Vinylmation Custom Artist Spotlight: Celeste V

WDWNT on February 2, 2011

Celeste V created the Adam Lambert custom Vinylmation figure we talked about yesterday. This figure is up for auction on eBay with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. Hurry, the auction ends on February 2nd at 3pm Pacific time. Visit the auction site here. Today, we had the chance to ask Celeste about her work.

Destination Vinylmation: How long have you been creating custom Vinylmation?

Celeste: Vinylmations specifically, about 6 months or so. I started originally with dunny’s and mighty muggs before vm came (more like overtook) into my life lol.

DV: How many pieces have you created?

Celeste: To be honost I’m not sure myself, if I had to guess,about 45-50.

 DV: What’s your favorite piece?

Celeste: I love every piece I created so far, each one has a story of how and why it was created. Every custom made is always a new challenge and I try to incorporate and add new techniques to each one to give it a personal touch. But if I really had to choose it would be probably be my first custom of Edward Scissorhands. I worked on it for a really long time and tried to create something that would stand out above the crowd. It was fustrating at first, new and different for me and I wanted to give up so many times, but when I finally finished I felt accomplished.

DV: Do you collect the Vinylmation created by Disney artists?

Celeste: Of course! I am a vinylmationholic lol. I have to have them all. I actually just picked up a case of Villains on Monday. Love the villains series.

DV: What is your favorite Vinylmation figure?

Celeste: Wow! I have so many favorites, but I really like the Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Day figure from Trade City). It’s beautifully done… simple yet elegant.

DV: How did you come up with the idea of an Adam Lambert piece?

Celeste: Funny story… I wanted to make him a while ago. I have been a long time fan ever since the Idol days and been to a few concerts. Around the end of 2010 a friend of mine told me about Adam’s charity, mycharity:water and asked if I could try to create him and donate the proceeds. I thought “why not” it was for a great cause and I wanted to see if I could make him. Also Adam’s b-day was jan 29 so it was  perfect timing.

 DV: Can you describe this figure? The inspiration. And what detail went into it.

Celeste: It is a 9″ figure. He is fully painted with artist grade acrylic with a bit of oil paint. I chose to go with a outfit from his music video “If I Had You” The outfit was something out of the ordinary from his already glamourous look. Part of his outfit has glitter paint to portray a silver metallic look. He has gloves fashioned out of real leather and of course black fingernails. The top hat is fashioned out of a foam like board with added suede, a feather and stones that line around the hat. I tried as close as I could to find a neck piece that fits the same look from the video. The hair is braided and dyed with different colors from thick yarn.

DV: What is your favorite aspect of the Adam Lambert figure?

Celeste: I don’t have any one favorite specific thing. I usually look at the whole piece and try to see if It all fits together and have balance.

DV: What was the hardest part in creating this figure?

Celeste: The eyes. It’s difficult to come up with a certain “look” of a real life person. For me personally the eyes are always difficult to transfer to any media form. I must of tried about five different eye expressions and shades on the eyes to get it correct. But all and all I was satisfied with it.

DV: Can you tell us about this charity and why it was chosen?

Celeste: Most of us take clean water for granted and unfortunatly over a billion people all around the world don’t have access to clean water. Charity:water is a non-profit orginization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. I chose this charity not just because of Adam, but because I’ve been to some of these countries and have seen first hand how not having the basics and essentials of life such as clean water can greatly affect their daily lives and overall health. You can learn more about their vision and mission at charitywater.org

DV: Do you plan on more charity auctions in the future?

Celeste: I have done one other charity auction so far and if this goes well I will probably will hold more charity auctions. Any charity auctions held big or small are always worth the effort.

DV: Where can people go to find out more about your pieces and see your work?

Celeste: I do have a blogsite I recentlly made,you can find me there
Adam’s page for donations is here.

 If you would like to place a bid, or find more information, the eBay auction (and more photos) for this 9″ custom piece can be found here.

American Vidol!

WDWNT on February 1, 2011

We were following the twitters out there, and stumbled upon an interesting tweet that mentioned a custom 9 inch vinylmation and an eBay sale for charity. We were, of course, interested.

It turns out that a custom vinylmation artist named Celeste, made and offered up for auction a vinylmation representing Adam Lambert. The piece is an amazing combination of paint and other mixed media, from the hat on his head to the braids down his back.

The piece is being auctioned as part of Adam’s 29th Birthday Wish. He has asked his fans to donate to the mycharity:water in hopes of raising $290,000 for under developed towns that don’t have clean, pure water to drink or clean with.

The auction will be ending really soon, February 2nd at 3pm PST, so get your bids in soon!

We have seen some other customs that Celeste has made, and we will definitively be discussing more in the future.

Adam’s page for donations is here.
The eBay auction (and more photos) for this 9″ custom piece is here.
Celeste’s vinylmation customs are found here.

My first custom purchase

WDWNT on January 25, 2011

I finally got my Mickey in Carbonite from Evilos!!!!


It felt like forever while I was waiting, but it took less than two weeks to receive after I ordered it from his ebay site. It cost me $59.99 plus shipping and is a great addition to my collection. I got caught up in the fever over the Star Wars release, so I ordered it that day just so I could take this picture. It’s a great piece of handiwork, although the filler between the vinyl and the outside case seems just a little less smooth then I thought it would be. Overall however, I think it’s going to go nice next to my Han as a stormtrooper piece I made myself. (Unlike Evilos, who has talent, the customs I make are just putting other vinylmation’s heads on bodies. lol) Also check out his Carbonite key chain and Tron customs.

Order from his ebay site.
Check out Evilos.com for more information about this great artist.

Also a big Thank You to lego.com for their free database of instructions. I was amazed at how fast and easy it was to find the pdf of the old kit I needed. Thanks!

What customs have you ordered? Would you order any? Discuss….

Zombified!

WDWNT on January 20, 2011

We re-tweeted a link to this article on Tomopop a few days ago and we just wanted to catch anyone who missed that message. A great picture of a cool custom. The article is by Kristina Pino. Here’s just a snippet of the photo. Please follow the link to check out the full photo.

Braaaains post by Kristina Pino.
Vinyl by Squink!

Cool Customs by Shaun Myers

WDWNT on December 19, 2010

I went to the trade show last night at WDW (as seen in the post last night), and while I was walking around looking for something cool to trade I spotted the following Custom Vinylmations.


Squirt

Flower

These amazing customs are the creation of Shaun Myers. I love the detail work on both pieces. The scales on the shell of Squirt and the flowers around Flower are awesome! Look for more great ones from this artist in the future!

Special Birthday Present for M.C.

WDWNT on January 1, 1970

Chelsey surprised us first with the Blind Box Buyer. Then, as a listener to the podcast, she knew it was M.C.’s birthday. So she gave M.C. a really special birthday present.

Wow! Look at this guy. A ninja warrior. The detail on this figure is astounding.

With one sword in hand and another in holster, he is ready to go into battle.

Speaking of battle, this ninja warrior has a carrying case on his back with a scroll.

The scroll comes out and unrolls to reveal a real saying the warriors memorize before going into battle.

Then, in one last special touch, Chelsey wrote a special birthday message for M.C. and dated it on the bottom of the scroll case. We can’t express how thankful we are for these amazing gifts Chelsey. We look forward to all your great customs to come.

Spotlight On: Customation Project Artist Celeste

WDWNT on January 1, 1970

Leading up the Cesar’s event in Santa Clarita, CA this weekend, Destination Vinylmation will feature each of the custom artists and talk to them about some of the figures they will be bringing to the event.

Today we will start with one of our personal favorites, Celeste. We have reviewed several of her pieces, the most noted of which is her 9″ Animal piece (still superior over the 9″ piece that was part of Muppets 2). She was a bit mysterious about the pieces she will be bringing to the event, but wanted to let this picture slip out.
I don’t know what she’s going for here, but it looks epic.

We asked Celeste some questions, and here is what she said.

Destination Vinylmation: As a reminder, can you tell our fans how long you’ve been making custom vinyl?
Celeste: I’ve been creating Vinylmation for about a year now and it’s still going on strong. Every new piece is a challenge and I love every minute of it. Having the opportunity to share my work is a great thing and I cherish the support and encouragement people have given me.

DV: We really love your pieces, which ones will you be bringing to the event?
Celeste: Well I don’t to give too much away, most of the pieces are never before seen customs that I created for the show so you have to come and check it out personally, of course I will have the pics of the customs posted after the show for those who couldn’t attend. So all I can show is a teaser of one. (See above pic) They actually are floating and are a small piece to the a big whole.

DV: Those both scare and intrigue me. Where can fans find more of your stuff?
Celeste: Of course you can check out my work at my site at celestecustomvinylmations.blogspot.com or Facebook at Celeste Custom Vinylmations.

DV: Well thanks for your time and I hope you enjoy this weekend’s show!

Well there ya go, a bit spooky, and very mysterious, Celeste. Go to the show this weekend and see what she (and all the artists) are all about.

The Customation Project Wrap Up

WDWNT on January 1, 1970

Congratulations to Cesar and all the artists involved in The Customation Project. It was an event held in California on September 24 showcasing the talents of custom Vinylmation artists. We would like to share some pictures and a video from the event. The full photo album, and believe me, you MUST see it, can be viewed here.

Spawn by Celeste
Dia des los Mickey by Lucas Yoshida
Batman and Joker by Cesar
Marty McFly and Disneyland by Angie Annett
Epic Donald by Chelsey Zhang
The Faries Den by Celeste
Soldier by Chelsey Zhang
Dr. Jones and Dharma Mickey by Cesar
From left to right: Jesus Paez, Chelsey Zhang, Celeste Villanueva, Lucas Yoshida, Cesar Diaz, Angie Annett.

Spotlight On: Custom Vinylmation Artist Cesar

WDWNT on January 1, 1970

Update: 10/30/11 Remember, Cesar’s custom Zombie Vinylmation go on sale Monday, October 31! There will be 31 different Zombies to choose from. See more info at MyCustomations.com. And check out the interview below for details.

DV: If someone is new to the site, could you review who you are and how long you’ve been making customs?
Cesar: For those of you that don’t know who I am, my name is Cesar Diaz and I’ve been creating custom Vinylmations for a good year and a half now. Recently I organized and put together The Customation Project with the help of Proxart, Toi and Romo. It was an art show displaying custom vinyl work by six talented artists.

DV: This is a special release, tell us more about the details?
Cesar: The Zombie vinyl’s will be sold on my website (mycustomations.com) on Halloween morning for $40 each plus $8 shipping. There will be a total of 31 unique, one of a kind Zombies; basically one Zombie per day for the month of October. Each Zombie will be signed and dated according to the day it was made. They will be sold at random and are limited to one Zombie per person, per household. You don’t know who you’re going to get, but your guaranteed an original design.

DV: Zombies, eh? Where did you come up with the idea for a whole set of Zombies?
Cesar: The idea for the Zombie set has been floating around in my head since last year. To be exact it was when I saw the premiere of the TV show The Walking Dead on Halloween night. At the time it was obviously too late to start any Zombie customs. Plus I was still experimenting with techniques on creating custom Vinylmations so the project was put on hold. Months later when I created the LOST set, the idea of the Zombies came back to me. Originally I was going to make 12 Zombies, but unfortunately I had to put the idea on hold again because I got so busy making 9” customs for the Customation Project. Now that the show is over I went back to the Zombie idea. I rethought how I was going to make them and the quantity. 12 Zombies is just not enough! You need an army of them! Then I came up with the idea of making 31 Zombies for 31 days of October.

DV: We know you’re not finished with all of them yet, but which ones are your favorite so far?
Cesar: I’m having so much fun making my version of Zombies. So far they’re all my favorite.

DV: Where there any challenges involved with these characters?
Cesar: I haven’t encountered any problems as of yet. From the start I knew I wanted to make the ears the night sky with the moon, clouds and the stars.

DV: What’s your favorite Zombie movie?
Cesar: George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead of course!

DV: If this is successful, will you do another set for next year’s Halloween or other holidays?
Cesar: I would love to keep doing Zombie sets. They don’t necessarily have to be for Halloween. I would love to do a Walking Dead set.

DV: Will any of the Zombies come with a brain accessory?
Cesar: Sorry Nick, no accessories this time around. Maybe next time.

DV: Thanks for your time, and once again, great figures. We hope the sale goes well!
Cesar: Thank you very much. Your readers can follow me on twitter at @mycustomations to see up to the minute info and pics of upcoming Zombies.

Spotlight On: Custom Artist Rust This World

WDWNT on January 1, 1970

By now, you know the way to my heart is show me some video game related custom Vinylmation. Today, we feature artist Rust This World from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Destination Vinylmation: You created a series of figures based on the popular Kingdom Hearts video game franchise. How many figures are in this series?
Rust This World: There are 5 figures so far, but eventually (meaning if I don’t get sidetracked on another project) I’m hoping to have 12 plus a couple 9″.

DV: What characters did you decide to include?
RTW: When I first started collecting Vinylmation, I was most drawn to the Villains series as I love the darker side of Disney. I wanted to include a couple different Heartless designs to include with my other villains. It just spread from there.

DV: Which one was the most difficult to design and why?
RTW: Either the 3 magic Heartless or the shadow Heartless. Both stray away from the traditional “figure stretched onto mickey’s form” that a lot of vinyls (including some of my own) follow. I’m often disappointed with how most official Disney artists aren’t creative with translating characters onto the canvas, so I at least wanted a couple of mine to look different. The shadow heartless was also fun because I made it on a clear yellow body so that when it’s held up to the light, the Shadows’ eye light up.

DV: That one does look great. Are there any more characters from Kingdom Hearts in the works?
RTW: I’m working on two 9″ vinyls right now that are about 1/2 way done based on two of the worlds from Kingdom Hearts: Hallow Bastion and The World That Never Was.

DV: What is your favorite Kingdom Hearts game in the franchise?
RTW: The first one, I loved the combat and platforming gameplay and the plot hadn’t become ridiculously complicated at that point. Plus there was something so cool about getting to run around and interact in the awesome Disney worlds that I’d only seen in movies.

DV: What do you like most about the Kingdom Hearts games?
RTW: It’s a great gameplay engine crossed with childhood nostalgia for Disney films.

DV: What have you learned from creating your customs that you can pass onto other custom artists?
RTW: There are a couple tips that apply to any custom. 1. Always wash the vinyl and then paint a base coat, both insure that the detail paint with be applied cleaner and more evenly. 2. Invest in a tiny brush, size 000 or 0000, it helps achieve clean lines and tiny detail. 3. Seal your vinyl with a sealer or varnish to insure a clean even look and to prevent paint rub.

DV: Is your work available for purchase?
RTW: All of the vinyls I’ve made are in my own personal display, but I’m more than willing to recreate them or accept commissions if people like my designs.

DV: Where can people go to see more of your work and contact you?
RTW: My website, which is more of an online portfolio, is rustthisworld.com it has all of my vinylmation as well as custom action figures and Kidrobot vinyls, plus a bunch of unrelated stuff like my Battlebots and other projects. My email is evolvedbutter@aol.com or pm me on the Vinylnation boards, username: Rust This World.

DV: Great job on this KH series! Thank you for sharing your work with our audience.