From Plastic and Plush blog: Here’s a new product from Devil’s Due Pop, which recently entered the vinyl toy foray. It’s an original transforming vinyl toy from creator Jeffrey Brown, based on his Top Shelf comic The Incredible Change-Bots. The first piece to be released will be Brown’s robot Balls, who transforms between his battle-ready robot guise into an unsuspecting golf cart. Read More.
John W. Lewman Toy Designer www.toymakerpress.com
Publishers of fun to make wood toy projects and plans.
Created out of an obsession for designer/art toys and collectables, Hong Kong based company Toy2r continues to break down the boundaries between product design, art and graphics. Mastermind Raymond Choy founded the company in 1995 where he took his dream of a once owned toy store known as ‘Toy R’ which held countless quantitiesof limited edition toy collectables and turned it into a internationally recognized company amongst the first to explore the potential of the designer toy movement. He has instilled contemporary art into the vinyl toy market we all know and love today.
Toy2r has received numerous internationally renowned awards for their outstanding achievements starting with the 2007 Vinyl Toy of the Year from Plastic and Plush, since 2002 winning AFT’s (Action Figure Times) Best Block Toy Award for six consecutive years running, AFT’s Best Vinyl Toy Award in 2006, AFT’s Most Innovative Company Award in 2004, AFT’s Toygodd’s Crystal Award from 2003 – 2005 and many more. http://www.toy2r.com/
John W. Lewman Toy Designer www.toymakerpress.com
Publishers of fun to make wood toy projects and plans.
To put it simply, Scott is a toy junkie. He’s obsessed with collecting, designing, and creating toys. He pulls inspiration from everything ranging from pop culture, comic books, and toys from his childhood. Scott likes to elicit a sense of childlike wonder and nostalgia in his artwork. He enjoys working in both digital and traditional mediums depending on his mood.
John W. Lewman Toy Designer www.toymakerpress.com
Publishers of fun to make wood toy projects and plans.
DeCastro: I had been a self taught artist all my life and had been working in the toy industry for several years. As a designer I created 1/6th scale military uniforms and accessories for companies like Ertle, Replay (sister company of Playmates), 21st Century Toys and independent projects with Don Levine and Kirk Bozigian, creators of the 12′ inch GI Joes in the 60’s and 80’s for Hasbro.
In 2005, upon rediscovering old Japanese toys from my childhood, an internet search led me to a site where I discovered “designer vinyl toys”, and a new world opened up. As an artist, this was an exciting new discovery. My illustration work was nearing a dead end, and I had lost interest in designing 1/6th scale military toys. This new genre of art and design was just what I needed to channel my creativity. The experience I’ve had in the toy industry and all the inside contacts I’ve established through the years made it easy to research the complexities of producing limited edition toys. My passion for Japanese pop culture made it clear what kind of toys I wanted to produce for our newly named company, Atomic Mushroom. As I mentioned earlier, I love robots and since few designer are doing robots, it was pretty much a no brainer. So after long sessions on my drawing table I came up with my first design. Combat-R Zero is a commixture of childhood memories of giant superhero robots and the pop culture that shadows it. http://www.atomicmushroomtoys.com/
John W. Lewman Toy Designer www.toymakerpress.com
Publishers of fun to make wood toy projects and plans.
Hanna Petrine Munkeby shows us her designer toy collection on NRK’s Tingenes Tilstand with Petter Schjerven. Visit Hanna’s hyper-creative website at: http://www.loobydesign.com/ and her WOW blog at: http://loobydesign.tumblr.com/
Hanna says: Litago (flavored milk) is holding a competition in decorating cows. A handfull artists, designers and celebrities was asked to design example cows for the site release. I was one of the chosen ones! I will also be in the jury picking out the nicest cows. My contribution is a cow called Yummy!
John W. Lewman Toy Designer www.toymakerpress.com
Publishers of fun to make wood toy projects and plans.
Check out all the fun and excitement at this year’s Maker Faire in San Mateo, California. It is the world’s largest do-it-yourself celebration. People from all over the world came to experience this amazing event. Take a look at some of the highlights.
As his father’s apprentice Brian Kidwell was exposed to the Fine Arts at an early age. His father at the Corcoran Institute of Art in Washington D.C. workong with Brian at his side. Brian was born in New Mexico and now resides in Texas. While most sculptors work in traditional materials of bronze or stone Brianuses a variety of found and recycled objects. He has an amazing talent to perceive a finished design in fragments of antique metals, pieces of toys and wood. Highly creative toys and dolls are fashioned from hand carved wood, copper, shiny brass, and faux furs and fabrics. Every toy is sculpted, sewn and embellished then carefully melded together into one of a kind creations. http://www.eclecticgallery.net/The_Toy_Maker.htm
Posted by John W. Lewman toy designer www.toymakerpress.com Publishers of fun to make wood toy projects and plans.
This video clip is from ”The Vinyl Frontier” Spotlight. It is a revealing conversation with Tara McPherson, an artist featured in the upcoming documentary by Daniel Zana. Tara is known for her rock posters, fine art & sculpture and a group of highly styled designer toys. See more of her creations at http://www.taramcpherson.com/Posted by John W. Lewman toy designerwww.toymakerpress.com Publishers of fun to make wood toy projects and plans.
Fantastic artist Neil Winn skillfully teaches us how to make a quality mold for a clay toy scupture. The video is over 9 minutes long and is full of detailed instructions on how to make the finished silicone mold. It is worth watching if you are into mold making. Neil has a new website that is still under construction but the site is pretty interesting even though it is not completed. The artwork posted below is from his site and is representative of his artistic style. www.neilwinn.com .
Posted by John W. Lewman toy designerwww.toymakerpress.com Publishers of fun to make wood toy projects and plans.
This is Mimushi’s most daring personality to date. The artist says that the character has multiplied itself into an army of gatekeepers that protect the psychic barriers between each of Mimushi’s personalities and are here to keep him safe from himself.
Each toy is hand crafted and only 80 can be produced each month. This series is being offered in a quantity of 119. The wood and wheat straw used in fashioning the characters are from renewable sources in the Amazon jungle. The toys have a pleasant aroma that comes from the exotic materials.
John Lewman, toy designer www.toymakerpress.com Publishers of fun to make wood toy projects and plans.
