With blind boxes and vinyl figures flooding the market, it is very hard to make sure that your designs stand out from the crowd. Matt Jones (aka “lunartik”) has successfully found a way to break out with his designs for Titan Merchandise as well as his Cup of Tea collection and continues to push the envelope when it comes to vinyl figures.
Vinyl figures and blind boxes have slowly been catching on here in the US, but seem to have been around for a while in other parts of the world. What first got you into creating vinyl figures?
I started creating figures back in 2005 when I was introduced to the scene by Phil Corbett, my artist friend.
I won a design competition which was held by TOY2R, which gave me the boost and confidence i needed to create Lunartik in a Cup of Tea. My own vinyl figure and platform art toy.
You recently released the “Plastik Surgery” hand book on your site teaching aspiring artists how to work in the vinyl/resin medium. When you first started, was it a lot of trial and error or was there someone you turned to for advice and tips?
I started at University, I got a big bucket of silicone sponsored by a company and I was the first student on my design course to cast in resin.
From there I’ve been working in the prototype industry so I gained plenty of experience using resins and silicone’s and model making from that.
With the technology of 3D printing becoming more and more accessible, has it changed your creative process in any way?
I would say yes and no, I still enjoy the feeling of handmade products but with the new 3D CAD around it is good to get things made quickly and above all the changes are easily made to the sculpt.
With collections like Doctor Who, The Beatles, Buffy, Aliens, etc. it seems like you and Titan Merchandise are getting inspiration from many facets of pop culture. What is the process to deciding what music/TV show/movie should be added next?
It’s all down to Andrew and the Titan Team, I don’t have any say in this process but I am always excited to see what they are bringing my way!
I asked this same question to Andrew Sumner at Titan Merchandise: There have been a couple pictures of actors seeing their likeness in Titan form (Alex Kingston, Arthur Darvill, David Tennant). I imagine it must be pretty awesome to have a 3″ version of yourself, so have other actors met their 3″ counterpart, were you there and what has been the overall reaction from these actors? (Or have you received any fan mail from any actors?)
I think it’s been good, I’ve not had my eye on it. Alas, I have had no fan mail and thankfully no stalkers!
If you could chose any TV series and a movie series to create a collection from, what TV series and what movie would you choose?
He-Man would be top of my list, and Stingray a close second.
I want to thank Matt Jones for taking some time from his very busy schedule to talk to me. Make sure you check out his website, Twitter feed as well as Instagram for some of his amazing work and pick up his Plastik Surgery book if you are interested in getting into the art of vinyl figures!
If you had to choose one figure from any of Matt’s collections, which figure would your favorite be? Let me know in the comments!
Travis Denman