Custom: IDOL'S IDOL

 'IDOL'S IDOL' by Shane Haddy

I was invited to be part of the 4th Annual Blamo Toys exhibition held at Toy Art Gallery. I really love the work by Blamo Toys and have remotely viewed their exhibitions each year. I am excited to be participating!

Recap video of the Blamo Toys custom show last year.

45mm tall Hug sits in my hand

This year, the piece chosen to be the main attraction is a 45mm resin Hug figure. Hug is small, he is very small; It is the smallest piece I have ever customised. You would think being smaller would make it easier but in many ways, it was harder than a 'normal' 4-7" piece to customise.

I had sketched on paper many ideas, I had chosen one but in the end I didn't follow through. I pulled out some clay and made a 3D sketch model, I think this is becoming my favourite way to work.

I wish I had more WIP images to show you, poor form on my behalf. Yet, I am happy with how he turned out. Here he is~~

IDOL'S IDOL
custom Hug by Shane Haddy

You may recognise the golden 'cat head'. It is a Meowf, a really neat original sculpt by TOVI. Sadly the Meowf project has been put aside but it was really nice to use Meowf for this custom. I also had a bit of fun trying get the Meowf head to look like roughly cast 'ancient statue' gold.

I am really happy with the final result, I feel the form worked out really well. 

Toy Art Gallery
7571 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles CA 90046

Opening reception:
7-10pm 15th of December.

Exhibition:
15th of December through to the 30th of January.

To idolise, to be idolised.

Update: Unboxed exhibition

Continuing on from my WIP post, I have taken some images to fully reveal of my custom Munny for the Unboxed exhibition. Friday afternoon I went back to Espionage Gallery to take some images and a video to show you all online. The video doesn't do the show justice, if you are in Adelaide, go check it out.

 

 Dinosaur Man

'Dinosaur man' is the local dinosaur toy store owner, every weekend you can see him in his character dinosaur outfit greeting customers that come to his store.

 

Above is the main materials I currently use. What isn't in the photo is all the sandpaper and utensils I use. Lots of sanding and hacking in every stage of my builds. I am no expert and I am continuously learning but the best advice I can give is to experiment and find what best works for you.

Sorry for the wobbly camera, this is recorded from my iPhone. I am currently looking into a good camera to buy while in Japan so I can take good photos and videos.

Quick Slice: Dinosaur Man

Last night was the opening for the Unboxed, A Custom Vinyl Toy Exhibition held at Espionage Gallery locally in Adelaide. It was fantastic to catch up with friends and meet new ones. I had a great time chatting to people about art toys!

I was intending to take many photos and have a quick film for a blog post but the gallery was too busy all night, which was fantastic. I will be heading in later today to capture a video and take some photos of my piece from the show. For now, in 'quick slice' fashion, I will post one instagram picture I took on the night.

The instagram filters wash out the colours.

Exhibition: Unboxed, A Custom Vinyl Toy Exhibition.

A few months ago I got talking to Joshua Smith, owner of 'Espionage Gallery' here in Adelaide, about art toys and he mentioned he was planing to put together an art toy show. To me, this was very exciting news as we haven't had any exhibitions locally featuring just vinyl toys. Furthermore, I was excited over the fact more people were getting into developing toys as art.

Josh had started to develop his own platform design for the show, I have seen the prototype and it is rad. Sadly, it wasn't completed in time for this exhibition but it will be ready with improvements for the next exhibition. Another art toy show in the works? Fantastic!

So, for this first event, Josh decided to use the 7" Munny platform by Kid Robot. The good thing about the Munny is it already has acceptance by the general community. As I generally work with Kaiju, a niche within a niche, the Munny is a perfect platform to ease the Adelaide public into the art toy world.

The exhibition is titled 'Unboxed, A Custom Vinyl Toy Exhibition.' and features 41 of the best artists from Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Argentina that have modified, customised, painted and decorated 41 Blank Munny Vinyl Toys.

It was bound to happen eventually but this was my first time creating a custom Munny, the most customised toy platform in the world. I already owned a few Munnys but I haven't done more than poorly sketch on them.

Each exhibition piece I produce, I always attempt something new to push myself further. It is risky but it's for my personal enjoyment. This time, I really wanted to improve my sculpting skills in regards to blending, smoothing surfaces and keeping symmetry. I thought working with the Munny platform would be a perfect opportunity and I am happy with my results.

I will post a full reveal of my design tomorrow night. For now, here is some work in progress. I still wanted to focus on a monster, I did play around with a few Waniphant concepts but I kept coming back to the first idea that popped into my head of making a man in a suit.
 

DINOSAUR MAN

At this stage, I didn't know if I was going to make a fat kid or an old man - I decided to go for the old man. I was playing with the idea that the man in the suit was the 'real monster' but I thought it was a bit too much, so I kept it fun. 

Here you can see that I filled in the cut on top of his head. I required a larger hole to work with so the hair is actually completely removable. I really enjoy this head, I would like to come back and make some old man 4" Munnys in the future. 

Using plasticine I quickly created a 3D sketch of my concept.

Here, you can see my almost complete tail and filled-in arm sockets. There were many more hours of sanding and smoothing required after this photo was taken.

The hacking of the 7" begins! 

To complete the internal detail required for the 4" head, I had to chop the 7" head in half and then resemble afterwards and completely smooth it off - like nothing ever happened.

Final image for the WIP shots for this post. Here you can see some pieces with primer drying in the sun ready for painting.

If you are in Adelaide on the 18th of October, please head down to Espionage Gallery at 6pm for the opening night. I'll be there talking toys with anyone willing. 

Opening night: October 18th at 6:00pm
Till 27th of October.

Espionage Gallery
Suite 1, Level 2
93 Rundle Mall, Adelaide

More information: http://espionage-gallery.com/

Hope to see you there! 

Custom: Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis by Shane Haddy

Aurora Borealis is the theme of this lovely painted Max Toy Co custom set by Shane Haddy.

(from left to right)
- Alien Argus
- Drazoran
- Alien Xam
- Tripus

Each one has been painted with several Monster Kolor paints and pearls. Then finished with a healthy coat of colour change flakes and glossy clear coat.

I used a whole bunch of paints on this one to give the effect I was after; the paints I used in order were:

Charcoal
Gold pearl
Grape Ape
Kissed
Lie-Laq
Vivid Purple
Vivid Blue
Red Pearl
Silver
Colour Change

Monster Kolor paints are very hard to capture, especially pearls and colour change flakes! So I have taken two sets of photos; one in direct sunlight and one in indirect sunlight.

Direct/Indirect Sunlight Photos

To imagine what they look like in person, you have to imagine it as a blend of the two extremes, constantly flowing between dark and light, depending on how you look at it. I haven't seen the Aurora Borealis in person but I would imagine it to be something like that.

I have also made this video to further simulate what they look like in person:

This custom set is currently available in the Hints and Spices STORE at $190AUD - including international shipping with tracking.

I have had offers for individual pieces but I would hate to spit this set up. So at the moment, it is currently only offered as a set. I will open up the set to individual purchase this time next week (22nd June) but hopefully all these pieces will stay together, it just feels natural.

Localised entirely within your kitchen?

Order up!!

Continuing my Lady Maxx Diner line of customs, I have made an Eyezon cheese burger for the 'Kaiju for Japan'. Kaiju for Japan is an online sale event to raise funds for Japan's earthquake and tsunami victims.

Sorry, I haven't taken many WIP pictures but here we go.



After some hesitation, I cut up the poor defenceless mini eyezon. This was a sad moment as I purchased him at the 2010 winter Wonderfest in Japan, where they first debuted. Other than being part of the first release, Wonderfest restored my faith and passion in toy design. This blank had lots of meaning to me, using him would be most fitting for the cause.



Sand, sand, sand!!! This is where most of my time was spent. Carving the cracks, smoothing out, carving deeper, smoothing out more.... all by hand, I really need a Dremel. After everything was ready, it was time to paint with Monster Kolor. I have said it before, but I am always really impressed with MK paints! Its hard to see in the photos but there are many subtle changes in the paint work. I will make a video once its a nice day to capture the colours in the sunlight.

Monster Kolor Paints

Buns (top and bottom)
Over Easy, Fleshless, FireCracker and C-Thru Orange

Cheese
Yellow and Over Easy

Patty
Brown (non MK) and Colour Change Flakes

All
Thick and juicy layer of clear coat!!!

side by side

Hit up GorillaMouth.bigcartel.com on April 22nd for Eyezon Burger and many other cool customs and originals done by many talented artists and designers. Seeing some of the submissions and knowing the names involved, I highly advise getting your wallets ready to buy some wild pieces for a great cause!

For more information on the event and Troy Stith, the great man behind putting kaiju for japan together, please visit his blog http://www.gorillamouth.com/

Pray for Japan