Vinyl Toy Cave Boy
Pop off their arms and head, and create parts for them. KidRobot's custom vinyl toys are the Mr. Potato Heads of this generation. Having for years been popular in Asia, Europe and more recently North America, Munny's, Dunny's, and other soft figurines have been a designer toy collectors dream. And for the artists who make them, creating these toys is just another way of putting their skills to the test. It's one part urban street art, another part cutesy cartoons, with a touch of disturbing humor, the vinyl toy trend is nothing but cool. You could say it was only time before videogame themed Munny's appeared on the scene, from Emilio Lopez's very sweet Gears of War Munny to my humble little Cave Kid Bonk, the Munny is the idle canvas for big headed Super Deformed characters.
I chose Bonk because of the uncomplicated design of the character. I'm also a huge fan of the franchise having played Bonk's Adventure on the Turbo Grafx when I was younger. Along the way I made some stylistic choices as to not make an exact imitation of the character that appeared in the game. Hopefully I won't receive angry letters for violating trademarks or something.
It's quite different from painting on a regular canvas, this is a three-dimensional plastic character after all. Thanks to the Kidrobot forum though I was able to get some important questions answered before getting started. The Munny has no feet, but rather little stubs, so I took some super sculpey, carved out some feet and boiled that sucker together. Beats baking it in the oven. I couldn't resist making Bonk a little drumstick too. It's a cave boy essential. Made from super scupley.
The spotted fur he's wearing was actually found at a flea market!
Painting the Munny presented some interesting challenges. For one, I needed a lesson in patience. There were several 'prepping' steps I had to take before painting... like cleaning, priming, and sanding the Munny. Then while painting, waiting for the various layers to dry. After the blood sweat and tears, I can say that I'm pretty pleased with the way Bonk turned out.
I have to admit, arts and crafts has never been this fun before, and I'm already working on another one :P
After animating videogames on a computer all day long, making videogame themed art is a stress reliever! Bonk Munny has been featured on:
Joystiq.com
Kotaku.com Cranky Caveman
Destructoid.com Gaming Munny makers
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