Last week, I shared I’d be attending New York-Tokyo and Frank’s Chop Shop party in honor of Shin Tanaka. The art of paper toys (not origami– although I also appreciate that form of art too) have been a quiet hobby of mine for a while now– and it’s always intrigued me how artists come up with the templates. Having the opportunity to meet Shin Tanaka, one of the biggest names in this movement was a true delight for me. Check out the rest of the post for more photos from the night.

I’ve avoided posting about this, mostly because the upcoming O-No Sushi Bloody Edition release at Rivet Gallery will be limited to 150 pieces, and well– I really need to have it. Sadly though, I am of guilty conscious and therefore, cannot withhold the information from the general public. So, here it is. This Tuesday (tomorrow) at 12pm, Rivet Gallery will make the greyscale colorway available in store and on their online site for $35. What does this mean? You need to be awake to pick one up for yourself because they’re limited one per customer, so no muling for anyone who has a contact near the gallery. Damn it!

I’ll start off with, YAY!!! I always experience a unique joy when it comes to shows that Brent Nolasco participates in– and in this case, the joy is extended to the 4 other participants of the upcoming 5 Eyed Dragon show coming up in April at Dragatomi. The show will feature the works of some of the biggest names in the customizing world; Leecifer, DrilOne, Betso, Brent Nolasco and Southern Drawl.

I am experiencing a bout of jealousy in regards to this show. Mostly because for the past couple of months Southern Drawl has been rather quiet in the scene. Just days before the postcard for the show was leaked, I’d thrown his name out as a suggestion for a show and the person I was talking to didn’t recognize his name and it basically gave me an excuse to revisit and share some of his older munny designs. Anyway, this show is the first time in a while that he’ll be putting out a body of work– at least I hope so. Since it is five gentlemen (uh, where are the ladies?!!), I’m not sure how many pieces each artist will get to show. But the rest of the line up, includes artists who are very complementary to each other.

I can’t wait to see more photos of this show– Betso is already winning my heart with the custom on the card– I’m not entirely sure what figure he’s using for it. Anyway, if you’re in Sactown in April (the week after WonderCon), consider stopping by and giving Joanne/Ray and the rest of the crew a hug from me. <3!

This week San Francisco is hosting the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC), and lucky for us locals, the Hotel des Arts is celebrating by opening their unique space to the “Into the Pixel” and “Video Game Art Show” exhibitions. Opening night is this Thursday, March 11 from 6pm – 10pm, and is free to all. The show will be up through April.

I found it surprisingly difficult to find out much about the event, as unfortunately the Hotel des Arts’ website hasn’t been updated recently. But according to Game Scenes:

In addition to the Into the Pixel exhibition on the main floor of the Hotel des Arts, all five floors of San Francisco’s ‘Art Hotel’ will be filled with artwork ‘from and inspired by video games’. … Gallery partners for this unique VIDEO GAME ART SHOW include Super7, Gallery 1988, Project One Gallery, and the START SOMA art gallery.

Joystiq also reports that the entire fourth floor will be dedicated to art from the making of EA’s “Dante’s Inferno”. The Game Scenes article also has some interesting history on the “Into the Pixel” shows, as well as some examples from last year. I’m loving this sneak peek of some art which will be shown at the Video Game Art Show, from 3 Fish Studios (my original source for the show). Eric shared the image above in his March newsletter. Keep reading for directions to the show, along with a view of one of Hotel des Arts’ rooms.

Thanks to Grain Edit (a great design and illustration blog), I discovered Hey Studio and their Calendar they produced in December, which featured a new character for every day of the month. The site is in Spanish, but if you can’t read it, the images are pretty easy to understand or Google Translate does a pretty good job. I love the graphic, black-outline aesthetic, and simplified geometric shapes that tie all the characters together. And I’m a sucker for redesigning classic pop culture icons (Darth Vader, Mary Poppins, Ghostbusters?! – so awesome!). I wonder how they decide on each day’s character (CJ Parker from Baywatch??).

Plus, they instantly made me think of the Android toys by Andrew Bell that were recently released – and sold out ridiculously quickly. Now if we could just get these two together for a second series…I would buy those figures in a minute!

Note: Android figures are being released to select stores, so check with your favorites and snatch some up while they’re still available!

I thought I would share that tomorrow night, or better yet, tonight– I plan on attending Shin Tanaka’s shindig. Shin Tanaka, known as the “paper maestro” on the internets will be in town for a couple of days and what better way to celebrate the New York invasion than with a party?!  Paper toys is a medium that I’ve dabbled in the past– in attempting to put the figures together, not so much in the creation of a character– now that I have the opportunity to see Shin Tanaka live, I hope that the live art includes an insight of his well-known work with paper toys (I’ve collected the examples above for reference). I don’t really know what to expect though, the party is from 10pm-4am. Anyway, if you’re in town and want to check it out yourself, you can head on over to New York-Tokyo site and RSVP.

Also, check out Shin Tanaka’s website, if only for the design. I love his polaroid slideshows the most.

I know I haven’t posted in a while. For those who follow my twitter, you’ll note that my computer crashed during a crucial time in posting and then I proceeding to get sick. Such fun was had. Anyway, I fell behind on many aspects for a while, but I think I’m pretty caught up with the various scenes I scope out and will start with finally posting about the upcoming custom Jibibuts show taking place at Munky King Melrose next month. I’ve gone ahead and searched the internet for some of the customs surfacing on the net, so hit the jump to check out larger images and additional customs…

I’m very excited to have Podgypanda not only create the adorable art on this site, but also contribute his first post to the site. Please give him a warm welcome, the goods he’s sharing are already too adorable for words. =D

I’ve been a huge fan of Becky Dreistadt for a very longtime now (through the now defunct Toykong in Auckland, New Zealand) and a few weeks ago I went along to check out her first solo exhibition, showcasing her work for an up-and-coming self produced Goldenbook called TigerButtah.

The show is now moving to it’s second location at Popup gallery in Wellington which starts Today!

“Tigerbuttah is the hand-painted work of Becky Dreistadt, a retro-pop illustrator raised in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Since re-locating to Auckland in 2008, she has worked full-time on the painted online comic Tiny Kitten Teeth and recently completed a pseudo-children’s book in the style of 50s and 60s vintage picture-books.

Each page of the book will be exhibited in sequence at Popup, with the opening reception taking place on Friday the 5th of March at 6pm! Becky has also painted three Munnys for the show and will debut her Popup exclusive print!” /via popup newsletter

Both Becky and her partner Frank are very good friends of mine, who have an intense convention circuit  this year (check out their website for circuit details!) If you’re heading to one of those cons, why not hunt Becky and Frank down? You wont be dissapointed

Click through to view photos from her Auckland exhibition, including the cover painting I snagged!

Images from NOTCOT

I’m catching up on my RSS feeds, and I’ve just spotted on both NOTCOT and Freshness Magazine some images of the new Nike Sportswear Six Collaborations project. From what I’ve gathered, Nike has created a world cup line that represent the United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, South Africa, France and Brazil. The artists include some very well known designer toy artists; Kronk, Mister Cartoon and James Jarvis!

Image from Freshness Magazine

I’m not into Mister Cartoon’s stuff– but the last time I wrote about him on the site was when he collaborated with Vans to create the Simpsons’ sneakers. I was digging several designs but he’d created a pair of kick-arse slip-ons and I’m a total whore for slip-on vans. Anyway– although I don’t always dig his stuff– what I’ve seen so far from him in regards to this collaboration is really hitting the right spot. I bring up the subject of him being my Mexican brother from another mother because the shirt on the left has a similar looking eagle to my homeland’s flag (Mexico in case you couldn’t tell).

Hit the jump to see close-ups of James Jarvis’ pieces along with Kronk’s pieces. I agree with Jean from NOTCOT that James Jarvis’ pieces are a must have!!

This post marks the first contribution from our new team member ChelC! We hope to offer you more West Coast coverage with her addition to the site. With that said, we are quite grateful to have her voice on the site, and we hope you’ll give her a warm welcome. Yay!

Gallery 1988 SF just opened a new show two weeks ago, and after perusing the pieces they posted online, I’m really looking forward to checking them out in person. What stood out immediately though, was this print by Roland Tamayo, entitled “Battle for My Affection.” This is a piece that will appeal to those of us Atari and old-school arcade fans, or just those of us wishing to regain some of the innocence and joy of our childhood. I really like the style of the piece as well. The original being done on wood (as many of these pieces are), it already appealed to me. But what I really love is how Tamayo has thrown in all these Arcade classic icons almost unobtrusively. Die-hards will recognize Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Frogger, and Dig-Dug hiding in the alley, but the heart of the piece is the little boy and his dog sitting on the sidewalk in front of the arcade window. I love how the artist has let the wood texture show through in the entire piece, and limited his color palette to the red tint, white highlights, and the little bit of blue on the boy’s shirt. The prints are a limited run of 100 and available for $75 for an 11”x14” giclee print.