Today we got our first look at the 2013 Easter figure that will be released on February 22nd. It was designed by Billy Davis and will have a $14.95 price tag.
A golden wrapped chocolate Easter bunny awaits an eager Vinylmation collector who couldn’t wait to begin unwrapping one ear. There is also an accessory fabric bow around the neck. A nice idea and another figure with the bunny ears.
We had no idea more Mad T Party combos were on the way after seeing the release of the Mad Hatter and White Rabbit. Then, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee showed up on the release calendar. Today, we got our first look at this duo.
They will be available exclusively at Disneyland on February 22, as the Mad T Party is a DCA event. The retail price will be $24.95 and 1500 of these will be made available. Here is a look at them in costume at DCA:
The concept art has been floating around for a long while, now we can confirm the third DVC exclusive is in fact the white picket fence “Home Sweet Home” figure.
Due out on February 22nd at D-Streets and possibly online, this Lisa Badeen designed 3″ will retail for $14.95 and is open edition. You must show a valid Disney Vacation Club member ID to purchase.
We saw photos at Mickey’s Circus, but now, in full 360 product shots, here are the 2013 Aulani Resort 3″ Vinylmation.
Mickey and Minnie are ready for vacation. Mickey in his best Hawaiian shirt and Minnie holding a sno cone. They will be sold separately at the resort for $14.95 each. They are marked as open edition, so they should be there for a while… you know, if your trip to Hawaii isn’t until next year or something. If your not traveling across the Pacific any time soon, the trading sites always have a few generous Hawaiians that will pick up figures for trade to mainlanders.
Aarayln has started the final vote for what should be on her latest custom series, Tiny Tails. Read more about it, then vote at facebook.com/artworksbyaaralyn.
 “I am very excited to announce my very first custom Vinylmation series: Tiny Tails! This thirteen piece series will include Disney animals as babies. Last week, I put a poll on my Facebook page, to narrow down the characters that my fans would like to see in the series. The Top 25 results are below. I have reposted the poll with these characters. The characters that are voted into the Top 8 will for certain be included in the set. The remaining five characters, including the chaser, will be artist’s choice. Please go to my Facebook page at: facebook.com/artworksbyaaralyn to vote by Friday, January 25, 2013. I have included some of my favorite character pictures and quotes below for the Top 5 characters. If you have some favorite quotes or movie moments from any Disney animal characters, please feel free to share them in the comments! |
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1. Stitch – “This is my family. I found it, all on my own. Is little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.” There are not many people who can resist the cuteness that is Stitch. Although he destroys small cites made of books, he also makes friends with ducklings and it doesn’t get more adorable than that. |
| 2. Raja – Being a huge fan of big cats, Raja has always been a favorite of mine. He’s loyal and protective, and he doesn’t shred the curtains like my cat used to do |
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3. Pegasus – Big Eyes, Pastel colors, Cute wings…need I say more? |
| 4. Cheshire Cat – “You may have noticed that I’m not all there myself.” While there’s not as much cuteness factor in Ches’s character, he is still a fan favorite due to his madness. Just don’t ask him for directions. |
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5. Pascal – He likes kids, he puts up with Rapunzel’s ventriloquist acts, and he’s fearless when facing a foe. The little guy has a ton of charm |
6. Pluto
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7. Chip and Dale
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8. Lady
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9. Thumper
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10. Oliver
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11. Tigger
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12. Roo
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13. Tramp
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14. Dumbo
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15. Dug
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16. Marie
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17. Meeko
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18. Donald Duck
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19. Figment
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20. Roger Rabbit
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21. Squirt
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22. Simba
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23. Bolt
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24. Mittens
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25. Copper
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| Also with similar voting numbers: Robin Hood, Turk, and Figaro” | |
Our eyes were recently turned to an artist named Howie Green. Just a quick look at his work, and you could tell he took a different approach than many custom artists were are used to spotlighting. I then discovered he was from Boston… always a plus. He has created some wonderful art on the Mickey canvas, as many of you know, but did you know his art covers his hometown and also reaches far beyond?
Destination Vinylmation: How long have you been involved in the art world?
Howie Green: I graduated from art school in 1970 with a BFA and have been a working artist, illustrator, designer ever since. And actually I was a working artist even when I was in school. I had a design studio for 17 years with 9 or so employees doing all kinds of work for all kinds of clients, won lots of awards, traveled a lot. It was great but I had enough and wanted to do something more focused and less hectic. I shut it all down 10 years ago to focus on painting which I must say has worked out well.
DV: What attracted you to the Mickey shaped platform to create works of art?
HG: I am a life-long toy junkie. When the whole DIY toy thing started up I was painting on any toy I could find; like Kidrobot Munnys and pretty much anything. Initially, I was not interested in the 3″ Mickeys because of the small size, so I started in on a few 9″ ones which all sold.
But I kept getting collectors asking me to do small ones because they couldn’t afford the large ones…so, I started in on a couple 3″ ones and have completed and sold about 40 or so of them to date. Mickey fits my style perfectly… he’s all circles and round and really fun to draw and paint on. Plus one of my early learn-to-draw books was a Disney one so I have been drawing Mickey and crew forever.
DV: Your style is very unique. Instead of creating straight up characters, you use colors and shapes. Is there a name for this technique?
HG: Is there a name for my technique? Probably not… I just call it Pop Art toys. Although I have done several commissions of existing super heroes and such I’m not really interested in taking some character that already exists and squashing it onto a Vinylmation figure. What’s the point? I think the worst example of this is Tinker Bell as a fat Vinylmation. Or the Candice one from Phineas and Ferb. Awful! She looks like she ate Tinker Bell. I look at the form as a fun shape 3D canvas and start from there. But I never loose site of the fact that it’s Mickey. I thinks it’s an honor to be able to use Mickey as a canvas. So I’m trying to create my own takes on Mickey as a Pop Art toy which by itself is a wide open concept.
I was at Disney World a while back when they had 5 foot tall Mickeys that had all been painted by and for celebrities. I would have loved have painted one of those! I do a lot of public art works with the Red Sox Foundation folks and I’m painting 4 giant golf balls for the PGA tournament in Rochester, NY this year…
but I still really want to paint a giant Mickey someday. How cool would it be to be able to paint a giant 5 foot tall Vinylmation? Shortly after seeing all those Mickeys, the Cow Parade came to Boston which led to my being involved in many public art projects. I have painted 3 cows, a bench, public utility boxes, murals and on and on. Two of my Cow Parade cows were made into collectible figures and one of them became a bestseller in Europe.
Go figure? I also designed the “Peace, Love & Music” collectible pony figure for the nice folks at Trail of the Painted Ponies. I’m working with them now on a new pony figure that I’m designing with a celebrity friend of mine and hoping it gets a good reaction. Keeping our fingers crossed and its all very hush hush.
DV: I saw the Boston Celtics artwork you created for the Mayor’s Office’s Spring Paint Box program… can you tell us about that job?
HG: The Mayor’s office started the Paint Box program about 5-6 years ago. They sent out a “call to artists” to submit designs that they would like paint on thousands of those awful metal public utility boxes all over the city of Boston… and there are thousands of them. I never noticed them before but once you start looking you realize they are everywhere. So they liked my designs and I started doing them and have done I think 9 or 10 of them.
Since my style is pretty accommodating they asked me to do one for the Celtics which is over near the “Garden” where they play. I go out every spring and visit my boxes and do paint touch ups. Remarkably none of them have ever been hit by graffiti. “Honor among thieves,” I guess.
Since the Mayor’s office was happy with my work they asked me to paint the front entrance of Boston City Hall when the new doors were being installed. They had an ugly temporary plywood structure covering the entrance and I got to paint it (with my brother’s help.) I have a couple more boxes lined up to be painted in the Spring.
DV: Can you share some other non-Vinylmation related works with us that you enjoyed?
HG: My other work is all over the map – literally. I still do a lot of graphic design work, web sites, and I paint every day.
I always seem to have various art commissions in the works and when I don’t, I do toys. Actually I do toys almost every day too. I have sold my paintings and toys to people all over the globe from Europe to Croatia to Australia to Asia. I have had a nice fan base in Singapore and Asia in general since my first book “Jazz Fish Zen” was published back in the 90’s. It did OK in the states but was very popular in Asia. They seem to have a real love for my goofy Pop Art. I was friends with Steve Kaufman just before he died in 2010 and I was going to be part of his museum show that was being planned for an Asian tour. Alas it will not happen. Steve was Andy Warhol’s last assistant and had a major career as a Pop Artist. Wonderful guy.
Just for fun I started a series of album cover paintings in 2004 that has just culminated in the publication of a portfolio book of over 350 of them – hot off the presses last week! My album cover paintings have been a huge project and more fun than anything.
I have done several large installations of them in Jacksonville and Delray Beach, Florida and my portrait of Biggie Smalls was used for the cover of the tribute album called “Unbelievable” that Puff Daddy and tons of others appeared on. Last year I did a large version of the painting for Wayne Barrows for his office in New York. Wayne is a movie producer who manages Biggie’s estate.
DV: How can people contact you and view your work?
HG: I do commissions every day and am always happy to chat about them. You visit me online:
www.hgd.com
howiegreen.etsy.com
Stores.ebay.com/Howie-Green-Gallery
www.facebook.com/howie.green.artist
www.flickr.com/photos/howie-green
On February 1st, artist Patty Landing (Cutesters at the Beach) will be signing the 2013 Poster Art she designed for the month of February. She will be at the Pin Traders kiosk in the Marketplace at Downtown Disney in Orlando from 5p-7p. She will sign the calendar, pin and Vinylmation.
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Ep. 105 Pirates of the Caribbean Helmsman This week we record at the Animal Kingdom Lodge with special guest Scuba Owl. He is an avid listener and Vinylmation writer. We talk about all things vinyl and the future of the hobby. In a twist, Scuba Owl interviews us to give you the chance to learn more about us. We also deliver all the latest news and the current release calendar. |
I was at work the other day, just flipping through Facebook (don’t worry, my boss isn’t a Vinylmation fan), when I happened to see a custom by an artist out of Cincinnati I was not yet familiar with. I contacted Venezuelan born Roman Rodriguez right away to talk to him all about his creations, his inspirations and of course, cake.
Destination Vinylmation: Usually we would start off by asking about the artist or the Vinylmation, but in this case my first question has to be… How did you come to own a life size Watto from Star Wars?
Roman Rodriquez: Very good question. I love Star Wars and I had the opportunity to buy Watto on Ebay and I went for it. I wanted to have a life size for my office and I was lucky enough to get it. Plus why wouldn’t someone get him :0) he is awesome. LOL
DV: A lot of sculpting went into your Watto custom. How long did it take to create?
RR: It took me about 3 days from beginning to end including painting. Once I get into a project I can’t stop working on it until I am done. I start with an idea and how to approach each step of the process. After I get a clear picture from beginning to end I just go for it.
DV: What was the most difficult part about creating Watto?
RR: It had to be getting the right shape so it would look like him. I was afraid that it may not look like him at the end and I would have just wasted my time. I was able to see soon enough that it was going to look like him and I just couldn’t stop. I remember that I just keep on looking at his eyes making sure that I capture the essence of him.
DV: What was the inspiration behind making Mr. Smee as a theme park guest?
RR: My family and I love Disney and we would love to live inside Disney World. I wanted to create something that would show the joy of a vacation at Disney World. What better way than Mr. Smee taking a break from Captain Hook. He is such an interesting character and gets blamed for everything bad that happens to Captain Hook. I decided he needed a break so I gave him the vacations of his lifetime.
DV: From looking at your work, you seem very comfortable using props and sculpting… what other types of art forms are you into?
RR: I am into cake decorating you can see some of my work at my Facebook group. I can apply some of the sculpting techniques to creating Vinylmation. I love creating something from nothing and letting my creativity run wild.
DV: Cake you say? Tell us about your most memorable one.
RR: My favorite cake has to be the 2nd cake I made. It was my son’s birthday and since he was into airplanes, I decided to make him a scaled down 747. Even though my skill have gotten a lot better since this cake, this was the one that gave me the confidence to keep on making them. In addition, it was for my son’s birthday and that made it that much more meaningful. Thinking back it was also the first time I used an airbrush…WOW… Now I can live without it. Please check my Facebook group to see this cake in video and my other creations.
DV: What drew you to the Mickey canvas?
RR: I have been designing cakes for about 4 years. The bad part about it is that after the party you have only pictures and videos of it. It is hard to put all that time, work, and love into something and then in one minute destroy it all to eat it. I started collecting Vinylmation a few years back and I wanted to create something that I would actually be able to keep. What better way than merging my love for art and the passion we have for Disney??? Vinylmation has provided me that venue to express my passion for Disney and Art while keeping it at the end.
DV: Do you have a place where people can view your work?
RR: I feel honored for all of you that are joining me in this new venture. Please join my Facebook group. You can see my work or request a special piece for yourself. You can also now like my new Facebook page.
In the words of artist Cesar Diaz:
Giveaway time! This week I’m giving away a custom 3″ LGM wearing his Mickey ears.
To win this little green guy you have to do the following…
1. You must like the Customations by Cesar Diaz Facebook page to be eligible for the giveaway
2. You must leave a comment under the picture on the Customations by Cesar Diaz Facebook page. Any comment will do BUT remember only one comment per person please.
Giveaway starts now and will end next Saturday Jan 26th at 10am PST. I will then use a random generator to pick one winner. Good luck everyone!
