Kim Fung Wong Interview !!!
Here's a interview with Threezero Toy designer Kim Fung Woo... it's really more of a conversation between us. As most of you already know, he does those bad-ass Ashley Wood robots. So we've been kicking around him doing some 1/6th scale toys of my Trout-a-verse creations.. Potbelly for a start… a Dana figure… Magic boxes… just for fun.
Sam: Kim, we've been talking in e-mails for a while about doing some toy figures together. I've known Ash for years, and was blown away by the textures you put into his robot figures - after doing some of the other figures… like the Maxx and the batman.. it would be beyond cool to see some of the my trout stuff in 3D!
Kim: I've heard about your name for a long time, and was very interested in collaborating with you. This going to be a fun project!
Sam: The first ideas you sent were a 12" Dana figure. But to start, I think we both also got excited by doing a larger figure of Potbelly with his of the Magic Box. I think we both agreed on potbelly to start, because so many of my drawings all have a pot bellies… ! lol
Kim: I like the Pot Belly! But some of his parts are tricky. That why i asked you for a drawing of his front view, side, of the entire image.
Sam: Remember i asked if we could make his neck bend too?
Kim: Yes. But the bending neck is tricky. We have some experience making plastic have wire insert to let the plastic bendable. However, I was worried his neck might too skinny to insert wire.
Kim: But, Rotating the neck from side to side should be no problem.
Sam: Yeah, that's why you suggested if we use the shriveled neck I did in another potbelly drawing, it might be thick enough.. So now i had two versions of put belly… one is thin necked, the other shriveled and a little thicker.
Sam: Aside from the figure, this also got me weaving these two version of potbellies into my Dana stories.. may one comes from a different region of Dana's subconscious? And the other.. I dunno yet. But funny how the practical side of a figure could start me re-thinking the creative parts of my story. But, overall, whichever the neck wound up being, thicker and shriveled, pot belly is a good image to start with.
Kim: Yes, Pot Belly guy would be a good start too, maybe with some accessories. Like the chair he sits in, and magic box he's looking at on your Bimbo cover. If the Pot Belly guy need to be able to pose, then the shape at his articulate points might need compromise. I want to make art pieces based on your creative work. Not just simple toys. A 12" action figure is more fun than smaller toys!
Sam: Yeah, I agree. The rough potbelly sculpture you sent over looked awesome, but when I heard about the detail you wanted to add to the skin, i got really excited - is this new for you… doing skin on figures?
Kim: The Flesh skin is a new idea and it is more complex than using a exist action figure to make it. It take some time to develop but I would like to build new standard to the toys market for your first toy.
Sam: Wow, that's too cool Kim! In my mind this is just some goofy idea, it's blows me mind to imagine your developing something you've not even done yet. So unique.
Kim: What we do is unique… it's like a passion. For the Pot Belly, I would like to make it fully articulate with soft skin on some parts. Like the upper torso with the dumpy fat belly. So we need to make a interior plastic skeleton to support the soft skin. To make it look fresh skin. This is also a new experience for me to make a figure like this. Might need more work and more tooling etc. But I always interesting to do something new and challenging.
Sam: Let's talk about Dana figure and her box. My original idea for Dana's box was for it to be like an over-sized pet she'd ride around in her imagination… sorta like a Legs idea… but in her waking life it's just be an ordinary box which wasn't alive. For the comic, I got stuck thinking i had to choose one of the other, either a 'Live' Dana box, or a ordinary one..
Sam: After our talks, I got re-inspired that i could have both the tall Dana box, in scale to Dana, and how much cooler it would be to have a smaller Dana figure riding it with a saddle.
Kim: Yes, I like it. For the Small Dana and Alive box, I thinking to make the alive box about 16 tall with a 6 inch Dana. If the alive box is too tall and big. I am concern the skinny legs hard to support. If Dana would be small as 4 inch it would be hard to show much details.
Kim: If Dana is about 6 inch. I still can make some simple fabric clothes for her.
Sam: We could always do a bigger Dana later, which I also like, but the little boy in me wants a cool creature for her to ride too! Plus Dana has some weight on her, NO skinny barbie doll waist! lol
Sam: I also wanna thank Kim for making this so much fun. Also Ash for pathing the way with his own such awesome looking figures. I'm humbled Kim's up for to this collaboration. Hopefully we can do some cool stuff ourselves.. just like he does with Ash! Like all sculptors,I actually consider Kim a true artists - i could NEVER think through a figure the way these guys do! I'm TOTALLY excited now ~ Thanks Kim!
Okay, that's about it for now. Kim reminded me this version is just a 'rough' sculpt, the next version is even cooler and has all the skin folds, and TONS more detail, so i'll throw up in my next post.
It's weird to see how my drawings... sorta feed, affect and warp his clay figures, and visa versa. I never get tired of seeing crap i do come to life.
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Here's a goof i did on an old Bimbo page. Maybe it's a younger Pot-Belly... back when he was in better shape? : )
- Sam
