Saturday, February 20, 2016

Toy Fair 2016 Recap

The annual traditional style live sculpt demo in The Creative Factor booth for the TIA at Toy Fair NYC was big fun and a blast this year. Many attendees were able to see me working on a twelve inch action figure sculpture live based off of my Tuttz cat and Pharaoh Hound characters for all four days in section C1. It was nice to meet a lot of new people, catch up with old toy friends and talk toy shop during the four day event at the Javitts Center. I was able to take a few breaks from live sculpting and run around inside the show and take some pictures of all the awesome new toys coming out from all the major companies. This years demo project required some before hand prep work on a large toy concept that included digging up some of my old resin cast articulation parts and combining them with a few prototype CG modeled pieces (see previous post below) for a complex under frame for me sculpt over. I also fabricated some weapon accessories in styrene plastic for the action figure to hold to make the live sculpt presentation more dynamic for the viewers who were passing by during the event. This was my twelfth year doing the live demo and probably the best one so far since it's inception early on by The Creative Factor.







Big huge thanks to The Creative Factor head honcho Brett Klisch who invites me every year to Toy Fair to do the traditional sculpt demos, much appreciated! Below are the results of the four days of traditional sculpting on a twelve inch action figure prototype with a Super Sculpey mix of regular soft beige and firm gray polymer clay. I used the Sculpey clay this time because it was fast to work in and it doesn't dry out so I had time to sculpt and talk with all visitors who stopped by and asked questions about the project and traditional toy sculpting.

 Check out some of the super awesome toys coming out later this year from the show floor.



 Stephen from Plastikitty fame came by and sculpted with me at the live demo this year with Benny of Tenacious Toys fame taking photos. These guys are super awesome!






I hope all the folks who came by or passed by enjoyed the live sculpt demo at the toy show - see you all next year!!!

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Toy Fair 2016! **2nd UPDATE!**

I will be at Toy Fair this year on Feb. 13th - 16 (Sat. - Tues.) doing my annual live sculpt demo with The Creative Factor.
Come sculpt with me if you're visiting the show or in the Javitts Center area as you won't need a show badge to access the area I will be set up at by the downstairs escalators (same popular spot as the last 2 years). This years live sculpt demo project will be a action figure made from scratch as I return to my old school toy sculpting roots. So come on by and sling some clay with me, talk shop and if you bring some snacks, coffee and treats that will be a big huge plus! What character will this all new action figure be? Watch below and check this blogsite regularly all the way to Toy Fair as I will update it and show all of the prep work buildup images of the under frame for the sculpt. I will sculpt the outer shell over the articulations all four days at Toy Fair so come on down and help me out!
Can you guess who this character will be? Here are some WIP shots to get you guessing...

**SECOND UPDATE!**
Surprise!!!
The plan is to also make a warrior Pharaoh Hound action figure as a counterpart to the Tuttz cat toy prototype. Although I ran out of my oldschool articulation parts some of the pieces I do have ready can be swapped onto both character bodies. I'll explain all this mix and match stuff at the live demo sculpt this weekend at Toy Fair. The Pharaoh Hound toy accessories will be a long spear and a shorter blade weapon fabricated in the styrene plastic.




 *UPDATED!* 
Here is the streamlined WIP underframe looking more skeletal and ready to be sculpted over as a Tuttz cat warrior action figure! Also shown are the custom accessories fabricated in styrene sheets that will be a battle sword and hook action tail. The control art I drew up for the outer shell design that will sculpted during my live demo at Toy Fair will be posted up soon.
Guess what's coming up next too? A surprise...you know I always have a ace up my sleeve in the form of a surprise. Watch for it!





WIPs 1 through 5 show the control art I drew up to layout the articulated under frame, some of the articulations that will be used and how it will all be glued and puttied together. Items used so far are aluminum armature wire, Magic Sculpt air dry putty, glue, steel dowel rods and articulations.