Da DKiller Panda Interview
from Barcelona comes the design duo called dKiller Panda, whose SD Toys-produced Monster Theater mini-figures have just been released by Dark Horse [and reviewed here] and i've had the opportunity to have a wee chat with the guys = *coolness**read the entire interview after the JUMP*
TOYSREVIL: please introduce yourselves, who are dKiller Panda?
DKP: dkillerpanda is Juan Rubí, illustrator, and Carles Jiménez, writer. It's a design studio divided into an editorial, t-shirt and toy art.
TRE: why the name "dKiller Panda"? how did you guys come up with that? and your icon?
DKP: dkillerpanda was a name that Juan was thinking for a long time. When the exhibition had gotten some success, we decided to create our own company and he thought that it could be a good name. The Panda logo is the agressive view of the usually soft Panda.
TRE: how did the Monster Theater figures come about? were they commissioned designs, or designs that you've already had in your mind?
DKP: Monster Theater came about from the original designs of our first illustration book (Monster Theater Show) based on horror, sci-fi movie icons.We choose a selection of the first part of the book: black and white movies.
TRE: cool theme! why the chosen iconic monsters? what inspired the designs?
DKP: Monster Theater is our personal tribute to all the movies we are influenced by. Our first idea was to create a kind of logotype for each movie, using design elements, giving all the monsters a nice aspect.
TRE: i reckon you've been doing a great job so far! who is/are your favourite Monster Theater character design?
DKP: In our books there's 41 characters, but thinking only in toys series ... Juan choose London and Bride. Carles choose Franky and London.
TRE: are there more to the current series? could you reveal what they are/will be? :p
DKP: The design for the next series are ready. It's based on modern monsters (second part of our first book and a couple of new ones) but we can't say more. Our idea is work on the toys based on the second illustration book, Faery Tales. We'll see...
TRE: did you guys sculpt the figures as well as designing them?
DKP: No, we only designed the characters, although we do follow all the sculpture process very closely.
TRE: are you both happy with the result of the Monster Theatre figures?
DKP: Of course, we're really happy with the results. It's a privilege to see our characters become a 3D toy! But we want to increase the family :) !!
TRE: good news for us fans! do you create a character first, then followed by a story? or the other way around?
DKP: It depends. Sometimes there's a character who defines the history and other times the history defines the character. Even in the illustration books we try to give an history to each character.
TRE: what are your inspirations? what are both of you inspired by?
DKP: WE have a lot and different inspirations: Jim Henson, Akira Toriyama, Edward Gorey, Hayao Miyazaki, old horror movies, sci-fi, serie B, the Tiger Lillies' music...
TRE: i see quite a bit of exhibition images on your myspace, any upcoming dKiller Panda shows we should be looking out for?
DKP: Our last exhibition, 'Le Monde Secret des Automates', will move to Lil (c/Pou de la Cadena, 8 Barcelona) this coming July, until September.
TRE: what's next for DKiller Panda?
DKP: We are trying to publish our three illustration books and our graphic novel called 'Cuentos de la Señora Muerte' (Mis. Death's Tales) out of Spain. We're working in the fourth illustration book (Space Battles), in a comic book (Dr. Caligari) and a couple of exhibitions.
TOYSREVIL: good luck in your endeavours, gentlemen and my thanks for the trouble for this interview! :)
MORE DKILLER PANDA-GOODIES:
- the Monster Theater Toy Review
- Toysrevil X Dark Horse Win Monster Theater Contest
- more Monster Theater images on my multiply
