Jun 07, 2006
Hiroshi Yoshii's Creatures Jump Out of the Screen
Hiroshi Yoshii is a leading Japanese graphic designer and 3D illustrator. While he has done countless comercial products, he also finds time to create his own quirkly 3D (and 2.5D) illustrated creatures. These more personal creations were featured in Playtimes #9. For the past several months, Hiroshi has been working on translating his characters from digital images to full-blown 3D toys. Here are his first finished prototypes. The next step is to create resin figures. Here's hoping he also gives the resin treatment to more of his characters -- especially those on the wild side. To see detailed pictures of his development process check out his daily work blog.
Aug 11, 2005
Letter Pressed Artist Series Stationery
Take a look at Letter Pressed's first Artist Series cards which included art work from Ron Rege, Tado, MCA and Joe Ledbetter. These artists who are already well known for their awesome and creative art work, once again did not disappoint us with their signature card designs.
The MCA and Ledbetter cards were just released simultaneously and are now completely sold out. Didn't get any? Well, a few stores (Designer Toy Box and Wootini) will have some card sets that include a signed card, and Kidrobot will be carrying card sets (w/out a signed card) of the TADO, MCA and Ledbetter cards. You can also find a few of the Regé and TADO sets available on www.letterpressed.com.
The Key by Ron Regé
Smile (Wot time is love?) by TADO
You Drive Me Ape by MCA/Evil Design
Octobunny by Joe Ledbetter
From the TADO card on, each edition has been hand-numbered out of 500. Once the cards sell out, they are gone and will not be reprinted!!! For each card to date, Letter Pressed has offered a pre-order, wherein the customer orders a pack of 5 or 10s which will include one card signed by the artist. Only customers who pre-order will get a signed card (and a few go to the stores mentioned above).
The next AS card due in October will be from a very big name in the toy/art scene...hum...who could it be???? Production will be bumped up to 750 cards, and it will be the first AS card to either be printed in two colors or come with a printed envelope (or both!). Can we say ORDER EARLY?? Letter Pressed will also be doing some artist prints and designer toy tie-ins late 2005, early 2006.
Is it just me, or is Mark of Letter Pressed one busy boy??? But again, busy for Letter Pressed translates into more cool stationery for us!!! buzzzzzz.....
Jun 23, 2005
PODLINGS by Doktor A.
Doktor A. has been very busy lately. How busy? Well, take a look at his most recent creation. PODLING, a 5” tall 2 part platform toy designed, sculpted, currently individually hand cast and painted by the artist himself. Now that’s what I call one hard working fellow!! This early look at the POLDINGs is based on detailed information he sent us about the toy and its design. PODLING was a project Dr. A started purely for fun last Christmas but obviously it has now turned into something way more. Since the PODLING is a platform toy, the design is based around "a suggestive but unspecific shape". Hence, it is something easy to get to grips with and enjoyable to work on. There are currently about 15 artists from around the world customizing designs for the PODLING including quite a few “names" loved by we, toy collectors. A show featuring all the customized PODLINGS is also in the mix. Currently there isn’t a manufacturer on board to produce the toy but from the pictures, I can’t see why no one has shown interest. The endless possibilities of this fellow are overwhelming. From the hypnotic blue swirls to the mischievous grin to the classic 60's wood panel to the fearless lizard, I would love to see one done up as “Tarzan”. Dr. A has other toy projects on the boil such as the PODDYs (little marshmallow fellows), which are at the prototype stage with work from October toys. Make sure you check out his website for more information. And please…..someone produce the PODLINGs so I can have one sitting on my shelf.
Jun 20, 2005
Future Spotlight: Wabbitz by Brandon Sopinsky
Here's an early look at the Wabbitz toy concept from up and coming toy designer, Brandon Sopinsky. At this point these are hand-casted by Brandon but he's looking for an amazing toy company to produce them in the future. I'm pretty fond of this figure -- the overall shape has a wayward and slightly off kilter look to it, rather than the overly cute customary bunny shapes. Brandon is currently studying Toy Design at the Otis College of Art and Design -- and doing amazingly well it seems! He was kind enough to send us lots of great eye candy including a picture of a nice canvas piece. If you'd like to contact Brandon about Wabbitz, feel free to send him some email. Hopefully Wabbitz will get picked up soon -- would be great to see these on shelves (including my own!).
Wabbitz Painting
