DeConstructing Designer ToysAccepting Submissions from customizers & non-manufactured toy designers

• Posted on: November 04, 2011 @ 5:10PM
• Published in: Hype

I know I posted a very vague tweet on Thursday, and then I sent a quick email to about 30-40 artists with some basic details and questions. After a few days of talking to everyone, thinking about the concept, and finding the answers I needed I'm finally ready to get this bitch started. This is definitely a super tight deadline to get a book like this produced but I want it, and more importantly you guys seem to really want it ... so here we go.

The backstory on how we got asked to do this

While we were at NYCC last weekend I was approached by a representative from Schiffer Books who asked what our site was about, and I explained it's a resource for artists to show their amazing work and connect with fans & collectors. After we talked a bit longer, and I explained everything Trampt was going to be doing over the next year he asked if I was interested in curating a book of 'toy customizers'. I put that in quotes because that's how he initially proposed the concept for the book. After speaking with a few other people I think the book should include not just 'customizers', but also artists that create their own 'non-manufactured' pieces. The title is still a working title, but if everyone likes it than at least one thing is done.

Some details around the book

Schiffer is looking for us to produce a 250-ish page book about customizing designer toys. That is pretty much the only guideline they gave us. They're fronting all the costs to get the book produced and distributed online & in physical shops. The have in-house design team that can produce the book, but I'm going to design the shit out of this book with a good friend who's an amazing print designer. Then I'll pick who's in it, get all their information & photography and place it into the book. Then we'll package up the files, send to Schiffer Books, and have a release ready for SDCC '12.

How are you picking artists to be in the book?

I've had some really great, but also really weird emails about some of the usual processes artists go through to get into a book like this. Mine are going to be REALLY simple:

Deadline has past, please don't ask to be part of this project anymore. Though keep watch on Twitter because we have several other books we are going to try and publish next year. :).

What's the process going to be?

I need to fill the book with around 100 artists, but with such a tight deadline I will be asking more than 100 artists to give me their info so we don't miss our deadline for not being able to fill up the entire book. Why should one artist miss out on a chance in being in a book if other artists couldn't get their shit together in time? Once we have all the info we need from each artist, we'll begin laying out the book and by December 1st we'll know what the book will be and who will be in it, then we'll send out emails to notify you whether or not you made it in.

I hope that process seems fair. I've never organized a book before so this will definitely be an adventure. Please, please, please share this with as many people as possible. I would really like to include at least a few artists, especially international ones that nobody has really heard of before since that is, in essence, what I want Trampt to help do.

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