Nate McCartney AKA Nate the Milkman is an American artist and all around creative powerhouse who has quickly gained a firm foothold in the art toy scene thanks to his varied and highly unique releases – which at this point includes ‘Stomak the Upset Stomach’ (2016) and ‘Gordon the Garbage Goblin’ (2018). Both of which are creepy meets cute, human body inspired figures with a whole lot of personality!

(Photo below of the Gordon the Garbage Goblin art toy by Nate)

Like many artists these days, Nate notes small town isolation, and a chance encounter with some Pushead merch as a kid as major reasons for his interest in art and everything outre – stating how:

“While at a car show in West Point, Nebraska, I came across Ministry’s “Scarecrow” t-shirt done by Pushead. I became an instant fan of both artists, and couldn’t believe I was able to find something so cool in a place so boring… Seriously, finding that Pushead design was a pivotal moment for me. It taught me you could do big things with creepy artwork.“

Fittingly – just like Pushead before him – Nate is a highly accomplished musician and an artist, who ultimately found his community in the art underground.

So without further ado – get to know all about Nate’s life, art, thoughts on the current state of the art toy scene, see some photos of his cats, and a whole lot more – by reading the Art Talk interview below…

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Lance aka ‘Renone’ of ‘Renone Labs’ is an American artist, designer, publisher, scene builder, and all round creative mensch who work has been blowing our minds for many years now. His most recent project is ‘Rotten’ – a gang of artists and misfits who create toys, stickers, art, apparel and more.

(Photo below of a toy version of Lance’s well known Minion character)

Seeing as though it has been over four years since we last spoke with Lance, we decided to hit him up for a catch up interview to get up to speed with all his current projects, work with ‘Rotten’, thoughts on the art toy game, his artistic process, and a whole lot more.

Read it all, below….

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Aaron Lewin aka Berzerkaroth is an Australian artist who first caught our attention thanks to the beautifully gross art he provided for the ‘Goredon’ soft-vinyl designer toy from American artist ‘Nate The Milkman’. After seeing that image as part of our daily social media toy-explore, we immediately jumped onto Aaron’s Instagram and had our eyes and brain melted. Here was art that mixed the 1990’s ‘gross’ aesthetic, with the vibe of the 1960’s underground comics scene, and body horror – we have never seen anything quite like it!

Interestingly, and with a touch of sadness, Aaron posits the tragic deaths of his mother and grandfather, and an associated mental breakdown as the catalysts that led to him deciding to go hard in the art game a few years ago. With Aaron elaborating,

“My Mum had died at the age of 49 when I was 33. My Grandad died a couple of months later.

That was the Catalyst for my whole Artistic Development. I quit my Job. Had a complete mental breakdown and my only escape was drawing. I had an Instagram account with some random shit on it and started putting my art up…

I slowly gained confidence and posted more and more art. Cultivating some great friendships, amazing opportunities and great followers along the way.“

(Some art by Aaron below)

With Aaron constantly pushing hard in the art game, having recently finished his tattoo apprenticeship, and with more collaborations with Nate the Milkman in the works – now is the perfect time to get to know the man and his art, by reading the Art Talk interview below…

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The Angry Beast is the nomme de guerre of a Canadian artist and toy maker who works anonymously to keep their identity hidden from stalkers, haters, copyright lawyers, US Drones and the potential wrath of their conservative employer. Over the last few years The Angry Beast has gained a reputation internationally for his unique resin creations – which are made through a combination of kit-bashing, hand sculpting and the occasional use of fabrics.

The Angry Beast creates whole worlds, character biographies and narratives for his resin creations; setting him apart from the majority of the resin scene who mainly concentrate on pop-culture mash-ups. Additionally, his creations are expertly crafted, unique and just plain fun!

Describing his own troys, and creative process The Angry Beast states,

“It’s a combination of many skills actually, packaging design, mold making, resin work, illustration, writing, sculpting, photography, doll clothes tailoring, and a little bit of marketing.“

(Photo below of a gang of clear resin figures from The Angry Beast)

Aside from their own internationally loved work, The Angry Beast is also a member of the recently created ‘ToyRonto’ art-crew, a group of like-minded artists, all living in Canada, who work in the medium of designer toys.

We have already interviewed some members of the ToyRonto crew, Lab Monkey Number 9, and Naomi Knaff; and will be interviewing other members of the crew over the next few months – so stay tuned for those!

But, at this very moment, get to know another of the members of the ‘ToyRonto’ crew – the ever talented, and surprisingly not at all aggressive artist, The Angry Beast – by reading their Art Talk Interview below…

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Naomi Knaff is a Canadian artist, sculptor and toy designer making hauntingly beautiful designer toys. Naomi’s works are full of her unique talent and personality – bright colours, intricate sculpts and a vibe that is equal parts violent aggression and timid woodland-creature.

Originally Naomi’s toys were all hand made out of resin, but recently she debuted her first factory made soft-vinyl toy – the Lamorrttt – to international acclaim. With the Lamorrtt being made in China through noted company ‘Planet X’.

(Photo below of one of Namo’s recently released Lamorrtt soft vinyl figures)

Commenting on what inspired her to become an artist, Naomi lays the blame squarely on the shoulders of her artist parents, and noted surreal American director David Lynch:

“I had a great childhood and my parents really encouraged our imagination to develop…

When I was 14 a friend showed me Twin Peaks and I was blown away.

It was the first time a saw a story being told that way and it opened a whole new way of developing ideas.“

Aside from her own internationally loved work, Naomi is also a member of the recently created ‘ToyRonto’ art-crew, a group of like-minded artists, all living in the Toronto region of Canada, who work in the medium of designer toys. We will be interviewing other members of the crew over the next few months – so stay tuned for those!

But, at this very moment, get to know one of the members of the ‘ToyRonto’ crew – the ever talented Naomi Knaff – by reading her Art Talk Interview below…

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We at Art Whore have loved the designer toys of American artist Gabriel Rivas aka ‘Nerviswrek’ for over half a decade  now – and even had the pleasure of interviewing the man himself for an Art Talk back in 2014. Well, recently Gabriel revealed to the world a new Platform Toy he designed, the ‘Drone Blank’ figure.

What’s a Platform Toy I hear you ask dear readers? Well simply put it’s an unpainted toy, with a basic design that is sold for the purpose of being customed by it’s new owner. Kind of like a blank canvas in toy form. Classic examples are the Dunny and Munny figures from ‘Kid Robot’, the Qee from ‘Toy 2 R’ and now the Drone Blank from ‘Nerviswrek’ – which cost $US 25 shipped within America.

Describing the Drone Blank, ‘Nerviswrek’ states how he,

“Just thought that this would be a different type of platform, one that doesn’t give you a limited platform. Most other platforms are kind of outlined for you, like coloring books. But this one I think leaves it open to a lot of different designs.

Plus I’ve been using this base for a long time in  a lot of my original work, like over 5 years.“

On top of the huge news of a new, made in America resin Platform Toy – and one that is being sold for a very reasonable US $25 – is the fact that Nerviswrek has also decided to play host and curator for an upcoming group show to be held at DesignerCon / Dcon in November this year! For the show, a slew of well known and highly respected artists will get the chance to publicly display their own customed Drone Blanks, which will also be for sale throughout the show – Exactly the kind of scene building event Nerviswrek is known for.

(Photo below of the flyer for the upcoming Drone Blank multi artist custom show – Coming to DCON in November)

Well we thought it would be a good idea to find out more about Gabriel’s ‘Drone Blank’, and the associated multi-artist custom show, so as usual we asked him a few questions… Read all about it, below…

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‘OEO Toys’ (Previously ‘Slave X One’) – Ancient Aliens Mash Up Series – Fun Gus – Soft Vinyl – Initial Release One Off

• Produced By = ‘OEO Toys’ (Previously ‘Slave X One’) – from the USA
• Figure Name = Ancient Aliens: Fun Gus
• Release Details = One Off
• Material = Mexican Soft Vinyl
• Country of Production = Mexico
• Height = 21.5 cm (heads to feet)
• Depth =  5.57 cm (belly to back)
• Width =  13.5 cm (foot to foot)
• No of Parts = 6 (body / torso + neck + two arms + two heads)
• Released = February 2018
• Sculpt Debut = 7th October 2017 (in wax form)
• Release Price = $US 100 + shipping
• Genre = Soft Vinyl Art Toy

Read the full review and pics after the jump…

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Christian ‘Bees’ McGowan is a major young American artistic talent who can go from sculpting a perfectly detailed dragon, to painting beautiful watercolours of animals, to drawing hilarious cartoons featuring vomit in a single day. She is a veritable Renaissance-woman!

We discovered Bees’ and her work through Mr. Chance Priest of ‘Victory Comics’ – as Bees has collaborated extensively with Chance on his art toys, painting figures, character art, display backgrounds and more.

Aside from her work with Chance, Bees has an interest in animation, runs her own comic brand – ‘Pigeon Comics’ – and works in almost every artistic medium known to man.

Whilst capable of being aesthetically varied as mentioned, all of Bees’ vast and varied catalogue of works are soft yet strong, feminine yet tenacious, full of movement and detail; and oh so damn funny. We fell in love immediately and know you will too!

Explaining what led her to become an artist, Bees states:

“When I was around 4 years old, I saw a behind the scenes clip of Disney’s “The Lion King” where a group of artists were sitting in front of a wall of tiny drawn out thumbnails and I was entranced.

 How could thousands of these small drawings become one big movie?? I had to know!

I’ve been drawing ever since.“

(Some Overwatch inspired art by Bees below)

Wanting to know more about her work, we asked Bees some questions about working with Chance, growing up, love, sex, gaining a foothold in the art scene; and much much more! Read all about it, via the Art Talk Interview, below…

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As many of you dear readers know, we at Art Whore love toys of all type, indeed we view them as one of the highest forms of art. And like most art, toys can be split up into genres – with the obvious ones being related to intent of creation and sale method. They are: (i) mass market toys (like your ‘GI Joe’ and ‘He Man’), (ii) your bootlegs and knockoffs (think of the off brand toys you often find in cheap discount shops), and (iii) art-toys. Whilst the first two categories are self explanatory, art toys are a bit more elusive. And to that regard we previously published – in 2016 – a primer guide to art toys titled ‘What Exactly Are Art Toys And How Can We Critique Them?‘. Take the time know to read it to get up to speed if you need!

…Well one form of toy that straddles all three of the above categories are Soft Vinyl Toys – a type of toy genre relating purely to medium, in this case toys made up of soft vinyl plastic. For an example, think of your classic duck-style-bath-toy.

Soft vinyl can, is and has been used to make mass market toys, bootlegs / knock-offs and art toys all over the globe since the 1950’s or so – when plastic replaced metal as the go-to-medium for toys. Indeed soft vinyl is a very versatile medium and can be used on a craft or industrial scale. However, it usually needs a factory of some sort and is thus less DIY than some other toy mediums like resin.

Well one thing we have noticed as a result of being part of the global toy scene for a few years now is that people are really invested in Soft Vinyl Toys. People have very strong, emotional feelings about them. This can and has led to everything from fights, to marriages, loss of friendship, anger, fractured communities, theft, dubious commercial practices, travel, bankruptcy, tattoos, conventions, bootlegging and a whole lot more!

Well, one major issue we have noticed is a lack of a central text for the Soft Vinyl Toy Scene. A document or treatise outlining how to approach Soft Vinyl Toys. Some rules. A guide. Something we can all refer to as a starting point.

Hell, Judeo-Christianity has the 10 Commandments, so why not some Soft Vinyl Toy Commandments too? People are invested in Soft Vinyl Toys as seriously as any religious fanatic – so why not treat them both the same? Namely with some line-in-the-sand / pick-a-side / binary-opposite rules. Some… ** drum roll ** Commandments!

So, for edification, humor, to generate discussion and force our subjective opinion upon the masses, we thought it best to write down once and for all the The Soft Vinyl Toy Commandments….

Consider them sent straight from God. Or in this case, Godzilla.

Read them, below:

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Lewis Morley Jnr aka Lewis P Morley is an Australian artist, sculptor, toy maker, special effects craftsman, prop maker and all round creative wizard. We were introduced to Lewis thanks to our mutual acquaintance Mike McGann – as Mike, Lewis and fellow artist Marilyn Pride all lived together during the 1970’s in a self described sci-fi fan commune in Sydney, Australia.

Lewis was born in 1957 and is part of the first generation of children to grow up with television. He importantly also came of age in the 1960s, a time of sci fi, space exploration, pioneering work in stop motion / visual effects, comic books and toys – all inspirations that guide Lewis’ creative work to this very day. With Lewis himself stating:

“The wonder of childhood is still an important motivator for my work, on some level almost all the stuff I do is satisfying my inner child!“

Importantly, both of Lewis’ parents were also artists. His father being celebrated photographer Lewis Morley Snr, and his mother Patricia an accomplished illustrator. So it is safe to say that Lewis was destined by the gods themselves to lead a creative life! And indeed he has done just that.

(A photo of some of Lewis’ recent miniature art below)

Lewis has only just retired from his professional work, and is still making art of all types at a furious pace. So we decided to ask Lewis some questions about his many years in the Australian film industry, his father, Mike McGann, toys, comics, fandom, giant robots, and much much more.

Read it all, in the Art Talk Interview, below…

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