Category Archives: New releases

EMP museum Hello Kitty Kaiju

Well, the cat’s outta the bag ! … We are happy to show the exclusive Hello Kitty Kaiju figure only via EMP Museum in Seattle ( http://www.empmuseum.org ) ! Each is fully hand cast in soft vinyl ( sofubi ) and hand painted in Japan by Master craftsmen.

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The Hello Kitty Supercute exhibit travels from Japanese American National Museum to EMP museum with an opening party Friday night November 13th, 2015 ( I’ll be there ๐Ÿ˜‰ ) and public opening on Saturday.

The figure will be available in their store ( but please check with them in terms of online sales etc ) It’s exclusive to EMP, so I will not have any to sell sorry to say.

Sanrio X Max Toy x EMP museum, with special thanks to JapanLA !! Meow !

Max Toy 10th Anniversary

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Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since founding Max Toy Company ! I thought I would share some behind the scene pics from the early days. We start with my original character, Captain Maxx. Named after my son Max … whom the company is named for as well ๐Ÿ˜‰ While we’ve gone on to make Captain Maxx in other sizes and in Japan, this first China made version remains my favorite.

Fun Fact: I use “Max” so much (company name, Characters etc) that people think my name is Max ! I’d say about a third of the emails are addressed to Maxย  ๐Ÿ˜‰

Before launching the character I posted up a secret web site, which gave the back ground details on where Captain Maxx came from: www.captainmaxx.com

By the way, it’s a fictitious story but fans still think there was a vintage TV series in Japanย  ;-P

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Here’s the sketch I did that the factory used to base the sculpt below on. My influences for the figure included Ultraman, Spectreman, Mirrorman and Marvel comics 60s Captain Marvel .. all mashed up !

maxx_proto1Sporting a “removable” mask which reveals a hybrid face underneath of Me (hair parted in the middle), Max ( his dimple on the cheek) and the generic Japanese toy male face sculpt.

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capt_maxxHeader card painting I did for this project. Acrylics on canvas.

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Backing card with cutaway view of Captain Maxx. Pen and Ink with airbrush.

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There’s nothing like seeing your logo on the foot for the first time ๐Ÿ˜‰

 

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Final figure, bagged.

And of course Captain Maxx needed his own theme song ! Hope you enjoyed this look back .. I’ll post up more throughout the year.

Captain Maxx theme song retro version by Yunck & Trierweiler.
Song written, produced and recorded by Yunck & Trierweiler.

RyanYunck :
http://www.facebook.com/RyanYunckMusic
http://www.youtube.com/RyanYunckMusic

Max Toy Co Updates

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Sorry for the lack of updates been working on customs for various upcoming shows plus randomly dropping Ultimate SaiKobi customs in the web store (all sold out) Above is a test shot of a Saikobi on a tank .. part of a special series we are working on for 2016 debut ๐Ÿ˜‰ I’ll try to post up a few more as we go along. Its gonna be a very cool project ! Of course you can get daily random Kaiju posts from me via Instagram: @maxtoyco

New Lady Darkness & Ultimate SaiKobi

 

 

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Well it’s been awhile but we finally have a new Lady Darkness ! This Tropical version is available in two versions, Face and Mask types ( each sold separately ๐Ÿ˜‰ ) This particular figure sports close to 30 different masks … amazing painted details ! Lady Darkness is a villain of Lady Maxx ( for those who don’t know, buy our Lady Maxx comic book )

DarkWeb_artand below we also have the first factory paint version of our Kaiju Ultimate SaiKobi Mecha Dino figure !

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Painted by master Kaiju painters, The Maruyama Brothers, in Japan. How can you go wrong with a half mecha Dino and half Dino, well Dino ! Both in our web store now !

Custom Ultimate SaiKobi by Mark Nagata

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On sale Friday, Sept 24, 2015 via our web store – http://www.maxtoyco.com – This is a one of a kind Ultimate SaiKobi. Hand painted by Mark Nagata, using Monster Kolor paints !

Color change and clear coated .. take him in the Sun for a nice sparkle look !

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We’ve got a factory painted version arriving any day now… at a cheaper price point in case you want to wait ;-P

Monster Squad art show Creature Features gallery

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Opening this Saturday is a tribute show to the cult film Monster Squad. Curated by the ever busy Chogrin, the Gillman image to the right above is my contribution. Below are some random process shots of how I went about painting this piece. Both the original and giclee prints are available at the show / gallery.

More info:

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/events/403073859883745/

http://themonstersquadartshow.tumblr.com

 

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First step is always a full pencil rendering on the board. Using Crescent watercolor board. Image above, has some paynes grey under painting .. just adding grey tones to the pencil work.

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Using acrylics to tone the whole board. Paint has some matte medium mixed in to thin it down, but keep the bright color.

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More toning, knocking some of the brightness back a bit.

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Going back in and pulling out the reflective lights .. bring forms back into focus.

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Face is just about done, moving to the background which is going to be a loose indication of a swampy area …

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Finished piece ๐Ÿ˜‰ Its about 11×14 inches.

Guillermo Del Toro show at Gallery1988

Here’s a quick post about last Friday’s, Guillermo Del Toro “In Service of Monsters” art show at Gallery 1988 (west) Los Angeles. Curated by Chogrin and Gary Deocampo.

First let em say, the over all caliber of the show was one of the highest I’ve seen, everyone brought their “A” game and more, and it showed. I had a piece in the show so last minute decided to travel down with Max to attend a reception for the artists.

Plane + cab ride and along the way saw this …

2015-09-11 17.42.35Only in L.A. would you see this cool sight… Gort ! I always get a sense of deja vu when visting L.A., I’m not sure why … it might be because I spent my early childhood years in the 70s growing up in the Sawtelle area … and use to have many relatives who lived in the area… I’m sure somewhere in my mind I’ve crossed these streets .. but now it’s just a faded memory …

 

2015-09-11 18.17.11The gallery space is long but not wide, so it was very packed … some nice touches included custom arches for the show.

 

2015-09-11 18.20.16Here’s my piece for the show … basically a “pin up” of Mako from Pacific Rim ๐Ÿ˜‰

 

2015-09-11 18.30.07Mr Del Toro appeared and all the Geeks in the room started sweating, raising the over all temperature to 100+ degrees ! Ok I’m sorta kidding but it was VERY hot in the gallery … !

 

2015-09-11 18.31.22What can I say, I am a very lucky artist to have spent a few moments with Mr Del Toro.

I’m not really sure what I said ( haha) but forgot to get a picture with Max ;-( … but max did get to shake his hand ๐Ÿ˜‰

By the way, Mr Del Toro took his time with each artist there and made his way thru the whole gallery, talking, taking pictures … this is a class act.

 

2015-09-11 19.16.44Here’s one of the curators, artist Chogrin … I’m sorry i did not get a shot with the other curator, Gary Deocampo, but both guys were busy working super hard all night !

2015-09-11 18.33.51Both and Max and I are big fans of EM Gist’s work … this one sold out quickly ( darn) !

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And like that, it was over. We had only 4 hours on the ground and had to catch a plane back to San Francisco. While leaving the gallery the line to get into the show was around the block ! Yikes .. !

My original sold (yay !) but prints are still available via Gallery1988 web site plus check out all the other great art here:

http://nineteeneightyeight.com/collections/guillermo-del-toro-in-service-of-monsters

Show runs till October 3rd, 2015

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