Toy Karma

Blink ! They're Gone !!

2012-01-31T17:36:00.000-08:00

I'm a bit behind on posting this here, but if you checked out Max Toy web site you would have seen them.. and know that they quickly sold out to Max Toy Club members and this morning to everyone else. There was such a rush to order them that the web store had a hiccup ... and not in a good way ;-( While a few of you I had to email and tell you your order did not go through, mostly I was able to cover the overage. Ah, it's not easy being a sofubi maker ;-P
Next up is Japan's Winter Wonderfest and I will post pics soon of our offerings, followed by a new colorway of Kaiju Negora in February. More soon ! MEOW !!!
Max Toy x Konatsu, Kaiju Negora ! Negora was designed by artist Konatsu who herself is a Cat lover .. and sculpted by Yoshihiko Makino of TTToys, Japan.

and of course the US debut of Lady Darkness !!! Cover the kids eyes ... ;-P

Lady Darkness stands 4 inches tall and so far the Face version seems more popular ... interesting.

Mecha Kaiju Dualos by artist Todd Robertson

2012-01-25T10:47:00.001-08:00

Photos are great ... but there is still no substitute for seeing a piece of art in person or even holding it in your hand. That said the first time I laid eyes and hands on a Todd Robertson customized Kaiju I got that excited feeling inside that of late has been missing ... to back track a bit, I'm a long time collector of Japanese toys ... over 20 years now .. and lets just say it takes a lot to make me stand up and notice a new toy or artist. I get this feeling from Todd's work and his 2 newest creations .. while I don't have them in hand just yet ( but will in a matter of days will) ... I'm already getting excited about !!!

So the challenge this time was to customize two Max Toy Kaiju Dualos figures ..these were cast in clear vinyl with Mega Glitter. I've painted a few and the denseness of the glitter really makes it tough to paint .. plus you have to decide if you want to use opaque paint and cover the glitter ... on top of that I wondered what choices Todd would make in placing his mecha parts ... as you can see from the following photos Todd hit a home run on both !

This first one retains the Dualos look from the front. I like the color combinations he's using here, if you look closely there's a mix of opaque and transparent paints he's using ... but you can also see a hint of whats happening in the back...

.. as a tube and hose peek out ...

oh wow ! The mecha parts are laid out to perfection.. look at how the coils lead your eye to the tubes and hoses ...
In this example, Todd doesn't just pile on the mecha parts .. but carefully weaves a mechanical tapestry ... following the original arms and legs ....

but not so much as to totally lose the original sculpts. This is the key to Todd's technique and his talent.
Todd uses Monster Kolor paints .. and I know your sick of me saying this, but you really have to see stuff painted with Monster Kolor paint in person .. the glitter and color change effects are amazing... and the depth to the colors just don't come thru in photos.

Both of these one of a kind customs will be for sale via the Max Toy web store in a few days for $450.00 each. I can say without any doubt that both will be sold out very quickly. I'll tweet a brief heads up before they go live ( @maxtoyco )

Whoever buys these will be adding true works of art to their collections ! Todd's represented by Lot F Gallery in Boston, be sure and check out his additional work as well as his paintings too !

and last but not least .. this fantastic video showing a time lapse of Todd creating these art works !

Mecha Dualos Project - Todd Robertson from Lot F Gallery on Vimeo.

all pictures / video courtesy of Lot F Gallery / Todd Robertson
===================

Todd Robertson web site : http://www.mechavirus.com/
Lot F Gallery : www.lotFgallery.com

Upcoming Gallery Shows Mark Nagata / Max Toy

2012-01-20T16:39:00.000-08:00

Somehow I've managed to break my New Years resolution of pulling back on work and saying "No" ... haha ! In my defense I do say "No" .. but i guess not enough to make me feel like I'm taking it easy .. as i am not. Oh well, it's all good and besides the challenge that each show or collab brings to the table .. i'm still having "Fun" and the Kaiju Train keeps moving along.

While most of the info in this blog has been posted via my Twitter feed ( @maxtoyco ) or on the Max Toy web site ( www.maxtoyco.com ) I thought I'd include two recent projects and some in process shots to go along with them.

First up we have Gara-Eyezon !!! This is for the upcoming show at FOE Gallery & store called Garamaniacal. A show as a homage to the classic Japanese monster character, Garamon.

I'm fond of taking my character Kaiju Eyezon and turning him into something else ... so this was a no brainer if you will. Once I got an invite to be in the show.. the image of Gara-Eyezon was in my mind and I knew what to do ;-P

I hallmark of Garamon are his many spikes .. while I could have gone crazy and made tons of them I decided for my sanity that less is more. I knew just sculpting them and gluing them onto the soft vinyl was not a good long term solution .. much too fragile ..
so i cut slots into the figure and inserted the cardboard spikes ...and epoxy glued them into place. Meanwhile, using Aves Apoxie Sculpt I begin roughing in the spikes over the cardboard.below, comparing my spikes to a far more masterful version .. ah well.. i try my best ...
To break up the sameness of the surface textures I dabbed on some acrylic sand texture onto the spikes.
I had sculpted a tail but after inserting it .. somehow was too small ... so i decided to re-sculpt it.below the newer version ..haha, bigger in this case is better, I think. Also longer toenails were sculpted too.
The biggest challange for me was to come up with a color scheme that did not over power my figure but still would move the eye around it and of course keep the Garamon red colors.
Using Monster Kolor paint I base coated the figure with red, gold and yellow.more spraying of black, white for eyes, and gold for the horns ... and a coating of Color Change coating ...
Finally, a nice coating of Glossy Clear Coat .. this is where the magic happens ! ;-P
I had to hold myself back from adding too many colors and such .. but over all i think a good color spray to compliment the added spikes and such .. while keeping the Garamon feeling.Next up, is this custom Kaiju Drazoran with kit bashed vinyl wings. The show is the Year of the Dragon show at Giant Robot 2 in Los Angeles. The theme is Dragons ( really ? ) .. and much like the Gara-Eyezon I instantly knew what I was going to do. Now to paint the Drazoran was easy but I thought he'd look more Dragon like with wings ..and after having sculpted wings from scratch for any Eyezon for Toy Karma 3, I decided best to look for wings somewhere .. and right by my foot was a beat up CCP Ghidorah figure .. with wings perfect for the job ;-P
Starting with black cast vinyl Drazoran ....

I carved out round holes in the vinyl to fit the wings .. a small amount of gap was left but not too bad ...I epoxied the wings and used Apoxie Sculpt once again to blend the areas around the wing base plus added some fins to the back.
above, base coated the figure with Monster Kolor black and carbon for a slight subtle change in darks..you can't see it in the pics .. but gives it a bit more depth ...

I laid in sliver over the whole figure and glazed in various c-thru colors, red, pink, orange, yellow, light blue ...
next few shots you can see how the piece is beginning to "Pop" .. as the various c-thru colors are layered in ...
Once the colors are done, i take the critter inside and hand paint the eyes, teeth and sign the foot. A coating of color change and ...It's subtle but if you look at the head I've added extra horns. Just a small touch to bring your eyes upward and plus adding to the custom nature of the piece.

The final step the Clear Coat .. and the figure is done ! My Dragon.. kinda a merge of Japanese monster Dragon and Western style ...!
So there you have my most recent gallery pieces ... you can contact the galleries for more info. I'm also in the middle of customizing many Kaiju Negora for my two person show with artist Konatsu in Tokyo March 31-April 1st, 2012. I'll report more as we get closer to that fun event and others in the works ;-P

Yes... i mean "NO" haha... I'm still working like a Kaiju madman !

Kaiju Negora Plush by Mariangela Tan

2012-01-06T10:24:00.000-08:00

photo by angel tan

One of the benefits of producing toys is I get to work with far more talented artists than myself. Case in point, artist Mariangela ( Angel ) Tan who contacted me about Konatsu's Kaiju Negora figure. After checking out her work .. i had to ask if she would be willing to make a plush version of Negora for myself.

As you can see she said yes and the result is awesome !

I like the braided / camo patterns up the back are very cool touch ...
And how did she manage to get the teeth and paw pad details in there ?

While remaining faithful to the original Negora figure, there's just enough of Angel's design to make it unique. Sorry to say this was a one off and is mine ;-)
Will there be more ? I hope so, but have to clear it with Ms Konatsu, of course. Needless to say I'd love to do a Kaiju in this format too.
Check out more of Angel's work via her Flickr page here ! Many more amazing pieces ... really opened my eyes to the possibilities for all things plush !

Max Toy Year End UpDates 2011

2011-12-28T17:17:00.001-08:00

I usually don't do end of the year reviews or updates .. but after having updated this image above on my Max Toy Company web site was struck by how much really does happen in a year.

That little boy that was Max is no more ... he's now on his way towards adulthood and all the wonderful stuff that has in store for him ;-P We're lucky that Max is a good guy and having grown up with his Peter Pan father, will always retain that childlike spark. And yes he's only about 3 inches shy of being my height .. so it's safe to assume he'll be taller ;-) but seeing this picture side by side really struck home the changes this past year.

I had a conversation recently about what I've done career wise since art school .. and I guess I've done and experienced quite a bit. I actually don't look back much and prefer to keep moving forward .. I'll let some else sort out what if anything I may have contributed to illustration or art toys. The one common thread I could see is each of my careers would lead to another related experience, building towards my current vocation as Japanese Kaiju toy maker / artist / Ultraman toy collector / Kaiju promoter ;-)

But I never started out thinking this would be my path ... looking back all signs point in this direction, but that's hindsight.

Another interesting observation I saw was my role as Kaiju promoter is very Jazz-like .. in that I like surround myself with fellow artists and we play off each others toy riffs and such ... while I may guide the general rhythm or direction ... I hopefully allow enough room for improvisation and play by the artist. While sales are important for both myself and the artist, I always stress that we should be having Fun .. really if we are not, well what's the point ?

Oh and I'm not foolish enough to think this is what I'll be doing 10 or 20 years from now either .. the reality is you really need to be flexible in Life ... be willing to try new things and keep your eyes peeled for new horizons. Not to say I wouldn't mind making toys forever ;-D

So what will Max do with his life ? Will he follow in my footsteps and become an artist or toy maker ?!?

I have no idea ;-P ...while he enjoys toys and creating, my hope is that he can follow his own bliss where ever that takes him in life. If it's art related that's great, if not he knows his parents will always fully support and Love him 1000%.

Thanks everyone for a wonderful 2011, and here's to 2012 !

I wish you all lots of Toy Karma !!!

Chiyo-chan and Azumanga Daioh figures

2011-12-16T11:16:00.000-08:00

A quick update today ... this weekend, 12/18/2011 Max Toy will have a table at a show in Japan called Treasure Festa ! We continue our line of Azumanga Daioh figures that started with Chiyo-chan and Kami Neko .. and debut the "Father" figure and the rare Cat, Yamamaya !!
Below, the Father figure or Chiyo ChiChi stands about 8 inches tall with arms that move !
Yamamaya is a rare Iriomote cat and if you know the series .. well I won't give away the story ;-P
Below, you can see the sizes ... the Father figure is about 8 inches tall !Sorry to say, these are one day license figures, which means we can not sell outside this event or on the internet. So now would be a good time to ask your friends in Japan to attend the show and get them ! ;-P

Todd Robertson Custom Micro Eyezons

2011-12-14T10:49:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to work with Todd Robertson for awhile now since he sent me pics of a Mecha Eyezon. Todd's created quite a following in the custom toy world for his mash ups of vinyls , particulary Kaiju, and Mecha parts. These parts can include circuit boards, old vacuum tubes, metal springs and just about any type of mechnical parts... all deftly placed and arranged to work flawlessly with said toy. Its Todd's sense of design to meld the Mecha parts with the toy that really sets his customs apart from others.

I thought that to give him a bit of a challenge our first collab would be the soon to be released Micro Kaiju Eyezon figure. Micro Eyezon stands a mere 2.5 inches tall and is made up of 2 soft vinyl pieces, with a seam at the waist. Below you can see inprogress pics of how Todd resolved
this challange.
There's not much area to work with on such a small figure... but Todd has made good use of his Mecha parts... and the cherry on the top is the added element to the top portion of Micro Eyezon !
Here's a group shot of the finished pieces. While they look similar, they are actually all different... in that no two have the same array of parts and or paint. Look at the details to the eyes .. each one hand dotted and finished !
Back view ...
Shown here with a rare chase "gold" version ;-)
As we usually do here at Max Toy, we have already offered these to Max Toy Club members who have bought nearly all of them. But we do have a few saved for our Friday December 16th, 2011 release .. via the Max Toy web store - http://www.maxtoyco.com/Shop_home.php

I think you'll agree that Todd has done some incredible work on these tiny guys ! And don't forget these make excellent Holiday gifts ;-)

Todd and I have more coming up soon .. but check out his web site here :
http://www.mechavirus.com/

The Rising Tide 2 art show Rotofugi Gallery Kaiju Eyezon custom

2011-12-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

The Rising Tide 2 New Works by Japanese & Japanese-American Artists is curated by LiLJAPAN (Hiro Hayashi) opens at the Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago on December 9, 2011 thru January 8, 2012.

To be honest I don't really think about my heritage too much ;-) .. yes you may say how can i not since I'm obsessed with Ultraman, my toy company is influenced by Japanese toy makers ... but you know I'm just Me ;-P

While I thought about making something that had nothing to do with Kaiju and maybe was something more inline with the Japanese heritage theme .. well in the end I have to be true to the artist in me .. and haha .. decided to make a paper mache Kaiju Eyezon ! Yes big surprise ;-P

Since most of the time my hands were soaked with paste .. I could not really take in progress pictures .. but did manage a few ... started by crunching newspaper into the basic shape i wanted .. and used masking tape to hold the forms in place.
Also used foil for the fingers ...

Once the over all shape was ready, the task of layering in the paper mache begins ...
two things i learned ... one make it smaller next time, this one was 22 inches wide by 19 inches tall by 9 inches deep .. and two, doing this during winter takes way too long ... each layer has to completely dry.. and even with a hair dryer to help .. took way too long ...Finally the painting begins below .. I used acrylics and started with a simple base coat of yellow with some gesso mixed in to help with coverage.
I washed in a dark sienna mix and wiped away the excess to allwo the texture to emerge.
Using a lighter yellow paint i dry brushed over the texture to provide highlights and to soften the darker shading.
Eyes, horns and cracks hand painted and finally done ! I had fun towards the end .. but it's was touch and go in the middle .. as I thought will these layers ever dry ??

About the Exhibit:

The next exhibit in our gallery is a wonderful group exhibit of new works by Japanese and Japanese-American artists curated by our friend LiLJAPAN (Hiro Hiyashi).

The Rising Tide 2 will open December 9, 2011 and run through January 8, 2012. The featured artists for this exhibit are LiLJAPAN, Skulltoys, Mark Nagata, Shun Nakatsuru, Chanmen, Mike Oshite, Uamou, Aya (Refreshment), Ilanena and Nao & Shin Tanaka.

BE@RBRICK World Tour 2 opens in Tokyo

2011-12-03T19:16:00.000-08:00

A few days ago in Tokyo at the Parco Museum, the BE@RBRICK World Wide Tour 2 opened. I so wish i could have been there in person ... but as always the intrepid Max Toy Representative Yo Miyamoto attend. He said the reception was jam packed and he could barely ( pun intended ! ) take any pictures ... but he did manage to take this quick shot of the custom Kaiju Eyezon 1000% Be@rbrick I sent in ;-) He looks very happy if I don't say so.

Oh and some quick shots of a very nicely designed and printed book of all the figures in the show... cool !
The figures in this show will be making there way all around the world..so stay tuned for the next venue on this tour !

Happy Holidays from Max Toy Company !

2011-12-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

BE@RBRICK World Tour 2 custom Kaiju Eyezon by Mark Nagata

2011-11-23T18:55:00.001-08:00

UpDated Nov 29th, 2011 - Full listing of participating artists below.

Well 2011 is turning out to be one of my busiest year yet and on top of curating shows like Toy Karma at Rotofugi, numerous toy releases via Max Toy Company and many custom painted toys I do .. I was thrilled about being invited to this special Medicom BE@RBRICK event ;-) 70 artists and designers from around the world were sent a 1000% BE@RBRICK to customize for this special series of shows and events. Once I realized what i was being asked to do .. i actually got cold feet and thought what the heck am i gonna do ?!! Holy crap ... this is a big deal 0_0 !

In addition to my brickwall in terms of what to do with this figure, I didn't have that much time to pull it off. I had to factor in the shipping back to Japan. This left me about a week to pull this off .. and this on top of other projects already in progress ... oh boy !
The figure arrives ... and the BE@RBRICK gives me a hand shake .. he's actually a nice guy, so I felt better at this point .. but still the direction I was to go in was still not clear to me ...While I customize my own toys .. I'm not known as others are as a toy customizer. Hmmmm... well my first thought was to some how vectorize the Eyezon design and transfer that onto the figure. Or should I simply paint him up like a custom Eyezon that I do ? Well in anycase i knew i had to base coat the figure in yellow .. so i proceed to do so .. and lucky the weather was nice enough to do so ...

As a stared at this 1000% BE@RBRICK , I decided while a simply clean line approach would be in keeping with the BE@RBRICK style .. but this was a one off, and to me should reflect a one of a kind approach.. so with that I decided to simply hand paint the Eyezon design onto the BE@RBRICK using a more organic approach. Using a brown color pencil I started sketching the design onto the figure, free hand style ...

Going over the brown pencil with acrylic paint. I had to fight myself to not add extra stuff sticking out from the figure and actually they had some ground rules about altering the figure too much. I thought if I could convey Eyezon merely with paint that would be best.

Slowly painting all the surfaces ....

At this point I'm at an awkward phase .. some areas have paint while others don't ..I'm using more opaque paint as i go along and adding more form to the figure ...

Ah, my trusty Iwata airbrush ... now the piece is taking shape ! The eyes would be key to this piece and I started in on them before finishing off the body... looking good so far ! Phew ...

Not quite done but I only had another day, so i had to speed up my painting ... but I could see the light at the end of the tunnel ;-)

Backside of the 1000% BE@RBRICK custom Kaiju Eyezon ....

and finally below the final piece .. done !

Satisfied with what I could do in the time given I sprayed sealed the piece with fixative ... and to my horror the fixative messed up some of the black painted areas ;-( Arrggghhh ! I had to use a hair dryer to dry off the figure and quickly hand paint and re-spray some of the areas ! :-O !! THis took another 2 hours to fix .. but I was able to recover from this near tragedy.

Just before packing up my friend ... we had some lunch and posed for pictures ...I wish i could be in Japan on December 3rd for the opening at Parco Museum Shibuya in Tokyo ;-) He'll be in good company though.
Over the next year he'll see different venues around the world so maybe I will be able to see him on display somewhere !
Many thanks to Akashi-san and Oka-san at Medicom for this wonderful opportunity !!! I hope the figure brings much joy to those who see him ! ;-)
=================

BE@RBRICK WORLD WIDE TOUR 2
　開催場所：パルコミュージアム [渋谷パルコパート1・3F]
　開催期間：2011年12月3日(土)～12月12日(月) ※会期中無休
　開場時間：10:00～21:00／最終日のみ18:00まで(入場は閉場の30分前まで)
　入場料金：一般300円(税込) ※小学生未満無料

Venue: PARCO MUSEUM [SHIBUYA PARCO Part 1 third floor]
Period: 3rd through 12th of December, 2011 [no closure during this period]
Time: 10 a.m. ~ 9 p.m. / close at 6 p.m. on the 12th (last day) allow to enter until 5:30 p.m.
Admission: 300 yen (with tax) * free admission for kids under 5 years of age

【Participants】

A BATHING APE ® (NIGO®)
Andre SARAIVA
ANREALAGE (Kunihiko Morinaga)
BEAMS (YO SHITARA)
Charles M. Schulz's Studio(Paige Braddock)
Colette
CONRAD LEACH
D [diː]
DEVILROBOTS
Dr. Romanelli
Ed Banger records (Pedro "Busy P" Winter)
EDISON CHEN
ELEY KISHIIMOTO (MARK ELEY＆WAKAKO KISHIIMOTO)
FILIP PAGOWSKI
fragmentdesign (hiroshi fujiwara)
FROGMAN
FUJIKO・F・FUJIO PRO
FUMIYA FUJII
Genevieve Gauckler
GReeeeN
HAJIME SORAYAMA
HEADQUARTER (RICARDO CAMPA)
HIRONOBU TSUJIGUCHI
HIROSHI TAMAKI
House Industries
HYSTERIC GLAMOUR (NOBUHIKO KITAMURA)
JAM HOME MADE
James Jarvis
K-CO & GO
KARIMOKU (HIROSHI KATO)
katsuyuki motohiro
Kim Songhe
Kuntzel+Deygas
Levi's®
Libertine (Johnson Hartig)
Lucasfilm Ltd.
maico akiba
MATT BLACK
Max Toy Company (Mark Nagata)
MEDICOM TOY CORPORATION
Mika Ninagawa
mintdesigns(Hokuto Katsui/Nao Yagi)
MOGRAPHIXX (HIROMITSU AKIBA)
MUVEIL (Michiko Nakayama)
NEIGHBORHOOD (Shinsuke takizawa)
NEXUSVII (TOMOHIRO KONNO)
NIKE (Mark Parker)
OriginalFake (KAWS)
P.M.Ken
PAUL&JOE (Sophie ALBOU)
play set products (Shiro Nakano)
PUSHEAD
Rolito
Ryuichi Sakamoto
SANDAIMEUOTAKEHAMADASHIGEO
SANRIO (YUKO YAMAGUCHI)
SASQUATCHfabrix. (Wonder Worker Guerrilla Band.)
Satoshi Fumihara
Sebastian Masuda
SENSE (SATOSHI MORIYA)
SSUR (RUSLAN V KARABLIN)
STASH
STUSSY
T9G (TAKUJI)
TMT (KENTA ABE , TAKANORI NAGANO)
TOKIDOKI (Simone Legno)
TOY TOKYO
TOYS McCOY (HIROSHI OKAMOTO)
Uglydoll (David Horvath)
UNKLE (JAMES LAVELLE)
The Walt Disney Company (Japan) Ltd. Disney Consumer Products
Wonderwall (Masamichi Katayama)
YOSHIDA & CO., LTD.
Zeebra
※アルファベット順

Lady Darkness figure by Max Toy Company

2011-11-23T18:08:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd post up the pictures of Lady Darkness from basic sculpt to the final painted vinyl figure. The designer and sculptor on this project was the amazing Yoshihiko Makino whose company is TTToy in Japan. As reported in the last blog, he has a back ground in Anime type character designs and also designed Lady Maxx and mini Kaiju Eyezon. I knew I wanted to go darker and more sexy for Lady Darkness and I think he achieved this in the sketch above !

above the sculpt still being worked on ... roughly 4 inches tall.

These shots above and below are the final sculpt .. I don't know about you but they are perfect !

From this point a wax copy is made and sent to the iron molds factory. There the figures are turned into iron molds and the molds are sent to Master Shimizu-san where the first test shots are produced below in this instance in white vinyl ....Below the figure is also painted by Makino-san for the paint masks. Using a resin copy he produces what is called a Deco Master.

The paint masks are made for each section, outfit, mask, eyes, legs etc ... all perfectly fit the figure.

These color test shots are using the paint masks on the actual soft vinyl figure ( cast in flesh )
each mask is in perfect alignment and hug each curve perfectly...Lady Darkness will be released in December via Max Toy Company and a Hyper Hobby magazine exclusive version via Japan.

Lady Darkness ... ! Step by Step process by Mark Nagata

2011-11-21T11:52:00.001-08:00

Lady Darkness is the new character and mini figure that will soon be added to the ever expanding Captain Maxx and Lady Maxx worlds. Where Lady Maxx represents the good light, Lady Darkness represents the dark light. However, it's not all that simple as Lady Darkness emerges from the depths of Lady Maxx's psyche !

As many of you may know, my first love is illustration and of all the things i get to do with Max Toys the one thing that gets me going is to be able to illustrate what these characters would look like as a painting. To go along with the pin up style art i did for Lady Maxx I decided to make a companion piece for Lady Darkness ;-)
I'm still finding my way doing pin up style work it's not as forgiving as doing Kaiju or Monsters, where making it ugly is an advantage !

Below is the process i went through in illustrating this piece. I used acrylics on a 15 x 20 inch, Heavy Weight, Crescent watercolor board. My airbrush was a HP-B Iwata double action.

I started with a design of Lady Darkness by Yoshihiko Makino / TTToy of Japan. Makino-san has a background in designing anime type of characters. His design of Lady Maxx was spot on so it was no surprise that his rendition of Lady Darkness would be a homerun... and it is !

Using photo reference I actually photoshopped 2 different arms and altered the legs onto a body for the basic pose. Once the basic outline was on the board I further refined the drawing .. bring in the costume design and hair elements.

after the drawing was fully rendered I went back into the darker areas with a sable brush and paynes grey acrylic paints.
I covered the board with Frisket Flim .. a sticky clear film that will block out certain areas I will be cutting out while painting. I use an Xacto blade #11 to cut out all the shapes .. like the legs, belt, arms etc... this part takes awhile but is needed inorder to spray each section later on. I like to think of it like a puzzle..once the pieces are cut you can pick them up spray a color and replace the piece or mask and spray another area without spraying over the color underneath.

above you can see i have removed a few pieces where flesh will be sprayed .. but the other parts are covered .. thus not spraying them with flesh.. simple right ? ;-)
Using acrylic paints i mix up some light flesh and dark flesh .. I use both to go from light to medium to dark while spraying. Below you'll see how i build up the colors and contrast. I'll spray burnt sienna and reds as i go along as well .... however I want as much of the white of the board to come thru ..so at this stage I want to spray in light transparent layers .... nothing heavy.

while i spray i also go back in and erase out the highlights ...Below the flesh areas are pretty much done. I now replace all the pieces of film and concentrate on the costume parts. Later after I remove all the masks I might have to go back into the flesh areas and adjust them or lighten areas ... but that will be later ...
Process is the same for the costume areas .. but this time I start with a paynes grey and build up the dark parts ...

I know I will go over these areas with a purple color ...

and here I go ! Purple ... !
Not shown here, but again I go back in with an eraser and light out highlights .. and go back as needed with paynes grey to darken areas...

At this point, above, i removed all the mask to see over all how the values and working .. not too bad. The areas left open will be remasked and sprayed black.
It's far from done .. all the edges need to be worked on with a fine brush. Some parts are softened, some left as hard edges ... plus the hair will be hand painted with a brush. Additional highlights will be added with gesso paint and further spraying in isolated areas as needed.
Below ...and finally the illustration is done ;-)

Had great fun painting Lady Darkness .. and have many more ideas for Lady Darkness and Lady Maxx pin up paintings !

This entire painting took about 3-4 days. While i would have liked to have a week to complete it, like my days as an illustrator we had a deadline and I had to paint fast. Lucky for me I'm not a perfectionist ;-P while there are always areas I look at and wished i had done a better job, I look at the over all impact of any art i do and if it's gotten the point across that i had in my mind well I'm happy and move onto the next project.

It's been over 10 years since i transitioned from full time freelance illustration to my toy company ... and I'm always amazed at how what i learned during that time has lead to what i do now. I'm blessed to be able to use not only my art skills but to be able to travel around the world and meet master artists and fellow art toy fans.

I hope you enjoyed looking at the process I go thru and next time I'll post up pictures of the Lady Darkness figure ;-) which you can also see on the Max Toy web site : www.maxtoyco.com !

Max Toy x Kaiju Korner exclusive

2011-11-14T16:49:00.000-08:00

A quick heads up that today ( well today for Tokyo ! ) you can start ordering the Max Toy x Kaiju Korner exclusive 2 figure set with giclee print.
Posted here are additional pics of the completed set , Kaiju Dragigus and Kaiju TriPus painted by Mark Nagata with Irene Fu's lovely brush work applied !

Oh and more info on Irene's background as well ... Irene's from Taipei, Taiwan. She's liked drawing since she was young, and she started getting interested in Kaiju in grad school, where she did an MA in industrial design. She does pen and ink illustrations, in addition to artwork in chalk and watercolor, as well as digital design. She designed the Kaiju Korner logo and banner. She also participated in the Ilanena 10th anniversary custom show, and she did the drawings, painting, + header card for the KK x Grody Shogun collab. Most of her Kaiju customs are ink or paint on blank figures. (lots of pics on Kaiju Korner web blog. Look for the Irene Fu tag.)

Order info:
Release date: November 15 at 11:00 PM (Tokyo time)
Price: $75 ( includes 2 mini Kaiju figures + hand signed giclee print by Irene Fu ) plus shipping to you.

Go here to order !!!
Kaiju Korner web site : kaijukorner.blogspot.com
For contact: kaijukornerandy@gmail.com

Max Toy x Kaiju Korner exclusive 2 figure + giclee print set

2011-11-09T12:43:00.000-08:00

A few months ago Andy from Kaiju Korner blog site fame approached me with an idea for a special Max Toy mini Kaiju figure set. The idea being I would paint the figures and up and coming artist Irene Fu would add her brush work to them. Irene would also create a special piece of artwork to go along with the set. The figures choosen were Kaiju Dragigus and Kaiju TriPus .. a fine choice I might say ;-) While i ordered the figures from the vinyl factory, Irene finished the art .. a fantastical scene .. of various Max Toy characters having a ball while a Kabuki play is on stage ! I love how this turned out .. each time I look at it i smile and see something different happening ( like Argus trying to bum rush the stage ! )

Below is a few pics of my painting process on this particular collab ... each figure was cast in Japan by Master Shimizu-san using white vinyl. I knew Irene would be adding brushwork to them, so i tried my best to give her enough surface to work with .. i think she ended up doing a terrific job on them .. it's hard to see but the surface is not flat and is undulating and curved .. how she managed to use her brushwork on them .. I have no idea ! Excellent work !

using V color, I laid in the blacks first, being careful about over spray .. especially on white vinyl...

adding more colors ...

hand painted the teeth .. my work on this Dragigus is done ...

once again using V color , I spray yellow first on these TriPus ...

with only the eyes left to spray this TriPus is close to being done ... once all 30 figures were done i wrapped them up and shipped them off to Tokyo for Irene to work on ....

And the completed collab figures ! I love the Geisha on the belly of Dragigus ... how did she paint 15 of these ?!!? ... super steady hands !

The sets will go on sale only via the Kaiju Korner web blog - Here's the info:

The Sets ( two figures + print ) are $75 each + shipping.
Only 15 sets available.

On sale on November 15 at 11:00 PM (Tokyo time)

The sale will be first come, first served.
For any questions, you can send me an e-mail at: kaijukornerandy@gmail.com

Thanks everyone for the support ! ;-) These will make good Holiday gifts, too !

D-Con 2011

2011-11-03T16:37:00.001-07:00

A quick update to let everyone know I'll have these two custom Kaiju Eyezons at this weekends D-Con in Pasadena. Look for them at the Toy Art Gallery booth #429.

Oh and sorry to say i will not be there, in person ... but it looks like a fun time and I'm sure those who go will have a ball ;-)
Not that anyone cares ( haha ) , but the only other stateside chance to see me in the flesh will be at SDCC 2012 in July... as of now that's my only "appearance" scheduled ... well not counting being in Tokyo in late March 2012 ;-P

It's no secret I work pretty hard ( well i like to think I do anyways ) and I decided for 2012 to really concentrate on the various toy and art projects that have been set in motion this year. Curating shows is fun but after 4 years or so, it is starting to take away my time to paint and as you may know painting really is my first love. I'll still be in and involved in various shows ( in fact am booking up too many for 2012 ) but taking a step back from the curating duties.
Unfortunately science has not perfected a way to accurately spiilt ones self ... but this will allow me to finish a few paintings that have sat here for a few years (!)
Oh and a special project will need my full attention ... well thats all i can say .. but my art duties will be tested for this one ! Something unexpected from Max Toys I think ... which shall be unveiled around SDCC 2012 ;-)

But fear not, the toys are still what Max Toys is about .. and my passion for them and for showcasing new and upcoming talent remain. I think my upcoming projects will reinforce this aspect of Max Toys.

I'll have some pretty cool announcements in a few weeks .. including one about a custom I agonized over a few weeks ago ... but I think came out good and ... ah ... i better shut up ... least i spill the beans too soon ... ;-) It's a good one and a complete surprise and honor.

More soon !

Max Toy UpDates

2011-10-31T13:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that October is about over and the Holidays are around the corner ! I've been super busy with several secret projects that will be revealed in the upcoming weeks ! One of them was a surprise chance to do something.. that was not in my schedule but needless to say I could not say no ! It was a very tight turnaround on it and I was kinda sacred I would mess it up ... but I think it came out well and hopefully everyone else will think so too ;-P Ya I know you haven't seen it .. haha, in due time ... the other stuff was mostly several new paintings for a new figure release, I think should be in November.

Add to all this all the usual customs for shows I have to do and lets just say I am losing track of the days ! Lucky for me San Francisco has had several weeks of above average weather .. some days downright HOT .. while I don't care for hot weather, it's perfect for my Monster Kolor painting outside ... something that gets much more difficult during the normal winter.

Moving forward I'll be in a plush form show at OhNoDoom gallery and a Rotofugi show in December called "Raising Tide 2 " curated by LilJapan, several FOE Gallery shows for early 2012 and the big thing for me is a 2 person show in Tokyo, Japan in late March with women artist ( and fellow cat lover ) Konatsu !!

I have to admit I'm not quite sure why I should be in this show with her at all... if anything my art will bring down the quality of her work ;-P But the die is cast, and I will be starting to work on my art and customs for this show. We have a few surprises in the works too ... so fingers crossed those will debut in time for the show ;-)

Of course the toy releases continue ... new colorways and brand new figures, too. Plus a few projects that have been percolating on the back burners for a few months .. that will quite frankly may be unexpected ...haha.. but that's what this Kaiju lifestyle is all about. I think stretching the direction you're going in is always a good thing and I'm not afraid of failure.
Really to me there is no failure, it's all about trying new things and experiencing life. Yes, I get stuck in a rut sometimes, but that's the best time to strike out and do something in the opposite direction.

Thanks once again to all the Max Toy fans and supporters out there .. i don't get a chance to thank you enough, but your support over these 5+ years has really allowed me to realize Captain Maxx and all the other Kaiju, Seijin and More in many different forms and media.

Toy Karma to you my friends !

Kaiju Negora release Meow !

2011-10-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

As I write this I'm not sure I will have any of these to sell via my web store ! Believe me I made plenty .. so many that I was worried I'd be sitting on these for awhile ... but the Max Toy Club members seemed to like Kaiju Negora .. and, well they got first dibs.

Designed by Japanese woman artist Konatsu, Kaiju Negora is a hybrid design ... Kaiju and Cat ! and she comes along with Big Fish ! To do battle with .. and well have some sushi later on ;-P

oh ! Check out the cute pink paw pads !

and the awesome spray done the back !

There is a slight chance I will have a few so if your not a member please check the Max Toy web store on Friday and see if I've posted them for sale.

If not I apologize and the next time.. well i better make more !

Meow !

Captain Maxx Mini Kaiju Project

2011-10-07T10:25:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post to show a new image for the mini kaiju series of Max Toy figures. Actually I realized I'm missing Lady Maxx ... and well a couple of others that will soon join the ranks ;-P

Rarely do I do something digital .. but this was colored in photoshop ;-P

We have so much stuff pending I'm beginning to lose track of a few of the projects .. but soon enough they'll emerge from the factory and into your hands !

Also working on a very special custom that I'm sworn to secrecy .. I was VERY honored to be asked to do this one.. and to be honest I'm getting a bit nervous about working on it .. but thats a good thing actually .. kinda like getting butterflies before performing I guess ... I'll take in process pics and show you, as soon as I get the Ok from the powers that be ...and will post them ... ;-) ... it's a good one .. and perhaps a bit unexpected from me ?!!

Ok back to the Kaiju grind ! ;-)

In Living Kolor custom show at Lot F gallery Boston

2011-10-04T13:17:00.001-07:00

Opening this Saturday, October 8th, 2011 is the "In Living Kolor" show, featuring customs painted with Monster Kolor paints.

Held in Boston at Lot F Gallery, the previews I've seen of the pieces from this show are amazing !

The majority of my custom or gallery work on soft vinyl is done with Monster Kolor paints and with good reason. It's only been a few years but in that time Matt Walker , the creator of the paint line, has turned the custom world on it's head and elevated the paint being used to a whole other level. I've said it before, but if you get a chance to see something painted with Monster Kolor in person that's really the only way to appreciate the depth of color and effects the paint produces. It is by far the only choice to paint clear vinyl toys with .. the luminosity and ability to actually make a dull finish shine like a well waxed floor can't be beat.

On top of that you can actually try the paint out yourself, in person at the gallery ! Figures and paint will be supplied and you can learn from Matt himself as he guides you through the process.

I helped Matt out with his Japan version of this show and the response to the paint was impressive. Also to see how each artist went about painting a figure in person to me was priceless ... some guys spray like crazy while others only shoot a tiny bit here and there .. there's no right or wrong way, by the way ... the end result is really what matters.

Seeing is indeed believing and I have yet to see a photograph that can show the paint at it's fullest.

Do yourself a favor and if your in the Boston region go look for yourself... I know you'll be amazed at the talent on display for this show !

Below are two of my customs for sale at the event.

HETEROMORPHISM curated by Dream Rocket at Double Punch Gallery

2011-09-27T10:47:00.001-07:00

HETEROMORPHISM curated by Junichi Yajima of Dream Rocket opened at Double Punch Gallery this past weekend ( 9/24 ).

A group art / custom figure show with global artists from Japan, Germany and America. While dubbed a Kaiju show, and featuring many types of Kaiju the show's name referred to a form having different forms or life cycles such as a metamorphosis. Artists could use this idea and expand upon it in whatever way they wanted.

The day before the show, Friday , I was to pick up Yajima-san at the airport. Due to his lack of English and my lack of Japanese (!) I sent a schedule for each day almost hour by hour to be translated for Yajima-san. In particular i told him to proceed from customs thru one of only 2 doors into the international arrivals lobby where i would be standing and waiting for him.

Well, after 2 hours of waiting for him, he didn't come out .. so i was getting worried ;-P Thoughts of him being questioned about strange Kaiju toys went thru my head ... but my phone rang and sure enough Yajima-san was on the line.... I could figure out it was him but he could not tell me where he was in the airport ! After a few frantic minutes he found someone to hand the phone to.. and it turned out he was in the domestic terminal ! Now if you've ever gone through the San Francisco international customs .. well I'm still stumped as to how he managed to get over to this other building (!) let alone exit and walk past me (!!) I may never know ;-P Haha !

After another 40 minutes ( I had to move my car to another garage and walk around looking for him, I finally found him outside and of course smoking with a fellow traveler ! The look of relief on his face was priceless !

So off we go, checked him into his hotel and on to the Double Punch gallery.

At Double Punch we begin to unpack and figure out how best to layout the show .. which is a mix of custom toys, artwork and even hand knitted figures.
As we set up, Emilio ( jumping brain ) Garcia and his girlfriend arrived to meet Yajima-san and also to lend a hand at setting up ! Emilio was so helpful !!! Above Yajima-san, Emilio and myself attempt to mount a shelf .. which ultimately did not work out (!) But no matter, we eventually found some clever solutions ;-)

Soon we had to leave to attend a dinner at Mel's Drive In ... several collectors attended and a good time was had by all.
My Club Sandwich ... and below Max ordered clam chowder in a bread bowel AND he ordered a bacon cheese burger, both of which he ate !
No wonder he's almost my height ... ;-P Yajima-san even sketched for a fan .. he's not found of his drawing skills, but I kept telling him he's really good ! I think you'll agree in this pic below ... very cool !

The night was over and even though we were tempted to go feed the racoons ( haha ) I knew it had been a long day for Yajima-san.
The next day, Yajima-san needed to finish off a few of his newest figure Beelzebub ... so using V color paints he sprayed away. The weather was not very good, with a light drizzle ...

Jay22 arrived and we had some lunch ! But we still needed to finish setting up, so back to Double Punch we went ! Thanks to Jay22 and Double Punch Ryan, we had all hands helping to set up.

Just before the show started we pulled it all together as you can see in these pictures ....

Here's a quick video of the show while we set up :

We had a good turnout and Yajima-san was happy ;-) Even though our plans for a translator fell through Yajima-san was able to talk to fans and show his work. The opening was over as quickly as if had begun and it was time to eat !

Thanks to Double Punch we had some really good Chinese food and yummy watermelon drinks !

The next day, Sunday, Yajima-san was o give a painting demo at Double Punch in the afternoon.

But first, after breakfast, we watched Mad Monster Party at my house... a classic stop motion film that Yajima-san remembered from his childhood. He really loved it .. an interesting note the figures and animation were done in Japan by a Japanese crew... Yajima-san did not know this and was very surprised ;-P

We did not have a airbrush hook up, but Yajima-san used a dry brush technique on his figure ...

this requires most of the paint to be wiped off and vigorous strokes over the figure to get the paint onto the high points of the figure. Several layers are slowly built up, as well as colors laid over each other.

Final details such as eyes are hand painted. While the figure appeared done, he said that he needed to spray several tints of color over the figure ( red, blue green ) and a final clear coat.

A final look around and Yajima-san says good bye to his show.

Mexican food was the final meal and Yajima-san was able to relax ;-)

Monday Yajima-san was leaving and to make sure he didn't get lost I walked him to the security check point and made sure he headed to his gate ;-P

I have to give a big thumbs up to Yajima-san. Not only did he plan this show but he made the trip over from Japan. This being only the second time he's ever been out of Japan and the first time on his own ;-P
It's a major step for this artist and i hope the fans coming to see the show will realize the determination it took him. Not understanding or really speaking the language he still forged ahead with his plan.

Yajima-san is a full time Kaiju / Toy maker ... so even traveling is a great expense to him. But he felt it important, as i do, to make that human connection to fans here in the US. Yes, YOU collectors out there are mostly only focused on the getting your toys .. but you have to realize that people are behind them. And in this case a humble person who lives to make and sell toys .. crafted in the classic tradition of Japanese sofubi ( soft vinyl ) toys. It's really important, maybe even more so now in these hard times, to make the effort to support artists like Yajima-san.

The toy world is a microcosm of the World ...you've heard me talk about this before .. but if everyone paid it forward a little more the Toy World would be a much better place... Toy Karma !

Items now online here ! ---> http://doublepunch.bigcartel.com/

Painting Kaiju Dualos by Mark Nagata

2011-09-26T20:16:00.000-07:00

while I don't care for the Happy Guitar music I added. .. at least you can get a sense of my process .. this was done on over 50 figures and does not include the final color change spray and glossy clear coat finish at the end ;-) Enjoy !

Toy Karma 3 show coverage

2011-09-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

Having just returned from Toy Karma 3 show at Rotofugi in Chicago I am immediately thrown back into the Kaiju toy work. I've barely had enough time to think about the event... although I can say that it was the best one yet ! Not only from an attendance standpoint, but also in terms of sales. The new store/gallery space Rotofugi has moved to, in one word, is Spectacular ! This should be no surprise as both owners Kirby and Whitney Kerr have carefully crafted a devoted following, while supporting and showcasing many talented artists worldwide. Their strong work ethic and devotion to this industry is as real as is their passion to present artists in the best possible way.

I'm so bad at remembering stuff ... I guess I live in the moment mostly, and usually am scheduled out for up to a year or more with various Max Toy projects. As I talked to Kirby after the show, he reminded me how Toy Karma originally came to be ... he said he had approached me about doing a solo show at their gallery ... but, me being not confident anyone would show up to such a show, suggested a group show with a focus on Kaiju. The rest, as they say, is history!

Oh, I'm not going to post endless pictures of the items in the show, I have decided... in part, because there's over 100 items in this show ! You can see them all at the various links at the end of the blog.

I love going to Chicago ! I never have enough time to really explore the city, but regardless, each time I return I see a bit more. This time, as the other times, I combined a trip to Michigan to visit family with work ... which in hindsight, was maybe a bit too much to cram into one trip ;-P

I flew into Michigan and spent a few days eating and exploring.

Korean food the first night...and morning brings freshly made popovers ! yummy !

The local comic stores ...my yearly visit to Vault of Midnight .. where I really should buy these Max figures that I have seen there the past 2 years ;-P

and Fun 4 All, where its YuGiOh! Dual Terminal machine was waiting for me to get some cards for Max.

and another dinner, here's some fried calamari ;-)

The day before the show, we drove in the rain to Chicago.

A mere 4.5 hours.. for me, a quick drive compared to driving to Los Angeles, which takes 6+ hours.

Our Days Inn hotel room, modest but comfy .. except for the sirens throughout the night (> <) haha ...the next day, Saturday, I was able to get one Chicago Dog but wish I could have had more....yummy !

posed with this cow in the hotel lobby !

We arranged to meet up with Alex Wald and see his awesome collection of Japanese toys and more ! For those who don't know, Alex is one of the earliest Japanese toy collectors in the US ... can you believe he use to write to the department stores in Japan and buy Bullmark figures via the snail mail back in the late 70s ?? Amazing ! I love hearing these stories .. and actually hope to one day have enough time to sit down and talk to all these early collectors and maybe compile them into some sort of history of US Japanese toy collecting.

But, I digress ... while looking around i spied this awesome figure ... "What the heck is that ?!!..it's very cool !!", I said ... well back in the day, Alex tried his hand at sculpting his own space hero figure, replete with hand cut mirrors ! He also had a very Bullmark looking Gamera he sculpted ... ! Really cool ! Alex, ever the renaissance man !!!

I dubbed him MirrorMan ... ;-P

Oh, and Alex gave me this hand painted Garakutagigas toy !!! Yay !! Garakutagigas is a collab with Alex's design and master sculptor Okuda-san of Atelier G-1 and is Alex's first ever vinyl toy.

I spied this long box, and after opening it, was floored to find this friction powered tin train inside. I have to say, even with all of Alex's beautiful Bullmark vinyls in his room this toy by far was my favorite... can you imagine getting one of these if you were a kid ?!! Gah !!

It's never enough time, and we had to go grab some Mexican food before the show..which Alex and his wife so graciously treated us to ! ;-)

Running late, we made our way over to the gallery. Let me say, whenever I put on a show, I really never know how many people will show up ... I always expect no one will show up ;-P But, I had nothing to fear as soon as we walked into the gallery, it was full and everyone made me feel right at home ;-)

One artist even showed me a tattoo in progress on his leg ...Wow !

I was so busy chatting away, that I failed to take ANY pics or video during the night !! At least my nephew snapped some pictures but sorry to say didn't get any of the crowd ... my one regret .. but that's OK .. a good time was had by all, including a random dancing girl that i missed who kept folks entertained ;-)

Before I knew it, the store was closing and Toy Karma 3 was in the history books.

While many items have sold, there are still some really awesome pieces available via this link: http://rotofugi.com/gallery/exhibits/TK3Exhibit2011/

I encourage you to support these artists and the arts in general. I know it's a tough time for everyone .. but I'm a firm believer in the positive power of art and it's ability to bring a bit of light and joy to the viewer. And yes, I'm one of those who believe more art in the world is a good thing.

I have discussed this before, but i firmly believe Toy Karma and shows like it are the modern day Salon Art shows of the past. While I might not live long enough to witness this, I do believe that the artwork and custom toys being produced today are part of a very unique art movement.
You can call it Art Toys or any other label, I actually don't care what it's called, but I hope you can support these artists by attending a show and if you can buying their artwork.

Yes, I am biased ... Japanese Kaiju toys and art are my passion, and something I continue to talk about and showcase to anyone willing to hear me. If the folks i talked to at Toy Karma are any indication, there's still many artists developing and crafting their own toys and art. I suspect by the time we start prepping for Toy Karma 4 in 2013, that we will be able to showcase many new artists. I'm all for inclusion versus exclusion .... and while I can not personally help each and everyone of you out there, I do hope you continue to make your art and keep pursuing your dream.

I briefly returned the following day to snap a few pictures and actually get a better look at the show myself.

My standard Kaiju pose ;-P

while exploring downtown Chicago we found this deli and I had a mouthwatering pastrami sandwich...and saw this huge choco bar .. was tempted to buy it but didn't want to lug it home on the plane !
Chicago itself is a stunning city to take in, from the beautiful buildings...

to the overhead subway tracks .. visually, so different from San Francisco !

I wish i could have wandered around more and simply took pictures or sketched.
As we left, the Toy Gods parted the clouds and the sun shone down !

Of course, back in Michigan, the eating continued .. this time a yummy Cuban sandwich.

and the last meal, appropriately Japanese Ramen !

When i returned home to San Francisco, someone asked if the success of this show meant toy sales were doing better ... I hope so ... but you know, I think overall we need to be more positive as we move into the future... something we can all do... and best of all it's free !

Thanks again to everyone who came out, traveled to the show and supported us from afar.

I'm sending you all Toy Karma !

======================

Additional Toy Karma 3 show coverage can be found here:

http://www.toykarma.rotofugi.com/

Video: http://youtu.be/7nU6tPg4F4w

http://tomopop.com/tomopop-about-town-toy-karma-3-part-1--21011.phtml
http://tomopop.com/tomopop-about-town-toy-karma-3-part-2--21019.phtml

http://www.jeremyriad.com/blog/toy-talk/vinyl/toy-karma-exclusives-show-pieces/

http://toysrevil.blogspot.com/2011/09/toy-karma-3-kaiju-exhibits-toy.html

http://www.spankystokes.com/2011/09/toy-karma-3-opens-tonight-rotofugi.html

Toy Karma 3 at Rotofugi Gallery Chicago

2011-09-14T14:30:00.001-07:00

In the next few days I'll be posting my thoughts and pics from the Toy Karma show that just opened this past weekend in Chicago !

Toy Karma 3 at Rotofugi Gallery Chicago

2011-09-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

Toy Karma !!! ... can it be nearly 4 years since the first show in 2007 !?! I realize 4 years is a short time in the scheme of things, but in this toy world that's like an eternity ! On this eve of the next installment to the Toy Karma art shows, I thought it a good time to take a quick look back at the previous two shows and preview some of the customs I'll be selling this year.

So for those who may be be asking what's a Toy Karma and what the fuss is all about .. let's go back to the first show in 2007. I like to say I coined the phrase "Toy Karma" a few years prior .. basically it is my belief that the Toy Karma credo of paying it forward in a positive light in all your toy deals and your Holy Grail toys will come to you !

art for Toy Karma 1 show 2007

From that positive place, the kind folks at Rotofugi approached me about doing a group Kaiju-concentric show called Toy Karma. We both agreed having a mix of familiar artists and toymakers mixed in with up-and-coming creators would embody the positive theme as well. To be honest, both Rotofugi and I had no idea what we were in for, in terms of the amount of pieces in the show, to the amazing response to it.

The Toy Karma 1 debut in 2007 at Rotofugi's old store location and was an incredible success. But with the amount of work it took us to coordinate what turned out to be a Global art show ... it was decided that every other year we'd revisit Toy Karma .. plus this would also allow new and emerging artists to join in.

Above and below some of the customs I offered at this first show. They oddly look primative to me ..haha !

Toy Karma 2 was held in 2009, and any doubts I had about people showing up to the show opening was quickly erased by the overflowing reception ! I was also floored that folks had started lining up the night before to get a chance at various toy exclusives .. something that until this point was only heard of at Japanese toy events.

art for Toy Karma 2 show 2009

So, here we are only days away from the September 10th, 2011 opening of Toy Karma 3 !
art for Toy Karma 3 show 2011

I'm set to travel out to the show and one of my favorite places to visit, Chicago in a few days. I feel like Comic Con just happened and I really had no down time after that major show, as i started in on customs for this show.

Below are some pics of the customs, all painted with Monster Kolor paint, and of course they are one of a kind figures. I don't usually take any time to look back or even dwell on the past .. but seeing my older customs and what i do now .. I can see an evolution to my work ... which is kinda cool to see ;-)

Now, let me say that there will be literally hundreds of toys and artworks that will be in this show ... for a full artist line up and latest news about the show, be sure and check out the Toy Karma page here : http://www.toykarma.rotofugi.com/

Sorry, but those who attend get first crack at the stuff ! However, after the show opens, available pieces will be posted via Rotofugi's website.

Once I get back, I will be posting pics and write up a post-show blog .. for those who will be going to the show, I look forward to seeing you and thanking you for your support !

In these tough times, it's even tougher for artists to make a go of it, and your continued support of Kaiju arts and artists in general does make a difference in their lives but also in bringing positive Toy Karma to the world.

Max Toy / Mark Nagata Updates Toy Karma 3 !!!

2011-08-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

I'm sounding like an old man and a broken record ! Too much going on at Max Toys right now .. Oh it's ALL good, in fact great .. I feel my horoscope is kicking into over drive ( I'm a Pieces ) so cosmically i'm riding the wave baby ! Which brings me to the first piece of news and that's the upcoming Toy Karma 3 show at Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago ! We have this show every other year .. which if I'm doing the math right it's been nearly 6 years since we started doing these ? Gah ! curated by myself and my right hand man in Japan, Yo Miyamoto, I think we have one of the strongest shows to date. I do want to briefly say it was not an easy task to come up with the final list .. and for sure not everyone we wanted to join in could ;-( I'm not kidding in the fact that the full lists from Rotofugi and myself would have exceeded 200+ artists. Below is the official post card image and banners .. I hope you can help spread the word on this show. More info will also be posted on the Toy Karma web site : http://www.toykarma.rotofugi.com/
==========================
Here's a quick step by step of one of the custom pieces i did for the Toy Karma show .. a Winged Kaiju Eyezon !
Basically this is a big sized version of the Neo Eyezon. Using that as a guide i cut out the wings from foam core and traced where they would be o the back of the Eyezon.
Once i had the pattern i heat up the back and using a sharp xacto blade cut slots into the back. I placed each foam core wing in the slots and glued them with epoxy glue.

Once dry I mixed up some Aves Apoxie Sculpt and started covering the wings. The first layer would be to cover the foam core and to add strength to where they meet the back of the figure.

Sculpted in the eye on the palms of the figure ...

adding some ropey veins .. and despite using foam core the wings were too heavy for the figure to stand .. so i filled the legs with more apoxie sculpt. But in the end the figure needs to be slightly tilted forward while he stands to counter balance the weight of the wings.

after some minor sanding and drying overnight the figure was ready to be painted. Having worked off a white based figure i needed to base coat the figure with Monster Kolor black paint.

Followed by sprays of silver and c-thru colors, red, orange, yellow, pink, blue ...

and finally color change and a final coating of gloss coat to seal in the paint plus bring out all the glittery effects.

and even though this is not me spray coating this particular figure ( its the Kaiju Dualos ) it is the same process of spraying down the figure.

This figure and much more from many talented artists will be for sale at Rotofugi Gallery on Sept 10th, 2011. I'll be traveling to Chicago so hope to see you all there !

Kaiju Negora Meow !

2011-08-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blogs of late, after Comic Con it's been nuts here .. and here I though I'd have a break.. nope. Besides getting in and selling out of the Max Toy X Konatus Kaiju Negora... I decided to make a special package to put each figure in .. based on a Catnip bag we have for our cat ... here's a brief process of it .. the misses sewed them up ;-P

and once done, each order is slipped into the bag and sewn up !

And the cat approves !! Meow !!

Also a huge box of all black vinyl Kaiju Dualos arrived for me to paint. These figures are big and bulky with lots of textures, making the hand painting process a bit more tricky for me ... but fear not I've got a bout 15 done, with about 35 more to go. Pre orders and Japan orders go out first, followed by US wholesale .. to be honest I'm getting so burnt out by painting these I'm not sure if I will offer any on my site later. So if you have not pre ordered be sure and contact your local store and ask about getting one thru them ( distro via DKE )
Here's some in progress shots and how they will look once finished.

I looked at my calender today and realized that Toy Karma 3 at Rotofugi is in like 3 weeks ?? I don't have anything for it ..yet ;-P If you follow my twitter ( @maxtoyco ) you've seen a glimpse of a winged Kaiju Eyezon .. but otherwise I need to paint much more... After Toy Karma Yajima-san of Dream Rocket will be here in San Francisco for his show at Double Punch called HETEROMORPHISM. If your local please come down to the opening to welcome Yajima-san also he will be doing a painting demo ( details soon ). I'll make another blog about this show in a few weeks.

following Yajima-san's show, there's the Monster Kolor show in Boston, December another show at Rotofugi called Rising Tides , I'm in but will not be attending.

And squeezed in there are plenty of toy releases .. and fingers crossed a brand new figure ... but that's all I'll say about that for now ..hee hee ...

In the next few months I'll also start talking about a very special 2 person show I have in Japan, for late March 2012, with the ever so talented and popular artist Konatsu !! I am very excited about this show but also very worried .. she's so good .. I'm not ( > < ) .. I hate to have my artwork even be in the same room with her beautiful stuff ... oh well, I shall do my best !!! It will also mark my return to Japan after more than a year .. after I canceled my trip because of the earthquakes.

More soon !

Year of the Labbit Japanese American National Museum

2011-08-03T16:51:00.000-07:00

A quick post about the Year of the Labbit show that's currently on view at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. I was not able to see the show but my better half, Anna, went down for me and took some pics while I was at Comic Con.
You'll recognize a few familiar names to this blog and Max Toys below as Japanese artists Konatsu, Tulip, and Namy all contributed to the show.
Forgive me but I don't have all the proper credits for all the pics below nor have I pictures for every piece... but suffice to say everyone did an outstanding job as you can see.
You can see much better pictures and purchase them on the museum web store here.

Above: Artist Namy

Above: Artist Tulip

Above and Below: artist Mark Nagata ;-P

Above: artist Konatsu

Kaiju Negora by Konatsu

2011-07-28T14:28:00.000-07:00

Let me start out by saying, I'm a cat person. While working with Japanese women artist Konatsu .. I also found out she is a cat person, too. I've always had it in the back of my head that I'd like to do some sort of cat related toy character and thought that a collaboration with Konatsu would be a purrfect fit ( ok will keep the cat jokes to a minimum ! )
For those not familiar with Ms Konatsu's work check out my previous post here, and her web blog.. and on top of all this she has a custom Labbit in the Japanese American National Museum, and will be in the next Spectrum Fantastic Arts book (her ink wash painting of Kaiju Drazoran is in it !).

I like to give the artists I work with total freedom to design what they like when i do a toy project .. with nothing but the idea of a cat theme, Konatsu proceeded to not only design what i think is a stunning piece but also did research as well.

Starting with Yokai (Japanese Ghost story )legends of Japan, Konatsu melded her own cat ideas/designs and the Kaiju concept into her original creation, Kaiju Negora !
Once we had her sketches Makino-san of TTToys was enlisted to sculpt. Already proven himself with our Lady Maxx and mini Kaiju Eyezon, another perfect sculpt resulted .. a perfect translation of Konatsu's design, Kaiju and Kawaii (cute) !

Shown here are the test shots from the iron molds.

In addition to the Kaiju Negora - 怪獣ネゴラ - soft vinyl figure, we decided to make a Big Fish for the cat to battle ... called 大魚付き ( Big Fish ) ;-)

Paint masks have been made and the first releases are in the works ;-) Watch this space or the Max Toy web site for more info.. and of course you can follow my Kaiju Life via Twitter - @maxtoyco

San Diego Comic Con 2011 Max Toy / Mark Nagata Wrap Up !

2011-07-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

Comic Con 2011 is now fini ... and as i look back at this years con, I have to say it was way too much packed into one crazy day !

You'll notice a lack of toy and actual convention pics this time around. Mostly cause I was having meetings with artists and/or simply trying to enjoy myself rather than pulling out my camera or phone every two seconds to take a picture. One day is not enough time, and I never made it to several booths on my list... oh well, next year.
This was the 3rd time this year I've made the trip down south .. the other two times were for Disneyland and the Alien Argus show at Toy Art Gallery. Going farther down south to San Diego adds another 1.5-2 hours depending on traffic to a 6 hour car ride. Highway 5 is the chosen route and the most direct .. but as you can see is mostly dry farmland for the bulk of the drive... yawn ...

After meeting up with family, we made our way to Chick-Fil-A for tasty chicken burgers and soup .. today we were greeted by their mascot Cow ... Moo ...get it they don't serve beef, so the Cow sez eat more chicken ..haha ...

The view from our hotel was very nice and if I told you it was Hawaii, you might believe me ;-P

With box full of Max Toy goodies, we make our way to the convention center to meet up with Kirby of Rotofugi fame ...

Kirby and crew are kind enough to not only sell this stuff but host me the next day at their booth. As you can see, i should be lifting with my legs and NOT my back .. oops !
We gave each other a man hug, which was photographed but I decided not to post it (!) Haha ... !

Jump to Thursday morning and my family and myself made our way to check in, get our badges for Comic Con. This process was very fast and easy .. getting tickets for next year was not and needless to say we did not get any. I'm thankful for all the long time Max Toy collectors who came out to support me as well as many new faces. Actually I'm rather surprised at all the new faces that did show up ... I was amazed that practically all my customs had sold on preview night, so there wasn't much to show in the display case.

I brought along some new minis, this Cat Kaiju called Negora is by Japanese women artist Konatsu .. I'll blog more about this project later in the week, but needless to say it's going to be awesome !! Meow !!

and of course this micro Kaiju Eyezon .. we are making whats called a mashi-gata mold, basically many figures on one mold for production. Plus paint masks ;-) Should be ready end of August, and at a nice retail price.

Ok my main rant for this con was the awful line Max and I waited in to pick up a toy we pre bought online from Matty Collector ( Mattel ) web store. Thinking this would save us time and trouble .. Oh boy we were soooo wrong. In fact, it sucked up almost an hour of our time. Just finding the darn place which was in the hotel next door was a challenge ... at one point we waited in the wrong line only to have the guy at the door look at my email confirmation and say, "..whats this ? " Idiot ... we found the right line and it appeared that everyone around us must have been dealers as they picked up cart loads of stuff... us... we had one figure to pick up.. and the woman took one look at us and said, "thats it ?" ;-P
I won't be doing this again .. my time is more valuable, and I'll gladly pay a dealer for the figure next time to gain my hour plus back.

I briefly caught a glimpse of the DKE both, where some Max Toys were on view along with this soon to be offered Kaiju Dualos.

The main purpose of the trip though, was a family reunion and vacation.. so off to the beaches we went ... nice weather...

I looked down and found this Kaiju in the sand next to me ,haha ... must be destiny ...

at the hotel by the pool, some much needed relaxing times ... my pale legs .. soon to be burnt to a crisp ...

We made our way to a big shopping area right on the border with San Diego and Mexico.. in fact was the last USA exit (!) With my nephews ( and Max ) now teenagers, the shopping has now turned to clothes ! Mostly skater types of styles ... I did manage to buy a new watch ;-P
From this location you can actually see Russia ... I mean Mexico ;-P

I had the most amazing Napoleon dessert in Little Italy ....

and near my sisters, I had to pick up some Choco bars ;-)

I love Palm Trees ...

with that the trip was over and we headed back ... the temp topped 101 degrees on the way back home !!!

my burnt forehead made me look like Sinestro ...

Seeing the windmill, meant it was time for Anderson's Pea Soup !

After traveling this route between Northern and Southern California for 47 years, it was good to see some things have not changed... slurp....!

Chiyo-chan and Kamineko from Azumanga Daioh

2011-07-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

Oh Boy ! Here are pics of the final production pieces for our release in Japan for Summer Wonderfest !!

Cute Chiyo-chan is looking , well cute ! and the pigtails can be posed up or down to suit her moods or simply fly away ;-P

and lets not forget Kamineko ( > < )!!! If you have a pet cat you know what i mean when I say you just never quite know what going on in their heads (!!)

Sorry to say it's a special one day license, the figure set is only for sale for Wonderfest Japan at the show ... no other sales, before or after. So if you got a friend going have them stop by the Max Toy booth and pick up one for you ;-)

Here's episodes to watch: http://www.theanimenetwork.com/Anime/Azumanga-Daioh/Miss-Yukari/Watch

Max Toy x Nakayoshi booth, #5-07-05. Sculpted by Makino-san of TTToys and Made in Japan.

San Diego Comic Con 2011 Max Toy / Mark Nagata

2011-07-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

Is it really another year gone by ?!! Well judging by the additional grey hairs I have and the fact that my son is now taller than my wife ... I guess it has been a year !

With that I make the annual trek down to San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) yet again ;-) If you detect a tiny bit of lack of enthusiasm perhaps it's because I've been going to SDCC since the early 1990's. I've seen the days when it was 95% comic book dealers to now, with only a few rows of comic book back issue dealers. I know nothing stays the same and that's true for life .. and this is what makes in part for nostalgia. So, yes I'm feeling a bit nostalgic for the old days. Lucky for me i have a few friends who feel the same way, and we'll be trolling the more sleepy parts of the con, looking thru back issues and staring at original comic art by all the masters of a long gone era.

I do have to say even though i can not afford an original Jack Kirby comic book page, just the chance to see one up close for a few minutes is well worth the admission ;-P And gives me the inspiration to keep going.

Ok for those who read this blog, you know I'm always complaining about how slow I am to paint toys, blah, blah ... yes, this years no different .. but, I did get off my butt and have done a few customs which I think turned out quite nice and I will be bring them down to SDCC this year.

The kind folks at Rotofugi http://rotofugi.com/ will be selling my figures at their booth #4736. Plus, only on Thursday July 21 from 11am-Noon, I will be at the booth to talk Kaiju and doodle in your sketchbook if you like ;-) Oh I'll have along some of my drawings and small paintings if you want to see them ;-P

Plus, we will be offering the first fully painted Kaiju Dualos !! This came out great and was cast in Flesh vinyl by Shimizu-san and painted in Japan.

And lets not forget a brand new Lady Maxx in glamorous Purple

Also mini Kaiju Dragigus and Drazorus, painted by myself on glow in dark vinyl.

Of course there will be some one offs, hand painted customs from Mark Nagata ;-P Please note these are a first come, first served ... so I can not guarantee you will get the customs you may want ...

And if all goes well I will be sneak peeking 2 upcoming new toy releases, including a Max Toy x Konatsu Kaiju called Negora !!! 怪獣ネゴラ and 大魚付き !!!

Oh and stop by the DKE booth #4728 to see a upcoming Kaiju Dualos painted proto I will have on display .. done up in beautiful Monster Kolor paints ;-) I'll be hand painting these myself ...haha ...I'll have to summon up all my powers to paint them
(> <) but i think you'll like 'em ;-)

See you all soon, I'm looking forward to talking to old friends and new ones !!!!!

Website: www.maxtoyco.com

Sitting Gaia by Indonesian artist Budi Nugroho

2011-07-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

Ever since I stumbled on a picture of this sculpture via Tumblr... I knew it would be in my collection. Getting obsessed about a toy or artwork doesn't happen much to me and of late really not at all ... but, this time I got that feeling like it was destiny... something that was bound to come to me... no matter what !

As I blogged about in a previous post, the artist I was able to track down via a friend of his on Twitter. The artist, Budi Nugroho, is a young artist based in Indonesia and once we started emailing I knew this particular piece was coming to San Francisco ;-P

So here we are the fateful day when this masterpiece arrives via courier ....

Oddly enough this is the second time this week I've come across the letters TNT ... like dynamite?!!

The van comes to a halt and the driver opens the back doors. I help him bring down the crate to the street and to the garage. It's not too heavy...the crate is well built. All I can think is geez this is a huge crate.. and it has handles, too !

One side has a series of wood screws so i start unscrewing them ...

With all the screws removed I take a screw driver and gently pry open the lid as my heart starts to race ...

I peek in .. I can swear a rush of cool air blows back into my face... the smell of fiberglass and paint waft over me ... yummy !
I feel like I'm opening the Ark of the Covenant ! Lets hope there's no evil ghosts I let out !!

With the front panel pulled off, I can see the Holy Grail ! Ah !!! "Sitting Gaia"!!

The rest is a blur to me... I quickly unwrap the figure... and realize ...

... this figure is much larger than I thought ;-P Wow !!! I don't care .. it's all mine !!!

Ultraman and Buddha ? Wha ?!!

Tohru "Tohl" Narita was the original production designer back in 1966, on the series Ultraman. Ultraman was in part inspired by Buddhist statues in Japan,like these, below.

So fine artist, Budi Nugroho, in creating his "Sitting Gaia" figure for his series of sculptures and art called "i like contemporary, but contemporary like it shiny", has taken this concept of Ultraman and Buddha and merged them .. a contemporary , modern, commercial character, who was spawned from this ancient religious relic of the past. The result is an amazingly serene and compassionate in repose Ultraman.

The main figure is perfectly sculpted, cast and painted in all gold paint with a gloss coat. It is simple in details but that's in keeping with the Buddhist way.

The sculpture came with this beautiful plastic case with Budi's signature inscribed on it. Pulling out the clear insert reveals the details of the sculpture.

I haven't even shown the beautiful triangle base that the figure will rest on ... it's massive too !!!

I've collected Ultraman toys and items for well over 20 years now .. and I have to say this new artwork perfectly captures that mythical and heroic quality that captured my boyhood imagination. My Ultraman shrine now has a proper deity to pray to ... Toy Karma !

=====================

Artist Budi Nugroho - http://budiadinugroho.blogspot.com/
Email: Budi Nugroho

Mount Kobo Kaiju master Kaiju painter

2011-07-05T23:34:00.001-07:00

I'd like to introduce a very special old school Kaiju painter from Japan named Tsutomu Masuyama. His studio is called Mount Kobo and I was very fortunate to have my Max Toy representative in Japan pull together this special set for Max Toys.

Masuyama-san was born in 1959 and has had a long career in the arts including studying under the great master Tohl Narita ( the original Ultraman designer ). Having grown up being influenced by kaiju, he started out designing, creating and sculpting original kaijus. He has also designed many backing cards, tags, and box arts for several companies such as Billiken-Shokai and Sunguts-Honpo.

Masuyama-san under his Mount-Kobo studio name currently paints for the well known Japanese company Billiken-Shokai. He has also released some finger puppets (called Little Club) and micro size kaiju in soft vinyl.

We only have a few sets now for sale from Max Toy Company. Go HERE to order one !

As a painter of toys myself, I was so impressed with his control of spray on each of these figures ! and on top of that each eyeball is hand painted, perfectly !

Below is an example of Masuyama-san's awesome paint work for SunGuts... I've commissioned him to do a Captain Maxx / Lady Maxx painting ;-)

You can bet we have many more hand painted Kaiju coming from Mount-Kobo and Masuyama-san in the works ! Enjoy !!!

Cosmic Squadron by Dead Presidents Designs !

2011-07-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

Matt Walker aka Dead Presidents Designs is taking pre orders for his much sought after Cosmic Squadron figures ! You can learn more about the CS characters and story HERE, but more importantly Pre Order a blank one to paint yourself or order the painted one by Mr Walker himself !
Each CS figure stands 6 inches tall and comes with removable helmet and is cast in Japan. This figure gets my seal of approval .. and i can't wait to see future expansion of this figure line and story .. !!!

Max Toy / Mark Nagata Updates !

2011-06-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

Ok a few quick updates this time around .. I'm still prepping for San Diego Comic Con. I'll be posting more about soon ;-) In the meantime onto whats been cooking with my toy company ....

First up we have a test color up of Chiyo-Chan and Kamineko figures from Azumanga Daioh ! Also called a Dekomasu ( decoration master ) this is what the paint masks and final paint factory will use as a guide to paint the final production pieces. Looking very Kawaii !!!
Now sold out to Max Toy Club members this first release of Kaiju Dualos ! Cast in clear blue vinyl ... it's one of my favorites .. I can 't stop looking at it in the light ;-)

And the newest, fully painted Lady Maxx is now on sale ! via www.maxtoyco.com

I'll have several customs in this upcoming show at FOE store http://www.shopfoe.com/

And today this awesome Bronze Kaiju Eyezon goes up for sale via Toy Art Gallery -
http://www.toyartgallery.com/

Honestly to see my character turned into a bronze sculpture is simply crazy .. in a good way of course ! Haha ... !
and these figures will be in the July 8th show at Toy Art Gallery called Sofubi Godfathers -

phew ... coming up Comic Con info and releases ... !!!

Chiyo-Chan and Kamineko figures from Azumanga Daioh !

2011-06-19T17:15:00.000-07:00

Well the cats sorta outta the bag ;-) via Twitter, so i decided I may as well reveal most of this project in advance of Summer Wonderfest in Japan.

This figure is a different release from Max Toys than you guys are used to... not a Kaiju ! But I have to admit I'm very excited about this new figure and of course once again working with talented sculptor, Makino-san of TTToys in Japan.

Based on the popular manga and anime called Azumanga Daioh, we decided it would be cute to do a figure of the character Chiyo-chan ! Chiyo-chan is a spunky 10 year old girl whose so smart she's now in high school ! You can learn more about the series via Wikipedia, but in short it's a very funny anime that has great character development and types ! And even though it's about high school girls, I think any one can identify with one or more of the characters ;-)

For those who may not know, some companies in Japan will allow exhibitors to get a one day license and produce a model kit or toy for a special fee, but the deal is you can only sell for that day and can not wholesale or sell after the event. So our Chiyo-chan figure set will only be for sale at Wonderfest in Japan on Sunday July 24th. I can not and will not be selling this figure version before, after the show or via any other method. So, if you want one you will have to find a friend whose going to WF in person to buy you one ;-P

It will be a two figure set, Chiyo-chan stands about 8 inches tall and comes with the crazy cat, Kamineko ( bite ! )

The figures are currently in the iron molds stage, so the figures shown are actually resin pulls from the wax molds. Also, the eyes have been loosely sketched in to give you sense of what the eyes will look like once painted.

I love how her ponytails can be rotated up like in the series ;-P

Chiyo-chan will be in a school gym type of out fit for this version. ;-)

It's a bit hard to see the end results but I can tell this one will be really nice once cast in flesh soft vinyl and fully painted up !

and Kamineko looks ready to chomp down on your hand !!! Haha !

I'll be posting more pics as we progress to the final pieces for WF... !

Kaiju Drazoran by Mark Nagata

2011-06-15T13:42:00.001-07:00

I'm a wimp ! I complain when faced with having to paint toys. I don't know what it is but even painting one can drive me Nuts ! ... Sansei Goto-san I am not ! But this is a part of what i do as my business. I must paint figures ... one offs or multiples. Actually because of my reluctance to paint multiples I rarely do them. But having a bag of 20+ plus Neon Pink Kaiju Drazoran sitting behind my chair ... I summoned up all the Ultra power I could and dove in.

Using Monster Kolor paints , Breeze Blue, Vivid Yellow, Black and Gold metallic. Painting on Neon Pink vinyl makes my eyes all wonky ! In fact it's really hard to even photograph how bright and vivid these figures are ! You'll have to take my word for it .. they are bright !

I like to spray all over the figure and in this case even under the tail. I will eventually clear coat the entire figure which will protect it once dry. Someone asked me about spraying all over the figure and my reply is I appreciate a figure that is complete. Meaning even if you do not see it fully while it sits on your shelf, yes even under the tail or foot it is fully painted or clear coated. I've watched plenty of Master Kaiju painters and the one thing they all have in common is not skimping the details.

I hand brush in all the details. All the teeth and eyes ... one by one ... first yellow and back again for the black pupil. Yes, tedious .. but each one is hand done. No way around it ... ;-) As I get into it I fall into that Zen-like trance .. paint, brush, stroke ... repeat ...

Because I have to separate the parts to clear coat them, I hand number them to make sure I can match up the right head to body later on.

Here I prep the pieces by placing them on sticks .. so i can hold the stick and spray the clear coat on them.

As I'm done i place them on cardboard boxes to dry in the Sun ;-)
The clear coat fully cures in about 20 hours or over night.

Although I grumbled to myself during the process, I think they turned out nicely, and the colors feel right for being on a Pink vinyl base.

Finally below are the results of my effort... phew ... these will be for sale on Thursday July 15th via the Max Toy webstore : http://www.maxtoyco.com/Shop_home.php

Kaiju Eyezon customized by Mark Nagata

2011-06-09T11:56:00.001-07:00

I recently completed this custom Kaiju Eyezon for an upcoming 5 man show at Toy Art Gallery in Los Angeles. The show opens July 8th check the their website for more info.

Besides the usual customs I'll do for the show I decided to do something different. I've had it in my mind that Kaiju Eyezon, having been born from a mutant potato (hence the multiple eyes and tubular horns ) could at times morph or meld into duplicates of itself ... so I thought what better way but to try to replicate this with a Kaiju Eyezon standard sized figure ;-)

With that idea in my head the following is the process I went through. First up was slicing a figure in two ... the figure was cobbled together with parts from broken Eyezons I have .. so it didn't really matter what colors the base vinyl was .. as it would be repainted.

I knew to save clay and keep the weight of the figure down, I had to build a structure inside that spread the two halves apart, but also had to make sure the arms and legs could still move. Using foamcore and some 2 part apoxie glue I started gluing in the support.

once this was complete I covered the structure with heavy duty foil...

Using Aves Apoxie Sculpt I begin to cover the surface ...

and slowly start sculpting in the eyes and the skin pulling and flowing apart...

I actually sculpted most of this with this paint brush ..using a bit of water to soften up the apoxie .. I wanted to keep this organic .. NOT symmetrical ... I'm a big fan of asymmetrical figures ... probably why I don't like most platform figures ;-P

using water and some Apoxie solvent i feather out the edges to bleed them into the vinyl figure ...

with the sculpting done, I base coat the whole figure with a flat V color white .. this also helps me see any parts that are not blending right ... I fix those parts with tiny bits of Apoxie and recoat with white paint.

Next up using Monster Kolor paints I base coat the whole figure with black. Let dry and start building up from the top down with Monster Kolor Silver paint. I think of the figure as being lit from above so the silver is heavier above ... some spots like the eyes get heaviest coverage of silver...

I slowly build up various hues of red, blue, yellow and green over the figure. Letting happy accidents happen as i go along .. colors blend into rainbow like color combinations. Eyes are painted using a circle template .. the blacks of the eyes are hand done, as are the red cracks ... each one hand paint ;-) .. phew ...

After a costing of Monster Kolor color change flakes the whole figure is glossy clear coated to seal all the paint in but also to bring up the depth and magic of the paint. It's been said many times but really photos can not show you the very cool glittery effects .. especially in the Sun light ! If I could cue the music, you'd hear a thunderous TA DAH !!!

lets not forget the back side ...

or the bottom of the figure. I have to say in my years of collecting and building garage kits and such, only the Japanese add details everywhere .. and even to parts that get glued and hidden away in the final figure.. it's this super attention to detail that I strive for, too. I asked one guy why do you sculpt something that say a cape will hide in the finished kit.. and he said because he would know also he felt the builder or viewer of the figure would somehow sense something was missing, without being able to put your finger on it ..Wow .. call it a Sixth Sense in toy appreciation... it's the Umami ...if you will that makes a sculpt stand out ... and I believe it.

Kazu Sano illustrator Remembered

2011-06-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

It's never easy to hear of someones passing. I awoke to an email this morning saying that illustrator Kazu Sano had passed away. I'm still in shock.

Kazu was my favorite illustration teacher when I attended the Academy of Art back in the late 80s. His teachings and his art still inspire me to this day.

Of all the teachers I had, Kazu was one of the only ones to not criticize my early use of the airbrush in my assignments.

The artwork above I saw in person as a student and to this day is burned into my mind as an incredible piece. Kazu's use of light and color are pure perfection.

In his class he would say to experiment with your media .. for example what if you used warm or hot water with your paints .. what would happen ? I was too young at the time to realize what he was saying ... to think out of the box.. and to push the limits of what you could do. Years later, I still use his teachings not only in art but when collaborating with fellow artists and toy makers. Don't just do solution A.

Just before my semester ended with him, my friend and I got up the courage to call him up and visit him at his studio. As nervous as we were he made us feel right at home. He showed us many of his originals while our jaws dropped to the floor. We saw his work area and the current art he was working on.

Just before we left my friend nudged me ... I had brought a copy of the Return of the Jedi poster that Kazu had painted for him to sign. I took it out and asked if he could sign it .. thinking he would say no... but the gentleman he was he did so gladly. As he signed it he actually apologized that he could not give us a copy for free ! In fact he dug around and gave us a bunch of other posters and tear sheets he had on hand as gifts !

Over the years i would only run into Kazu a few more times .. and each time he would remember me and my artwork, and even know what I was doing currently in illustration... much to my amazement !

I was too awe struck to tell him how much his teachings helped me.

Thank you so much Kazu.

Daniel Goffin x Max Toy Kaiju Eyezon project

2011-05-23T09:33:00.000-07:00

Daniel Goffin X Max Toy Mini Kaiju Eyezon Project

Warning: This is a Art Project ! We do not advise you to eat the contents. Due to the potentially toxic nature of vinyl degassing we can not recommend the consumption of the candy inside. Do not eat the toy either!

Limited to 10 pieces, custom painted figures, each hand numbered and signed. Artist Daniel Goffin has created a fantastic vision of a clear Eyezon with internal guts.

Daniel has hand sculpted guts for Eyezon that are so prefect they fit like a puzzle into the figure.

Each gut piece using food grade silicon molds were cast in pieces using isomaltose sugar, glazing agent and other ingredients. Each hard piece was than wrapped in food grade mylar plastic and inserted into each figure.

Here's what Daniel says about this project:
" I think it is necessary to educate people about the potentially toxic nature of vinyl gases. On the other hand many people eat a lot of unhealthy food on a daily basis. They are candy guts but it is also an art project that plays with the temptation of consumption. "

You may be tempted but we do not recommend eating the guts but rather enjoying how pretty they look inside the figure ;-)

$80.00 plus shipping and tax if a California resident. Via the Max Toy Co web store ( http://www.maxtoyco.com/Shop_home.php ) on Wed. May 25th, 2011.

First Come First Served and while supplies last.

Daniel Goffin - www.danielgoffin.com
Max Toy Company - www.maxtoyco.com

==========================

Below is the detailed process Daniel went thru to achieve the perfect Eyezon guts ! Amazing sculpts !!!

Toy Karma - Golden Buddha by Budi Nugroho

2011-05-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

I've been collecting now for over 20+ years ... actually hard to believe it's been that long but I've experienced many ups and downs being a collector. From the thrill of the hunt for the holy grail toy to burnout over the hobby.
That's not to say that I've washed my hands of it .. no far from it. In fact, it makes moments like these even more exciting. I have to admit that over the past few years in producing my own toy line and working with so many talented artists that the process or experience is actually more satisfying to me than the final product.

I've never taught before, but perhaps this feeling I get of helping others and educating them along the way is what teachers feel ? It's a great feeling, that's for sure .. a very positive one .. and follows the path I set for positive Toy Karma.

Enter Tumblr.

I have Japanese artist friend named Tulip ( Sachiko Yabe ) to thank or maybe not to thank for showing me Tumblr. The only reason I set up an account was to help promote her work on there ... to be honest, i had no wish to add yet another social network site to my already overburdened list of things to update and post on !

Anyways, slowly I've posted things on there and gathered folks to follow ... I still don't "get" it .. but do it any ways ;-) haha .... out of no where I see this Golden Buddha figure inspired by Ultraman ... instantly I got that feeling inside !!!

I will try my best to describe it.. hmmm, first is WOW !!! .. followed by, I will OWN that ... followed by "Who made this ?!!" ... and the slow realization that others want this too, so I better act fast !

This piece hit me on so many levels... I don't know where to start. First off, for those who do not know ... Ultraman's look, the serene face he has was in part inspired by the ancient Buddha statues in Japan. This artist knew this .. but the beauty is that I have never seen anyone take this most basic concept and apply it to Ultraman ... till now !

Sometimes the most simple idea is the hardest to come up with .. but this particular idea he has sculpted perfectly.

Of course by the time I saw this post on Tumblr several collectors where already trying to track the artist down ! So I knew the hunt was on !

In comes Twitter.

Armed with this image only, I posted it via Facebook and Twitter and soon enough made contact with someone on Twitter who pointed me to this artist and his blog !
The artists name I found out is Budi Nugroho from Indonesia !

After making contact with him and seeing more of his work, I think you'll agree he's not only very talented but has a unique take on cultural icons and characters, while also being sensitive to his cultural heritage. Budi's concentration is the fine art world, much like my friend Carlos Enriquez Gonzalez and has a love of Japanese characters.

Below is are some process pictures from the clay sculpt to the fiberglass piece. Here's an AstroBoy inspired piece:

A Madonna-like Marge Simpson:

and another version in finished form:

The following is a brief interview I had with Budi about his work and influences.

============================
Interview via email May 2011 -

Question:
Hi Budi, and thank you for taking the time to answer some of my questions.
Can you let my readers know what your art back ground is.? Did you go to school to learn art ?

Answer:
Hello Mark, yes I did, I took bachelor degree (2000-2005) in sculpture studio and master degree in fine art, practice class (2007-2009). Both in Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia

Question:
I came upon your work via the web site Tumblr ... someone had posted an image of your Sitting Gaia ( Buddha Ultraman) figure. I have to say as soon as I say that I fell in love with that art work ! Did you grow up watching Ultraman or playing with the toys ?

Answer:
I do watch them in my childhood, and some other superhero at that time, such as Megaloman, Sharivan, Gaban and also Doraemon. But not with the toys, I only have 6 inch Sharivan on his bike-it’s all i can remember. I’m a third of four child, toys wasn’t the most important thing for my parent to give to their children

Question:
Your based in Indonesia, how is the arts scene there ?

Answer:
Art scene in Indonesia is grow really fast in the past decade, market hold the keys. Baby Boomer artist arise in this time, but in some case artist, collector, gallery and auction run unhealthly.

Question:
I also like the Plasticman pieces you've done ! Is there any stories behind these pieces with this character?

Answer:
Plasticman character chosen for the elasticity of contemporary art scene in Indonesia, it can bend and change to other shape in the name of contemporary, for good reason or bad one.

Question:
Oh, and the Virgin Marge piece is really impressive. I notice you're able to take Pop Culture characters and cast them in Iconic poses and settings. What kind of reaction do you get from these pieces when you show them in the gallery. Do people think they are funny or serious art work ?

Answer:
It's a strategy that i try to use, a mix of popular icon ( same strategy with Warhol banana or Brillo box , Jeff Koons kitsch twisted balloon) with a sensitive issues in local art scene discourse (such as unhealthy market, visual that more important than concept). So the art world (specific or common) can simply read the concept of the artwork or simply connect it with their personal life and like it as you do with the Ultraman.

Question:
Can you tell us how you start your ideas. Do you make sketches first ?

Answer:
Sometimes I’m using sketches first , I mean in detail way, but some just with a rough 3D sketches, and the idea kept growth in the process

Question:
Do you sculpt all your own work or do you work with other craftsmen to help make the sculptures?

Answer:
For the first five year I do all the work by myself, but since 2010, I had one craftmen, especially to do the fiber casting progress ( process )

Question:
How do you decide what kind of materials you may use for the final art work ?

Answer:
Basically, on my budget :D i do sometimes make from alumunium or copper casting, or even a steel hammered, but most of it is a commissioned project. But for the “i like contemporary, but contemporary like it shiny” project, had been reach 11 of this series; it doesn’t matter what material i’m using on it, the important thing is, it should be shinny. That (is ) the keywords.

Question:
Who are some of your artistic influences and why ?

Answer:
Jeff Koons, Agus Suwage, Heri Dono and many others, and its all because they thought, crossing and mixing borders to create work in their way, they were a creative artist with a clever art and economic strategy.

Question:
Any final thoughts you'd like to add ?

Answer:
Thank you very much for your attention, really! I like to say, that the universal world right now can do more thing without border, ideas grow in all around the globe, and art can do many things for the humanity, expanding art movement, crossing and blurring the art, science and technology.

Question:
Thank you so much for your time, Budi ! I know many artists and collectors will be interested in your art work !

Answer:
You're welcome Mark, I hope we can create a more larger opportunities in the future, for the communities and humanity :D

===============================

I think you'll agree with me that Budi is set to be a very successful global artist. I only hope this small showcase of his work will lead to many more projects for him.

It is sometimes hard for me to believe, as Budi talks about, that the internet allows us to show our work and make connections to people every where. A positive aspect of the world wide web.

I for one am looking forward to seeing more of Budi's work and I look forward to working with him in the future as well.

Oh and that Golden Buddha Ultraman ? Lets just say if all goes well I've a perfect place to display it ... No worship him in my room !!!!

Pictures soon .... Toy Karma !!!

===============================

Artists Contact info:

Blog: budiadinugroho.blogspot.com

Email: budi nugroho

oh and of course he shows me this piece .. !!! Stunning !!!

Lady Maxx !!!

2011-05-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

Lady Maxx was suppose to be the girlfriend of Captain Maxx .. key word is was !

But I'll get back to this concept... it was over a year ago the idea of Lady Maxx was put into motion. I'd been thinking about adding a Anime type girl to the Captain Maxx universe but what form she should take was the tricky part. Of course, all that was needed was to tell Yo the basic idea and the gears were in motion ! He knew exactly the sculptor to approach, none other than Yoshihiko Makino of TTToys, who previously had sculpted the mini Kaiju Eyezon for me.

My first reaction was, but can he do a cute girl sculpt ? To which the following sketch was sent to me ! Yowza !

The first thing that impressed me was the over all styling ... not super deformed but still cute or kawaii ;-) and, Makino-san hit it perfect in the design of the uniform .. taking elements of Captain Maxx, but re-designing them.. dare I say .. making them more sexy ?!!
I quickly gave the thumbs up to this sketch with no revisions and away he went.

My first glimpse at Lady Maxx in dimensional form was the raw sculpt. Even though it was not finished I could tell this was going to be a home run !

But as I held the figure i could tell the size was larger than the mini Captain Maxx we had already made... hmmmmm... it was at this point Lady Maxx was to be the big sister of Captain Maxx ... and NOT the girlfriend ! HaHa !
here's Lady Maxx next to Captain Maxx mini figures.

final sculpt ready to be cast in wax...

and final wax pieces waiting to be taken to the iron molds factory.

The one concern at this stage was that to make this a proper Anime type figure the other component would be the paint masks needed. Basically as you look at the original drawing, each piece of the costume needs it's own paint mask, so the eye lenses, the mouth, the hair, the studs, etc ...and most importantly the human eyes !

During this time I started researching, as i like to say, Anime girl statues and although most do not appeal to me I did find that I liked ones based on the Japanese illustrator Shunya Yamashita. The appeal for me were the pose and the eyes. I was told for Lady Maxx there would need to be many masks and at least 4-5 for the eyes alone.

In the end, I was brought kicking and screaming into the mask making process. We ended up with over 15+ separate masks .. that cost in the thousands (!) much to my dismay. A gamble I thought .. first off Max Toys is not known for their girl figures and how would my current fan base react to this new direction ?

After what seemed like months of waiting .. finally I had the figure in my hand, and fully painted ... OMG .. as the young folks say !

Its pure Japanese craftsmanship.

I literally I had a Zen moment as I held the figure in my hands and turned it around. All sounds and sensations were suspended ... as I just kept staring at her.

I smiled to myself... Pure Perfection !

I thought about each step of the way, sculpt, iron molds, vinyl casting, paint masks, painting of the figure ... all handled with years of experience and tradition in Japan.

This is why I've spent years researching and cultivating relationships in the Japanese toy world ...

The result is Lady Maxx !!!

Here's a brief back story on Lady Maxx:

Lady Maxx
First appearing in the now lost, 7th episode of the Captain Maxx Japanese television series, big sister Lady Maxx appears and saves little brother Captain Maxx from the clutches of Kaiju Eyezon and Alien Argus !
Lady Maxx uses her Blade Of Light to dispatch her enemies and shows no mercy.
Lady Maxx is confident and stead fast in her belief that the Good Light will triumph over the Dark Evil of Alien Xam and his many Kaiju and Seijin !

So far we've released the following figures starting with this unpainted Neon Pink Lady Maxx:

Followed by this clear Pink Lady Maxx:

For the recent Max toy 5th Anniversary shows in Japan and the US

we released 3 figures.
For Japan only this one :

and for the USA only:

Not to mention a few customs or one-of-a-kind Lady Maxx figures I've painted like these:

Finally, the latest version, painted Pink Lady Maxx will be up for sale via the Max Toy web store this Friday, May 13, 2011 - www.maxtoyco.com

I have to say the Lady Maxx project has been so much fun and I'm glad that she has been accepted by old and new fans alike ! Oh we're not done .. already we have something special in the works for Lady Maxx .. I can't say just yet but if all goes well by the Fall we will reveal more details ;-)

Max Toy 5th Anniversary art show Double Punch

2011-04-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

I live in the future. I've done so for what seems like a very long time. What i mean exactly is for the past 5 plus years I've had to plan for events that would not occur for more then a year. I think I've gotten fairly good at spacing out the various events I put on or help plan .. every once in awhile something gets thrown in at the last minute or in the case of this 2 city event, a series of natural disasters.

April 23 was a date that I had in my mind for about a year, along with April 2nd and 3rd .. the twin events to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of Max Toy Company aka Max Toys. The event was conceived as a group of artists I would hand pick to paint or draw their own versions of the characters Captain Maxx or Lady Maxx.

In addition with my close ties to artists and factories in Japan, it was decided that the show should take place in Tokyo and in San Francisco.

As the first show date neared the art started coming in and boy to say i was blown away is a understatement ! I think as i look back at my short history of doing these shows, the one thing that really gets me most excited is seeing what others create.

And in this case, to see how another artist takes one of my characters and using their style interprets it in paint or digital form... yielded simply stunning results !

With only a few weeks to go and my ticket purchased for Tokyo .. well the tragic earthquake/tsunami happened. At first the plans were still set for me to go.. but slowly as the time neared it was pretty clear that I could not go to the Tokyo show.

I can not tell you the internal struggle I had even after canceling. I even thought about re-booking the flight. In the end, I made the right decision for my family.

The show went on in Japan thanks to Yo, my good friend and Max Toy man. On April 1, they had a artists only opening followed by 2 days of exhibition. I was very glad to hear that many artists and fans attended and the event also served as a nice way to have a good time, even with the tragedy they all faced. As one person put it, for the living, life goes on and this event and others to follow are a small part of keeping life normal and moving forward.

With that, the first part of the celebration was finished. The art was packed up and sent back to me for the second phase, Double Punch.

It's one thing to see art online, but totally another thing to see it in 3D , in person. Reminds me of seeing famous art in a book and finally seeing it in person, the depth, the textures and colors all hit you.. and make that impact that can not be replicated.. you must see it in person.

As I unpacked all the art and laid it out in the gallery, I wanted to keep each piece ;-) Unfortunately I am not in that position to simply buy out the show ( ha ! ) but still I had my eye on several pieces ! But as tempting as it may be, I let the public have first go at the work.

I made a feeble attempt at hanging the show .. lucky for me Double Punches own Ryan showed up and hung the majority of the show for me. With a deft eye he was able to manage the nearly 30+ pieces of art in various sizes and hung them on the walls in record time.

I like to take a picture of the space before hanging .. there's something neat about a gallery with blank white walls.. the potential of what is to come. And the fact that in a few weeks the show would be gone forever ... fading into the mists of history.

In good shape the show was about 99% complete, the next day, Saturday April 23 was the opening. I didn't have to worry about hanging any art but we did plan on making some special cup cakes .. which took longer for me to decorate

... plus we crammed in a unplanned family dinner just before .. so I arrived a bit late to the gallery.

I was very pleased with the turn out and happy that long time toy collectors showed up.. as well as new collectors. Even more exciting were a few folks who'd never seen these types of Kaiju toys before.. I get a big kick outta watching the reactions of them ;-P

My main mission of these types of shows is to expose these artists to the public as much as i can. I know in this case, I'm limiting what they can do by picking a very narrow subject of Max Toys .. but I think the work speaks for itself.. and in turn they will hopefully gain a sale or at least a new follower.

Video streaming by Ustream
( sorry the video is sideways ! haha )

Available work is now online via the Double Punch site HERE.

If your in San Francisco, please visit the show at Double Punch store/gallery and see the artwork (!) Believe me it's worth it plus you'll get some fresh air and exercise away from your computer. ;-) Show runs April 23rd - May 22nd.

So I sit here, relieved that the latest event is now over, and a bit feeling like I need to ramp up for more ! Well for sure there is plenty more to come this year, a group show I'm in at FOE Gallery with Brian Mahony's Guumon figures, Custom Labbit for the Japanese American National Museum show, Kaiju group show at Toy Art Gallery, San Diego Comic Con, Toy Karma 3 show at Rotofugi, and the Rising Tides group show also at Rotofugi.

That is not including the usual toy projects coming up and in the works ... so i guess as much as I had planned to take 2011 easier .. it's somehow as busy if not more so than last year ! Ha !

I want to thank you, the fan and supporter of Max Toys these past 5 years and of my work over the past 20+ years. I do this full time, 24/7 .. I don't have any other job. It may not seem like it, but it's basically me .. from web site / blog updates, taking pictures of toys, drawing and painting, packing orders and screwing them up (!), emails, tweetng, developing new Aliens and Kaiju ...and more ! But even with all this on my plate, I have friends and supporters that allow me to do this... I want to say Thank you and I look forward to the next 5+ years ! Much Toy Karma to you !

The Kaiju train keeps rolling along !

New Max Toy coming next month called Kaiju Dualos ! Will post pics of the test shoot very soon ... stay tuned !

Max Toy 5th Anniversary art show

2011-04-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

Todays set up day at Double Punch ! ... will be tweeting progress ( @maxtoyco ) .. more later !
=====================
Updated : and a few pics of the set up today ! 4/22 -

Show opens tomorrow, Saturday April 23 at 7 pm ! More pics of the opening and full report soon !

Big Trouble In Little China tribute show Dragatomi

2011-04-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

Was kindly asked by artist/sculptor Jay222 who also curated this show to participate. The show is based on the cult classic film, "Big Trouble In Little China". I dropped by Dragatomi this past Saturday to take a look at the show.. which has some really outstanding pieces in it ! For show coverage check out SpankyStokes.com.
After a false start on my piece, I was able to recover and come up with a completely different approach while still maintaining a style I liked. This manga leaning take was done traditionally with pen and ink and acrylic airbrush on bristol board.
The final giclee print is a photoshop composite combining this pin up with a dragon design I did.

The original is on display and for sale as is the giclee print, via Dragatomi web site.

( photo by SpankyStokes )
Was fun to do something not Kaiju releated ;-P !
Next up .. the preparation begins for the Max Toy 5th Anniversary event, April 23, Double Punch San Francisco !!!

Max Toy 5th Anniversary art show

2011-04-07T14:57:00.000-07:00

More pics of the basic set up in Tokyo at the Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku.

Art is now in route to me ;-) and will be set up at Double Punch Gallery. Show opens April 23rd, 2011 at 7pm-11pm. All art, prints and exclusive made available at that time.

Check Double Punch for how they will handle orders etc ;-P

See you all soon !

Max Toy 5th Anniversary art show Tokyo

2011-04-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

More pictures from the Tokyo Max Toy 5th Anniversary show ! Thank you to artist Tomoe and her blog ( http://tsukuyomi09.blog97.fc2.com/ ) for these pics ! ^ ^

More pics soon ! and don't forget on April 23rd, 7pm-11pm at Double Punch store / gallery in San Francisco is the USA showing of the Max Toy 5th Anniversary show !!! See you all there !!!

Max Toy 5th Anniversary art show Tokyo

2011-04-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, April 2-3, the Max Toy 5th Anniversary show was held at the Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan ! I was not able to make it in person, but artists, designers, toy makers in Japan all came in support of the event ! I'm still getting pictures in from this event and will post them over the next few days.

Big thanks to Yo, Dream Rocket Yajima-san and Namiko Sonobe who set up the show ! Looks great !!

Part of the show was a brief recap of the major Max Toy releases as well as this first Captain Maxx painting .. that started it all !

This huge flower arrangement from Medicom Toys and President Akashi-san ! Oh such a nice gesture !!! ^ ^

OH ! What the heck am I doing on these Kit Kats !

More pics as I get them in, but a great time was had by all !
A big Thank you to Yajima-san, Nakayoshi and Dol Roffo for helping Yo pack the show up on the last day .. and my deepest gratitude to all the artists, toy makers and fans who stopped by the show .. without your support there is no Max Toys ! Thank you so much !
The show is now being shipped to me and will be up in the Double Punch Gallery / store San Francisco, on April 23rd, 2011 - 7pm the show opens .. Art for sale, Toy Exclusives, Food !
I'll see you there !!!

Max Toy 5th Anniversary art show

2011-03-27T18:51:00.000-07:00

And we continue to showcase the fantastic art for the Max Toy 5th Anniversary show opens this coming Saturday , April 2-3 in Tokyo. Then the show travels to San Francisco and the Double Punch Gallery, with an opening on Saturday April 23rd ! Come on by for Art, Exclusive Toys and Food, Beverages !

art by Yasushi Nirasawa - http://niraworks.jp/

art by Matt Walker - www.deadpresidentsdesigns.com

art by TULIP - Sachiko Yabe - http://www.lovelych.com

art by Yoshihiko Makino - http://tttoy.michikusa.jp/tttoy.html

next up the toy exclusives !!!

Max Toy 5th Anniversary art show

2011-03-23T11:44:00.001-07:00

Well, with a heavy heart I decided to cancel my trip to Tokyo for next week. The show goes on, and all the artwork has been sent to Tokyo. Needless to say the past few weeks are the reason why I could not go. After making this decision I was so conflicted that I even tried to re-book my flight .. but, in the end after talking to my buddy, Yo in Japan as well as my family .. this was not meant to be.

I also wanted to address another point about this show. I've been asked if it will be a charity show for Japan, and while I thought about this, I decided that this particular show would be a "normal" art show as planned. I considered all points, but after discussing this with my Japan friends, they all felt that the artists in Japan will also be hard hit by the resulting economic shock that has affected the country. So this show would help to support them and their art.

I leave it it up to each person to decide for themselves how best to help and support our friends in Japan. My ongoing projects in Japan will of course continue as will my efforts to spread the Kaiju world to anyone who will listen to me ;-P

I know they are all looking forward to this art show, to at least for a few hours celebrate and have some fun ...

For me, I'm helping via the "Kaiju for Japan" sale (see previous posts), the Giant Robot TAP water show, and I know there will be more I can do in the future.

The guilt I feel, can not be described ... I have a choice to not go .. obviously my friends in Japan do not have this choice .. it is their country and their homes and families.

Well, not to bring everyones mood down .. this show and life goes on !

Yo will be working his ass off to put up the show, man it for 2 days and take it down and ship it back to San Francisco for the April 23rd stop at Double Punch!

I hope you can come out to the opening in San Francisco and sign a poster to the Japanese artists in the show, that I will send back to Japan to show them our support !

Below are more of the wonderful pieces of art for the show .. Enjoy !

art by ralph cosentino - www.ralphcosentino.com

art by sebastian curadeau - http://conesandstuff.blogspot.com/

art by TOUMA - www.touma.biz/

art by Ai - http://ameblo.jp/ones-ai/

art by Tomoe - http://tsukuyomi09.blog97.fc2.com/

art by Namiko Sonobe - http://namiko-sonobe.com/

art by Kaijin - kaijin-toy@memoad.jp

Max Toy 5th Anniversary art show

2011-03-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

We continue to preview the artwork that will be on sale and on display at Design Festa Gallery - Harajuku in Tokyo on April 2-3, 2001. What can i say ? All the art is simply awesome !
And remember the show travels to San Francisco and the Double Punch gallery on April 23, 2011 !

More art and of course toy exclusives to be posted soon !

art by Satoshi Yoshioka - http://ameblo.jp/electricbird

art by Takeshi Onaka - http://www.onakatakeshi.com/

art by Mark Nagata - www.maxtoyco.com

art by Miroc - http://kodachi369.net/

art by Nawoki Karasawa - http://www.nawosan.com/e_index.shtml

Max Toy 5th Anniversary art show

2011-03-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

Today we continue to preview the artwork that will be on sale at Design Festa Gallery in Tokyo on April 2-3, 2001. While events in Tokyo continue to unfold, this show is still a go ! My guy in Tokyo, Yo, has assured me that even if I can not come the show will be up. As you can see by todays peeks and the others in previous posts the artwork is awesome ! And remember the show travels to San Francisco and the Double Punch gallery on April 23, 2011 !

art by Matsuda Koyaya - http://www.matsudakoaya.net/

art by TOVI - twitter: _TOVI_

art by TOVI - twitter: _TOVI_

art by TOVI - twitter: _TOVI_

art by TERESA - http://p-genmu.com

art by Juki - http://www17.plala.or.jp/chima_juki/

I will be posting many more pieces very soon !

Kaiju For Japan

2011-03-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

I painted this custom , one-of-a-kind set of Alien Argus for the Kaiju for Japan benefit show. Titled " Argus Father and Son for Japan ! " you can buy it via the Kaiju for Japan blog I believe on Friday April 22, 2011.

Check their site for complete details and I hope you can support the people of Japan !

Artist: Mark Nagata / Max Toy
V-color on Godzilla blue soft vinyl

Max Toy 5th Anniversary art show

2011-03-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

As of this posting, the Max Toy 5th Anniversary show in Tokyo on April 2-3, will still go on.

I am still planning to go to Japan and be there in person. After talking to many of my friends in Tokyo they all encouraged me to have the show and to come as planned. Of course as the situation unfolds I may not be able to go. I'm am also very aware that i don't want to take up any needed resources that may be needed as well as just being in the way. If in the end, I can not go as planned, the show goes on in Tokyo, as Yo and Friends will be there to support all the artists involved.

On a brighter note I'll start posting the art that will be for sale and the various exclusives for both Japan and the US shows over the next few weeks leading up to the show.

art by Jobo;Lubo - http://ameblo.jp/ukkiys/

art by jen rarey - www.jenrarey.com

art by hariken - http://hariken.net/

art by daniel goffin - http://www.danielgoffin.com

art by helena garcia - www.helenagarcia.com

art by ren otori - http://otoriren.com/

Kaiju For Japan

2011-03-14T09:38:00.001-07:00

logo above by Maiya Kinoshita

logo above by SpankyStokes

More info on Kaiju for Japan will be forthcoming via the Gorilla Mouth blog. I will be participating and hope fellow artists will also. Please pass the word along and donate if you can.

While the situation remains fluid in Japan, as of today the Max Toy 5th Anniversary art show is still a go for April 2-3, and all my contacts in Japan have encouraged me to not cancel the event.

I am very sensitive to the events in Japan and of course will adjust my plans accordingly as they warrant. But, as a close friend told me, as tragic as these events are, we need to celebrate life and to focus on rebuilding and having a positive outlook.

Well said.

Japan Quake Kaiju for Japan Donations

2011-03-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

The news came to me thru a fellow artist .. I didn't understand what he meant when he tweeted me.. he said are your contacts Ok in Japan ? I had no context to that question .. so I replied with I guess so ? At that point I found out about the earthquake and tsunami ... the images were and are simply tragic. So far all of my friends and fellow artists are fine .. nerves a bit rattled but otherwise doing good.

I actually have a trip and art show for the end of this month .. which as of this posting is still a go ! In fact, I mentioned to my buddy should I cancel the trip and he was like WTF the show goes on ! Haha .. yes they are fine .. and the art show and life moves on.

I wanted to get the word out about a fund raising effort from artist Troy Stith. Called "Kaiju for Japan" in his words, "...Since the homeland of our passion has been struck with disaster, it's time for us to stand up and raise money for the country with our creations."

I'll be participating and encourage other artists to step up and help .. by the way you don't have to donate a Kaiju toy .. really any customized toy will do. All proceeds will go to the Red Cross Earthquake/Tsunami relief fund.

More info to be posted on Troys blog, Gorilla Mouth.

Water Works - Unicef Tap Project Giant Robot exhibition

2011-03-09T20:48:00.000-08:00

***Revised***
Because of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, this show's focus has changed towards those events. See the revised press release below. Thank you for the support !

Show opens March 19th, 2011.
I have a painting i did of Gamera in the show. You may ask what this has to do with safe tap water ?!! Haha, well I'm paired up with actress Ayako Fujitani, who as young girl was in the Heisei Gamera (1995–1999) movies !!!

You may have also seen her in the "Tokyo!" movie segment directed by Michel Gondry.

============================

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Group art show opening

Water Works at GR2 - A benefit for UNICEF and child victims of the
earthquake in Japan

March 19 - April 13, 2011
Reception: Saturday, March 19, 6:30 - 10:00 p.m.

GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF (USF) is raising funds to help children in
Japan impacted by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. This is an
unusual decision, as Japan is a donor to UNICEF, not a recipient of
its assistance. However, due to the unprecedented nature of the epic
disaster and its impact on children, resources are going to be
critical in helping provide for the very unique needs of children.
These may include health, development, and protection and other needs
that may have been compromised or disrupted in the wake of the
catastrophe. Giant Robot is proud to join the effort, and have asked
many of our talented friends to create water-themed art to raise funds
to support the efforts of UNICEF.

In addition to raising money by selling artwork, Giant Robot will be
donating the following to UNICEF:
1. Proceeds from the sale of water bottles featuring labels created by
artists and signed by celebrities.
2. Fifty percent of proceeds from Giant Robot’s small restaurant,
gr/eats, on Saturday, March 19.
3. A percentage of all sales at Giant Robot, GR2, and GRSF during the
weekend of March 18-20.
4. Raffles for donated merchandise including designer- and
artist-signed items, GR gear, horseback rides, and other items.
5. Cash donations accepted for UNICEF.

Contributors include the following:

Andrice Arp
Gary Baseman
Chris Bettig
Bigfoot
Jude Buffum
Chris Buzelli
Louise Chen
David Choe
Luke Chueh
Jesse Fillingham
Renee French
Ayako Fujitani
Matt Furie
Rodney Greenblat
Katherine Guillen
Joe Hahn
Clement Hanami
David Horvath
Mari Inukai
James Jean kozyndan
Jesse LeDoux
Lisa Ling
Barry McGee
Ryan McGinness
Jeff McMillan
Junko Mizuno
Megan Mullally
Gary Musgrave
Mark Nagata
Saelee Oh
Bryan Lee O'Malley
Nathan Ota
Mu Pan
Albert Reyes
Jay Ryan
Rob Sato
Ryan Jacob Smith
Deth P. Sun
Jillian Tamaki
Katsuya Terada
Edwin Ushiro
Esther Pearl Watson
Daniel Wu
Yoskay Yamamoto
Kohei Yamashita

This event is made possible by the generous help of Intertrend
Communications, the most innovative, digitally savvy Asian marketing
agency in the country. In addition, Intertrend has pledged to match
the first $10,000 raised by proceeds and donations through Giant
Robot.

Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian,
Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a
full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los
Angeles and San Francisco, as well as an online equivalent.

The opening reception featuring many of the artists will take place
from 6:30 - 10:00 on Saturday, March 19, 2011.