I’m a pretty well known Batman fan and when I saw these unique Batman customs come across our Funko Trading group, I was impressed and wanted one.
Curtis Helmick was the creator and he was quite nice to make the “black” Batman fly to my home. Afterwards, I wanted to talk to him about his collecting and you can read that below:
Curtis, how did you get into collecting?
Well I collect anything Captain America, Saw The marvel 06 in Hastings. So I bought it, then I started noticing more and more pops that I liked and took off from there. First I collected anything and everything, I wanted to complete sets, but with variants coming out and such it got expensive to collect, so just stuck with ones I wanted.
How Did I get into Customs?
I was on the forums and saw Joe Reid’s work.. Talked to him and ended up having him make me a “Super Steven Siler” Pop. He’s A UFC fighter and also a personal friend of mine. Well after that came to me, I had more and more ideas for pops, but with the price ranges he was asking I couldn’t afford it. I later joined the FB group, and saw Jared’s work and started emailing him, and bought my first custom from him “Captain Pinoy” and soon after bought Swan from The Warriors movie, and NES Jason. I took a look at my collection and saw I had a few doubles, so I asked jared(who is like my mentor for all my custom questions) for advice as in what to do, what paint to use, everything. So my first piece I did was a sky blue hulk and took off from there. After my first, the ideas just started flowing and the rest is history. After my customs were getting attention on the forums, the fb pages, the messages I would get I decided to make a FB page for my work, help display it and share with the world.. Www.facebook.com/
I am VERY OCD and detailed when it comes to pops. I wanna make sure its perfect especially if its for someone. I always have that paranoid thought that they will hate it when they receive it. I am still really new to it all, hopefully I will be in the skill set of Jared, Joe, and plenty other awesome customizers out there.
How long does a custom take?
At first it didnt take long for me to do a repaint/custom.. I would usually do it when my now ex gf and I would just be watching tv or just hanging out, I could do a repaint in 3-4 days from taking it apart to clear coat. Well now with everything going on (working 40-50 hrs a week which is swing shift, and family/social life) a basic repaint can take 2 weeks or so, even more if its a custom that I use molding clay with. Pricing it depends on the work I do, either if its just a repaint or if I have to go all out with clay and such.
Process?
Well I start with boiling pops for a few mins to help soften them up to take part, this for some reason makes it easier to paint compared to just taking out the box and painting over it. I then let it harden back up and just go to town on it. Painting a little at a time, and when all parts are what I want I then super glue pieces together and clear coat it. I made mistake of putting pops back in plastic insert too soon and the plastic infused with the pop and actually tore off paint from the pop. So to help with that I put wax paper between the two to help with that problem.
Fav custom so far?
its hard to pick just one, but if I had to choose I would go with my first custom, Smurf Hulk or my latest custom, MYSELF! 🙂
Other interests?
Well in my spare time I love spending it with family. I am very family oriented. I like hanging with friends, going bowling, playing pool, poker, I do a lot of photography (mostly tats, piercings, graffiti, and scenic). I also enjoy anything outdoors (fishing, camping, sports, etc), hanging out with my 2 pit bulls Mia and Corona, video games here and there. I am a huge movie and tv buff, collecting anything captain America, Scarface, and yoshii. I do occasionally read books most biographies, SOA comics, and TWD comics
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Thanks again, Curtis for the custom and if you are interested in a custom from him, follow this link: Www.facebook.com/