New Custom Minis for My Big Cartel Store

So last year I started to check out basic webstores. Since most of the customs I paint are commissions and I don't really have any merchandise, there has never really been a reason for me to have a real webstore. I have a store section on my website, but it has no store-like functionality, which is kind of lame. I figure another reason to have a store is just to get the added SEO brownie points, since my regular website is all Flash-based. I do have some old customs laying around that it would be nice to get them up somewhere where people might actually see them. Finally, some of these webstores are FREE (for a basic setup), so there's really no reason not to have one- right? So with my research I decided on Big Cartel- mainly because everybody else I know has one. Maybe there's some other good options, but I don't know about them.
Now that I've decided which webstore I would use, it's now a matter of setting it all up and the most important thing- having something to sell. So since the beginning of the year I've been trying to sneak in a little time to paint some custom minis (while I work commissions and shows.) The above picture is what I've been working on for the webstore. All 3-inch Dunny customs (my mini platform of choice)- there's Caveman Dunnys (Tog & Bonk), a Spade-Skull Dunny, Yokai Dunny, and a Pug Dunny. Note the Pug Dunny won't be for sale- he is a tribute to my oldest Pug Pancho that recently passed away, so that custom will be kept in the family.
If all goes well, my webstore should be up and running by the end of the week. I'll make an announcement here and on Twitter when it's up.

Dr. Mario Virus Dunny Set

I wanted to work on a fun little side project before I started my next client piece. I'd been playing Dr. Mario on my old SNES (yes, I have a Super Nintendo) over the holidays last year and noticed that the three little viruses were pretty cool little characters. Following the along the same lines as the Dig Dug trio I completed earlier this year, I figured creating this virus set was a no brainer. I have a few more ideas for some custom mini sets, but I will be picking up my next commission this week so the fun side projects will have to be put on the back-burner once again.

Dig Dug Dunnys

So once all my 2008 show commitments were complete around November last year, I started working on commissions again. To keep from burning out, I like to work on some 3-inch customs just for fun while I'm working on projects for clients. Since everyone always wants Spade-Skulls, it's nice when I can turn out some small customs that are different once in a while. I have a list of custom ideas that I'm hoping to get to one day, but since I'll probably be painting commissions for another couple years, if I ever expect them to see the light of day they'll have to be in mini form. This newest set of minis is from that list. Dig Dug was one of my favorite video games when I was growing up. I remember spending hours at the arcade on just a couple of quarters, constantly glued to this game. With all the incredible video game consoles these days, the simplicity of games like Dig Dug probably wouldn't hold many folk's attention now. But I have very fond memories of this game (as well as many other 8-bit games) and still play it once in a while. So I decided to pay tribute to it by creating this little set of 3-inch custom Dunnys.

Update- These little guys got a quick feature on Toysrevil- thanks Andy!

Final Custom Toys of 2008

Here are my last custom toys for 2008. I'm neck deep right now in a very large commission and I'm also starting to think over ideas for some upcoming shows in 2009, so I've been taking little breaks here and there by working on these two little guys. The one on the left has a pearl white base color, with red and gold. The one on the right is plain white, with Black and orange. I still enjoy working on 3-inch Dunnys and have some cool ideas for some non-Spade-Skull designs that hopefully will see the light of day early next year. If all goes well I'll be starting on some more over the holidays while I continue on the commissions and show pieces. Most likely this will be my last post of 2008, so Happy Holidays to all and I'll see you in 2009. Cheers!

New Spade-Skull Mini Dunnys

Here are some new 3-inch Dunny customs I just finished up. I like to paint minis once in a while. I use them as a way to relax while I'm working on other projects. I try to have at least one mini in progress while I'm working on various commissions and show pieces. They're so small I can turn them around a lot faster, which is nice when I'm consistently working on the same large piece for weeks on end. These four little guys have been in a various stages of completion since the beginning of summer. After I finished my custom Stitch, I decided to take a little break and finish these guys up. I was in a flocking mood for a while, so most of my recent minis have been flocked, and I followed suit with three of these four. The little black and white one was supposed to be a Halloween skeleton guy, but the 31st came and went really fast. Anyway, I'm already back plugging away at my commission list, but I'm hoping to turn out a couple more minis before the end of the year. Stay tuned.

Zombie Dunny Stripped

Okay, this really isn't that exciting of a picture, but for me it's pretty important as it has great significance. What might be significant about this pic you ask- well I can't get into specifics, but basically it means that a personal custom that I've wanted to make ever since I got into custom painting toys is finally starting to come to light (literally and figuratively.) Okay, so with that little clue you probably figured out that I'll be putting a light inside this Dunny, but hopefully you haven't figured out what the design will be- that's the coolest part. Without giving away more, I had initially started this project way back in 2006- originally I was just going to use a GID Munny for the idea. Then the DER Robo Dunny came out, and I realized with some illumination and some very custom paint, it would work much, much better than the GID Munny. So I purchased and stripped it down to be completely clear, but I had to put it on the back burner for a while as I got too busy with other projects. Then as I was just starting to think about this custom project again, the Zombie Dunny was announced and the translucent light blue vinyl was even more perfect. Anyway, I hate to say it but I'm going to be the busiest I've ever been for the next few months, so once again this guy will need to be "shelfed" for a bit. So far all the delays have actually worked to my advantage, so we'll see what happens when I can start thinking about this again in another couple months. Oh yeah, that's a stripped Hard Days Knight in the pic too- oops...

Easter Spade-Skulls (Kinda...)

After completing the green flocked Spade-Skull mini for St. Patrick's Day, I've been wanting to test out a slightly different flocking technique. So along came these guys. What I decided to try different with these guys was to compact the flocking onto the figure while the glue was still slightly tacky. It definitely gives it a slightly less furry look and has a more velvety appearance. But I don't know if it's just that the black flocking shows a more imperfections or what, but I can see a lot more spots on these where the flocking looks thin as opposed to other flocked customs I've made. I did one touch-up session earlier this evening on them, I might have to hit them again this week. With that, it's back to big stuff. I've got one really big project almost wrapped up, and them I'm going full-force on creating a few more pieces for SDCC and getting back to commissions. No rest for me...

St. Patrick's Day Mini Customs

I'd been wanting to work on some green customs for a while now, so I figured why not try to get a few done for the St. Patty's Day? Here's what I just finished right on time- the White Pearl/Green Lucky Spade-Skull Dunny and the Green Fuzzy Spade-Skull Dunny- all 3-inchers. I was also trying to revive an old NADE custom I was working on last year for the now defunct Rocketpop show, but I was having some issues getting it back together tonight, so back into it's box it went. Too bad, since it's all white/green and has a few shamrocks here and there just like the mini Lucky Dunny. Oh well, maybe I can revive it again and have it ready for next year. Anyway, I've also got a few minis coming for Easter (stay tuned), but once that's done I'm all about commissions (and some special SDCC projects- shhh...)

Golden Spade-Skull Dunny

Here's a little 3-inch Dunny custom I whipped up the other day. This little guy was keeping me sane while I'm working on a few commissions and finishing up some show pieces. Lately I've been infatuated with black/gold color schemes- more proof of this soon...