The Disposable
Our comic concept which deals with homelessness and the disposability of human beings, through iconic and archetypical characters in relatively new situations. Stay tuned for more later…
SDCC so soon………
The San Diego ComiCon is coming up and we’re scurrying around trying to finish our goods, in the meantime I wanted to get this thing started.
So, here are some thought’s:
I want toys to be viewed as a medium, for crying out loud, it almost is. Rather than saying I’m a painter or I’m an illustrator, I want to say I’m a toys artist, or a toyist, and not have people look at me as if to say, you paint portraits of toys?
I had a roommate who did that, and that is not what I want. I just want to make interactive art. Art that can be played with and not easily broken if played with. Toy as Art, or Toy = Art
Fusion
When most people talk about fusion, typically they mean 70’s jazz-funk-rock, or some kind of Indian dish mixed with an Italian dish (you know pasta and curry). But, instead I bring to you the fusion of the Action Figure. Most notable in Japanese products and idea’s being worked into the American ideal of flooding the toy market season after season with products.
In my lifetime I’ve seen G.I. Joe go from “action doll” to the revolutionary 3 & 3/4 scale, based on the Japanese toy Microman. Right here, I’m talking about the fusion between Super American, Kung Fu Grip sporting, Bearded G.I. Joe with 32 point posable, fully detachable at all the joints miniature fun time Microman.
It’s amazing to see in retrospect that these two idea’s merge together to form: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. Not to be confused with plain old G.I. Joe. The flocked, tuff, angry face of the 12″ Joe now replaced by the memorable guise of a blond Arian (he’s a Duke no less!). Now leading the good fight against a hooded (or sometimes shiny face-less) terrorist, at almost a third of the size, these leaders of good and evil, had hundreds of allies and henchmen.
The depth and breadth is so much more than the original “Joe” toys.
The point: fusion is good. With out it we wouldn’t have the wealth of characters that existed in this property. After all there was someone for everyone, just like a singles bar! We each have our random fav’s. Like Alley Viper or the original two variations of Cobra Commander. Even real people who popped up here and there like Sgt. Slaughter or The Fridge………but I digress.
The lesson: Diversify and draw inspiration from different pools. Fuse those varying source materials together in a personal way and express them in your work. Through the Internet, connect with others who can relate to a project and share…….
Background
I’ve been in the mood to express my thoughts about how the 80′s machine cranked out not only loud colors in faux art deco shapes….but how those shapes poured over the packaging of some of our favorite collectables of the time period.
In addition, the way we view marketed properties right now is directly influenced by the giant boom of character related merchandise that exploded all over our eyes. There’s a surprisingly accurate account of this type of boom in this months Wired Mag (in reference to the Transformers). I say accurate because I found the article incredibly short, but packed with a concise consolidation of the events, which spawned the Transformers. In reading it, you get a solid idea of how things where done in the 80′s, in regards to children’s media.
So, these are my thoughts:
When I was a kid growing up in the eighties, children’s properties made a change. At one point or another it was deemed OK, by they holy corporate gods to advertise your toys with a corresponding 22 minute commercial, otherwise known as an animated series.
We were all affected by this, our mothers and fathers had to learn the names of the heroes and villains. When buying bed linens, it was important to have the Transformers sheets and not the He-man sheets. For me it was the other way around, He-man > Transformers.
Regardless, the point is, as children we were trained into faithfully consuming an entire property. From cake tins to rain coats. But for me (and a lot of other boys and girls) the biggest part about that…… was the toys.
I’ve been collecting toys since the age of two. Weather bought fresh or hand-me-down, I’ve never stopped acquiring toys since that age.
As such I’ve boar witness to an exciting movement culminating all around me. That movement is simply the appreciation of toys for their creative artistic value.
