PAINT WORK
I work in a wide range of paint mediums and apply them with an ever-growing roster of applicators. One of my favorite ways of applying paint to something is with an airbrush. Below are some examples of my airbrush work on japanese style toys known as “Sofubi” or Soft vinyl. My other favorite paint technique is probably weathering. I get to utilize all my painting skills and understanding of dry brushing, washes, gradients, glossing, airbrushing, and chipping, all to tell a story of use/aging within a piece. I feel it’s quite meditative, layer after layer, wash after wash, chip after chip. I get to see a lot of happy accidents and have a lot of fun witnessing the piece evolve over time.
Mad Monster
The piece below is sculpted by the Famous James Groman and produced by a company called HOP. I was commissioned by a collector who had a blank glow in the dark version of the figure, who wanted some flair added to it. Since the piece is based on the “My Pet Monster” character, I decided to use the base colors from the original cartoon (blues, purples, pinks) as a starting point and blend them all together while keeping enough of the glow in the dark effect showing. The paint application below was a combination of airbrush and hand painting. Overall, I had a total blast putting together, and the collector was completely blown away by it.
GOBLIDON
“Custom 1-Off for the Wonder Goblin Retrospective Custom Show celebrating 10 years of toymaking! Christopher is a man with lots of irons in the fire. He runs two toy companies, one that's dedicated to his Gamera-inspired Ragnar kaiju, and the other of which is a toy production house, Last Bastion Studios. He has released some impressive figures over the years, and even worked with Tsuburaya Productions on an officially licensed Ultraman toy line. This Goblidon shows off Christopher's ability to really mix it up. He uses earthy browns and greens in contrast with bright reds over yellow with an all encompassing black eye to create yet another unique take on the classic throwback "Tokyo" colorway. The complimentary purple back fins are a nice touch to break up the pattern. Goblidon is my toy company's "Goblin" mascot in prehistoric kaiju Fantasaur form.”
-James “Wonder Goblin”
Eyezon Collaboration with MaxToyCo
Max toy Company is owned and operated by Mark Nagata, Max Toy Co bridges Japanese and American sofubi culture with original kaiju designs, licensed characters, and collaborative releases that are staples of the vinyl toy community. The two Eyezon paint applications were done on one glow in the dark blank and one white blank figure.
YMSF Collaboration
Y-MSF is a Soft vinyl figure (AKA Sofubi) Manufacturing company based in Japan. The owner of the company wanted to showcase their figures with different paint styles by different toy artists. They approached me with several different characters, and I thought I would have the most fun with Hedorah! I released these at Gfest and sold out the first day.
