DCON Dunny Blind Box

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. 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. I haven’t always liked stretching canvas and never thought I would be doing it on a regular basis but these days, it has become more of an adventure than a chore. It is the sponge that soaks up all the thoughts going on in my head. Having an overactive imagination since a very young age, it has always made sense to me that any artwork I develop should be composed of these vivid thoughts. What used to take form in crayons and pencil, evolved into pen and ink drawings, spray painted murals and computer graphics, and has further morphed into the acrylic paintings I create these days. My childhood obsessions with Disney cartoons, Lorne Greens’ New Wilderness and books such as Watership Down and The Phantom Tollbooth have become fodder for my work as it develops today. I have become increasingly interested in the rabbit holes we fall down when daydreaming. So many have created worlds in their art in which to escape and inhabit, and for others to enjoy. We have seen glimpses of them in Narnia, Wonderland, Middle Earth, Neverland, and Hanalee. As homage to these types and shadows of other lands, I have attached the all-encompassing title, In celebration of ALL the individuals that have helped build and keep alive this thriving art community, Kidrobot is proud to introduce the first Designer Con Dunny Series. This Dunny Mini Series celebrates art featuring 18 individual Dunny designs from a few of the countless artists who have been a part of DCON's growth through the years. Over 15 years ago, Kidrobot brought art to life in the form of vinyl for the first time. Through our history we have tried to support the creators, the groundbreakers, the artist and the art. While our organization has evolved throughout the years as all organizations must do in order to stay alive, our core principles and mission of bringing art to life still remains. Supporting the art community, inspiring creation and providing a platform to bring emerging / groundbreaking artists to the forefront is at the root of who we are and what we believe in. The toy is based on a rabbit figure with distinctive tubular ears. The origin of the name Dunny came from a combination of street slang and one of the early "Devil Bunny" prototypes. The Dunny is sold in four sizes - 3", 5", 8" and 20". The toy has three points of articulation; a 360 degree rotational head and two arms. An artist card or sticker is also included with the 3" Dunny from a series. Most 3" Dunnys and some 8" Dunnys are normally sold as "blind assortment"; the figure is packaged inside a sealed foil wrapper, such that the buyer is not able to see which figure and accessories they are buying. Sealing the figure prevents people from opening and peeking in the boxes and buying only the figures they want. Most Dunnys are packaged inside a clear plastic bag in addition to the foil wrapper. In the second-hand market, this assures the buyer that the article was never on display and is in a "new" condition. With the success of vinyl toys as a medium for expression, many fans and artists have put their own design onto blank Dunnys. My name is Christopher Lee and I am a designer, illustrator and an action figure connoisseur. I’m a Sacramento native and graduated from California State University, Sacramento with a Bachelor’s degree in graphic design. My entire life has revolved around drawing and art since I was old enough to hold a crayon and scribble outside the lines of a Golden Activity Book. After I graduated college in July of 2006, I moved to Southern California in search of new inspiration amongst new surroundings. Since moving I’ve worked as an Art Director for Vapors Magazine (RIP), had a couple vinyl toys released, and was recruited to the motion graphics studio, Buck, where I started as a senior designer and moved up to Art Director. I stayed at Buck for the next three years. In October 2009, I said “goodbye” to Buck and decided to focus solely on my illustration career. Leaving Buck was probably one of the toughest career decisions I’ve ever had to make. That place became my second home and my co-workers, my extended family. I grew more as an artist working there than I have at any other point in my career. Deep down I knew Buck was a stepping Flat Bonnie was created to help bring awareness to the life of bunnies in shelters and rescue centers. Most people do not know that there are bunnies ready for adoption at these places. Flat Bonnie plushes are made for people who love bunnies and for people who may want a real bunny but are not ready to provide the proper care and finances needed to raise the bunny. When that person is ready for a real bunny, Flat Bonnie's message is to adopt from a local shelter or rescue center. A generous portion of all sales is donated to bunny/animal rescue organizations monthly. We also donate many Flat Bonnie plushes to rabbit/animal rescue centers. Those donated plushes are sold or auctioned by the rescue, to raise money for the abandoned and abused animals in their care. If you buy a Flat Bonnie plush at those rescue centers, 100% of the sale will go to the care of the bunnies/animals. To put it simply, Scott is a toy junkie. He's obsessed with collecting, designing, and creating toys. He draws inspiration from many areas, including pop culture, comic books, his family, and toys from his childhood. Scott prefers to elicit a sense of child-like wonder and nostalgia in his artwork. He enjoys working in both digital and traditional mediums, depending on his mood. Scott is happiest when he is working on multiple projects. He has self-produced numerous designer toys, including Otis and Otto, Tricycle Terror, Doc Von Block and Big Rollin’ Rascal. Since ’98, he has worked for the Walt Disney Company in the Entertainment Productions Department where he has designed pieces for various parades, venues and merchandise. Scott was born and raised in Atlanta, GA. At the age of 16, he moved to the West Coast. He currently resides in Los Angeles. Brandon Ragnar Johnson makes stuff. Pictures, paintings, books, cartoons, toys, fonts and other things. When not making stuff he's with his wife Jill and their three children: Oliver, Izzy and Monty. If he's not making stuff or spending time with his family he's, probably fishing or reading comic books. Jerome Lu was born in Mountain View and raised in the Bay Area by a family of wild monkeys. Even when he was a small chimp, they could see that he believed every crayon in the box had magical powers, and he would transform blank pages into colorful, fantastic worlds filled with monkeys, ninjas, robots and all his craziest dreams. His wild monkey relations soon recognized his artistic talent and nurtured it with a diet of Skittles and Corn Nuts. They made sure his art education included Saturday morning cartoons and ABC After School Specials. Now that Jerome has grown up to be a big monkey, they are quite proud that his childhood creativity has never diminished. In fact, it has grown, and he is working on his biggest art project to date: constructing a 20-story ultimate monkey ninja robot.