few times over, depends on the toy.

3) Strip time! Get your supplies, I use extra strength nail polish remover and cotton balls to remove the initial paint. I never completely remove the paint if I am going to use spray paint, just rub it off until any raised paint is no longer raised. It will have a very smeary ruined look about now.

4) Spray time! I use Krylon spray paint for Plastics. It sticks better and dries faster than other paints. Go outside for this, I take an old cardboard box and set the toy on top. You’ll just want to dust the toy with the paint, it doesn’t need to be solid but everything needs to have some paint on it. Let it dry fully, since it’s only a dusting, it shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes to dry.

5) Time to paint! Take your toy inside and get your paint and palette ready. I use Galleria or Liquitex acrylic paints, they both work very well. Apply black paint to the whole toy, and allow it to dry.

6) Dry Brush Time! Take a medium sized brush make sure it’s dry, and mix up 1-3 colors of your choice, I picked hot pink and red for this toy, and dip your brush in the paint, and then wipe it off on a paper towel til there is just a hint of color left when you wipe it on the towel. Then you’ll just lightly brush all over the toy, push harder if you want a brighter spot of color or lighter for just a hint of color. Allow each separate color to dry before applying the next color.

7) Detail Time! I usually just have it when I paint the face and the stars on, but you can use a pencil to rough in where you want your face. I use a really really tiny brush for the stars. After that it’s done! Don’t worry about brush marks, that’s the whole point of dry brushing, messy is fun!

8) Spray with clear coat to protect the paint job. Voila, you’re done!

Artist name: Squink!
Artist website: squinky.co.uk
Artist location: Sheffield, health
United Kingdom
Toy Name: VintageBird
Toy Type: Kathie Olivas Redbird
Toy Story: Found at the back of the elephants carriage, this has been carefully cleaned and disinfected.
Toy Available for sale: Nope, unfortunately this toy is not available for sale.
Artist available for commission? Contact via www.squinky.co.uk
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Artist name: Rotobox Vinyl Anatomica
Artist website: rotobox.blogspot.com
Artist location: Philippines
Toy Name: Mekanda Robot Qee (Suparobo Project Series 3)
Toy Type: Toy2r 8″ Qee
Toy Story: This is the second figure for our Rotobox Suparobo Project Series 3.
Toy Available for sale: Please e-mail rotobox [at] live.com or visit rotobox.multiply.com or rotobox.blogspot.com for more information on how to purchase this toy.
Artist available for commission? Yes, treat
you can one of the same methods provided above for toy purchasing.
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Artist name: jonpaulkaiser
Artist website: jonpaulkaiser.blog.co.uk
Artist location: United Kingdom
Toy Name: Bob Marley
Toy Type: Kidrobot 3″ Dunny
Toy Story: This was a specific request from a customer, case
and Bob was what he wanted.
Toy Available for sale:
Artist available for commission? If you like my style, anesthetist
shoot me an email at jonpaulkaiser [at] hotmail.com cheers!
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Artist Name: Kat Brunnegraff
Location: Ohio, health USA
Personal Blog: kat-scratch-fever.blogspot.com

Kat Brunnegraff may be a new comer to the designer toy scene, information pills but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been making waves already. Known for her distinct night-like style, for sale she made her appearance to the scene in the beginning of this year starting with her Custom Illazilla which was featured on the cross-country tour. We had a chance to catch up with Kat and ask her a few questions!

Custom Toy Lab:
Please tell us more about yourself Kat that hasn’t been mentioned already?

I’m 25 years old, I live in Columbus, Ohio, I attended CCAD for 4 years and have a BFA in illustration… it’s funny I don’t ever need the thing anymore but the training I got was good.
I originally went to art school intending to become an animator, but switched over to illustration after the mass firings of all the 2D animators from Disney back in 2002-2003.  I remember hating painting when I did it in school, we were never allowed to really draw the way we wanted to, it always had to be realistic, which is fine but I like to experiment with styles.  I all but gave up on painting by the time I graduated from CCAD in 2006 because I found it to be dull and time consuming.

After I graduated did a lot of digital art but a lot of people, my husband included, told me that I should paint.  I never listened to them though, I thought that I hated painting, it was messy it took forever to dry etc…  But after I found Krista Huot (a fabulous artist) on myspace I messaged her and told her how much I loved her paintings. (I eventually bought one from her) I asked her every question about the gallery scene and how to get my art out there that I could think of and she was very nice and told me that she’d give me the same advice that Gary Baseman had given her a while back, PAINT!   So I finally caved and started painting, my first few attempts were lacking, but after a while something clicked and people seemed to like them.

Custom Toy Lab:
What brought you into in the custom toy scene?
I’ve been a toy collector/admirer since… forever, I used to stare longingly at my computer screen on a website called “Sweaty Frog” back in the 90’s (now known as “My Plastic Heart”) for hours, wanting to buy the really cool, really different toys but never being able to afford them. (I was a teenager with no job back then)  It’s been a dream of mine to have toys made after my own characters for a long time, but since I’m so new on the scene people didn’t know who I was as a painter or toy artist.  So I decided to pick a theme that I enjoyed and some popular toys and start customizing them to see if I could make a name for myself in the custom toy world.  So far, so good.

Custom Toy Lab:
What is the toy scene like there down in Ohio?
There aren’t too many places in Columbus,Ohio that sell Urban Vinyl/Art Toys, but we have one really awesome gallery that does sell them called Rivet and there is Shoparooni up in Cleveland.  So, it seems like it’s just starting to get popular here, I mean I only just discovered it myself around two years ago.  Also there is a shop called Anime Palace that sells Tokidoki toys, I go there from time to time to get my cute fix.

Custom Toy Lab:
Your custom toys have a night-like feel to them. What inspired you to customize your toys with this type of style?

Well, I LOVE the night time, love the sky, the moon, the stars, I wish that people were more aware of how the nights sky is supposed to look, so it seemed natural to me to paint a night theme.  Also subconsciously I was influenced by the movie Princess Mononoke that I had seen back when I was 14.  I hadn’t seen it for a long time and only recently while watching it did I realize that the creature in the movie was also called a Night Walker, I thought about that creature often while painting my first toy in this style.

Custom Toy Lab:
If you were able to collaborate with any other artists out there in the toy scene, who would be your first choice?

There are a lot really… Jeremiah Ketner, Krista Huot, Jared Deal, Gnarf Death, Johnny Yanok… too many to list them all! I love all their styles and it would be super fun to collaborate with any one of them.

Custom Toy Lab:
Has this artist inspired you in any way?

All of the artists I listed inspire me to be a better painter, and to work harder, some of the colors I use are inspired by them.

Custom Toy Lab:
What other kinds of mediums do you work on besides toys?

I work on wood a lot when I do paintings, I prefer it over canvas, I just love the way the wood grain shows through, gives it a more natural feel.

I love to work with plush toys as well, they’re super fun to make, also easier than sculpting which I do like to do every once in a while when and back when I  couldn’t afford to buy a fancy toy I’d just make my own!   Still do sometimes.

Custom Toy Lab:
Did you find it difficult to work on a toy as opposed to [medium]?
Vinyl/Plastic is MUCH harder to paint on than wood, a lot more prep time is needed.  Some toys have to have paint stripped off, body parts removed and need to be spray painted or sanded before you can start to paint.  But I’m not complaining I love just sitting outside with some stinky nail polish remover and thinking about what I want to make a new toy look like.  It’s very relaxing.

Custom Toy Lab:
If you don’t mind us asking, what kind of other upcoming projects do you have going on at the moment? What can we expect next?

Weeeelllll I wasn’t going to tell anyone but I was thinking about doing a new series soon after I do a few more Night Walkers, with either a Forest theme or a Snow theme.   I’m also working on some toys and paintings for some upcoming gallery shows.

Custom Toy Lab:
Every artist has a set of tools that they use for customizing, what would you consider yours to be?

Paint, Nail Polish Remover, Cotton Balls, Hair Dryer, Paint Brushes, Spray Paint, and a warm dry day to help the paint dry faster.

Custom Toy Lab:
On average, how long does it usually take you to finish customizing a toy?

It depends on the size/shape/number of parts a toy has, but on average it takes me about 6 hours to do a 5 inch toy.  Sometimes more time sometimes less.  Depends on prep work too.

Custom Toy Lab:
What sort of advice would you give to new artists who are considering breaking into the toy scene?

Pick something you love, it can be anything really.  Something cool or beautiful, or crazy, doesn’t matter what, and just make toys.  It takes time and patience to get noticed.

Custom Toy Lab:
As an artist do you take commission requests? How can you be contacted if people are interested?  Yes I do take commissions, I can be contacted at kat.brunnegraff@gmail.com

Artist name: jonpaulkaiser
Artist website: jonpaulkaiser.blog.co.uk
Artist location: United Kingdom
Toy Name: Bob Marley
Toy Type: Kidrobot 3″ Dunny
Toy Story: This was a specific request from a customer, pharm
and Bob was what he wanted.
Artist available for commission? If you like my style, shoot me an email at jonpaulkaiser [at] hotmail.com cheers!
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Event Name: Magic Pony presents INTO THE WILD Trading Party
Event Date: Thursday, search May 21, somnology 2009, order 6-8 pm
Location: Magic Pony, 694 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6J 1E7
Official Website: Magic Pony (Event Page)

For those living in Toronto, on May 21 Magic Pony will be hosting a trading party over at their store. The theme of the party is INTO THE WILD where traders are encouraged to bring any toys from the following series: Monsterism, Cannibal Funfair, BambooZoo, Teddy Troops, Labbits, Dunnys, and anything else that growls, prowls, swims or flies. If you have some toys you’d like to trade, then head on over to Magic Pony and go wild while doing so! For more information about the event, please visit Magic Pony’s official website.

Artist name: Kat Brunnegraff
Artist website: kat-scratch-fever.blogspot.com
Artist location: Columbus, more about
OH
Toy Name: Black Hole
Toy Type: 5″ Freak Beast
Toy Story: Walking across the sky he brings the night for everyone to enjoy. His eye is the moon and he watches over us all.
Toy Available for sale: Nope, artificial
unfortunately this toy is not available for sale.
Artist available for commission? Yes, ed
please visit Kat Brunnegraff`s official website or e-mail her using kat.brunnegraff [at] gmail.com
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