Skelanimals - Julie West

At last, the collaboration between the dead but cute Skelanimal characters and Toy2R's 2.5 Qee format have been mashed together to release the first Skelanimal Qee Series Assortment. As if that weren't enough, Toy2R has gathered some of the hottest designer toy artists to include their designs inspired by the Skelanimals mythos.Created out of an obsession for designer/art toys and collectables, Hong Kong based company Toy2r continues to break down the boundaries between product design, art and graphics. Mastermind Raymond Choy founded the company in 1995 where he took his dream of a once owned toy store known as ‘Toy R’ (short for Toy Raymond), which held countless quantitiesof limited edition toy collectables, and turned it into a internationally recognized company amongst the first to explore the potential of the designer/art toy movement. Ultimately, instilling contemporary art into the vinyl toy market we all know and love today. Toy2r is a multi-faceted company whose logo was taken from our most loved and cherished mascot, the ‘Toyer.’ In 2001 Raymond released the skull-headed figure alongside what was to become the most ubiquitous toy canvas in the world, the Qee keychain figure (Please see About Qee for further information). We take great pride in our determination at Toy2r to not only innovate but inspire artists’, designers’ and the world’s generation of youth alike. Our main objective is to provide limited/collectable designer/art toys at an affordable price, based on the coolest designs for the current international market. Toy2r has received numerous internationally renowned awards for our outstanding achievements;Julie was born in the winter of 1975 in the midwest. She spent her childhood taking art classes and volunteering at a local art gallery. She then went on to study art and graduated with a BFA in Illustration in 1998 from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Julie started out as a traditional media artist - using primarily acrylic, gouache, and technical pens. After spending a few years working as a print and web designer, various computer and design related elements began to surface in her work. Now her work is created with traditional means about half of the time - the rest being digital or a combination of the two. Her work relies heavily on people and environments. Often quirky, bizarre, or ironic, Julie looks heavily at the way people live and define themselves, as well as the environments which they create for themselves. Studying these details, often reveals the unique moments that make us human. After moving to England in 2005, Julie now spends her days in her studio, quite content that she makes things all day.