Art of Bruce Whistlecraft

Episode 146 of the internet TV toy show “Toy Break” is up and Doktor A is the guest!

The second volume of Kidrobot’s compendium of Art Toys has recently been released.
It’s a veritable who’s who of underground toy based art.
And I am happy to announce several pages of this splendid volume are dedicated to my humble works.

You can pick it up from most good bookshops and of course online.

The Bank of Retropolis has minted a commemorative coin to celebrate the appearance of Doktor A at Designer Con.
These 1.5″ coins feature an antique copper finish and are limited to only 100 pieces.
They will be available for $10 each at Toy Break (booth 227) conveniently located across the aisle from Doktor A (booth 226)
This coin is the first in a series of artist designed collectible commemorative coins available exclusively at the annual toy/art/design show Designer Con.
Don’t miss it!

Kidrobot’s 2010 Dunny series sees another Doktor A design released into the world.
“Whistlecraft and Son’s Patented Self Stoking Flunky Engine” never needs tending or maintaining.
Ideal for those tedious or unpleasant domestic tasks around the modern home.

Now is your chance to purchase an “Artist’s Proof” of this Dunny direct from the artist.
Each of the 25 pieces is signed and numbered under one foot and comes with a like numbered print of the character.
Of the 25 purchasers of this release, one lucky random person will also receive the original ink drawing the print was taken from.

Toy :
3″ tall rotocast articulated vinyl figure. With original box and series sticker.
Print :
Printed in sepia archival inks on Sommerset velvet cotton rag with rounded corners.
Each signed and numbered in pencil.
Paper size : 4.75″ x 6.25″
Image size : 3.5″ x 5″

£25 per set.
One per customer please.

This figure will be available to purchase from the Spookypopshop
at 6pm Sunday 29th August (UK time).

I will have a booth in the Comic and Pop Artist Alley in the Grand Hall East at the Hyatt Regency hotel at this years Dragon Con.
The show runs from the 3rd to the 6th of September it Downtown Atlanta.

Hyatt Regency Hotel
265 Peachtree Street NE
Atlanta
GA 30303
tel : 404-577-1234

Comic and Pop Artist Alley Opening times :
Friday 1pm – 7pm
Saturday 10am – 7pm
Sunday 10am – 7pm
Monday 10am – 5pm

Panels I will be on this year :

Title: Comics & Pop Art Reception
Time: Fri 08:00 pm
Location: Regency V – Hyatt

Title: Breaking the Molds, Pushing the Boundaries of 3D Art
Time: Sat 01:00 pm
Location: Hanover F – Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: Enjoy an hour with the cream of the crop of today’s object art elite.

Title: Steampunk Makers’ Exhibition
Time: Sun 04:00 pm
Location: International C – Westin (Length: 1)
Description: See some of the finest steampunk makers & builders display their props in an up-close and personal format!
My two exclusive prints……….
Each printed in sepia archival inks on Sommerset velvet cotton rag with rounded corners. Each signed and numbered in pencil.

Stephan LePodd – Explorer
Edition of 15
Image size 13 x 13 cm
Paper size 16.5 x 16 cm

Trevithick’s Wandering Theatre
Edition of 20
Image size 13 x 21 cm
Paper size 16.5 x 25 cm

New Original Drawings
Many new pen and ink drawings will be at the show. Here is just a tiny taster.

Last Chance for LePodd

There will be a very small number of the Dragon Con exclusive Stephan LePodd figure available to those of you who didnt make it out to the show lst year.

Custom Toys

New and old custom toy pieces will be on display.

As well as the YoYos seen in the previous post.

So if you are there please do drop by and say hello.
And if you still need tickets click over to the Dragon Con site and see what last minute deals there may be.

Here is the first picture of my Dragon Con exclusive for this year. Its a laser etched wooden Yoyo.

This is the test burn. But the actual YoYo will be just the same. Each piece will be hand numbered and signed too and carries the Dragon Con logo on the back as well as the logo of the Steve Brown Gallery who produced this lovely object for me.
This is not part of their ongoing YoYo artist series but is made in just the same way. My release with them sold out in minutes so I decided to do this second YoYo to let other people have a chance to get hold of one.
This edition run will be only 50 pieces. Available at Dragon Con.

The unadorned yo-yos themselves are a work of art. Made in the United States and turned from a single piece of Hard Rock Maple, they are made in the traditional fashion of yo-yos from the 1920s. While most modern yo-yos are made of high-impact plastic or aircraft-grade aluminum, these wooden yo-yos are meant to evoke a simpler time in American history. The yo-yo is the second-oldest toy in the world and still one of the most popular; it’s with this heritage in mind that these wooden yo-yos were chosen.

Kidrobot’s Fall apparel line includes a T-shirt with one of my older Dunny character designs on.

You can see the details and purchase direct from the Kidrobot online store NOW.

Today my new Dunny toy from the upcoming 2010 series was revealed on Kidrobot.
Go check him out.

The range is released into the wild on the 19th of August.

The next step on the process is for the toy company to make the tooling prototype sculpture. This is either created by a craftsman in wax or as in this case and more and more these days, created in a computer 3D model and then outputted to a “rapid prototyping” machine which creates the form in resin.
Either way at some point photos or renders come back to the artist to oversee the process and just check everything is tying in to the original idea and design. Also at this stage things can be altered a little or tweeked in a slightly different direction if the 3D version of the figure just doesnt look quite right. I mean by this that something drawn in 2D can look balanced and fine but when it’s translated into 3D it can look unbalanced and need adjusting to look good again. This is of course all subjective to the eye of the artist but as they are the art director on the project it’s up to them to speak up at this point or else let the toy go ahead with possible oddities.
For example the screw on the drill on the GNOME’s head was rendered as drawn but to me looked off. Suggestings for a different way of doing it were made, the model adjusted, a better shape arrived at.
Also alterations were made to the hat rim to allow the hat to lock snugly into place without the need for any other fixing mechanisms.

Here are a couple more examples of how details can be altered at this stage to get everything looking bang on.