Custom-Feature: Le Jardin De Meddy by J*Ryu for Ganmetall Celsius Custom Show @ TAG

CLICK THRU for a closer detailed look alongside a Q&A with J*Ryu (who also Tweets @JRYU) about his deviously delicious custom-Celsius dubbed "Le Jardin De Meddy" ~ completed for the coming Ganmetall Celsius Custom Show @ Toy Art Gallery opening July 10th [blogged].


TOYSREVIL: What inspired the concept of this custom? And how did you derived at the name "Le Jardin De Meddy" (The Garden of Meddy)?

J*RYU: The overall concept takes many cues from the Garden of Eden story and the name "Le Jardin De Meddy" means "The Garden of Meddy." For the name itself, I wanted something a bit fanciful and you can't get fancier than French. :P The name Meddy has been stuck in my head for the last year, a derivation of Medusa, who of course, had snakes for her hair. The original name was to be "I Knew You Once..." I changed it at the last moment.


TOYSREVIL: That is pretty hardcore a sculpt and I could barely recognize the base body form upon first look! What made you decide on which direction you decided to take this custom? What is your basic process of creation. And are you happy with the result?

J*RYU: My approach to customs is to usually turn the piece around, break it down and try to deconstruct the form in interesting ways. The Celsius has a distinctly, somewhat proportional humanoid shape and wings as well; it interested me to try and find a different approach to how I could create new lines and points of visual interest. The snake idea came first as I wanted to incorporate some or all of the arms in an stimulating way. I wound up ditching the fists as they would have made the body of the snake disproportionately thick. The scales were imprinted one by one with this wire tool I rigged up like a caveman. The teeth were made out of huge fishhooks and they actually prick. The eyes were made out of clear red BB's I use to shoot ducks who like to poop in my pool. The ducks don't even feel it. =/


J*RYU: Anyways, I sculpted the snake head 5 times total because I wasn't happy with how the lower jaw was looking. I finally settled on something that was acceptable and moved on. The snake isn't based on any one species tho, I just wanted to make it look mean. I applied an iridescent effect to the snake skin so in the light it glints blue, red and green. The apple came naturally along with the snake motif but I didn't want it to be just a plain apple - I wanted to give some semblance of character and thus the Appleskull/Skullapple was born.

It was important for me to sculpt and paint it it in such a way that it looked like it was grown with the skull attributes. However, I didn't want the appleskull to be the "head" of the piece so I sculpted the body into a tree that is holding up the appleskull. The appleskull as I envision it is it's own standalone entity. As for the snake, I wanted to make it as realistic as possible because 1.) I don't possess the skills to pull of a stylized snake and not have it look cartoony and 2.) I wanted a stark contrast between the unnatural appleskull and a real snake, as if the appleskull could actually exist in this world.


[5 x images in sldieshow above of custom-details / CLICK for full-screen]
J*RYU: As for the process of creation, I don't really have a particular style that I specifically focus on or that may be recognizable as of yet, since I'm rather new to the game as a participant, rather than a bystander. There are many, many customizers out there that just blow my mind every time I see their work like Drilone, Leecifer, Chris Ryniak, Kevin Gosselin, Task One, Nemo, F+, Rsin, Troy Stith, Brent Nolasco, NC Winters, Phu... the list goes on and on. You'll notice that these customizers are more modifiers in which they really get into the heavy adding-in of the toys in some cases - this is very much like my own sensibility.

My background is design, rather than fine art so when I envision a concept, I try to implement it as close as I can to that, utilizing whatever materials/mediums that will best convey. Plus, I'm pretty rusty at painting. =/ In this case, it was the first time that I had attempted to sculpt something as realistically as possible for the "real world" elements like the snake or the tree body and it was a personal challenge to see if I could step up to the plate.


J*RYU: The driving element that I was really enamoured with was the idea of implementing a serpentine form that followed the natural lines that the arms provided. The other pieces like the skullapple and tree trunk were more ancillary but during the process, became stronger supporting elements that helped flesh out the overall ideal. Another idea that I bandied about was that of a dragon, coiled around a rocky temple, fighting a phoenix (where I could have used the wings) but I decided to test out the waters with the snake first; I may still do the other one for the 510 Celsius show.

Anyways, I'm about 75% pleased with the piece, mostly because I don't think my painting skills are really up to par and there are some little things here and there that I would have done differently/better during the process but to go back and change them might have led to more problems. That said, I think it's not too terribly shabby being that it's the first time I've ever sculpted a snake. :D


TOYSREVIL: Not "too shabby" at all, Jess hahaha ~ in closing, please do share with us can folks be expecting from you in the near future?

J*RYU: Coming up, I have the Ganmetall Celsius Show at TAG in LA, the 510 Celsius show in Fremont and I'm also contributing a custom Wizy for the WST Custom Wizy Touring show that will make its first stop at D*Con in Pasadena come November. For SDCC 2010, I will be debuting Itadakimarshall Series 2 and a few new custom sculptures including a collab with my partner-in-crime, babyvtec. Those will be available at Dragatomi's booth.

Lastly, I am working on a 20" dunny commission over the summer as well as an 8" dunny that I'm pretty excited about as I'm finally getting a grasp on where my personal artistic sensibilities lie. It's an exciting time for me that's for sure and I'm hoping to participate in more shows as time goes on.