Go Figure News is pleased to have had the opportunity to get a chance to chat with self tought Californian designer and toy artist Candie Bolton. She was gracious to answer some questions about her work then and now. This was our conversation....
Q: Do you remember the first toy you ever owned and what meaning, if at all, it had to you?
A: I can’t recall what my first toy was exactly, but there are definitely some memorable ones from my childhood. I remember going crazy for My Little Ponies and I used to stare at the catalog showing off the deluxe ponies that you had to mail away for. Little did I know that my obsession with them was actually fueling my mom’s own desire to collect and she now has a very impressive pony collection that is rapidly taking over her house.
Q: So you learned a lot about collecting from your mom, ha, that's like having a built in role model for an audience. What does she think about your work and your choice of profession...and/or do you have another job that helps balance your ability to be creative?
A: Well we both started our respective toy collections after I moved out. Maybe it’s just in our genes! This is my full time job now, but I used to do graphic design. My mom is very supportive of my career choices and often tells me that she is very proud of me.
Q: Where did you grow up and how did your upbringing influence your creative thinking and direction?
A: I grew up in a very small town in the foothills of northern California and since then I’ve mostly stayed around the Sacramento area. I think the small town environment definitely influenced my art since there wasn’t much to do out there so I often spent a lot of time hiking through the woods or trespassing into cow pastures. Living in a rural area also meant that we had a lot of property to fill with many animals like horses, a whole barn full of rabbits, a koi pond, and any pet you can think of like lizards, newts, birds, ferrets, mice, rats, hamsters, and of course dogs and cats. Basically what I’m getting at here is that I grew up surrounded by nature and animals and I think that my artwork reflects that.
Q: Your work has a Japanese sensibility. Where or how did you adopt your style?
A: I’ve always had an interest in ancient art from all around the world and any type of legend with mythical creatures appeals to me -- so I am fond of Japanese folklore for this reason, it's a huge source of inspiration for me. Modern Japanese artwork also appeals to me because of the huge influence anime and manga has had on my life. When I was first getting into anime it was still very rare and hard to get a hold of so any chance I had to be exposed to it always felt like a special event. I remember one day my sister brought home a Macross 7 art book that she borrowed from a friend and I was so captivated by it that I photo copied the entire thing and then tried to replicate that art style. Since then I’ve put a lot of effort into learning more about Japan and the more I learn the more I love it. Something about their aesthetics really appeals to me.
Q: I see that in Bake-Kujira which is one of your more recent pieces. How many variations have there been to date?
A: As of right now, not counting one-offs, or TAG releases, it’s around 7 variations I think? I don’t really keep track of it and each release is very limited. I am most proud of my Burning Bake-Kujira available at Soft Vinyl Sydney 2017 and the Frozen Bake-Kujira one-off that will be at the Lulubell Ichi show. All of the releases have been hand painted by me (aside from the collaboration pieces like the Nebula Bake-Kujira painted by Michael Devera aka Obsessed Panda) and I think this leads to a fresh approach to each color way. I hope that my fans enjoy seeing a new interpretation of it each time, although I’m worried that the small releases stress people out. It certainly isn’t easy to collect every run, especially now that they are being sold by lottery.
Q: For some, higher end figures are often too expensive, or so exclusive in number that they only reach a small audience. Do you see this as a challenge?
A: Haha that’s a good point! I don’t mean to make Bake-Kujira so exclusive it just kind of happened that way. I never imagined that Bake-Kujira would be as popular as it is. I think it would be a good strategy to design toys at different sizes because I could then order many more of the smaller sized toys and hopefully make them more accessible to fans.
Q: Continuing on that track. You customize figures every so often, how can you choose which to give your twist? And are there any projects you have to turn down, and why?
A: I get a lot of offers from toy companies to do collaborations and that’s primarily why I customize so many different toys. It’s really nice because when I first started out I had to paint my own collection and that felt awful, like a form of self-cannibalism haha. Generally I will say yes to everything that is sofubi, especially if it is clear or glow in the dark. I have a hard time saying yes to vinyl or resin, but if I like the design and have time for it then I’ll agree to it anyways.
Q: What is the primary difference/division between the mediums for you then?
A: I can’t explain it, I just love sofubi haha.
Q: Fair enough. Is there an artist you'd like to collaborate with? Any who you have worked with that were memorable projects, good or bad?
A: There are many talented artists that I would like to collaborate with and see their own paint app on Bake-Kujira including Dan Dlux, Remjie, Nebulon5, and Jon Paul Kaiser just to name a few.
As for a memorable experience, I have to say that Jeremi of Miscreation Toys has to be by far the nicest and most accommodating person I have ever met. You wouldn’t think that someone who makes mutilated undead babies would be such a ray of sunshine.
Q: LOL, Right on. Can you reflect on the underlying mythologies that you tease in your work?
A: My favorite mythologies involve Japanese youkai, which are demons or spirits who don’t necessarily have a nefarious agenda and can sometimes even be helpful. There are many shapeshifters and trickster type characters; it’s a lot of fun to learn about them.
Q: You've exhibited your work for a few years, mostly in the United States. What are some of your ambitions in terms of showing your work to a gallery-based audience?
A: Right now my focus is getting to more overseas toy exhibitions and I am exploring various options I have to attend them in person. Last year I made it to Taipei Toy Festival and it was a very wonderful experience. As for gallery work I would love to have a solo show in Tokyo (of course haha).
Q: As a self-taught artist who were some of your influences then and now? What materials did you use when you were starting out and how has that changed?
A: Back in the day I wanted to be a manga artist so I used a lot of copic markers and comic tones. I’d like to bring the comic tones back and incorporate them into my paintings; I still have a huge stack of them! I am probably most inspired by Yoshitaka Amano, James Jean, and Audrey Kawasaki.
As for painting toys, I currently use Monster Kolor, V-Color, and Gaia paint, but very recently I’ve been looking into paints made by Alsa Corp. The artist behind Black Rabbit actually recommended them to me, he thinks America makes the best paint for vinyl toys, which was surprising to me because I was always under the impression that the best paint came from Japan.
Q: Can you talk about your process on a typical vinyl project?
A: I guess to put it simply I’ll first airbrush it, then bring it inside and hand paint with gouache or acrylics, and then bring it back into my garage and clear coat it.
Q: Do you come up with the initial drawing before the form is sculpted; can you say more about those initial conceptual parts of the process?
A: I have many designs in my head right now and I really need to get them down on paper. My first step would be to draw many many many rough sketches and then slowly refine it over time. Then when I think it’s good enough I’ll draw out how it should look from each side (front, side, back). For Bake-Kujira I spontaneously came up with the concept and design while I was at work and it took maybe 5-6 sketches before I settled on the design.
Q: There is so much history to color theory we've been exposed to as artists from Josef Albers to Wassily Kandinsky - everyone has their ideas of how it effects the viewer. Can you speak about what color means to you when developing some of your figure-based pieces?
A: I think color blending is the most beautiful part about airbrushing so that’s why you’ll see me do a lot of rainbow color schemes. The easiest way to get the most striking color blends is to use the primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. I stick to this color scheme pretty often, but you’d be surprised how different it can turn out each time.
Q: I find color choice to be truly interesting. Sticking with that theme. Can you give me an example of how you applied color to a specific work, and the significance, if any, to something more deeper than the spectrum of its surface? Any hidden meaning?
A: When it comes to airbrushing I’m honestly not thinking about any kind of deeper meaning, it’s purely aesthetics and what I think will look best on that toy. However, I guess you could say I have a philosophy that I tend to follow and that’s to respect the vinyl. I consider myself very lucky to have access to blank toys to work with and I try my best to incorporate the original vinyl into my color scheme. Especially if it’s clear vinyl, glow in the dark, or glittery, then I will always leave as much of it showing as possible. My reasoning behind this is that the toy maker decided on that vinyl color and then the factory workers toiled over the hot mold carefully pulling each piece, to then fully cover up the vinyl with paint feels disrespectful to the people who created it.
Q: If we were listening in to you while working in the studio what would the soundtrack be these days?
A: It’s kind of a guilty pleasure of mine, but lately I’ve been listening to a lot of K-pop (Jay Park, Reddy, Dean, Big Bang, BTS). I mostly listen to podcasts, watch documentaries, or binge watch tv shows while I’m painting. Recently I binge watched Game of Thrones and it was a totally different experience; there is so much foreshadowing written in to the plot and it felt like all of the events were unfolding much too quickly.
Q: While I realize that most of your work are considered adult collectibles, are there any interesting experiences for children experiencing your work that you can share?
A: I showed off Bake-Kujira to my 2 year old nephew and the first thing he did was pull off the arms and tail fin. In seconds he was able to pinpoint the weakest design features of my toy haha.
Q: That's simultaneously alarming and very telling. Do you think that if you had an opportunity to teach an adjunct course on "Sofubi 101" that you'd have a syllabus worthy of engaging the next generation of independent toymakers? What tips/trick would be included?
A: I am absolutely not qualified to teach people about sofubi production, I think there are so many other toy makers that would be better suited for that. My knowledge of the industry is very minimal and there is so much more that I need to learn. With that said, I think if you want to get kids interested in sofubi then just make sure to expose them to it at an early age. You can learn a lot about production and how the molds need to be made just by becoming familiar with the toys and critically analyzing their design.
Q: If you could meet any person in history, living or dead, who has influenced your life, who would it be and why?
A: It’s hard to say because if I ever had the chance to meet someone like that I feel like I wouldn’t have anything note worthy to say to them and they would probably just see me as another awkward and annoying fan interrupting their day. I think I would just end up making a fool of myself so it’s best to leave that person alone and give them some peace.
Q: Thanks for your honesty, maybe I can ask that again in ten years time. It's been fun chatting with you! For now, what are you working on and can you share any special sneak peek with our readers?
A: It feels like I’m working on a million things at once right now. I’d really like to chip away at the mountain of sofubi that people have sent me for collaborations so please look forward to me painting Jobi the moon fox, Vertebrata, Canadian Hairless, Daioh Negora, Twins, Bozu, and many more. Also, coming up next month, is my all girl group show Feminamorphe II at Woot Bear opening February 25th. Tasha Zimich and I curated this show and I’m very much looking forward to seeing it all come together.