As it's Friday 13th I decided there was no better time than now to talk about a favourite Artist of mine Matthew Roby who goes by the moniker Pickled Circus probably due to the wondrous menagerie of misfits, monsters and marvels that he creates! A talented artist by no small stretch he has created a whole host of weird and wonderful characters starting as sketches, building into fully formed characters with backstories and finally sculptures/custom collectible toys which is how I discovered him on one of my many tumbles down the Instagram rabbit hole. As luck may have it he also went to Toy Con last year and this year so I got to see his amazing art up close! This year I even got hold of some prints and the book of some of his characters which is ...
Designer or Custom toys have been around for a while and honestly I'm not really sure how I came across this world (I've only been aware of it for a few years now) but from my perspective it's just recently started to grow with conventions and Funko POP's becoming something that people - geeks and non-geeks alike - have started to become interested in. Jason Freeny Jason Freeny a custom toy maker well known in the custom toy industry for his anatomical structures and is someone who came from a sculpting & toy background. He's done some amazing figures doing anatomical cutaways showing what he imagines would be underneath popular characters skin. Tested.com have luckily done an interview with him recently going into his process a little and how he got into it. Find more of Jason's work at ...