Slow Poke (Hug)

SLOW POKE

Approx 2"-3"

Acrylic, Ink, and Magic Sculp on Resin Figure

2012

On December 15th, 2012, Toy Art Gallery hosted Blamo Toys 4th annual custom show. For this show Blamo invited over artists to customize their "Hug" figure.
For my contribution, I started by considering the design and the idea behind the "Hug". Rather than being warm and welcoming, I wanted to make my figure repulsive and unsettling. My initial ideas revolved around covering it with spikes, but as time ran short, my idea whittled down to one strategic "spike". Once I settled on this, I did my best to make it visually unappealing. I started by changing his expression from smiley to sad (as if he were saying 'will someone please hug me?'), and sculpted a stubby and unflattering erect penis (complete with testicles). I then painted him a light flesh tone, drew in a mess of public hairs, and added the words "Slow Poke" as abdominal tattoo. I finished by adding my signature bear head, coupled with the name of my brand "Unbearable", as a back tattoo.
On hindsight, I think it's odd that when customizing toys, I find myself leaning toward themes I don't usually approach in my paintings, specifically sexual themes. You can see it in my Bellicose Bunny custom, and my My Little Pony custom. I'm curious to see what I create in the future.

For Designer Con 2012, 15 other artists and I were invited to customize a Sucklord figure for the Suckadelic "Super Suck Up!". Limited to an edition of 50, each figure was assembled and painted by hand. The helmet and claw were sculpted and cast by George Gaspar of October Toys, and Sucklord designed the card backs. I ended up using Instagram to document most of steps I took while designing and creating the figure I call "Kuma Fett".

Kuma Fett Turnarounds 

When designing Kuma Fett, one of the first things I considered was how I would incorporate my brand onto the figure. One of the most intriguing things about Boba Fett was the fact that he was pretty much annonymous. He always wore a helmet, and I thought it would be fun to start by adding Luke Chueh style bear helmet for his head. We over sized the head to exaggerate the idea this was a helmet. We also added the signature dent on the head and that "mic/visor" piece signature to the original Kenner Boba Fett figure. And since Boba Fett is a notorious villain, I thought I'd add a bloody claw as inspired by my "Southpaw Series"

Helmet sculpted by George Gaspar of October Toys

 

Claw sculpted by George Gaspar of October Toys

 

Kuma Fett Card Back designed by Sucklord