toys.thepete.com: CyniCat (3" Cat Qee from Toy2R), originally uploaded by thepetecom.

Completed in April of 2007, this was my second ever custom toy design.
He was painted with Sharpies and began life as a blank Cat Qee from
Toy2R. I’m definitely a cat-person, in general, so I knew I had to pick up this blank up. :) And since I am very cynical, the design made sense, too. Annoyingly, I applied the clear coat too heavily and his hairline bled a little :( Not bad for number 2, though.

Working on 3 inch figures is particularly tough, in my opinion. I don’t recommend it using regular-sized Sharpies. I wish I had the super-fine-tipped ones for this piece.

Check out my Flickrset for all the pics of CyniCat here: www.flickr.com/photos/thepete/sets/72157600092707667/

toys.thepete.com Chyuu-san, originally uploaded by thepetecom.

This is my second entry into Mimoco’s Vimobot design contest (check out my other here: toys.thepete.com/toysthepetecom-end-life-crisis). The only part of this guy that I’m not happy with was that I didn’t just do the kanji on his face in Sharpie. I cheated by printing it out and then glue-sticking it to his face. Sad. “Chyuu” means loyalty in Japanese. Since the eventual goal was to have these designs turned into thumb drives, what better adjective to describe a thumb drive?

Chyuu-san was done with my standard weapon of choice, the Sharpie. I used a small screwdriver to hold him steady (you can see the metal rod part of the screwdriver in some of the shots).

I still like the idea of replacing faces with kanji, so I may reuse this element some time in another piece. Either way, I’m generally happy with the way this came out (despite it not winning the damn Mimoco contest). I do plan on doing the kanji-face with a Sharpie at some point–I was just on a deadline. :)

Check out the full Flickrset, including progress shots and an early sketch, here:
flickr.com/photos/thepete/sets/72157601666770824/

toys.thepete.com Mini-Self!, originally uploaded by thepetecom.

A few years back, one of the first custom toys I did was this one–before I was even a blond, I took a blank, Toy2R Devil Baby Qee Toyer and made this self-portrait. I turned the Toyer’s teeth into my beard. I used to wear a leather motorcycle jacket and a red T-shirt. The shoes are accurate to some sweatshop friendly Chuck-ish shoes I still wear today. :)

That belt is a mystery though…

Check out the full photoset on Flickr here:

flickr.com/photos/thepete/sets/72157601666664644/

Ah, this is kinda sweet :) I was included as one of the 66 contributing toy artists for Toy2R’s custom, 36″ Qee Bear that they put together during the 2008 Hong Kong Award for Industries ceremony. According to a recent post on the US Toy2R blog, Qee4All.com, they were named the Grand Winner in the category of Innovation and Creativity.

That sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Well for them it does–but I got to be included in the fun, too. Back in December I was approached by Toy2R for future collaboration on a toy design or two. In the meantime I was asked to provide a sticker design to be included in the 36″ Qee Bear project put together at the HKAI awards ceremony. Now, I looked at the pictures of the finished Qee Bear (here and here) but couldn’t spot my logo. But hey, I am psyched and honored just to included at all.

I design custom toys because it’s a blast to do. The fact that someone who makes toys for a living thinks my stuff is good is like a whole separate cake I get to eat (not just the icing on the cake).

So, thanks Toy2R!! You guys rock!

Translation: See Ya Kitty!

Ja Ne Neko, as a project, came about when I was in an Urban Outfitters and spotted a beaten up, unboxed Hello Kitty covered in pastel-colored hearts. She had been marked down to $3 so I figured I’d take her home, give it a few coats of primer and then see what I could do with her.

As you can see in the early shots, she started out a but more sexually oriented but then I decided to go the Clockwork Orange route (got the idea from a Kylie Minogue video). :) I’m happy with the results, though I wish I had a lighter gray to work with–perhaps that’s a limitation of working with permanent marker.

Check out my Flickrset for “Ja Ne Neko” or keep reading for more pics and details about this piece:

More…

Here is my original ThePete Lego that I made at least a year ago:

Recently, my buddy Tim, over at TimToon.com, did a Lego version of himself (here: urltea.com/1dv4 ) and so I decided to go back and do a new version of myself called ThePete Lego Mark II:

Note the differences–I no longer wear a trench coat, but do wear a black button-down shirt often. I still blog a lot, so the LJ logo seemed appropriate. I also discovered my love for the color combo of black and red, I’m a blond now–though I’ve always been into electronic gadgets. The catch here is that I don’t own a PDA. I do own just about every other kind of gadget imaginable, but the PDA was the only one available to choose from.

However, after creating this new Lego-Me, I discovered that there were three new “Mizers” that ReasonablyClever.Com webmaster Christopher Doyle created–a new and improved Mini-Mizer, a Buy-Me-Mizer and the Block Head. So, let’s get started.

ThePete Lego v2:

Notice that I’m sticking with the red and black color scheme. I opted out of the logo and went with the URL for my website. Note the red coffee cup also sporting the URL to my site. I’m a much bigger coffee drinker now than I was when I created that first Lego me. Also note the red shoes that mirror my red Converse Chuck Taylors I often wear.

ThePete Block Head:

This is the most realistic head for me out of all the Lego heads I’ve designed–it’s the closest I could come to a buzz-cut hair style and it’s got my non-blond beard.

ThePete Lego v3:

This was done with Christopher Doyle’s Buy-Me-Mizer–meaning whatever you design with this Mizer, you can buy in real Lego. Pretty sweet, huh? Unfortunately, I couldn’t find quite the parts to really capture who I am in real life, so I did not place my order. Still it’s a reasonable facsimile. However, I don’t own a spear. I should have gone with the samurai sword.

So, there you have it! Check out Christopher Doyle’s site at ReasonablyClever.com or go straight to his Mizer menu here: www.reasonablyclever.com/mizers.html

That reminds me, I need to get back to playing with 1) real Lego and 2) my Lego Digital Designer. I miss Lego so much… I used to do a Daily Lego. Maybe I’ll bring it back next year.

chalky01, originally uploaded by thepetecom.

Ever since I was a kid I thought it would be so cool to design my own toys. I used to customize my GI Joe figures with Sharpies. Well, Kid Robot has produced a line of blank vinyl toys that you can do just about anything to. So, I bought a stack of them and here’s my first attempt! I started simple and and created Chalky!

Click here to check out more pictures of the finished product!

Oh and do let me know what you think!

Check this image out:

There’s just something so cool about seeing a toy you designed inside packaging. I know my design was simple, but it’s still neat…