BADASS: Marshall Alexander
It’s been a few days since the big launch of the BADASS project, but today I bring you an artist that is truly BADASS. Direct from the Netherlands, exit 9 off the Jersey Turnpike, pixel-pusher & papertoy artist Marshall Alexander.
Marshall, who just became a father for the second time, was kind enough to answer some of my inane questions. Let the grilling begin:
Tell us a little bit about yourself, starting with what you had for breakfast:
I always start the day with exactly the same meal, which consists of either Honeyloops or Smacks, linseeds, sunflower seeds, soymilk, dried prunes or apricots and something typical Dutch called ‘ontbijtkoek’ (which best translates as breakfast cake). So a very healthy start of the day that is slowly neutralised by coffees, fat cakes, chips and greasy snacks that help me through the rest of the day.
I have a daytime job as a graphic designer and do all this papertoy and illustration work in the evenings as a kind of counterbalance for the more corporate and restricted assignments I do at work. It’s always a struggle to find some time for it, since my spare time is divided taking care of my family, watching movies, reading books and playing games. Oh, and sleeping as well.
click thumbs for a better view
First the how - how do you go from mental picture to cutable, foldable, gluey fingers model?
I have got this little sketchbook that I use to write down and sketch any ideas that popup in my mind. Sometimes it is an idea for a character and sometimes it is an idea for a way to fold a model. Once in a while I am able to combine these into a more solid concept that I develop furtherin additional sketches. Once I’ve figured out the final folding model, I reproduce it in Illustrator and usually build a blank testmodel to see if I didn’t make any mistakes.
I’ve also set a rule for myself to always create my models out of one piece of paper and fit it on A4 sized paper. I do this because I want people to be able to build the model in relative short time and simply use their printer at home to print the model. It’s an extra challenge but it gives me extra satisfaction when I figure out how to construct a new model.
Once the folding model is OK, I apply the texture for which I use Illustrator for this as well. When that is done I build another model and if I am not happy with it yet I do some adjustments until I am satisfied. Once the model is done I photograph it, put the PDF online and let the Internet do its work.
Next the why - the toys of the 70’s and 80’s are obviously a big influence on your work, like most of us who grew up during that time. Why do you think the artifacts from this time period have had such a lasting impression?
Hey, I was born in 1970. Wasn’t there any better year to be born in? I got to experience a lot of these toys first hand when they came out and they became part of my childhood memories. So there definitely is that emotional factor. Besides that I also admire the (graphic) design style of this period which is reflected in the design of the toys and their packaging. There is a certain optimism and brightness in the way these plastic toys are constructed and also a robustness that makes it possible that a lot of these toys still function perfectly today.
Whose toys are you a fan of?
Hmm, one of those questions where you don’t want to leave anyone out. Looking at papertoys there’s a couple designers that I really respect. First of all I’ve got to mention the ReadyMechs who inspired me to do my first model and got me hooked. Then there’s Matt Hawkins who has taken papertoys to a whole new level with his Custom Paper Toys and who is working on the exciting ‘Urban Paper’ book that is coming out next year. There’s also NiceBunny who has initiated the NicePapertoys community where you can find a lot more of my favorite papertoy designers. There’s also a couple of vinyl toy designers l really dig like Nathan Jurevicius, Unipo, Tim Biskup and Pete Fowler. But my main inspiration comes from a much broader spectrum of pop culture, so listing all my influences would fill pages. If you look at my work you’ll figure it out anyway
Would you ever bring your characters or designs into other areas, like automata or vinyl toys?
Yeah, absolutely. I see papertoys as just another canvas I can work on, and which currently has my main focus, but I wouldn’t mind trying out new materials and media. I’ve worked with stencils, shirts and other materials before and will definitely try new stuff in the future. I usually work with a low-budget, so something like a vinyl toy I would only do if the costs are relatively low and it stays affordable for people who would like to buy it.
Seen any good movies or read any good books lately?
Movies are another great passion of mine, but having two young kids at home has lowered my number of cinema visits to a very low level. So I greatly depend on DVD and television for my movie input. Lately I have been revisiting Blade Runner with that fantastic special edition boxset I’ve got at home. I’m a big animation fan as well and frequently watch a Pixar or Ghibli movie. Really looking forward to Pixar’s Wall-E, so far the trailers looked fantastic. As far as books concerned I just started with the collected short stories of Phillip K. Dick (5 books in total) which so far is great reading material. Also just finished that huge ‘Making of Star Wars’ book that came out last year, it is a wonder that film was ever released. Another fun read was Douglas Coupland’s J-Pod, about a guy who works as a game programmer at some game studio in Vancouver. Especially hilarious because I worked as a game programmer at a big studio myself and recognized a lot of the insane situations he described in the book.
Go check out Marshall’s site for more art and papertoys you can print out & make yourself. Thanks Marshall!
That classy BADASS logo, courtesy of the lovely Kelly, Queen of the DesignCrush empire.