19 posts tagged “diy”

So the first thing that comes to mind here for me, is the name.  Something about the sound of it.. "Avatar 7"  heck I dunno what its supposed to mean but it just sounds really cool.. lol.  Of course that's just icing on the cake of what is an awesome custom already.  In the tradition of Phu's awesome style, we have yet another great toy that he's pumped out, and for the life of me, I can't figure out how in the world he gets so many of these things done per year.  Maybe he's a machine like his customs.. hmmm... could that be the reason for the running theme?  Are you trying to tell us something Phu?  Huh? 



The latest is a 10" Yoka Panda, by Ad Funture.  Created for Cardboard Spaceship upcoming exhibition 'Beasts of Burden' at Subtext in San Diego. Avatar 7 patrol spacecraft comes with 2 Rebel Pilots.

Check out more images via Phu's blog here or check out his section on our Vinyl Toy Freaks forum and join the community!

As promised, I have the pleasure of presenting ot you an interview with Patch Together, a toy community site founded in December of 2007.  I was very fortunate recently to have received an invitation to look at their site and do a write up about them.  What I found was very interesting and I'm sure you all will agree.  As a vinyl addict myself, and a toy designer wannabe, Patch Together is a very interesting community offering to help the little guys out like you and I (you know who you are..) in getting started.

Let's start off with who you are beyond the brief description above.  Who makes up your team and what made you come up with this community? 

The idea behind Patchtogether came about a year ago during a conversation with several college classmates. At that time, we were all going through a rough stretch of unemployment and constantly doubted the value of our art degrees. We wanted to design and contribute, but our lack of creativity and uniqueness made it difficult. We accepted our failures, but remained passionate with things related to art designs, such as graphic arts and comic arts. The Pathtogether idea finally hit us when we stumbled upon several amazing T-shirt design communities where members were encouraged to design their own t-shirts and submit them for critiques and possible production. We all really liked the idea of artists and fans interacting and helping each other push their ideas. Instead of t-shirts, we added our own little twist and decided to shoot for toys because we are all avid toy collectors at heart. Rather than just selling a product, we wanted to give members an opportunity to be part of the entire toy production process, from design to retail.

The PatchTogether team consists of my two college friends and myself who handles a majority of the maintenance on the site. For the more technical stuff, we get support from our web development team in India. Finally, our prototypes and sculpts are handled by a small company in Hong Kong.

 

What interested me a lot about your community site to start off, is that you say you understand the financial restraints that stop many toys from coming to fruition as a production piece.  I believe this can really pique the interest of artists that are seeking to have their ideas made into a real life toy.  What I wonder is, why toys?  Why not some other venture?  Where does your passion for toys spring from?

 

We love toys, it never gets old and I guess we are all kids at heart. For me, toys are a way to make up for lost time. I come from a big family so there wasn’t much money for toys when I was growing up. The few toys we did get(TMNT) produced some of the more memorable moments of my childhood. When I finally got a job after college, I started collecting toys(action figures, statues) and was totally blown away by the sheer quality and details. Lines like SOTA’s Street Fighter and McFarlane’s Dragons really inspired me. I knew I wanted to make toys, but it wasn’t until I was introduced to vinyl before I knew where I wanted to go with the idea.

Over the many yrs of collecting toys, I have seen my share of amazing designs that missed the production train because financial restraints or lack of exposure. Designer toys are a great way to introduce art because they allow artists to reach a wider audience. The medium is easy to work with and is fun for hands on application by collectors who are interested in customizing. Applying your own paint job is so much fun =). There are great potential for both artist and collectors and we hope it will go mainstream, so more people can enjoy it.

 

Talk to me a little about your site and what one will find there. 

You will find a lot of amazing toy designs from aspiring artists and constructive feedbacks from members in the community. We have also included pictures showing the various production stages for toys in production to promote member participation. After a design is submitted, members can vote and comment on what they wish to be made into toys. If the design generates enough interest, we will start with the production. Throughout the production stages, members are encouraged to continue posting feedbacks on what to improve and change. It really is is a group project!

Your timmy the toxic slimeball is very cool.  Tell us a little about how the Geoff came up with this idea --(feel free to have him fill in!)

Jon and Geoff went to college together and both shared an interest in vinyl toys. Jon has a background in 2d animation and is great with cartoon character design; they wanted the design to be simple and cute, but absolutely disgusting at the same time. As a toy- they felt he needed to maintain a simple shape but have a distinct silhouette, so they started with a sphere and slowly created the stumps, bumps and tentacles that make Timmy... well... Timmy. Jon did the initial sketch and Geoff translated it into a painted sculpture which Geoff then photographed and manipulated on Photoshop. the process of working collaboratively allowed both of them to put our own aesthetic into the toy. As for the story of Timmy...he fits into a bizarre vision of the future.  He's a young boy who's exposed to a large dosage of toxic waste- which mutates him and turns him into an unlikely hero, and evidentially a pretty serious drinker. There are a few other characters in the world of Timmy that they hope will be manufactured one day soon.  

 

Ok so you've covered what you offer artists/designers out there, but as for the collectors themselves, what will they get out of your site?  Is your community section made to consider the collectors as well as the artists?

They can showcase their collections in our galleries and give suggestions or reviews of new additions.  At the moment, we are also considering various competitions for the future to promote custom jobs by our members.

 

If someone were to put up a design to your site, is it limited to only designs for toys?  I notice you offer t-shirts also, is that something you've considered taking design submissions for too?

 

We started with toys, but we are always looking for new ways to expand our website.  Right now, we are making t-shirts from some of the winning designs to help cover a bit of the manufacturing cost for the toys.  We are completely open to using the designs for other products if we feel there's an interest from the members.