Author: Kevin Gosselin

8″ Custom Cannibal Dunny For Turcicus

So I finished this commission for Turcicus(a member of the KR forums) and mailed the piece to him today. He was cool enough to commission one of the three 8\” Cannibal Dunnys I\’ll be doing fashioned after my 3\” Dunny(pictured as reference in last photo) that will be available in the Most Wanted Series II coming out soon.

Two of the 8\” versions are spoken for but there\’s still one left.  Each will be slightly different. This one of course looks exactly like the series piece.  The second is custom by request and the third will be based on the variant.
That is, if someone commissions it.


As you can see there\’s a lot of detail in the 8\” that\’s just not possible in the 3\” version.


Behind-The-Scenes, WIP Pics

Here are some pictures and notes of a piece I recently finished.
First thing I do is add a screw to where I feel my heaviest build-up of clay will be.
It\’s not entirely necessary now that I\’m using Magic-Sculpt(MS) and considering I\’ll cover the entire piece but better safe than sorry.
Some quick sketches of where features will be placed.
Here I have already removed sections of vinyl that will conflict with the over-all form of my piece.  Using my heat-gun I warm up the vinyl and cut it with an x-acto blade.  I then bulk out my first brow in MS.
I refine the brow with lots of wrinkles. I\’m smoothing the MS with plain water.
I also add the cheek .  Due to the drying time of MS, I can no longer bulk out the entire piece like I did with Sculpey.  I now have to work piece by piece slowly building up little by little.
I add the second brow.
And the second cheek.
Now I block on the base of the nose. I also add a little more meat to
both cheeks and a little base of upper lip.
Here I block in the bottom lip.  I ended up adding some unnecessary detail that would eventually be covered up.  The MS was not sturdy enough to bridge the entire gap so I had to do it in two phases. I look at this guy right now and I see Jeff Bridges.  How about you?
The unnecessary detail. 
I add the lower eyelids and block in the upper lip.
I refine the upper lip.
At this point I decide it would be cool to wrap the entire piece in detail.  The original 3\” version only had a sculpted face.  The beauty of a larger piece is that I can add so much more detail.
Lots of wrinkles.  This guy has been out in the direct sun all day for his entire life.
His skin is like leather.  Red Michael Jackson leather.
Here I finish the lower lip by adding more and closing the mouth up.
Adding more detail to the side of the head.  Moles and all. 
I wanted the ears to look like they had some flexibility so I really wrinkled up the joints.
More texture and more moles.
Forehead just about done here.
I create the nose bone separately and then attach once it is completely set. I then complete the nose sculpt around the bone.
Here I bulk up the corners of the mouth. They were to thin and I wanted some more meat to him.
I also add the chin.
A better look at the corner of the mouth.
And a better look at the chin.
And here\’s the last photo I have.  Suddenly the piece is nearly done.  I guess I forgot to take more pics.
I had finished covering the rest of the vinyl head and body with the same skin texture.  Then you can see I have begun to add one of the two bandages.  After that it\’s on to paint.  Oh, you\’ll never see me do a paint step by step.  MAybe in years to come when I feel like I might have something to offer.  
More pics to come of the finished piece on Monday.  Or you could just head on over to

Coolvader Collaboration Teaser

I had the privilege of meeting Coolvader almost a year ago at the Munnyworld Toy Exhibition.  We talked about both attending Ringling School of Art & Design and of course the possibility of doing a collaboration.  He liked my sculpts and well I think you\’d be insane if you didn\’t think his painting abilities were out of this world.  We both like the idea of merging our skills for an awesome piece of art.  So in reality I convinced this guy to let me piggy-back off his exceptional talents.  I mean really.  So a few months ago we tossed the idea up on the KR forums and we got a commission.  Linh Pham, the gentleman who commissioned the Stomper, 5\” Labbit from me, had wanted to commission Coolvader as well.  He took this opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

So, I looked over Coolvaders impressive collection of vinyl work and fashioned a design keeping in mind that I didn\’t want to make it too detailed a surface and and drive him mad.  I finished this sculpt a few weeks ago and it\’s now in his hands and hopefully it will be complete in the near future.  I enjoyed doing this so much that I suggested to him that we do a series.  He agreed.  So maybe next year your see a limited series from Coolvader and I.  Think anatomy.

Anyways, here\’s a teaser of the piece.

Bobble-Head Munny

I was asked a few months ago by a good runner friend to create a custom munny of another good runner friend to celebrate her completing her first 100 mile ultra marathon.  I was happy to take the job.  Soon after we discussed the concept, the friend commissioning the piece asked me if I could also make it a bobble-head, because the recipient loves bobble-heads.  OK.  Now, I guess in some sense, it makes the work slightly lower brow than the work already is, which is admittedly low brow, but I enjoyed doing this and it added an extra challenge that I\’ve yet had the chance to do.  The funny thing is that since completing this, I\’ve had a bunch of inquiries on doing more.  I guess bobble-heads are really popular.

So here it is.  Kathleen the Machine.

The Sky Warrior

This is my entry for the Ganmetall Celsius Custom Show on July 10th at the Toy Art Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.  I don\’t know what this guy\’s name is.  I just know he\’s landed from a crazy dog fight, torn off his helmet and about to throw down with the enemy.  Watch Out!

This is only my second show so far. But the same fear has run through me for each show.  What if I come up with the same concept as someone else?  Maybe it\’s because I\’m a twin, but I strive to be unique.  So I really took my time thinking what I wanted to do for this guy.  I finally settled on two distinguishing modifications that would help my toy stand out.  The first concept was proven possible with the help of my heat gun.  After warming up the vinyl I was able to bend the wings into practically any shape I wanted.  The other was the concept of my character kneeling down with the wings draped over his shoulders.   From there, just like most of my pieces I really don\’t have any solid plans aside from just see where it takes me.

Another aspect of this piece was my exploration of a new material.  I have recently decided to get away from sculpey to materials that are more durable.  I purchased some Aves Apoxie Sculpt and found it to be tough as nails. The leather pilot\’s cap is actually a sculpey blend over the apoxie sculpt head.  I wasn\’t able to get the finer details with the apoxie sculpt and felt that the sculpey would hold up as long as it was on a rigid surface.   I have since used Magic Sculpt and found I like it more than Aves but it\’s another great tool to have.   The plus on Magic Sculpt\’s side is that I can actually get the finer details.  Not quite as easily as I do with sculpey, but it\’s simply a matter of speed and not workability.  I think over time as I become more confident in my sculpting skills it should be plenty of time.

Celsius Teaser

Here\’s a look at my custom Celsius that will be in the Ganmetall Celsius Custom Show on July 10th at the Toy Art Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.  I made some big modifications to this platform as you can see in the pic below.  Is that the head separated from the body? I\’m varnishing this guy right now and it\’ll be shipped out to the gallery tomorrow.

Randall McMunny

So a few weeks ago KidRobot Social Media Embassador Ryan the Wheelbarrow ( www.ryanthewheelbarrow.com , check out that mustache!!) contacted me about participating in the Munny Munth contest and said if I was to share with them some WIP pictures that they\’d send me a Munny to work on.  I would have entered the contest anyways, but it was super cool to get that request and I was happy to help.  So I created this custom Munny for the contest (you can vote for me here if you\’d like ) and all the while I was taking pictures to show everyone my process.  I ALSO, by suggestion from Mr Spanky Stokes, decided to try out a new sculpting material.  Magic-Sculpt.  I had heard a lot about it around the web and finally found a place to by it around here.  The stuff is awesome.  It\’s a little quicker than I\’d like but I\’m getting used to it.  Anyways, you can find the WIP pics over at the Kronikle ( http://kronikle.kidrobot.com/custom-control-kevin-gosselin/ )
and if you\’d like to take this fella home, visit my shop.

Pirate Dunny For KR Forum Trade 11

I created this guy over a month ago for the trade and have been waiting to reveal it here.  The recipient of the trade received it now and I can post. I really like this little guy as he actually stands on his little peg leg.  He\’s accompanied by his bottle of rum and underneath the eye patch is a old war wound.  And to be sure he was delivered with style, I created a custom box.

Where Have I Been?

Oh Geez.  Just like that over a month has passed and if you were to be a subscriber of this blog you might think I fell off the face of the earth.  The reality is that I have been doing work but not as much as before and communication has been at a minimum.  So what happened?  Well, as I mentioned in the prior post, my baby girl was born.  My wife and I took off just two weeks from our respective jobs to enjoy her without any distraction and it was great.  After two weeks we both got back to work and I was able to get a considerable amount of work done.  However, after one week, the visitors began to roll in.

Don\’t get me wrong, I love having my family and friends come into town and especially in this case as they were able to enjoy visiting with baby Alexandria. The BUT in this all is…

but I didn\’t get any work done for the two weeks that guests were in town.  BUT, now all that is done and armed with pleasant memories of family and friends it\’s time to get my ass in gear and really get some work done.  I\’ve got a huge workload over the next few months so expect lots of cool stuff to appear on here.  I\’m really excited about all the things that are happening and especially seeing my dream of being a fine artist grow into a reality.

So what am I working on??  I\’m finishing up that Kuso Vinyl for the TAG show in LA for starters.  The sculpts all done and I\’m just trying to figure out the color.  Also, I\’m currently working on a seriously awesome commissioned collaboration with a New York based customizer/illustrator.  I\’m serious, this is going to be awesome.  And then there\’s a little something that will hopefully show up soon on someone\’s blog.  Somebody asked me to put together another tutorial.  Gotta make it somehow new from the one I made just a little bit ago but I\’m sure I\’ll come up with something.  Oh, and then there\’s a few other commissions, another show, Most Wanted series and maybe, just maybe a production piece in the works for next year.

Oh yeah, the coffee is in me, the music is blasting and both have got me pumped.  Let\’s get the day started, It\’s not getting any longer.

GANMETALL CELSIUS CUSTOM SHOW

I\’ve been invited to participate in this awesome show. It\’s July 10th at the Toy Art Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. I\’m going to do everything I can to be present for this event.

As soon as I get back to work, in another week or so, I\’ll be working on my Kuso Vinyl Toy for this custom show. I had just started working on it when little miss Alexandria decided to make her entrance.

Special Thanks to Spanky Stokes for the invite into what looks to be one hell of a show.