I asked him a couple of questions to accompany these excellent photographs covering some of the work process and the finished products.


How did you get into creating wooden toys?

I’m a senior industrial design student at Carnegie Mellon University and I was able to do a project of my choosing for one of my classes this past semester. I worked at Radio Flyer this past summer where I learned the value and fun involved in making toys.

After seeing the work of Take-g (a Japanese woodworker) I decided to learn how to inlay and sculpt wood through the creation of toys. After researching preexisting toy forms and themes I decided to choose a theme rich with information and meaning, hence, the theme of recently extinct animals, rich with interesting forms.

What was your work process in making these?

Step One. I chose four extinct mammals I found interesting in terms of form, pattern, and information about the behavior, habitat, reasons for extinction, and so on.

Step Two. I collected all the images I could find of each animal.

Step Three. I sketched until I found forms that I liked and I thought I could make.

Step Four. I sculpted a foam model of each toy to evaluate size and form helping me to make changes to the wood ones to come.


Step Five. I made the wood toys first as block elements cutting (table saw) and gluing different types of wood together.

I cut (band saw) front and side profiles out of the block elements. I drilled (mill) holes for heads, arms, tails. I sculpted (rasps) the wood into final shapes. I sanded, oiled, and steel wooled all pieces.

Step Six. Packaging: I purchased different size glass display domes and turned (lathe) a base to fit each one.

I hand drew (copic multiliner sp size .1) an information graphic for each animal, printed it on thick paper, cut out the package template, and folded it into its final shape.

ⓒ Josh Finkle, 2009

What are you working on at the moment?

This is my last semester of school. I am working on exhibits for the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh and more furniture for my furniture class.

MoonApe.

Let’s hope to see much more of this fellow in the future.

MoonApe

Mike is known not only for his trademark style that is busy, organic and vivacious, but also his work in other areas, including authoring several books on hand-drawn illustration topics that include hand-drawn typography in: ‘Hand Job’, and hand-drawn patterns in: ‘Over and Over’. He started a magazine called ‘Untitled’ in 2007, which covers his own various interests. I talked to him about his work and what he’s working on at the moment.

Mike has always been drawing, but after studying painting at college, decided to focus more closely on design and illustration. As is evident in the work he does, Mike is keen to avoid the use of the computer, believing that with hand-drawn work, the character and true style of the illustrator is more clearly revealed than through digital means. His most treasured tool is understandably his pencil.

Mike’s work process for his recent pattern work involve ‘sitting down and going for it, then hope it works out.’ This advice is important for all illustrators out there, who might struggle to get work started, or even finished. It just takes an initial effort to get started, even if the outcome is not yet realised, and push it until the work is complete.

At the moment Mike is working on ‘a good pile of things. Some stuff for the x-games, some packaging for Brooklyn-based chocolatiers the ‘Mast Brothers’, an art show at Giant Robot SF, second issue of my magazine, and yes a new book…’

ⓒ Mike Perry, 2009

There is no doubt that Mike’s style and the styles he has inspired make a refreshing change from much of the purely digitally produced work we are seeing in this age. His continuing success demonstrates the popularity and requirement of hand-drawn styles that we are seeing more and more of today.

Good luck with everything, Mike!

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3D toy designs at Gumliens sprung out of various ideas and paintings made a few years ago by the two members of the group: ‘Gumtaro’ and ‘Hirayama’.

The work process involves alternative work by each of the two designers. Gumtaro starts of with a ‘scribble‘. The lines are cleaned and drawn out clearly by Hirayama. Gumtaro will then paint the character out with acrylic paint.

The image will be ‘made more beautiful with a computer‘. Both Gumtaro and Hirayama will then get to work crafting a 3D model out of clay based on the computer design.

In terms of the actual manufacture of the toys, most work is done in house with the stone dust clay and resin modelling in the early stages done in their home studio. The soft vinyl toy is produced with toy manufacturer ‘One Up’.

Gumliens’ toys will be exhibited at both ‘Fewmany‘ and ‘One Up‘ in Japan from June 29th 2009 to July 5th. Their vinyl toys will be on sale at the ‘One Up’ booth at the Taipei Toy Festival in July.

Gumliens is also currently working on toys for a personal booth for an event called ‘Popbox’ held in ‘Loft‘ in Shibuya, Tokyo in August this year.

Good luck Gumtaro and Hirayama!

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