Congrats Matt. Can't wait to see what production runs you do. Can you paint an eyeball on my car at Brushes N Needles Burnout? http://sunguts.hp.infoseek.co.jp/Matt Walker.html
awesome. congrats matt. looking forward to all the Dead Prez goodness coming up!! put me down for one of each..!
Having never seen one in hand.... I think the biggest visual weakness to his paint jobs is that the photos don't ever do him justice. A lot of the pics look the same but everyone who sees them in person swears by how amazing they are. Hopefully one day we'll see some great shots.
DP is amazing!!! Matt was one of the nicest people I was fortunate to meet a SDCC this yr! Seeing some of his work first hand I was totally blown away.
Hey Matt! Good luck at Super Festival looking forward to seeing what you do with the Sunguts and Dream Rockets. LS what's the Brushes and Needles Burnout?
It's the local knuckle dragger shindig. Real fun times and seeing all the rat rods get stripped never gets old. http://kustomkulturegallery.com/eventdetails.php?id=125
has he really "become one of the most sought after custom painters of kaiju figures" as stated in that link? some of his customs are pretty cool, but c'mon. he hasn't even been around but for a few months
I love this guy's work - even on the figures that do nothing for me. I always thought there was a connection between custom culture and kaiju (and monsters more generally - that Big Daddy Roth/Von Dutch/Beatnik hotrodder thang) and this dude gets it. Might not be to everyone's taste but his paint jobs stir my manhood.
I've often looked at my Pegimons and thought, "You know what would make these totally awesome? Car paint, Metal Flake Applications, Color Change Effects and Hand Pinstriping." Can't wait! Props to him if he can pinstripe a Balbagon, though. Them things are lumpy.
He doesn't paint figures so much as he just coats figures with specialty paint. I've said it before, I'll say it again... there's NO connection between his technique with the figures he coats whatsoever... he could be painting Chia pets for all intents and purposes. Why this guy gets so much attention and acclaim is beyond me... he doesn't participate on this board except to post pictures so he can get offers on them, and everything is the freaking same: metal flake/color change paint with a bunch of pin stripe doodles that don't have any significance to the figure he's coated. And I found it extremely bush league of him to set up his display stand in front of the S7 booth DURING the Pushead signing event at SDCC. There's a time and place for things, and that was neither the appropriate time nor the appropriate place to set up shop.
I'm with Loco on this. While I am impressed with his skill and steady hand, I very rarely think that the 2 styles work together.
Gargamel x Cronic pinstripped Deathra. You all seem to love this figure... I don't. Matt's paint jobs are more than just putting a special paint on a figure and if you looked at the customs he brought to SDCC, you'd know that. The guy has only been on here for a few months but you know what, he really can paint. I'll be honest. I didn't care for some of the stuff Matt painted...until I saw some of his other, more "restrained" pieces (ones with no fire or pinstripping). You guys don't think he deserves to paint Japanese vinyl, then why do the companies send him figures to paint? I would love to paint figures for Itokin Park and Sunguts. how much skill does it take to dye something?
I don't think it's a case of deserve. At least not for me. As I said, he's definitely a very talented artist, I personally think the 2 styles clash. Obviously there are many who don't share my views. That's ok. But being asked by a company to paint stuff, doesn't magically make me change my opinion.
guys, everyone's entitled to their opinions. that's the beauty about this board. Let's not argue about this and have resentment towards each other. It's just that I know Matt before skullbrain and his genuine enthusiasm for Kaiju. He's got major skills that I wish I had. I'm just happy for him that Japanese companies are digging his stuff. Now let's all shake hands and get back to talking about toys that we all love.
i think matts customs capture original "japanese" spirit very good - thinking his skillz make it possible to capture special styles firsttime - and i ... pinstriping more than anyone else: foto courtesy of always inspiring flickr by ribbon controller both pink colors of the original frankenberry fig captured in matts custom in most subtle changing of the 2 colors one could think of. this one seems to be a great colorway for gargadeath to me, looks bad ass, unique & powerfull - totally rocks!!! owned by stealthtank! ...lucky guy. (edited - sorry)
that Gargadeath kills.... I don't understand the resentment either. Matt is a super nice guy and particularly talented. As Joel mentioned, he has a passion for Kaiju that is being recognized by the Japanese toy producers. I mean, if the actual Japanese designers like Sunguts, Itokin Park and others think his style works on their toys, who are we to argue?
Maybe DP really is a nice guy in person. I don't know. But he comes across as kind of full of himself by his posts on this board and that lil' promo on Sunguts' website. I mean, "my work is of the highest quality" and "one of the most sought after custom painters of kaiju figures?" Sheesh. If your work is that good, we'll figure it out. You don't have to tell us so. And as observed, he rarely posts here outside of posting photos of his customs. If he's so passionate about the hobby, why isn't he here? Why isn't he posting in this thread about his work? We're all busy with lives, jobs and whatever, yet we find time to stop by. To me, it's not about skills or style- it's about heart (as corny as that sounds). It's cool that Yajima-san was nice enough to send him stuff to customize, but I'm honestly not that excited about the results.
I believe I'm still entitled to have an opinion. And for the record, I've been receiving a large number of PMs supporting my point of view. My main points of contention with DP are: 1) He doesn't participate on the board other than to hawk his wares 2) His customs don't reflect any appreciation for the figures he's coating with specialty paint 3) There doesn't seem to be any REASON why he's painting Japanese vinyl other than it's the "hot market" right now 4) His setting up impromptu shop in front of of the S7 booth at SDCC during the Pushead event was beyond tacky 5) The main reaction to his pieces is due to the quality of the paint, not the thought process behind the application 6) I see his pieces as advertisements for the company that supplies the paints used rather than displaying any creative artistic vision. 7) I think he's just out for self promotion and money rather than having any love for Japanese vinyl or being a part of the Japanese vinyl collecting community And just because a few Japanese toy producers want to have a few of their pieces coated in metalflake paint, doesn't mean that I am not entitled to not like the work. I believe we've all seen releases from ALL toy producers that we think have missed the mark, so just because he has a few toys sent to him to paint doesn't mean that he's "made it" or that he's been anointed by the toy Gods and can do no wrong. Sure, he's going to probably do something in a color that you're gonna like, or he's going to pull out some new specialty paint that's "different", but I guess my issue is drawing a distinction between something that's been done well, and something that's good. I find his work to be technically done well, but I find very little that I consider good.
