maarten janssens' 3eyedbear papertoy

3EyedBear has landed on earth as a pioneer to investigate conquering the earth. The Bear reproduces itself by being printed out and being put love, cutting and glue in it. He can pop up anywhere in the world, but don't worry, he is about spreading love, not war! He's a real talisman, buddy and bringer of luck.

(technically) 3EyedBear is a product of Amsterdam-designer; Maarten Janssens; reliving the fun-stuff from his childhood to escape from everyday's reality of forced creativity and deadlines - and he's looking for fellow-designers and papertoy-folks (that means you, yes YOU!) to collaborate and customize 3EyedBear and it's world (peep gallery) and you can start by downloading the FREE-template by clicking HERE and submit your finished designs HERE :)

meanwhile, Maarten has graciously designed a TOYSREVIL-Exclusive Y-front-wearing-avenger named: UNDY (or "Kiss My Bum" - whichever you so please LOL) which you can download HERE ;)
(my sincere thanks, Maarten!)
/// CLICK HERE to read my (loooong-overdue) chat with Maarten about the origins of 3EyedBear :)

TOYSREVIL: how did 3EyedBear come about? what was it's genesis?

MAARTEN JANSSENS: About three years ago, I visited Manuel Osterholt (http://www.superblast.de/), a friend of mine. He came by in Amsterdam, so me and my girlfriend hopped onto the train to go check out his place in cold Berlin. It was the time of the rising of Pictoplasma and we were talking about it and how we would do something with it. My specialty is designing characters and Manuels‘  is to make them look darn cool. I had some time on my hands so I proposed to investigate the paperkitting-world I recently had discovered, but  I spended it by just downloading kits from all over the place (Asian mainly) and by building them. By the time I came up with the bear, jobs came in the way. (pause). I recently searched for something to clear my mind with and came back to the paper. This time I started building a website so that visitors would keep reminding me of prodúcing kits.  Manuel is really busy right now, so it’s me now. Maybe later he will lend a hand or two, that would be full circle.

TRE: how did the concept come about? what's 3EyedBear's story?

MJ: We both liked the idea of bringing the kits  all over the world by just downloading it. For free, to make it accessible to everyone and also, I wanted the toy to be not only for boys. I hope the bear will appear disguised as, lets say, a transformer as much as  a young puppy. I also try to keep in mind how the paperkitting works for people other than ourselves, so I have rules about time or ink-cartridges needed. Our paperkit should be build within an hour. You can download the next one if you have expendable time. We just want the bear to, ehm, conquer the world. LOL

Storywise the bear is an alien-life-form investigating the world. They hybernate on the internet as bits and bytes and come to life by just printing them and building them. My website is just the nerve-center reporting appearances and sights. Kind of basic for a science fiction fanatic as myself   ;)

TRE: why 3-eyed?

MJ: You would have to ask Manuel, he came with the name. It sounded good to me  :)

TRE: are you a heavy paper-toy fan? and why paper?

MJ: Yes I am! It’s the most democratic, budget-friendly, easy-accessible and therefor powerfull canvas to work on. Literally ANYBODY can go customize or design a papertoy! well, except for my nephew Henk maybe, but he’s doesn’t have his brain straight up completely :) Oh and his father, uncle Johan, but that’s because he has huge hands.

I also like the beauty of paper off course. It's fragile yet elegant. It really is some form of sculpting, searching for perfect shapes and nice fittings. And it has a long history and fundament in origami too so there's a lot to find out and wonder about it (for geeks like me  :)

TRE: would you ever envision 3EyedBear as a vinyl toy?

MJ: I don’t know, if an educated designer builds it,…  :)  but it will be a copy, not the real one! I love vinyl toys, I really do, but paperkits reproduce themselves like rabbits. Vinyl will always be something exclusive, more arty too.

TRE: do you want to tho? ;p

MJ: Sure, but I would treat vinyl differently, so I would end up with a different toy. Let the bear be the bear.

TRE: can you tell us what little quirks or characteristics of 3EyedBear that people might not know about?

MJ: What do you think? 3EyedBear is alien for Pete’s sake! There is not much known about him, since he just started appearing on earth, but it can be confirmed he’s a bit exhibitionistic, loves underpants and is totally hetero-sexual (if you consider him male). He’s a talisman too I’ve been told, not the kind of saving lifes but as bringer of joy. How sweet  :)

TRE: what's next for 3EyedBear?
MJ: I hope he will live happy ever after. Or else I hope they will stick to earth like cockroaches. I’m not done yet if that is what you mean  ;) I’m asking designers all over the world to help him blend in to our world. Make him a tree, or a vehicle. Make him an urban vinyl toy, that would be funny (and a perfect disguise!).

TRE: cheers for your time (and patience!) Maarten! and many thanks for the UNDY-bear! LOL - in closing, please share with us: Who is Maarten Janssens?

MAARTEN JANSSENS: I’m an illustrator/designer from Amsterdam, raised and bred in the comicfield. Started professionally at age 15, following the path of too many commercial jobs and always out of the spotlights, doing comics and covers for Disney and now being the design-supervisor for the Dutch animated series-to-air-next-year ‘Kika and Bob’. I’m sure it will also be broadcasted in Singapore, since Singaporese animation-studio PeachBlossom is co-producing it as well.