designer toys dunny kidrobot qee bearbrick munny
How and when did you get into designer toys?
I got into designer toys a while ago purely by accident. I was pointed in the direction of Andrew Bell’s ‘Creatures In My Head’ website. I joined his forums where he had posted pictures of his personal collection, at the time I had no idea exactly what they were but I really liked them so I did a bit of research and found Kidrobot. For quite a while I just looks at the pictures and didn’t buy anything until I saw David Horvaths UglyDoll vinyl Cinko and I couldn’t resist any longer! I bought my first vinyl figure and he’s still my favourite now!
What are your favorite toys and/or artists?
My favourite toys, I think my favourite would have to be the UglyDoll vinyl series, all great designs and the series that got me into vinyl! The original Gorillaz figures, Rolito’s rolitoland Safari and Touma’s original 8″ Knucklebears and KnuckleQees are also among my favourites, especially his Waver design. My favourite artists, if I really had to narrow it down would be Touma, Pete Fowler, Andrew Bell, Rolito, Jon Burgerman and DGPH…but thats a very narrowed down list.
Tell us a little about your collection
My collection is currently all boxed up as I am between houses 
I tend to collect the more cute and colourful figures rather than the more urban and ‘arty’ figures, though I do have some of them too. I have the Gorillaz Black set and Red 2D figures, Rolitoland Safari and NedZeds, various Touma and Pete Fowler figures, a few select Dunny and Qee, vinyl UglyDolls and various other bits and bobs that I picked up because I liked them. I’m not a completist of series or a strict follower of any artist, except for Rolito’s Rolitoland Safari figures which are all too cool to miss!
When did you start customizing?
I can’t really remember when, but I remember by first toy to customise was a Mad*L, quickly follwed by a series of custom ‘Swamp Knuckle’ 3″ Knuckle Qees.
What are your favorite toys for customizing
Dunny, it’s cool to experiment with all sorts of figures but there’s something really nice about the Dunny shape to work with…that and I’m hoping KidRobot will notice me and ask me to do a production design 
What materials and techniques do you use?
Sandpaper/et and dry paper, pencil, Milliput, more sandpaper, Citadel Miniatures White Primer and Citadel Miniatures Acrylic Paints. I use other bits as well if they are needed, tin foil to fill out large sculpted areas, wire, random object like Kinder Egg capsules, I even used paper maché on my WoodMunny custom.
How much time do you spend customizing a toy?
It really depends, I have on occasion been know to forget about a toy and have it end up pushed to the back for about 6 months, but that doesnt happen often! It all depends of how much spare time I have and how complicated the custom is. Too long to make a living out of it that’s for sure!
Do you make other art besides customizing toys?
I try but I dont often have too much time for it because of having so many toys on the go! I paint canvases, make digital prints, animate and doodle alot if that counts!
What other interests do you have (besides designer toys)?
Being an animator, animation is a big interest and I like to go to Annecy Animation Festival every Summer when I can, really a great festival to see the best animation from around the world and a lot of fun too! Annecy is also the best place for ice cream with the 56 flavour shop and the 10 scoop cones!
Character design and communities such as Pictoplasma are also a great interest, I guess the vinyl scene has become very interlinked with the character design scene now but it’s not the end of it, there are so many ‘flat’ characters out there which are just amazing works of art and in a way are nicer for not also being a toy.
Computer games! I’m a Nintendo fanboy, I love the innocence and whimsy they put into their games, who needs hyper realism and shoot ‘em ups when you’ve got classics like Mario and Zelda?
Wildlife as well is a huge influence on my work and David Attenborough one of my heroes! The amazing diversity of the creatures we have on out planet and some of the wierd things they can do is just amazing!
Do you take on commisions?
I do indeed! Though I have a waiting list at the moment due to not having much space to work in and trying to organise a group exhibition ‘Limited Edition’ in Birmingham UK to raise money for endangered species.
Where can people see more of your work and/or contact you?
You can see some of my older work on my incredibly out of date website which I have been saying I’m going to re-do for months: http://www.okkle.co.uk and you can contact me through there too. I also post all my work over on the http://www.vinylabuse.com forums which I can also be contacted through too!
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