Ladies & Gentlemen. I had the pleasure of interviewing the brainchild behind some of my favorite and forgotten toy brands and I’m sure yours as well. James Groman is responsible for the creation of such toys as Mad Balls, My Pet Monster, Barnyard Commandos, Popples, and more! This was a great interview check it out!
So how did you get into designing toys?
Well, kind of a twist of fate, actually.
I had just graduated the Cleveland Institute of Art with a BFA in Illustration and Cinematography with the intent to do comics, paperback book covers. My final senior project at CIA was a series of large fully painted movie posters.
Some of my monster concept work caught the eye of American Greetings' new Toy and Entertainment division: Those Characters from Cleveland. They brought me in to work on a very cool, monster filled action figure line that they were designing. I dove into it with reckless abandon, delivering character sketches as well as vehicle and environment concepts.
It just so happened they had also just started the initial work on Madballs and called me in to lend a hand on some of the design work, especially on the Head Poppers line of action figures. I lived and breathed this stuff so I just aimed to impress them with as much cool stuff as I could. One morning I was asked to come in as part of their full time design staff. Over the next few years I just filled my portfolio with all manner of toy designs and concepts, including My Pet Monster, Madballs, Blurp Balls, Barnyard Commandos, Popples, Care Bears, Ring Raiders….ect and so forth. So when I eventually went out on my own again freelancing, I had a few hard core years of experience as a toy designer and sculptor.
What projects have you been involved in that many of us would know besides the Popples, Mad Balls, and My Pet Monster?
I had also done all the design work for a line of Madball-esque toys called Blurp Balls. Where in Madballs was designed by anywhere between 4-6 artists, Blurp Balls was designed totally by me. (Well, under the watchfull eye of a myriad of art directors).
I also worked on a toy line for Matchbox called Ring Raiders, ultimately designing all the characters for the animated series as well as their home base of operations called The Air Carrier Justice, a giant flying wing that appeared in the series as well as toy shelves in the U.K….(if anyone knows where I can get one of these, please let me know! I never did get one of these!)
Also designed and sculpted a toy line called Body Wars for ToyMax. This was actually my first real, professional toy sculpting job…
I also worked on the 1990’s version of Stretch Armstrong, designing Stretch, his team and the main villians for the pack-in comic book as well as helping to devise his back-story for a proposed full-blown Hollywood movie. ( I believe he was going to be played by either Woody Harrelson or Jackie Chan at the time….?!)
I also did freelance sculpting for a number of model kit companies like: Ertl Collectables, Polar lights/Playing Mantis, and Geometric Design. I did the intricate pattern sculpts for products based on Godzilla, Star Wars, Sleepy Hollow, The Mummy, and Creature from the Black Lagoon. These were awesome, greatly satisfying years for me….I am still a huge Monster Movie and Sci Fi geek!
While at Hasbro toys I was design lead on the Playskool Jedi Force line of action figures, as well as Playskool’s Go-Bots and Transformers lines. Hasbro even sent me to Lucasfilm for meetings with all the licensing folks there, so that was amazing!
Who gave you your first shot as an artist?
Well, Its kind of funny when I think about it…but I may have to say the folks who used to run a series of comic book shows called Creation Comic Book conventions in the Midwest.
When still in college, I entered an art contest at one of their Cleveland shows being judged by a group of DC and Marvel professionals, and I won. The prize was that I was invited to get a free table at every one of their Cleveland conventions! I loved doing these shows, and it really gave me an opportunity to rub elbows with comic industry professionals and fellow artists just getting started in their careers. It was here I met fellow artist Robert Kraus from Akron (OH) who was just starting his own small press comic book company: R.A.K. Graphics. He asked me if I wanted to do a book for him, and it gave me the chance to launch my characters named Boose & Gar in their own series.
We became this little, Cleveland collective of artists, doing local shows and conventions, selling our wares. Soon Creation asked us to start setting up at some of their Columbus, Cincinnati, New York and Pittsburg shows! We travelled all over, and everywhere we went we learned that the sales of our books would increase. We soon started booking our own shows, selling comics and other merchandise based on our characters, and doing character sketches for fans. It really paid to press the flesh and meet the folks buying our comics, and those were amazing fun years on the road with a group of guys that I still consider some of my best friends ever.
Do you think it was harder then to break into the toy industry than it is now?
My opinion? Not really that hard.
Back in my day I just think that not a lot of artists, particularly illustrators, looked to toy design as a legitimate career path. I certainly did not. It was not until I was making a living at it that I realized that it was a fun, rewarding and creative outlet for my twisted, fertile imagination. That toy design cross-pollinated with everything else that I was interested in, including animation, comic books and movies.
I think over the years that we have begun to realize that their were actually real people designing all these characters and toy lines we grew up with, leading to a whole new awareness that we may actually be able to make a living at designing children’s playthings.
The whole Designer Vinyl movement in adult collectables has made celebrities out of people like Frank Kozik, Paul Kaiju, Mark Nagata, Brandt Peters, Chris Ryniak, Amanda Spayd, The Four Horsemen, to name but just a few. All this has led to a desire to know just who is designing our toys while we are collecting them.
As far as jobs in the toy industry now-a-days, I believe that there are many, many more toy companies, and therefore more job possibilities out there than ever before. That being said, the quality of the art of toy design these days is pretty substantial. The bar has been raised over the years, as it has been for comics and film design. There are a lot of truly incredible talents out there, all vying for jobs, making it a very competitive professional landscape. Though I think there are a lot of jobs out there for talented artists, there are also a whole new crop of amazingly skilled designers fighting for them.
What brands do you like right now?
Of all things, I still seek out anything to do with King Kong, the Universal Monsters, Godzilla, the Toho monsters, and Gamera. The new Godzilla film from last year was excellent, though Garth Edwards really did not need to be so timid about showing the monster battles. But the Godzilla design was cool, and I found myself buying up any of the good toy stuff based on the film.
I am also a fan of Attack on Titan, and really enjoyed the live action films. I am beginning to have an interest in product based on the films and animated series, though not a lot of it has made it into the states. But really I find myself seeking out and buying anything that has a great sculpt with lots of detail!
Do you think some of the toys like Mad Balls and My Pet Monster should return to shelves in a new way? I mean MLP, Rainbow Bright, and even Jem are coming back. Isn't there room for more fan favs from yesteryear?
Absolutely!
And just so any of my buddies at American Greetings are not disappointed, let me just say…BRING BACK BARNYARD COMMANDOS!
But, dare I say that Madballs is poised to make another massive comeback yet again! Lionsforge/Roar Comics has just launched an amazing Madballs comic anthology at this years New York Comicon with stories by artists and writers : Scarecrowoven, Matte Crabe, Gunsho, Dan Zettwoch, Sean K Dove, Jimmy Giegerich, Jenny Zych and Jesse Balmer! Cant talk too much about it, but there is a lot more happening with the brand next year, some of which I will be involved with. Go Madballs!!
I would love to see, (or help design….hint hint, hello Saban Brands…) a new My Pet Monster relaunch! My Pet Monster unfortunately is no longer owned by the company that created him, American Greetings, but the properties new owner Saban Brands has released a My Pet Monster game app.
Did you see the Four Horsemens’ release of the Colorforms Aliens redux? That’s a comeback made in toy collector heaven…for those of us who remember the originals.
As more and more of the kids that played with these classic toys grow up and become film directors, toy designers and animators, expect to see resurgence of some of these classic brands more and more. I hear that there is a new Masters of the Universe film in the works, as well as a Dino Riders movie.
Are you working on anything new?
Always!!
Right now I am focusing on putting together some brand pitches I am making to some animation and toy companies. I not only create and release my own runs of vinyl collectable toys, I also work with larger, mainstream toy companies, doing freelance design on some of their existing toy lines, as well as pitching them concepts for toy lines and entertainment ideas of my own.
I am finishing up a huge zombie/King Kong figure for Instinct Toys in Japan called ‘King Korpse.’ This release will be next year, and is going to be amazing! Right now the sculpt is 15 inches tall, and will have handcuffs and chains, removable ribcage and heart, (!?) and two separate heads!!
Along with the Instinct toys figure, I am also planning more vinyl monsters from Lullubell Toys, TAG Gallery (we just released the B.C. Blasters vinyl toys at Designer Con, and will hopefully be doing more….much more…) and a few other companies that I will be announcing soon., since we are still in negotiations! I also hope to have a super-sized BC Blasters comic book out this next year. Still love doing comic books, and plan on pumping one out whenever the spirit moves me to do so.
What are your hobbies?
The line is blurred between what would be termed my career and what might be considered my hobby. They kind of walk hand in hand. I love to sculpt, draw, paint, and watch movies. I do every one of these things most every day, all day long. Only I get paid for it. If I find myself with any free time, I usually, …Sculpt, draw, paint or watch movies.
Are you a collector? If so what do you collect?
Funny thing…I used to collect a lot more toys and collectables than I do now. I still have a massive Godzilla/Gamera vinyl toy collection, but really have not been buying up very much as far as toys these days. I’ve just simply run out of room in my studio, and it has made me very very selective.
I do however greatly admire a large number of artists, sculptors and designers working in the toy industry and film. I am still a very avid collector of art books, particularly books on film and animation design. I have a huge collection of ‘The Art Of’ books from all the Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, Weta, Marvel and Star Wars films, and still buy these with reckless abandon. These books are very inspiring and informative. They keep me up to date on the state of design across the creative landscape of my chosen industry.
What do think is missing from the industry in this day and age?
New, innovative creator-driven properties!!! I love seeing all-new, creative concepts that come along and shake up this industry that revolves around the constant re-invisioning or re-release of existing and established brands.
Don’t get me wrong….there has been some really great stuff going on with some of these ageless brand powerhouses, particularly the Marvel Franchise. The new regime at the House of Ideas is really treating their precious library of characters with respect and dignity, which has resulted in a whole new resurgence of excitement for their comics and entertainment.
I remember when Ben 10 came along a number of years back….what was exciting about Ben 10 is that it was the first actual ‘new’ boys action property to come along in toys and entertainment that actually hit, and hit big in a landscape consisting of Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Star Wars, Gi Joe, Transformers etc, etc. We need for more companies to take a chance on some all-new, fresh creative concepts to shake things up a little bit from time to time.
Do you have any advice for any of the up and coming artists that are trying to break into the world of toy making and design?
First off, draw draw draw!! Art is your best way of selling someone, or communicating you concepts and ideas. As I mentioned before, the bar has been raised as far as the quality of art coming from designers and sculptors in todays market, so you want to make it your goal to be among the best, and that means never settling for being second best, or an ‘also ran’.
Programs like Photoshop, illustrator, Z-Brush, Modo, Mudbox, ect are all programs used conceptualizing for toys, collectables, film and animation. My motto is: ‘the more you know, the more you can bill for!” and all these programs are state of the art for most conceptual designers now a days, and I use some of the above programs every, single day of the week!
Also, be aware of everything that is out there, walk the floor in the toy departments of Toys R Us, Walmart, Target, Spencer Gifts, Hot Topic….be able to spot quality work wherever it may be, and strive to emulate it. And also be aware that it took years for me to build my contacts, portfolio and reputation. Reputation being KEY here!
Once you land that first commission, that first big job for a major toy company, its time to go to work on YOUR reputation. Give it your best shot, with the idea that the person you are doing the job for may have more work for you over the course of their career, no matter what company they move on to, or work for. Do work that makes him/her trust that you are always going to bring your “A’ game, knowledge and expertise to every assignment without fail. At the beginning of your career you need to view every assignment as a potential new portfolio piece, destined to help provide you with more work, and build your creative integrity.
And most of all, love what you do! If your in it just for the money, it will show in your work. It may sound cliché’, but maintain a good work ethic, enthusiasm and devotion to your art, and the money will come!
Let me say I bought or owned one of every toy that you created unknowingly you shaped my child hood thanks! I loved Mad balls, I had a My Pet Monster, Stretch Armstrong, and I was over pissed when barnyard commandos disappeared I had them all and wanted more!
So yes powers that be bring back BARNYARD COMMANDOS!