PHOTO RECAP: ThreeA's USVENTURE Exhibition | SpankyStokes.com

SpankyStokes.com | Designer Toy • Vinyl Toy • Art Toy Blog: PHOTO RECAP: ThreeA's USVENTURE Exhibition!

Our intrepid reporter Mark made it to the preview night of the 3A US Venture opening in San Diego, but we thought we'd also post a link to Spanky's photo gallery of the exhibit. This is one I REALLY wish I could have seen in person. Living vicariously through my Best Coast friends.... click link above to go to Spanky's post.

Exclusive Onyx Fink Warriors - Mr. Fink x Play Dead Toys x Spanky Stokes

Designer Con 2014 is quickly approaching and exclusives are still coming out. Another Spank Stokes exclusive is from Play Dead Toys and Mr. Fink, the "Onyx" exclusive colorway of the Fink Warrior. Limited to just 20 pieces and priced at $15, these resin Fink Warriors should sellout. What's even better, is that included in the edition of 20 is a chance to score one of 4 painted versions, customized by Michael "Bubo" Reilly. So for all those attending Designer Con 2014, be sure to head on over to Booth #518 and pick up one or more of these sweet Mr. Fink "Fink Warrior" figures.

- Mark-Anthony

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Play Dead Toys x Tim Wollweber x Spanky Stokes Exclusives

Initially blogged about here, Tim Wollweber will have his Micro Monsters available at Designer Con 2014. All the Micro Monsters were expertly cast by Play Dead Toys. The "Onyx" colorway of Tim's Micro Monsters is going to be available at the Spanky Stokes Booth #518, as a Designer Con exclusive. Priced at $45 each, or $200 for a complete set of all 6 figures, these are going to be limited to just 3 pieces of each Micro Monster. Not yet pictured is the Werewolf Micro Monster.

Also available at Designer Con 2014 are the painted versions of Tim Wollweber's Micro Monsters. Here is the latest update from Tim Wollweber of 3 out of the 6 painted monsters. The remaining figures should be revealed shortly, as Play Dead Toys is working hard to get everything done. Each painted Micro Monster is priced at $80 each, with a set of all 6 figures priced at $425. Available at Tim Wollweber's Booth #901. Get tickets to Designer Con now!

- Mark-Anthony

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Tim Wollweber at Designer Con 2014 Booth #901

Designer Con 2014 is right around the corner, with news and info being released daily by artists and companies who are going to be in attendance. Making it's debut at DCon 2014, Tim Wollwebers's Micro Monsters will be available his Booth #901. Each Micro Monster is a resin piece, cast by Play Dead Toys(Michael 'Bubo' Reilly), using the original sculpts created by Tim. Tim used Kidrobot Micro Munnys as a base and created 6 different Micro Monsters. The series will kick off with the following Micro Monsters:

-Count Moorlok the vampire

-The Mad Doctor's Creation

-The Werewolf 

-The Pharaoh Arisen

-Dapper Mr Death

-Mer-creature from the Dark Depths

For now, only 3 of the 6 monsters have been teased, with the remaining 3 to be revealed shortly. Tim will have all the micro monsters for sale at DCon 2014 Booth #901. DIY colored resin versions of the micro monsters will cost $20 each, with a complete set of all 6 micro monsters priced at $110. Tim is also going to hand paint a number of micro monsters with those priced at $80 each, or a complete set of 6 hand painted micro monsters for $425.

To add to all the resin micro monster madness, Play Dead Toys also cast a small number of resin Glow-In-The-Dark Bioluminescent Mer-Creatures, which will be priced at $45 each. Based on the provided photos, these GID Mer-Creatures will glow quite nicely.

Not to limit the micro monster goodies to just one booth, Tim and Play Dead Toys will have an Exclusive "Onyx" colorway available at Spanky Stokes Booth #518. Limited to just 3 sets, each Onyx micro monster is priced at $45, while a complete set will cost $200.

Below are a few production shots from Play Dead Toys, showing the casting of the micro monsters. It's always nice to take a peak behind the scenes of a production line, no matter how big or small the line may be.

Be sure to follow Tim Wollwebber and Play Dead Toys as they reveal more goodies to be had in the future.

- Mark-Anthony

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DCon GID Blue OG Impala Mini -Wild WestSide x Spanky Stokes

With Designer Con 2014 right around the corner, info on more and more exclusives will start to pop up. The latest exclusive to be released comes from Wild WestSide and Spanky Stokes. Even though Wild WestSide won't be in attendance, Wild WestSide will release a GID Blue OG Impala Mini at DCon 2014, available through Spanky Stokes' Booth #518. Each of these fantastic resin pieces are created and assembled by Wild WestSide. Limited to just 10 pieces, each OG Impala Mini is going to be priced at $70. For all those in the area, be sure to get tickets early and save some money. DCon 2014 is shaping out to be another great event.

- Mark-Anthony

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Live Art Battle at Munky King During SDCC

My man Jordan (aka Dope Vinyl) has been traveling the world, recording the antics of as many artists as he can get into his viewfinder... You may recall that we (collectively) funded Jordan's travels via Kickstarter as he endeavors to document the current state of the custom/vinyl/toy art scene.

Check the sweet video he shot at Munky King during SDCC, complete with killer soundtrack. Munky King hosted a crazy art battle involving Woes, Jeremiah Ketner, Martin Hsu, Dez Einswell, Jerome Lu. Podgy Panda, Food One, Mike Huddleston, DEPH, Rocom, Gmonik & Jorge Gutierrez. Spanky Stokes hosted. Who won? Gotta watch the video to find out!


munky king sixth annual sdcc party from dope vinyl on Vimeo.

 You can help fund Jordan's travels by buying customs from his shop! Dude's gotta eat, you know? I am sure we will be blessed with a fucking amazing documentary when he is done. Def stay tuned.

Spanky Stokes Stroll Shirt by Outsmart Originals

 outsmART originals is stoked! Stoked to be working with SpankyStokes.com, awarded DTA's 2012 Best Blog, for the next t-shirt release.

The design is based on the SpankyStokes.com Stroll Mascot, where a few months ago on Instagram, numerous artists began drawing and submitting their concepts of the 'Stroll' character. Many versions were submitted from artists across the globe and each a unique and fresh take on the character. Jake Gillispie at Grindhouse submitted this design as a work in progress added additional updates as the design progressed. Since then, the design has been recreated as prints and stickers and now, as this unique collaboration, it will be released as an EPIC outsmART originals t-shirt! http://nvy.gd/ZCkWL9

Capturing the full detail of the design, the ultra cotton t-shirt will be produced as a vintage transfer release creating the highest quality possible for this intricate artwork. The shirt will also include the SpankyStokes / Grindhouse logo on the back. Available for both men and women with sizes up to 5XL, preorders are now being accepted for this limited edition t-shirt and are guaranteed to ship on or before June 3rd - just in time for all of the summer conventions.

As an incentive, SpankyStokes.com will award one randomly chosen customer a Grand Stroll Prize Set that will include: a limited edition Stroll iPhone 5 Case, a Jake Gillispie Stroll Sticker from Grindhouse, a limited edition print of the Stroll by Jake and one original OMG Series 1 custom Stroll figure! Reserve your Stroll t-shirt today for a chance to win!

AND remember, its MY-TEE-MAY-NIA which means during the month of May you can BUY 3 T-SHIRTS AND GET THE 4TH ONE FREE - now that's a deal (or is it a steal?)! No discount code needed and the offer is good on all in stock and preorder t-shirts (discount will be applied for equal or lesser value of shirts purchased).

Scott Kinnebrew's Buddha Stroll resin for Spanky Stokes

Blind bag release from SpankyStokes and Scott Kinnebrew (a.k.a. The Forces of Dorkness)

Details: 15 pieces in this initial release, all unique colorways. This could the the only release, or they could do more. Each piece is blind bagged with a custom header card for this series, and signed and numbered by Scott. I'm not sure when these are dropping (soon? today?) but you can follow Spanky's blog or check his shop for availability.

Color Breakdown:

• 5 x Candied (Previously seen in Both Buddha Fetts and Bantha Buddies)
• 5 x Splattered (Previously seen in Both Buddha Fetts and Bantha Buddies)
• 5 x Pearlized  (New Finish from The Forces of Dorkness)

Scott writes:
Release is based on the Print Spanky and I released earlier this year, and definitely a nod to my Buddha Fett that has had so much success.

Watch Spanky Stokes reviewing products live!

Watch live streaming video from spankystokes at livestream.com

SpankyStokes.com Exclusive Artist Proof Hot Pink OMFG! Series 1 Stroll

 Click below to buy this one. It's only $5. Do it.

SpankyStokes.com Exclusive Artist Proof “Hot Pink” OMFG! Series 1 “Stroll” - SINGLE - SpankyStokes

Take mushroom pics; upload to FB; enter to win a TADO Funghi at 40% off

With the Festive season still running thick (ahem) through his creative veins (cough cough) Creo Design is excited to announce a super discount offer for 10 super hard working TADO fans!

CD are offering a massive 40% off Funghi by TADO - that means you can get your Funghi for £30 or $45 ex delivery! To be selected for this cool offer fans must take their most creative photograph of a mushroom and post it on the Creo Design facebook page wall - www.facebook.com/creodesign - the 10 best will be picked by CD and TADO after the closing date of the 27 Jan 2012. 

Someone tell Spanky that mushroom heads do not count. The dubious phrasing of the above copy are certainly not an invitation to start donging the Creo Design FB page...

Spanky Stokes signing NYCC Exclusive Borracho figures at our booth!

My brother from another mother, John "Spanky" Stokes, will be on hand at the Tenacious Toys x Toy2R booth on Sunday October 16th at 12:30PM to meet and greet and sign the exclusive resin figures he poured for us: the NYCC Exclusive Tenacious Blue Borracho de los Muertos figures!

If you have been collecting toys for more than 2 days, you've probably read an article or 2 on SpankyStokes.com. This is your chance to meet the big lug in person at NYCC!

Get something signed, buy one of his figures, tell Spanky you appreciate all the hard work he puts into his blog and all the support he gives our industry. Booth 876, 12:30PM on Sunday.

Just when you thought all the NYCC 2011 releases had been revealed, we
have one more for you, as artist/blogger John"Spanky"Stokes just
announced a special NYCC run of his resin "Borracho De Los Muertos"
figures in an edition he is calling "Tenacious Blue". These measure 6"
tall and about that size in girth. This set of 5 hand-sculpted,
hand-cast, and hand-painted figures feature three shades of blue with
hints of pearlized silver accents all over... which, by the way, were
almost impossible to catch in the photograph above... so you gotta see
them in person to really appreciate the paint, it's stunning! These
will be made available at the Tenacious Toys booth #876 everyday
during the convention for $65 a piece.

INTERVIEW: Spanky Stokes and his Borracho de los Muertos resin figures

How can you not love this guy?

While many of us "know" Spanky Stokes already as a blogger and figurehead for all that is cool and current in designer toys, you might be surprised, as I was, to learn that John has been hard at work for quite some time producing his own resin figure: Borracho de los Muertos.  This fact sorta flew under my own radar so I thought I'd shine some light on it for anyone else that missed out:

Tenacious Toys: So Spanky, most of us know you as one of the hardest-working bloggers in the art toy world. I, for one, read your blog frequently to see what new toys are coming out. But your Borracho de los Muertos figures took me by surprise: when did you move from customizing vinyl toys to pouring your own resin?

Spanky Stokes: Awwww, thanks Benny... and I really appreciate you visiting the site on a constant basis, means the world to me. As for the leap from vinyl to resin... well it all actually started because I was asked by the folks over at Dragatomi to be a part of their "Not Vinyl" show back in May of 2010. Initially I had just customized vinyl figures up until that point, and I knew I needed to do something original for this show, and this figure was created as a way for me to get my "feet wet" with creating my own resin figure! For the longest time, I had bought and held onto an old plaster figure from a trip down to Baja California, San Felipe, Mexico... and for over 20 years I held onto that figure. It wasn't until a few years ago I wanted to try resin casting so I took that figure changed up the main characteristics like the face, hands, feet, and other little nuances then I hit up Dodgrr, a local resin legend, who helped me cast my figure. From that point on I started having fun with the new found medium that was resin, testing out dyes, mixes, clears, tints, inclusions and have released close to
30 of these figures. Now what does the name "Borracho De Los Muertos"mean??? Well, it roughly translates to "Drunk of the dead"... why the name, well he has a bottle, and he's dead :-) All other
interpretations I will leave up to the viewer.

TT: So your family goes down to Baja frequently? You must have been a young'un when you got the original figure!

SS: Yeah I was really young, and actually consider B.C. my second home. I grew up in San Diego, and seeing as we are so close to the border my parents would always bring us kids down... not just the regular trips though as my father is a huge outdoors man, and raised both my sister and I on hunting and fishing... the primary reason for traveling south of the border. Growing up my father would take us to two cabins, one was halfway between Mexicali and San Felipe, and the other was in a town on the coast called Santo Tomas... both of these places was where I learned to shoot a gun and use a fishing pole. While we were down in B.C. we would take trips to other towns/villages and that is where I
picked this original figure up, on the boardwalk in San Felipe.

(below are pics of the original figure, the cast I made, and the primed cast)

TT: That's so cool! It sounds like a lot of fun... I've never been to Baja but I've shot plenty of rifles- riflery was my varsity sport in high school!
So basically you took an existing figure and re-worked the concept to make it your own. Did you do your re-working in clay or some medium like that, in order to develop the prototype for the mold?
And did you do that carving and re-imagining of your figure with your own hands, or did Dodgrr help you out with the sculpting?

SS: Geek alert!!!! Hahaha honestly who does riflery in high school :-) Just bustin yer chops dude!!! When I reworked the actual figure into what you see now I used a 2-part resin sculpting epoxy called Magic Sculpt. That stuff is awesome to work with and unlike the typical Sculpey material where you have to bake it to cure it, Magic Sculpt firms up chemically in about 5 hours... the downside is that your working time is a little rushed so you really have to have a vision for what you are working on, and be able to execute that vision before it dries!
I also used some plastic skeleton parts that I had lying around for the hands and feet... they just so happened to fit the figures shape and size perfectly and with little modification. As for doing it myself, yes 100% of the sculpting was done by me... the reason I brought Dodgrr into the mix was for his expertise in making molds and casting!

TT: So to date you've released 30 Borrachos in various colorways. Can collectors still purchase any Borrachos anywhere?
How many different colorways have you made public?
And, do you plan on making more? What's the next step for you as an artist after you retire this sculpt?

SS: I would say around 30, give or take have been released. Either for shows, for friends, for giveaways... now that I think about it... there are probably more like 50 of em out there as I had to make a second mold because the first one bit the dust! As for purchasing them... there are none available yet, but I will have a handful available at your booth during NYCC in an exclusive blue pearlescent colorway (way to set up the plug) hahaha!
Most of the time when it comes to colorways I would just do one-offs... I think the only time I did a run of one particular color was for SDCC 2010 with my "Azul" series (below). Once these guys have run their course, I want to do another sculpt for sure, maybe a 100% original this go around instead of using a previously existing platform.

Scratch that... I do have a few available HERE at the Rendition Gallery site. 

TT: So I take it you dig resin toys! I was a vinyl-toy-only kind of collector until I met END from Argonaut Resins and saw the work he was doing. Now I can't get enough resin! Where do you see resin going as a medium in our art toy world? What are your own personal preferences in terms of what you like to collect? I know you try to support everyone in this scene, as I do, so I'm not trying to get you to pick sides. I'm just interested in what types of pieces, what genres, excite you the most. You, out of everyone I know, probably see the highest number of toys every day.

SS: What?

TT: OK, sorry buddy, let me simplify that question:
Do you ever see resin toys overtaking vinyl as a material for designer toys?
And, do you have any resin toys in your own collection?

SS: Hahaha... that's more my speed! I think resin toys will always be there alongside with vinyl toys. What a lot of people don't realize is that this has cycled before... resin kits were the jam back in the
mid- to late 1980's, where people were doing all this amazing stuff in their garages... making monsters. This died out in the late 1990's [Benny's edit: Bad Applez are resurrecting resin garage kits right now], and if are familiar with the vinyl toy 'rise' time line... this is about the same time vinyl came into the picture... so I guess what I am getting at is that there has already been an established cycle. One thing I do see happening though is a lot more creativity in the resin world, making it a totally different time for this medium. Back to the question at hand though, do I see resin taking over vinyl... no. I do however love the medium of resin and have alot of it in my collection. I own pieces from Jay222, Steven Erst, Paul Kaiju, Smash Tokyo Toys, Halfbad Toyz, Skinner, Dodgrr, Nebulon5, Chris Ryniak, October Toys... just to name a few :-)

TT: Spanky, thanks so much for taking the time for this interview! Looking forward to meeting you at the con!

SS: Yeah man, thanks for taking the time to squeeze this interview into your already crazy schedule and I can't wait to hang at the convention!

Doktor A Humphrey Mooncalf figure by Pobber Toys

Apparently the release of the newest Doktor A figure, Humphrey Mooncalf, by newcomer Pobber Toys, has been delayed.

Wait... what?

OK, I LOVE Doktor A, and I must admit I had never heard of this Humphrey Mooncalf figure, or the company that made it, Pobber Toys. Pobber's also on Facebook.

I found this info on the SpankyStokes site [link below]. Thanks Spanky!

There ya go. New Dok A. Yay!

SpankyStokes.com | Vinyl Toys, Art, Culture, & Everything Inbetween: This just in... Humphrey Mooncalf delayed...

John Stokes custom Jouwe: "HoneyPot Stroll"

Our friend and fellow blogger John "Spanky" Stokes has been developing his own customizing style over the past couple years, and I think this is one of his most successful pieces thus far: a custom Jouwe for the group show at Toy Art Gallery in LA. John writes:

After watching the National Geographic channel, I got inspiration from the deep sea dwelling fish... more specifically the "Angler Fish" that has a long node of filament and attached to the end is a ball of bio-luminescence that the fish uses to lure his prey closer to eat them... and as you can see that is kinda what I did when creating the "HoneyPot" Stroll. The figure itself was sculpted on using magic sculpt, wire, tin foil, and I also used faux fur, a glass eye, wood stain, acrylic paints and other misc objects. I also created the "HoneyPot" with resin and inserted a self-contained LED unit with a built in switch.

Nice work Spanky! 

Spanky Stokes Exclusive Jesse Hernandez Ozomahtli Obsidian version

Spanky Stokes proudly announces his first exclusive figure. He has teamed up with urban artist Jesse Hernandez to give you THE BEST colorway available for his Ozomahtli figure, the "Obsidian" edition.

This beauty measures 9" tall and features a beautiful gloss black/matte black finish... unlike any other colorway so far. The figure has two articulated arms, a removable headdress, and an articulated head (yes it swivels!!!). This very limited run will retail for $90 + shipping on Thursday, July 1st, 2010 via the Spanky Stokes online store HERE!

Brandt Peters Carnies mini figures coming from Kidrobot

New Brandt Peters "Carnies" grayscale mini figure series coming soon from Kidrobot.

Seen on Spanky Stokes, who saw this on the KRonikle.

Retail price will be $9.95 each and they'll be blind-boxed.

http://www.spankystokes.com/2010/02/carnies-mini-series-from-brandt-peters.html