Albert Art Halloween Custom Vinyl Toys

Custom vinyl toys for Halloween and Dias de los Muertos!

A skeletal contribution to the Halloween holiday theme. Two custom vinyl toys from yours truly: a mini Smorkin' Labbit, and a Mighty Mugg. I've had these toys in the works for a few weeks now, but because I've been busy with a lot of other things going on, (such as the website and festival submissions for my upcoming live-action short film), these guys took some time to get finished.

*For those unfamiliar with toy customization, these vinyl toy platforms were both originally white, and blank, so that artists could create their own designs, with hand-painted craftsmanship, using the toy as a blank canvas.

Lil' Labbit Reaper

I have customized the larger Kozik Labbit before, but this time I wasn't in the mood to work on such a massive toy. I bought this mini labbit, at a local store here in Vancouver, which I think recently closed up shop, unfortunately. Understandable though, since these boutique stores, are really a niche, and if the economy is bad, then who has the 'cash-money' to afford vinyl toy collecting, and purchasing designer threads imported from Tokyo?

Anyway, I really dig, the smaller, 'mini' labbit size, which is much more manageable than it's bigger brother. If I had the time, I could probably knock out more of these custom mini labbits.

The smaller labbit, also comes with some accessories to stick in it's mouth, such as a fountain drink cup and straw, a stick of dynamite, a pacifier, and a pipe (not pictured).

SkelMuggton

This was my first Mighty Mugg, which I purchased backed in July at SDCC. Had this sitting around for a while, and couldn't really think of what to do with it, until it got closer to October.

When working with the toy, I realized how uniform the shape is all around. It's in a way, easy to work with, but on the other hand, it doesn't give much to inspiration, when the front, is exactly the same as the back. However, it's a good alternative from the Munny/Dunny popularity.

I didn't want to get 'anatomically correct' with either of these designs, and preferred to stick with the simple and cartoony look. Black, white, and a bit of red to make it pop.

These toys would look good, at any time of the year. (Yes, even on xmas too). But if you're celebrating Halloween, and Dias de los Muertos, and in the mood for the creepy, and deathly, (yet cute) these toys are just your thing.

Have a safe and happy holiday!

View these toys on my facebook gallery, and on Flickr

Albert Art Custom Smorkin Labbit Vinyl Toy

I took a dump on Kozik, and I like the shit that came out.

8x8 Acrylic on Wood.

Say hello to 'Prison B*tch: 1, 2 and Poo'

I'm kicking off 2009 with a pair of Jailbirds, and their piece-of-shit turd for a friend. What a way to start the year! Painting on a Kidrobot Smorkin' Labbit (Dark Purple Edition 10-Inch), and Kidrobot Munny I couldn't resist creating such an odd trio of toys, and I couldn't be happier with the end result.

Washing the toy, with a scrub pad. Always important when preparing to paint a custom.

I've always wanted to do a Smorkin' Labbit, but Kidrobot to my knowledge doesn't make a DIY Labbit, like the popular DIY Munnys, so I decided to go ahead and buy one (the new dark purple one ), only to make it my own.

The 'Prison B*tch' concept was pretty much a placeholder name while I was sketching out the toys, and I couldn't really think of any name that made me laugh equally as much as simply calling them 'Prison Bitch', and grouping them all under that title. So I stuck with it. I numbered them like Prisoners - #1 (Labbit), #2 (Munny) and Poo (the pink turd). They are pretty self-explanatory, with no philosophical meaning to them. They are what they are, prison breaking, turd loving creatures.I just wanted to make something fun, and I hope you guys like them too.

I also always felt like with such a nice sculpt as the Smorkin' Labbit is, the original Kozik design itself was a bit too minimal for my taste. Which made me even more excited to paint over it. No offense to Labbit fans out there, but if people are paying a pretty penny for designer vinyl, then I think the toy should look a little more intricate and well... look worth the money.

I liked working with the Labbit. It's pretty large, but there's lots of space to work with as compared to your typical Munny.

Like my previous customs, I like putting hair on my toys. Black hair with the blue highlight seems to be a staple on the toys I've been doing. The toys always look better to me when they have the 'Albert Art hair'. They just look so much more complete with hair.

Overall it took about a week to get these toys done. I'd love to get these toys on display in another art show. They're so much cooler in person, that these pictures don't do them justice.

On a final note, I went ahead and made myself a facebook fanpage, to help gauge the interest in my work. If you're loving it, or hating it, I'd like to know!