 |
| i made this ice scream man for NYCC 2012 |
I have been going to NYCC since the first time it happened at the Javitz center in 2006 but this is the first year i've attended as a participating artist. I had an absolute blast although i spent most of my time limited to the hall known as the Block and only ventured on to the main show floor once. I nearly had a panic attack when confronted in a hallway by a gang of costumed thugs threatening me with free hugs and had to rush back to my safe space behind the Clutter booth.
 | ||
| i made this resin baby head 20 years ago |
I have been collecting toys since i was about 15 and making my own strange sculptures and toys for almost as long but the past year has been a whirlwind of excitement for me as both an artist and as a fan of this designer toy community. I have had the opportunity to not only meet many of the people i have admired over the years but also to work with them and that still blows my mind every day.
Shortly after i launched the Ice Scream Man i was contacted by some people from Clutter magazine, and a short time after that those people, Josh, Miranda and Erica came to my house to interview me and see where Ice Scream is born. Since then i am proud to say these people have become great friends to Tamara and I. We have had a few occasions to work together and more occasions to hang out together and they are all awesome and amazing people. I later met Jim Crawford or as he's known in Hollywood , "J Craw". also a totally rad dude. Then finally the Nicks, Curtis and Carrol these two totally suck.... SIKE!!! Guess What? They're rad too!
 | |
| J-Craw, Lana, Miranda, Erica, Nick, Josh, Other Nick, The King of Toys |
The amazing Clutter crew graciously invited me to not only show my wares at their NYCC booth but also allowed me to make myself a fixture in their booth and have a safe space to hideout when the crowds became too overwhelming for my delicate social insecurities. It was in this safe space that i also had the opportunity to spend time with Matt aka SekureD and Lana "plushinator" Crooks more great people that helped make the entire experience fantastic.
So, THANK YOU Clutter Crew, you're all RAD!
 |
| the setup at the MPH booth during my signing. photo courtesy of MPH |
New York Comic Con opened to the public on a Friday October 12th and at 12 noon I had my first signing. Vin at myplasticheart has been another person that reached out to me early after the initial release of the Ice Scream Man and has been amazingly supportive ever since. Vin asked if there was something we could do together for NYCC and we came up with the Asian inspired multi pack of Green Tea, Red Bean and Black Sesame bite size Ice Screams, i covered that process in my previous post . The MPH booth looked great, the signing was awesome and the exclusives moved well. This was really the first opportunity i've ever had to interact with fans of my work in real life and i've got to say, it was pretty cool. It's amazing to receive orders and money to enable me to continue doing what i do but to meet the people behind those orders and realize that i am not just spewing my thoughts and images in to an anonymous internet and that people are actually receiving and embracing that information is both humbling and an incredible point of pride for me. I am certain that many of those people that i met at NYCC will no longer be just orders or fans but friends.
So, THANK YOU Vin and MPH, you're all RAD!
 |
| KRNY 10th Anniversary show, photo courtesy of TRAMPT |
On Friday night after Comic Con I headed over to the Kidrobot 10th Anniversary show. The show looked great but was super crowded and i hit the panic button an retreated outside which turned out great because i ran in to Kirby and Whitney Kerr from Rotofugi. Kirby was the very first person from within the designer toy community that reached out to me as an artist. When the Ice Scream Man was just a couple photos on instagram Kirby sent me a message of encouragement and basically said he was willing to place a wholesale order as soon as they were in production... and he did and that was incredibly motivating to me.
So, THANK YOU Kirby and Whitney, you're RAD!
Saturday night was the 2nd annual Designer Toy Awards, an event organized by the previously mentioned Clutter crew, this years event was hosted by the Sucklord and held at the Providence night club. I thought the event was absolutely fantastic. The venue was the perfect size, the ceremony well organized and Sucklord delivered a fantastic bit of theater by taking seriously what needed to be and using his wit to diffuse any glitch that did pop up. It was the perfect combination of professionalism and "i don't give a fuck" that came together to make the event feel like it represented a real community of serious professionals that don't take themselves too seriously... and that's definitely how i roll. I was nominated in three categories, Breakthrough artist, Best Self produced and Toy of the Year . All quite an honor but the category that meant the most to me was Self Produced... AND I WON!!! The award was presented to me by Gary Ham, last years winner in this category and another artist that both Tamara and I have been fans of for quite a while. So that was a pretty amazing experience. I can sum up my experience at the awards and over the past year by pretty much repeating my acceptance speech. Clutter is cool, the other artists in this community are cool and all the fans in this community are cool.
So, THANK YOU to everyone i've met through this awesome community.
I'm not done naming Rad People yet.
The next big event after NYCC is Designercon, Unfortunately i can't make it this year.
The Ice Scream Man will be there though, Julie B at Pretty in Plastic has offered to show my stuff.
There are no Dcon exclusives but if you just need to pick up some regular Ice Scream or Melt Knuckles swing by the Pretty in Plastic Bazaar... Actually, swing by even if you don't want that shit Julie B is Rad and there will be plenty of other awesome stuff there.
While you're at Designer con, you're definitely going to want to stop by Spanky Stokes Booth for two reasons. 1 because he is RAD! 2 because he is giving away a ton of awesome shit and all you have to do to win it is visit his booth and get a wrist band. I should also mention that some of the awesome shit he is giving away is a huge Brutherford Industries prize pack loaded with awesome goodness.
So... Yeah... i think that's it for now.
OH WAIT... There's also this!!!
