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Opportunity LOL's Spotlight Interview: Artist DrilOne
This is a big one! Today we have a fantastic interview with toy customizer DrilOne, who has become a much bigger name in 2011. Not only has DrilOne released a tremendous amount of customs quite consistently this year but the artist has had his first solo show with Dragatomi and a design turned into a production Dunny with Kidrobot. Below you'll learn a lot about DrilOne's past, his style, collaborations, social media, and the toys that he collects. Enjoy! You had a killer Custom Blindbox Android Series sold through Dragatomi in June and they went super fast. They were extremely well done and imaginative. Do you enjoy working on the Android platform? What is your favorite toy to customize? DrilOne: "Android platform is great, I like simple forms to work on. The more complex the pieces the less i can really go at it. Favorite toy to customize was the Kathie Olivas/ Brandt Peters Jack and Lucky. I also love to create on MadL's."
You broke into the custom toy world in 2005. From a short interview in 2006, it looked like you were creating websites at the time. What were you doing before 2005, are you still creating websites for others, and are you a full time artist or do you do any other work? DrilOne: "I have always been in a creative field. I am good with my hands and solving problems. My work before Design and art was installing car audio and alarms. I built custom enclosures for speakers. I also worked on performance and race products for cars. I was a pro at hiding NOS in cars... So I was basically customizing cars back in the day. Then 2 years creating and installing signs. I then worked for a corporate company for 4 years as a graphic designer before I got laid off in the beginning of 2010. Thats were my art career took off. You need to put 110% into anything to be successful. When I had fulltime work I would come home and spend time with my wife and kids. I worked my art from 8pm to 2 am, I was tired and burnt. Having time now I get to market and promote my work, it is half the battle. There are so many artist doing great work, but if your not in everyones eyes constantly you get forgotten fast. Living in San Francisco bay area I got forced to be involved in Social Media so that was a positive learning experience. I still do freelance Graphic design as it is half my income." How did you develop the style of rusting and military theming? Do you have any military experience? DrilOne: "Rusting stuff came from 2003 when I was trying to make canvases rusty to put graffiti on them. Then when I started I created a Dunny series which i weathered the skulls. It progressed as I cut out Dunnys to rusty shells of decaying creatures. The Military was more from influence from being a child in the Cold War. We had nuclear fire alarms where we hid under desks.... lol Yes that would have saved us. I also grew up playing with G.I.Joe and toy guns (the ones that looked real). This was in the era where kids were everywhere out side on sunny, even rainy days. We played man Hunt/Army with groups of 20 to 30 kids running around with toy machine guns in camo. So I went back to it, childhood is a strong force in your mind. "
You had amazing collaborations for SDCC 2010 and 2011 with Jeremiah Ketner. Do you have other collabs in the works and have you done any others in the past? DrilOne: "I have done 2 MadL's with Ketner (we will do a few more later this year), A Stephan LePodd with Leecifer, Doing a original piece collab with Jay222 for DCON, Doing 2 collabs with Scott Toleson for DCON, I have to finish a collab with Trenton M, and 3 pieces with SloBot. I know I forgot something....." You've participated in a LOT of group art shows. You're having your first solo show "Greetings from Hell" at Dragatomi this September (2011). How long has this event been in the making? DrilOne: "Actually I have been thinking of it but felt too intimidated to do a solo. I was real happy with the show how it came out. The show did real well too."
You are extremely prolific in your customizing. Could you provide a breakdown of what you achieve on a weekly basis? How many customs do you think you average per month? DrilOne: "Monthly it is hard to put a number on, but I am getting close to 200 customs as of today. I did do 3 blindbox series, a solo, and SDCC" Assuming you're fully self-employed, I know that you must make sure work is done while trying to keep a balance. As you're a father, I assume there are breaks and vacations. Does that mean there are all-nighters and really insane days? What motivates you beyond responsibility? DrilOne: "Up until my solo show I gave up all my days for work. Sometimes it is a struggle to pay bills, so I have to work harder. I see my kids everyday and try and play with them every day but sometimes being a artists sucks. I miss my weekends and that steady pay check. But now I force myself to take off one day a week.... most of the time." Congrats on having a design turned into a Kidrobot Dunny 2011 production toy! How did that come about? DrilOne: "Thank You... I heard they were asking some of my friends to submit a design, so I asked for the info and sent them a photo of my custom gasmask series I did. A month later i got a response. I have ideas for more, lets see if it will be possible."
I'm seeing a fair amount of customs on your Kidrobot Dunny 2011 toy. Why does your toy lend itself so well to customization? What characteristics do you look for when deciding to customize a toy? DrilOne: "I can paint anything... Look at my solo show I customized a vintage radio. I love seeing people paint something I partially designed. I think the rivets add a extra item to the canvas." How do you promote yourself? I see that you're active on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and update your website for big occasions. How much of this participation is for fun and how much do you consider "work"? DrilOne: "As a artist you have to constantly promote market and chat with people to stay afloat. I Update my Blog, flickr, twitter, facebook, email newsletter, google +, etc... It is a lot of work but pays off. I do have fun chatting though." I've seen a Rose Vampire collection in your Flickr. How much toy collecting do you do and what caused you to be such a fan of the Rose Vampire toy? DrilOne: "The first time I saw the Rose Vampire was for SDCC 09. It was a white proto. I started then to collect them but what made people go crazy was the blanks. I got into the fever too and managed to get 2, red and green. I enjoy the figure and the artist Joshua Herbolsheimer's paintings are great too. His painting is my first commission work from another artist. 2010/2011 was the year I really collected more."
What television shows do you watch? Have you seen HBO's The Wire? DrilOne: "Don't watch the wire, but I watch more reality shows. Storm Chasers, Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, Whale Wars (Think I can do well on this show, I like building stuff), Hells Kitchen, and others..." Do you know something you could teach someone in the art world that you could explain within 1-3 paragraphs? Please educate us :) DrilOne: "You don't get many chances in life so if you get one take it. If you work hard and show your dedication it will pay off. Trust me it wasn't easy and still isn't, but I am doing what I want. If it ends up not working out you can always say you tried and gained the experience from it. Also keep pushing yourself and don't be afraid to take chances." Where do you see yourself and your art in the next five years? Where do you see the custom world heading? DrilOne: "I want to be creating my own Toys and art with less customizing. It is the direction I am heading now. Progression is the only way you can keep moving forward. I think customizing will continue and a few will rise from the flood like how it is now. 5 years from now I want to be doing well with my bills paid off." Awesome! Follow DrilOne on his Flickr | Website | Facebook | @DrilOne on Twitter Check out our previous posts on DrilOne here.
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