Only 22 days till Designer Con 2015.
I will be there for my fifth time vending all sorts of lovely retrobotic stuff for your delight and amusement.
This year I am super easy to find. Booth number 114, right inside the main door in the ballroom.
So come on and say hello. I am happy to sign and sketch for you and just natter.
Exclusives news coming very very soon.
Introducing Colonel Rombus “Pewter” edition.
Launching at Designer Con comes a new edition of the popular Colonel Rombus character.
Each 6” tall “Coldcast” Pewter figure has “Bronze” inset gear details, a inset glass eye lens and a real metal Brass winding key.
Sculpted by Doktor A and hand cast and antiqued in England by Baroque Designs.
Within the edition run there are randomly hidden a handful of “Chase” versions of the Colonel. Where the regular version has a green eye, the chase versions have a purple eye.
The edition is of only 25 pieces.
The first 15 will be available from the Doktor’s booth ( 416 ) at Designer Con. With the remaining amount available from his online store a little later. (When he gets back to the UK)
£90 / $150 each
I will be heading out to LA for Designer Con at the Pasadena Convention Centre on the 8th and 9th of November.
Its an epic two day convention featuring all things designer and art toy related
Come find me at Booth 414 in the smaller hall, right next to the awesome Chet Zar.
I will have exclusive pieces, APs, toys, prints and original artworks available.
Click the map to enlargen..
An exclusive mini print of “Sebastian Whittler” will be available from my booth at Designer Con on the 8th -9th of November at the Pasadena convention centre.
Pop on down to booth number 416 to pick up one of only 25 signed and numbered prints of this Toy making Retrobot.
6″ x 8″ (image size 4.5″ x 7″ ) $15 each.. Signed and Numbered by Doktor A.
Renown throughout the land for their marvellous toys, Sebastian is one half of the famous Whittler brothers.
He works miniature mechanical miracles with whatever comes to hand. Creating curious characters and fantastical clockwork facies for the discerning collector.
He has the sense when he works that he is breathing a little bit of his soul into each of his creations.
An odd idea as they are, after all only clockwork.
Toy clockwork.
Not real living clockwork like himself.
I dont usually do works based on existing characters. But was asked to take part in a fun little art show to take place this coming weekend in Pasadena.
DKE Toys presents “The 99 Deaths of Jar Jar” A two day only group art show exclusively at Designer Con 2013 Saturday, November 9 & Sunday, November 10, 9am – 5pm
Pasadena Convention Center, 300 East Green Street, Pasadena CA 91101
A group art show featuring 99 artists. Each artist was asked to submit a black and white, pen and ink illustration on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and chose one way to maim, torture, and/or kill our least favorite Gungan.
Participating Artists Include:
64 Colors – A Little Stranger – Doktor A. – akirophoto – Ardabus Rubber – Asaad – Atila – Jason Atomic – Super Cooper Berella – Bigfoot – Joemm Blanche of CBNC – Botsch – Jon Burgerman – Candy – Nate Carle – Luke Chueh – Nicholas Dewey – Luis Diaz – Mike Egan – Dez Einswell – Brent Engstrom – Gus Fink – Frédéric Fleury – Brian Flynn – Steve (Go Hero) Forde – Free Humanity – Renee French – Gregg Gibbs – Darren Goldman – Dan Goodsell – Grenadier Stinny – James Hakola – Gary Ham – Nathan Hamill – Joshua Herbolsheimer – Jesse Hernandez – Francisco Herrera – Kerry Horvath – I Heart Guts – Jay222 – Jeremyville – JSalvador – kaNO – KiLL! – Sun-Min Kim + David Horvath – Scott Kinnebrew – Jim Koch – Frank Kozik – Wade Lageose – L’amour Supreme – Leecifer – LiLJAPAN – Abe Lincoln Jr. – Andy Linke – Jerome Lu – Madtwiinz – Jim Mahfood aka Food One – Man One – Manly Art – Randy Martinez – Mauricio Tubesteak – El Maz – MCA – William Luke Miller – Miso – Nate Mitchell Squid Kids Ink – Nick the Ring – Brent Nolasco – Mitch O’Connell – Odio – olive47 – Jordan Owen – Virva Peikko – Ritzy Periwinkle – The Pizz – Playful Gorilla – PodgyPanda – Poulin Eurlegg – Dave Pressler – Ted Rall – Rob Reger – Renone – Jermaine Rogers – D. Ross “scribe” – Johnny Ryan – Phil Ryan – Dave Savage – Nick Sawyers – SERBAN – Skinner – Bwana Spoons – Scott Tolleson – Triclops Studio – Tracy Tubera – twerps! – Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca – valleyDweller – Denise Vasquez – Scott Wilkowski – Neil Winn – David Zajdman
Jar Jar Binks was contacted for comment about the event and noted about the show, “Why meesa so hated?”
This art show is not sponsored or endorsed by Lucasfilm, and has no relationship with them in any way.
Jar Jar Binks and all related intellectual property is copyright and/or registered to Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All rights reserved. But who would really want to own the rights to Jar Jar anyway.
Rumor has it that there may or may not be a corresponding collectable program (er.. crappy zine.. er..something) but that remains to be seen. Show up for more details…
Images will be posted here http://www.flickr.com/photos/dketoys/sets/72157635662424295/
DKE TOYS: Dov Kelemer & Sarah Jo Marks are Co-Founders of DKE Toys, the largest independent wholesale distributor of designer toys, limited edition art objects, collectibles, and gifts in the world exclusively representing hundreds of artists, designers, and boutique manufacturers. DKE also curates art shows, writes books, appraises and buys collections and toy closeouts of all shapes and sizes. www.dketoys.com
DESIGNER CON is an art and design convention that smashes together collectible toys and designer apparel with urban, underground and pop art. www.designercon.com
A week ago I got back from L.A.
Other than Designer Con and Toy Break I spent a couple of days catching up with friends and seeing some of the sights.
My uber talented friend Neil Winn was able to arrange a little trip to Spectral Motion, a creature effects studio who he works with sometimes. So he, I and other multi talented friend George Gaspar Paid a short visit.
Spectral Motion have done some of my favorite creature character work in recent years so it was an exciting place to look around for me.
We were not allowed to look around the whole facility due to secret “Pacific Rim” work taking place in some of the workshops, but I did get to see their foyer and the machine shop. The foyer is a mini museum of films they have worked on. The first thing that greets you is the full sized Sammael from Hellboy. This thing is HUGE. The photos done really show its scale. But my respect for Brian Steel has gone up massively since seeing it. To ware a suit that bulky for any length of time, let alone perform in it is a truly awesome feat.
This is me and Neil with the portal opening glove which Rasputin uses at the start of Hellboy. It is a stunning piece of work. Up close you can see all sorts of mechanical and surreal gizmos which never read on the screen. For example :
Some of the glass vials have mummified frogs in them. And there is a scorpion under a mechanised hatch on the back of the hand.. You cant see these details from a couple of feet away let alone in the movie.
Note the swastika on the gauge!
Also from Hellboy they had on show maquettes of Behemoth and the Ogdru Jahad and the animated Russian corpse. Astonishing works all.
In the Machine shop we were greeted by some familiar faces.
Johann, Mr. Wink and the Angel of Death from Hellboy II stand upon a shelf overlooking the large very well equipped room. The detail in these figures was stunning and the physicality of them was very visceral. They really are like people not things such is the level of craftsmanship employed in their design and production. It’s hard to explain what meeting these beings in the flesh is like over seeing them in photos or in the films.
The grass wolf creature in the middle is from “Lady in the Water”. Not a film I am familiar with but since the trip one I want to see as soon as possible.
We were also treated to an impromptu demonstration of some amazing anamatronic pieces and had a poke about a preternaturally clean foam casting room. The whole place was amazing and I envied the people who get to work their magic there. Everyone was extreamly friendly and went out of their way to show this pasty faced English no-body a splendid time.
George and Neil with the Angel of Death.
Oh and if you haven’t seen “Don’t be afraid of the dark” yet.. Close your eyes now…….
After the Spectral Motion visit we drove out to the home and studio of a favourite artist of mine.
Chet Zar has been at the top of my favourite artist list since the moment I first discovered his work. His creature designs are among the most unique and inspired creations ever rendered. His paintings are masterful and his sculptural work is then best in the business. I was a little nervous about meeting him.
But as is always the way with awesome artists (in my experience anyway) he is the most wonderful, grounded and easy going fellow you could wish to meet.
We got some splendid pizza in a little place by his studio and talked about the art scene, tattoo conventions and general this and that. He was kind enough to add a sketch to my compendium of monsters (along side Neil’s ) and we planned a little project for next year.
His studio was a delightful tangle of creative chaos. Piles of old projects and part finished sculpts and a large current piece which had amusingly been partially eaten by his dog during the night… It was great to see some of his larger paintings and some truly wonderful works by his immensely talented father.
I am lucky enough to own a couple of small painting by Chet, but had never seen any of his larger pieces.
It was a very pleasant end to my short American adventure.
After dropping Chet off we headed out to the airport for my not so short flight back to rainy Blighty.
The weekend of the 5th/6th November was spent in (abnormally) not-so-sunny California. A mere 14 hours plane ride for this pasty English fellow.
The reason for the trip? The annual gathering of the art-toy clans at the premier geek event that is Designer Con..
This was my second year in attendence so I had some idea what to expect.
Though the hall at the Pasadena convention centre had now changed to their main room and the booth numbers swelled by about 30%. It was a bigger, brighter and ballsier show that any other in it’s previous five year run.
I was stationed this year at the Circus Posterus booth with fellow collective artists Kathie Olivas, Brandt Peters, Chris Ryniak and Amanda Spayd.
(I didnt get much chance to grab photos of my own so I have scalped these off the web. Thanks to Shinji, Brad and George and those others who took them).
This was me and Amanda behind out booth, showing off our Japanese cookies. A lovely gift from awesome collector, store owner and all round splendid fellow Shinji Nakako.
Most of the day was spent vending out megre wares to the friendly masses and doodling endless monsters and robots for anyone who wanted them. The one at the top of this page was a rare collaborative sketch between Amanda and myself for some lucky chap who seemed jolly pleased with it.
Me and Chris Ryniak were also interviewed in a live web streamed chat show type escapade by the Super Sucklord. You can view the whole 6 hour talkathon via the Toy Break Ustream channel (click on the “LIVE” link ) or just watch our part here (it’s around the 2h30 mark). Kathie and Brandt also made it to the couch very near the end of the day.
My “Nocturnal” Humphrey Mooncalf figure was released as a con exclusive by 3D Retro. And I sat for a while at their booth signing them for people who purchased.
I am sure they will have any remaining stock available online in the next few days.
The event also saw the quiet unveiling of my latest production toy venture.
Chester Runcorn is a new 6″ figure to be released by Kuso Vinyl mid next year. They sneekily has secreted one of the prototypes in their display cabinet and we waited to see if anyone would notice. Indeed they did, very quickly! I was fielding questions about the new arrival all day whilst I believe the poor Kuso booth staff had to fend off offer to purchase the prototype for hours upon end..
And just like that it was all over.
A very fast day indeed, probably amplified by a somewhat jet-lagged brain no doubt. I got to do one full curcuit of the hall this year. Which was 50% more than last year and even picked up a few presents.
If you love toys of the odd handmade or small run veriety. Or designer vinyl and underground art, I can recommend Designer Con as a cracking day out.. The door price is a fraction of SDCC, for a far superior, friendlier and more relaxed convention.
Ayleen and Ben hosted a splendid show this year and I hope to be back in the near future.
The next day was spent wandering the streets of DisneyLand in the rain and sampling its dubious wares with the Circus Posterus crew and some lovely members of the Sideshow Forum there…. I will let the photos speak for themselves..
The “Nocturnal” edition Mooncalf will be available from 3D Retro at Designer Con this Satruday in Pasadena.
The black, grey and GLOW-IN-THE-DARK fellow is limited to 100 pieces… Get them signed my me too as I will be at the show on the Circus Posterus stand…….
For the second year in a row Doktor A will be at Designer Con in LA this coming November.
This will be the Doktor’s ONLY American appearence this year.
Designer Con is an annual art and design convention that smashes together
collectible toys and designer apparel with urban, underground and pop art!
Saturday, November 5th, 2011
10 am to 5 pm
Admission: $5 (free after 3 pm!)
Pasadena Convention Center
300 East Green Street
Pasadena, CA 91101
So only a month after the event I have finally got a little time to recall my recent trip to L.A.
Was over for a few days to launch my G.N.O.M.E toy at Designer Con and hang out with friends.
The first version of the G.N.O.M.E was released as a Designer Con exclusive. There were 150 of the little fellows available and pretty much all of them sold out at the event. I was signing at the 3D Retro booth for an epic 3 hours, doodling on toys, sketchbooks, skateboards, you name it.
Ben Goretski who owns 3D Retro as well as running Designer Con with Ayleen (from Toybreak/October Toys) was running around all day sorting things and making stuff happen with the aid of his natty little headmike.. not quite 1990’s Boyband material maybe?
He wrangled the many artists in attendance into contributing to a large live painting jam session. I was called up late in the day along side the splendidly talented Miss Mindy to add my bit to the canvas. Whilst we were painting the Dr Sketchy’s anti-art-school model threw poses up a rather wobbly ladder on the stage next to us.
The final piece at the end of the day.
On there besides myself and Mindy are : Chris Ryniak, Buffmonster, Joe Ledbetter, Bwana Spoons, Voltaire, Ritzy Perrywinkle, Angry Woebots and several others I cant identify I am afraid.
Honestly the event went by in a blur of sketching and signing. I was a doodling machine………..
.
I got to meet a lot of great artists, though sadly only briefly. Mostly at the “Sketchbot” custom show opening the night before Designer con. (Yes I went right off the plane and a 15 hour flight directly to Munkyking for the show… Hardcore art shmoosing..)
Including these two apparent clones…. Odd!
The next few days were spent meeting people I wave wanted to meet in a very long time and spending a little time seeing some of the more geeky sights of L.A. In fact overall it was a bit of a Geektrek. Let me explain:
For a start Ben is a bit of a collector of awesome geek stuff. So a visit to his home and office was a joy.
I Busted Ghosts :
Rocketeered :
And the ultimate, got a ride in his Delorean. (Ben is what you might call, a bit crazy for the Back to the Future movies.. which is just dandy with me..)
And what’s that inside the Delorean?
Of course it’s a Hoverboard….(TM Mattel).
There was also a trip to Disneyland with my splendid hosts George and Ayleen and bestest art buddy Mr. Chris Ryniak in order to check out the new TRON area set up for the month.
Yes more geekery.
You are scanned by a full sized Recogniser as you enter the area, who informes you to report to the games grid……..
There was a large M.C.P style construct in the center of the arena under which a DJ in Tron garb mixed 1980’s pop whilst Troned up podium dancers shook their stuff and other “programms” flung frisbiees ( sorry, data disks) and chased through the crowds.
Ultimatly this led (via an odd outside bar area) to Flynns Arcade.
The inside was a splendid reconstruction of a 1980’s video games arcade with lots of classic stand up cabinets you could play. It even smelled right……
Hidden in amongst the likes of Galaxians and Zaxxon was a real version of Space Paranoids………. Which I had several goes at. Though I wasnt very good at it. I believe the trick is “all in the wrists”…
There was also a full sized Lightcycle which was quite a sight and a 20 minute screening of a chunk of the new movie which was interesting for the 3D but a little flat I felt.
We went on a few of the classic rides and generally wandered about chatting. As George pointed out a theme park is a great place to socialise as it forces you to stand around chatting for hours whilst you que up..
All in all a splendid trip. I hope to be back for more next year…
