Customizing In Black & White with Jon-Paul Kaiser

I had a chat with graphic artist/designer Jon-Paul Kaiser (one-half of home-made resin toy-makers know as porlzilla) about his current stark black&white custom-style.

CLICK THRU for a read and peeks at Jon-Paul's customed-toys.

TOYSREVIL: I've seen the stark black and white style since your Obama figure [PEEP]. Was that the first? If not which custom in this set is? Would you say this is / these are an evolution of your style? Or exploration into new frontiers?

JON-PAUL KAISER: My first custom in this style were the 3 Mini Munny's, Tolteca, Ra-Ra-Rasputin, then Ganesha. I'd say that generally I'm constantly trying to evolve my style, always keeping the starkness of the black and white, but refining my techniques so it looks almost printed or stencilled.

[Ra-Ra-Rasputin, Tolteca and Ganeshish: 3 Mini Munnys]
JON-PAUL KAISER: I developed the style when I first got into making designer toys with my old cohort Porl" from porlzilla; he's such an amazing artist and does the most incredible sketches. When I first saw him draw I totally lost my confidence and didn't touch a pencil for 6 months, and I was a professional Illustrator at the time! I spent a while trying to find 'my' style, then I realised that I'd already got a style that I'd been drawing in for years in sketchbooks and comic panels, so I just evolved that into a 3D illustration that wraps itself into a character on toys.


[Sir Gawain Wagstaff, Victorian Gentleman and bare-knuckle boxer. A little past his prime, but still on-so tasty in a brawl. He was a Lancelot figure from Peskimo's Bamboozoo line]
TOYSREVIL: Any particular reason for this style? I personally like it as it strips away the veneers of colors to see the true illustration-style underneath (but that's just me). Seems the emotive quality resonates quite a different route, than say a full-colored paint-job.

JON-PAUL KAISER: The black and white comes from my drawings which I always did with a fine-liner on white paper. I love the stark look and how powerful it can make the simplest of images. It's also a little devious as when it's on show amongst other toys that are the same 'canvas' it's boldness and simplicity would make it stand out from quite a distance.


[Pan. Woodland Deity. 3" Dunny]
TOYSREVIL: How long does it take for each custom, on average? Are they on sale? Or commissioned?

JON-PAUL KAISER: Each custom takes several hours to paint. I spray-paint several toys all together with white primer. I take the one I want and go through my sketchbooks for characters, and draw the outlines lightly with a very sharp pencil and then trace the lines in black acrylic (I use Games Workshop paints as they have good colour and a consistent thickness) with a 0000 paintbrush, which stops me smudging the graphite across the white, keeping it crisp (hell of a bane of my earlier customs) When that's dry I paint each black section individually, and try not to use any white paint if possible.


[Preacher Caine, dishing out his own interpretation of biblical vengeance with ol' PAIN and FURY as scrawled in ink and scars across his knuckles. Custom piece for KR Boardie 'ism']
JON-PAUL KAISER: The customs started simply to get my ideas down and refine my style, I've sold a few, and had several commissions, though I can only post the Pan custom as the others haven't been seen by the people they're for yet. The customs shown are for sale, except the Pan Dunny and the TeddyTroop.


[Samurai Trooper: 3" Teddy Trooper]
TOYSREVIL: Cheers for sharing with us, Jon-Paul! In closing, WHO IS JON-PAUL KAISER?

JON-PAUL KAISER: I'm Jon-Paul Kaiser, I live in the very centre of England, I'm a graphic artist/designer by day, obsessive forum/blog reader and customiser by night. I was first introduced to Urban Vinyl properly about 3 years ago by Porl" who showed me the making of El Panda. I was in love!
We make our own home-made resin toys together as porlzilla, though we're branching out more and more into customising. I like toys, robots, zombies, comics, old films, beards, design and eating out way too much.


[Franco Mitts 1970's Hitman: 3" Trexi]

[Check out Jon-Paul's work on his Flickr]