Cultyard Guests

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Andrew Bell

Best known for: "The Creatures in my Head" Monster Collection, O-No Sushi Print and Android Mini Collectibles

British born, Brooklyn based artist and designer Andrew Bell has been creating his own original and custom toys since 2003. His studio, Dead Zebra Inc., is responsible for producing artwork and projects such as his popular "The Creatures in my Head" collection of monsters, the O-No Sushi print and toy series and Android Mini Collectibles in association with Google. He has published several collections of work and has been featured in gallery shows around the world.

http://www.creaturesinmyhead.com/

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Ron English

Best known for: Pop Iconoclast, modern street art and contemporary art

Ron English is America's Premier Pop Iconoclast, bombing the global landscape with unforgettable images that blend stunning visuals with biting humor. One of the most prolific and recognizable artists alive today, his work is found on the street, in museums, movies, books and television, and Mighty Wallets.

http://www.popaganda.com/blog1.php

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Tara McPherson

Best known for: Contemporary Artist, Kid Robot and Dark Horse

Tara McPherson is an artist based out of New York City. Creating art about people and their odd ways, her characters seem to exude an idealized innocence with a glimpse of hard earned wisdom in their eyes. Recalling many issues from childhood and good old life experience, she creates images that are thought provoking and seductive. People and their relationships are a central theme throughout her work.

Tara exhibits her paintings and serigraphs in fine art galleries all over the world. Named the crown princess of poster art by ELLE Magazine, she has created numerous gig posters for rock bands such as Beck, Modest Mouse, and Melvins. Her array of art also includes creating toys with companies like Kidrobot, Dark Horse, and Toy2R, painted comics and covers for DC Vertigo, advertising and editorial illustrations for companies such as Wyden+Kennedy and Spin Magazine, and teaching a class at Parsons in NYC.

McPherson's art has been included in books such as Lost Constellations; The Art of Tara McPherson Vol II (Dark Horse), Lonely Heart: The Art of Tara McPherson (Dark Horse), Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (DC), The Art of Modern Rock (Chronicle), Illusive 2, Illustration Now! (Taschen), SWAG and SWAG 2 (Abrams), and more. She has lectured at Semi-Permanent, Offset, Instute of Comtemporary Art London, School of Visual Arts, AIGA NYC, AIGA Austin, Columbus College of Art and Design, Parsons, The University of Arizona, MADE in Edmonton and Foyles London. Her art has also been featured in the Oscar Award winning film Juno.

Tara was born in San Francisco in 1976 and raised in Los Angeles. She received her BFA from Art Center in Pasadena, CA in August 2001 with honors in Illustration and a minor in Fine Art. She interned at Rough Draft Studios, working on Matt Groening's "Futurama" during college.

She has been featured in Juxtapoz, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Playboy, Sony Magazine, Bust, Magnet, Elle, Marie Claire, Clutter, Spin, MTV, Current TV, Swindle, CBC Radio, Super7, Inked, NY Press, LA Times, PBS, Paste, HOW, Step, Communication Arts, Society of Illustrators, Metal Hammer, International Tattoo Art, AIGA, Seattle Times, LA Weekly, Gothamist, DC Comics, Punk Planet, Savage Tattoo and many more.

Some of her clients include DC Comics, Warner Brothers, Dark Horse Comics, Kidrobot, Strangeco, SXSW, Spin, Pepsi, Fanta, Goldenvoice, Penguin, Harper Collins, Bloomsbury, Revolver, Knitting Factory, Playstation 2, House of Blues, Punk Planet, Dogfish Head Brewery, Nike and Wyden+Kennedy among others.

http://www.taramcpherson.com

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Tito Na Rua

Best known for: "Street Comics" Creator, Indie comics publisher and Zé Ninguém (Joe Nobody)

Alberto Serrano aka TITO NA RUA (Tito), is a Bronx/New York artist based in Rio de Janeiro for the past 10 years.

A comics self-publisher with spray paint,he has created the Street Comics movement.  In Brazil and internationally, Tito is best known for playing out his serial graphic novel Zé Ninguém (Joe Nobody) in segments in oversized graffiti-style murals on the streets of Rio.  The series and its progress can be seen on his website.

www.titonarua.com

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David Horvath

Best known for: Uglydoll

Uglydoll Co-founder David Horvath has created many stories found on TV screens in Tokyo, toy shelves in Manhattan and in book stores around the world.  

Sun-Min Kim and David's works can be found everywhere from the permanent collection at the Louvre and the windows of Barney's New York to their own shop within Giant Robot in Los Angeles and at the local mom and pop shop near you. David is currently working with Illumination Entertainment on Co-Producing an animated feature film that will bring the Uglydoll characters to life. David resides in the Los Angeles area.

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Jared Deal

Best known for: Team Umizoomi

Jared Deal is an animator/toy designer based in New York. He focuses primarily on 2D traditional animation. He has been in the industry since '98 working on shows for MTV, Comedy Central, and Cartoon Network just to name a few. Jared currently works on the popular Nickelodeon kids show Team Umizoomi as lead drawn animator, and was recently nominated for a Daytime Emmy for his work on the show. Jared's work can be seen all over... on both the television and the web. He's animated and designed for cartoon series, music videos, shorts, and even jumbotron animation! Most recently Jared has delved in to the world of toy design. His line of carney inspired toys he creates with his partner Garnet Syberg- Olsen and sculptor Eric Nocella have struck a chord with collectors in the urban vinyl toy world, and his resin and hand sewn plush creations have also become quite popular. Jared's art/toys have been featured in numerous galleries and shops spanning the globe from New York to Austrailia and everywhere in between. He lives in Beacon with his girlfriend Michelle, his dog, two cats, and turtle.

Jared's work can be seen at jareddeal.blogspot.com and also www.carnivalcartoons.com

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Glenn Barr

Best known for: HEEP, The Ren and Stimpy Show and The New Woody Woodpecker Show

Glenn Barr is one of Detroit's most celebrated and successful underground artists. His paintings have appeared in galleries from Seattle and San Francisco to New York City. Glenn's work has been featured in a variety of comics and graphic novels such as Mad, DC Comics and Paradox Press as well as in a series of self published books called HEEP. Barr's contribution to animation include background styling for The Ren and Stimpy Show, Bjork's I Miss You video and The New Woody Woodpecker Show.

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Erick Scarecrow

Best known for: Esc-Toy Ltd.

When Erick Scarecrow lost his job back in 2005, he shook it off, sharpened his pencils, got some paint and found his label Esc-Toy Ltd. in NYC. Among being a self-taught artist that produces traditional 2D and 3D art, Erick expresses his work through collectible figures and includes short stories with his characters. Since the launch of ESC, Erick has released almost one hundred figures in different platforms such as plush, vinyl and resin. The figures are sold in North America, South America, Canada, Europe, China, Taiwan and Japan. He has won multiple awards that include Toy of the year and Artist of the Year. He has begun producing animated commercials/shorts with his material adding producer, storyboard artist and director to his credits. Most recently his project he's been attached to an upcoming animated feature.

So far Erick's work has been featured in Turbo Tax, IT Crowd, 30 Rock, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Henri Bendel, Toyfare, Hyper Hobby Japan, Dot Dot Dash, Xfuns Taiwan, Thick, XLR8R, Gee, Uncharted 3 and upcoming series Heroes & Monsters. 

Along with creating and producing his own work, Esc and Erick have managed other companies and designers for their own production needs. Some of those clients include Anna Chambers, Bowe Industries, Broken Heart Dolls, Carnival Cartoons, Chaotic Unicorn, Curster, Cutesy Poo Toys, Dreamweaver Press, Dynomight NYC, Foox LLC, Inuart, Kano, Klei Entertainment, Limited Brands, Michael Schupach, Neon Martian, Neptoon Studios, Q-You, Robot and Spark, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Stolle Art, and Xmoor Studios.

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Aaron Martin

Best known for: Angry Woebots and Fine Artist

Aaron Martin was born on the island Oahu 1977, Hawaii. Most of his childhood was spent growing up and moving from Southern California to Nevada before finally landing back into Hawaii during his Junior year in high school. In 1999 a car accident changed everything; this life-threatening experience inspired him to leave the island once again, this time to Seattle, Washington. Inspired by the rain and being indoors, he started playing around with different art mediums again. He then left back to Hawaii with a new perspective; Aaron had his first show in 2002 and has not stopped. He has showed in galleries up and down California, the east coast, and even in shows that have traveled from the U.S. to Hong Kong. His focal medium is acrylic paintings on wood and canvas. Using minimal colors and detailed character design, these paintings are usually comprised of stressed out emotional pandas. The pandas tend to represent the story of struggle.

http://armyofsnipers.com

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Jim Mahfood

Best known for: AKA Food One, Kevin Smith's Clerks comics and Tank Girl

Jim Mahfood aka Food One is a freelance artist working professionally in the fields of illustration, advertising, comic books, murals, fine art, animation, live art in nightclubs, and custom body-painting. He has worked for every major comic book company and his illustrations have appeared in such publications as Playboy, Spin, Spectrum Illustration Annual, Star Wars Gamer, URB, the Hollywood Reporter, BPM, the Phoenix New Times, Mad Magazine, Heavy Metal, and more. Highlights of his career include illustrating director Kevin Smith's "Clerks" comics, handling the art chores on the entire ad campaign for Colt 45 malt liquor in 2007-08, painting the murals on Comedy Central's "Sarah Silverman Show", illustrating the "Kickpuncher" comic book that was included in the Season 1 DVD of NBC's hit show, "Community", illustrating and art directing reggae legend Ziggy Marley's "MarijuanaMan" project, and providing custom car art for Nissan's new "Juke" Artist Series. His current project is illustrating the new Tank Girl graphic novel, due out in 2012.

http://www.foodoneart.blogspot.com

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Lamour Supreme

Best known for: MiSHKA, Freelance Artist and Architectural Designer

Lamour Supreme is currently working as a freelance artist and designer choosing various types of mediums ranging from vinyl toys to large moving 3d objects to convey his message. He also works as an architectural designer . His current base of operations is the MiSHKA ware house in Brooklyn, NY. Lamour Supreme's list of clientele includes Nike, Mishka, Super 7, Major Lazer and Scion.

http://www.flickr.com/lamoursupreme_fixedfiend/

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Pixel Pancho

Best known for: Designer and Urban Artist

Pixel Pancho was born in Turin in 1984. As a child he found interest in color and form, thanks to his grandfather, an occasional painter. Pixel always has had a passion for art and design and knew that this would be part of his life since the beginning.  In 2003, he inscribed at Albertina Academy of Fine Arts School in Turin, after two years he transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia where he is to obtain his degree this year.  His years in the School of Fine Arts has led him to the world of design, graphics, and above all the graffiti and street-art scene. Pixel's studies and his determination for experimenting with different mediums opposed to the classic formula of the academy made him stand out from the others, as he followed his passion for using spray cans and marker and working on out door surfaces opposed to the classic paper and canvas.  Traveling between his hometown of Torino and Valencia Pixel Pancho took every occasion to be noticed on the streets, using different mediums such as tiles, wall painting, sticker/poster art, etc.  Like every artist Pixel Pancho has been influenced by many different artists of the past and the present, such as the historic painter Joaquin Sorolla, the surrealist Salvador Dali, the political painter group El Equipo Cronica to the more modern Ron English, San and Takashi Murakami.  Traveling to countries such as Paris, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Vienna and many others for graffiti jams and expositions in galleries has made it possible for Pixel Pancho's style to evolve from the simple Robot character to the more complex compositions that we can see in his work today.  Pixel Pancho moved back to Turin in 2010 and has opened his first painting studio where he produces his art works. There is a lot to be expected from this young and motivated artist, the work of Pixel Pancho has just begun

http://www.pixelpancho.com
http://armyofsnipers.com

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Skinner

Best known for: Muralist

Skinner is a self-taught artist from Sacramento, California who has meticulously crafted a balance of extraordinary mural work, mighty powerful wall to wall installations and a prolific commercial career. Influenced by 80's pop culture, human struggle, myths and violence dungeons and dragons and the heavy metal gods, Skinner's mind is one full of mayhem fueled by a calculated chaos. His work has been shown all over the Universe at places like the museum of graphic design in Breta, Netherlands, Japan, Illustrative festival in Berlin, Germany, France and the states from LA to New York and in between…recently participating in the epic suggestivism show at the Grand Central Arts Center. His most recent solo exhibit entitled The Fear You May Know reigned at the White Walls Gallery in San Francisco in the summer of 2010. Skinner's work has made known in various publications including Blisss, Juxtapoz, Hi Fructose and Beautiful/Decay.

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J*RYU

Best known for: AKA Purdy Supremacy, Designer and Sculptor

J*RYU, AKA the Purdy Supremacy, is an east coast-based designer/sculptor/artist focused primarily on exploring the themes of life and death and more intriguingly, what lies beyond. Primarily recognized for his signature Forest of Sorrows series, with its emotive, eerie and ghostly themes, J*RYU has garnered an avid following of fans who eagerly look forward to seeing each subsequent new piece and how the accompanying narratives add to the ongoing story.  In his career, J*RYU has worked on projects for companies and clients such as Marvel Ent., Sony Ericsson, Wonderbra, AT&T, NCAA Final Four, Columbia Pictures, TOPPS, Mia Hamm, Michael Crichton, IBM, Slim Jim and more and has shown in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, New York, Nebraska, Washington DC and Miami. He is a proud member of the world famous Army of Snipers.

http://www.designpimps.com
http://armyofsnipers.com

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Kano

Best known for: kaNO Kid, Illustrator and Animation Artist

Born and raised on the streets of New York City, kaNO now makes a living as an illustrator, designer and animation artist.  From the silver screen to billboards and even on to toy shelves across the world. kaNO is a jack of all trades.With up to 10 years of experience as a commercial artist, he now focuses on creating urban content for his company kaNO kid, LLC. His clients include: ASPCA, Nike, Jordan, Upper Deck, Disney and Hasbro to name a few.

http://www.kanokid.com

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Marka27

Best known for: Designer and Urban Artist

Victor "Marka 27" Quinonez is a prolific artist who is never confined to one medium. His artwork has been seen in high profile galleries throughout the east and west coast and has shown alongside artist such as Futura, and Ron English. His street murals/graffiti have been published in several lifestyle magazines and books, most recent "Iam Plastic too" "Graffiti Planet", "Burning New York" and "Graffiti L.A". Marka27 made his mark with his original "Audio Canvas" paintings with built in speakers, also his large speaker installations with legendary hiphop icons painted on the speaker boxes. The latest manifestations from the restless mind of Marka27 are the minigods a line of designer vinyl speakers based on ancient indigenous cultures. Marka27 constantly pushes the boundaries of art and design and has worked with brands that stride to do the same such as Kidrobot, Pioneer, Arbor Collective and Levise to name a few.

http://marka27.com

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Marty Hansen

Best known for: TGB Customs, visual arts educator and Abominable the movie

Hansen has made all types of art since his earliest childhood memories.  His mother and father’s encouragement of his artistic endeavors always have and continue to be his base. 

The purity and minimalism that helped him break down art into its simplest form to educate his students were the final lessons learned to take the leap into starting TGB CUSTOMS.

After teaching visual art for 7 years he restructured his career & life around his sons (MJ & Kobe), becoming a stay-at-home father while building TGB CUSTOMS. 

For years MJ & Kobe would ask, “Dad, when can we make toys with you?”  So in 2009 MJ and Kobe (10 & 8 years old @ the time) took their character sketches and sculpted them.  Of course the molding and casting are their father’s contributions to the collaborations.

THEGODBEAST/TGB CUSTOMS Prototyping & Collaborations:

Steve Forde/Go-Hero Spaceberg & Mini Zing
Ion Tallman Lotus Dolls
Ryan Schifrin Abominable (the movie)
Matt Doughty/Onell Design Glyos
Simeon Lipman/Freeman’s Art Hustle/Topps Star Wars Galaxy 6
Jesse DeStasio SoundDave
Ben Spencer Galaxxor
Jason Frailey ClawShine

1995 BS Visual Art Education UNL
1995-2002 NKCSD Visual Art Educator
2002-Present TGB CUSTOMS

http://www.godbeast.com/
http://thegodbeast.blogspot.com/

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David Foox

Best known for: ORGAN DONORS, and

David Foox (FOOX) was born in South Africa and raised partly in America and New Zealand. He is most interested in the fabric of our reality and the laws applicable to Universal Reality and philosophy, weaving stories through ancient symbols relating to diverse religious beliefs.  His toys reflect this belief and ORGAN DONORS (cute creepy 3.25" vinyl dolls) raise issues about the ONENESS of all living things and the interchangeability of organs between people. ORGAN DONORS deal primarily with the important topic of organ donation. 

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Bob Conge

Best known for: lead designer, Plaseebo and Sculptor

Prior to founding Plaseebo 1995, Conge divided his creative efforts between freelance illustration and gallery work. Continually creating award winning imagery for his clients like  American Express, AT&T, Bank of America, Citibank, Eastman Kodak, General Electric, IBM, Mobil Corp., The Mirage-Las Vegas, New York Times, Sprint, Sony Music, National Public Radio, Volkswagen, The Wall Street Journal, to name just a few.

Conge's work is known internationally and he is represented in public and university collections in the United States, Europe, Japan and China including: Museum of Modern Art - Toyama Japan, Musee de la Publicite - Paris France, Lahti Poster Museum - Lahti Finland, Moravian Gallery - Brno Czechoslovakia, Colorado State University, International Poster Museum - Warsaw Poland, The German Poster Museum
- Essen Germany, Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Everson Museum of Art - Syracuse NY, Syracuse University, University of Rochester, Dansk Poster Museum - Aarhus Denmark, Colorado State University, University of Utah, University of Connecticut.

Steve Agin, Art Toy Consultant for the auction house PHILLIPS de PURY & Co. says of his work "Bob Conge is a major force in the current Toy Art scene. Working tirelessly from his country studio in upstate NY, he has consistently produced both the most imaginatively whimsical and profoundly intricate range of figures."

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Jason Freeny

Best known for: artist

Plastic Surgeon/Character Assassin. Recipient of Clutter Magazine's SDCC "Breakthrough Artist of 2011" award.

Born 1970, Jason makes creepy things and posts them on the internet.

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Jon-Paul Kaiser

Best known for: JPK Platforms and toy customizer

Born into the greyness of England at the end of the Seventies, by the age of four Jon-Paul Kaiser knew that what he wanted to do in life was a draw. From that point he rarely strayed from that path; scribbling and doodling his way through School, College and University. After working with Porlzilla, Jon-Paul decided to go it alone concentrating at first on the toy customization scene, building up a name and strong reputation for himself with his stark Black & White custom style, influenced by comic book art, film noir & Ukiyo-e prints. This lead to him being approached by established toy producers for designs for their platform toys.  Principally amongst these are Toy2R who have released numerous JPK Platforms.

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Nasty Neil

Best known for: artist, and

Nasty Neil of Wasted Talent. If you don't know, you better ask somebody. 4FUN

I WILL NOT BE A WASTED TALENT

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Rob Ingellis

Best known for: painter, toy customizer and

Rob Ingellis (OsiRisORion) is a self taught artist born and raised in Queens, NY and is currently residing in Southington, CT. Rob is Bad Applez Inc concept designer and production painter!

Rob's painting and sculpting style has been described by many as "Visceral Surrealism". He blends multiple color layers with heavy detailed line work.

Rob is also known for his work customizing vinyl toys which he applies the same philosophies as he does in his paintings. His influences are a fusion of abstract, surrealism, graffiti with elements of japanese kaiju, horror, and fantasy.

Rob's work has proudly been exhibited in galleries across the US and has had the privilege to work w/ companies/organizations such as Tenacious Toys, GUUMON, Rumble Monsters, Dead Bear Studios, October Toys, Argonaut Resins ,and many others!

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Steff Bomb

Best known for: artist, and

Northeast Philadelphia born and raised, on a playground is where she spent most of her days. Steff Bomb currently lives in Chicago, IL where she devotes her time to sewing plush and looking at animated gifs of cats on the internet. Her hobbies include wishing she ate more hamburgers and having crushes on fiction characters.

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JCRivera

Best known for: painter and illustrator

JCRivera is an Artist based out of Chicago, IL. He has been  illustrating, painting, and doing anything and everything art for the  past 7 years.

He does various works from t-shirt design to logos to illustrating  books to commission pieces. For the past year, JCRivera has received  the most exposure for his custom work on vinyl toys. His work has been featured on multiple website and online forums as  well as in print. Mid 2009 JCRivera developed a character named “Jonny  Hancock” based on one of Chicago’s greatest buildings.

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NeMo

Best known for: sculptor, painter and toy customizer

Mike "NeMo" Mendez, is a self taught artist, born and raised in NYC. 

Mike is Bad Applez Inc's master sculptor! Mike has worked for Tenacious Toys,Toyqube, Wizard Sleeve Toys, Happy Panda Toys  and many other companies and clients producing protypes and exclusive runs of custom vinyl toys! Mike has also self produced resin garage kits and custom vinyl toys that have been displayed in galleries all across the USA.

Mike's talents don't end at sculpting! He is an accomplished painter and toy customizer that can handle any medium that is at his disposal!

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RsinArt

Best known for: painter and toy customizer

RsinArtt is a self taught artist living in Reading Pennsylvania. Early 2008 he decided to sit down and teach himself to paint, after having no previous training. With a constant need to improve, he has worked hard over the past 4 years to build a strong sense of personal style. Creating a world he calls "Whispers", that contains many creatures and ideas that often take shape on the three dimensional art toys and sculpts he's known for. Rsin's artistic vision has him working on a wide range of mediums from Designer Vinyl, Canvas, Watercolor, sculpture, ect. Since picking up a brush in January of 2008 Rsin has participated in over 50 shows, in galleries from New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Montreal, Germany, Amsterdam, Miami, Detroit and more. As well as participated in big events like Art Basel Miami, New York Comic Con, San Diego Comic Con, Dcon, Wizard World and more. 2012 will see Rsin coming out with production work as well as starting to release limited resin toys and countinuing toward his goal of growing and learning as an artist with each new piece.

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Jason Tharp

Best known for: Artist

I perceive myself to be nothing more than a big kid who loves to provide levity and provoke laughter. Humor and adventure go hand in hand with me. If given the opportunity to choose my reincarnation, I would bypass the fame of the late, great cartoonist Tex Avery, my artistic hero, and return as a caveman. “Wouldn’t it be cool to fight a dinosaur?” Content in the here and now, I’m happiest on a quiet night at home, with a blank piece of paper, a sharp pencil, markers, and pens a piece or two of Extra spearmint gum, and a new idea in my head. I’m a big kid who loves to create amusing, colorful and uplifting illustrations. I’m a former hamburger flipper, insulation installer, factory worker, assembly line worker, concrete laborer, box packer, grocery bagger, waiter, salesman, and dead end corporate job survivor who received his BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design. I’ve been blessed to have to create graphics for major retailers, designed websites, illustrate for children’s books, medical and educational brochures, and much more. In addition to creating art and designing, I’m the founder and right brain of Corky Mansfield.

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Simone Legno

Best known for: tokidoki

Simone Legno is a classically trained illustrator and the inventor of the popular tokidoki brand. Legno is from Rome, Italy where he worked on design projects for clients such as Volkswagen, MTD, and Microsoft. He also cofounded a new media company called Vianet (www.vianet.com). His love for Japanese culture inspired him to create the world of tokidoki (www.tokidoki.it). In 2004, Legno moved to Los Angeles to develop tokidoki as an apparel, art, and lifestyle brand. Tokidoki, which means "sometimes" in Japanese, has become a marketing phenomenon that includes vinyl toys, art-skateboards, iSkins, jewelry, watches, sportswear, accessories, shoes, and stationery.

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Wendy Bryan

Best known for: I Heart Guts founder

Wendy Bryan is the anatomically-obsessed illustrator behind I Heart Guts, a company that makes plush internal organs. Time Out New York said of the guts, "The deliriously happy bunch is sure to put any get-well card to shame," while Black Book magazine says, "These furry toys can transplant love back into any tired relationship."