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!

Just checked out this week’s newest Threadless releases and spotted “Boom Box.” To all those who have played Super Mario Bros. (and I have to ask, who hasn’t?), you’ll recognize Bob-omb from the game. I’m not sure how I feel about the Boombox– although it makes lots of sense when you realize that the shirt in it’s entirety is nostalgic of the past.

Click the image to purchase it, or follow this link. It’ll cost you $18 and is available for both, men and women.

Rating:

When I added Teeth to my Netflix queue, I was aware of the subject matter– and yet, I had decided that it was probably cheaply made and would never really achieve making me believe that a woman’s vagina had mutated over time to form teeth within the walls. Therefore, I also decided to believe that any scene that may display her vagina dentata [toothed vagina] would be completely cheesy and miss the target all together. Well, sometimes being proved wrong is okay with me, especially in the case of this film. Keep reading for more details. I will also be attempting not to give away too many spoilers. =)

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.

“Here I am at the dance…….it’s kind of lonely out here..on the floor all alone…” by The Dolly Mama

“Better Together” for Match.com from FriendsWithYou on Vimeo.

Wow! Above is the recently released video from Friends With You. The video, titled Better Together was created for Match.com. If you haven’t heard of Match.com, then it means you rarely watch TV– this online dating company has had dozens of commercials aired, and now FWY has helped to re-brand the company with this commercial that features several couples. I am finding the obvious partnering of; flip-and-flop, strawberries and cream, cookies and milk– to be absolutely sweet and brilliant.

I wish the best to Peas and Carrots. [via| FWY Blog]