Monster Factory: May 2006

A Monster Factory First...

One Man Wrecking Machine was posted on YouTube, marking the first monster appearance on the site. Way to go Kevin.

Kevin's Big Break

Kevin the Monster took a small step towards international fame this week with the release of Guster's latest video for "One Man Wrecking Machine". Kevin takes a starring role in the production, supported by a host of other Monster Factory characters. We all think that the video turned out wonderfully thanks to diector/animator Drew Lightfoot. Hopefully the band is just as happy. I think we can assume so, as they have wasted no time in posting it on their site.

Check it out at:
http://www.guster.com/splash060518/video.html

Guster:
http://www.guster.com/

Crafternoon Tea!

The Monster Factory is kicking off it's summer show schedule this weekend in the Beach(es) at an event called Crafternoon Tea. For more in fo on the show check out: nathalie-roze.com

Saturday, May 27th
11am - 6pm
Bellefair United Church
2002 Queen St. East, In the Beaches across from Kew Gardens

Blast From The Past!

In the spirit of Proto-typing Fun, I thought I would share with you some of our earliest designs. These are the actual proto-types from our first series: The Heartbreakers. As you can see they went through quite a few redesigns before reaching their finalized states. You may also notice that our proto-typing skillz have improved over the years, but I still think these prehistoric monsters have managed to retain some, if not all, of their original charm.

Early Rusty examples.

Sheldon become thicker and shorter.

Trevor changed colours.

Rusty-ish!

Pink Guy.

I suppose this is an example of an early Dudley. So far he is my favorite, especially with his dapper toe tappin.

Dudley's long lost cousins!

Matt James: Escape > From Toronto

Check out this Toronto artist. We're big fans...

Matt James Escape >From Toronto
OPENS Thursday May 25th. 7-10pm
SHOWING May 25th, - June 4th, 2006
SITE 1080 Queen St. West
HOURS Thursday - Sunday. 12-5PM or by appointment

KATHARINE MULHERIN CONTEMPORARY ART PROJECTS SIDESHOW
1080 QUEEN ST W, TORONTO ON M6J 1H8
CONTACT: KATHARINE MULHERIN @ 416.537.8827

www.mattjames.ca
info@mattjames.ca
416 573 5053

Proto-typing FUN!!!

When the Monster Factory isn't super busy preparing monsters for shows, we are able to take the time to make new monsters. This involves a lot of sketching, idea storming, and eventually we end up translating a drawing into a three dimentional plush monsters. It's a pretty exciting time because we get to experiment with new shapes and sewing techniques. We do make a lot of prototypes. Not all of them work out, but it's still fun making them and we always get a laugh out of the ones that don't quite work.

Over these past few months we've been fortunate enough to have help from students from Ryerson's Fashion program. They've been essential to the production of monsters, but as much as they must love to make our monsters we were anxious to give them an opportunity to make some of their own. Why else would you ever work for free at the MF?

We are proud to present monster prototypes made by our interns and by us.

Monacle Bunny
by rhya

Bucky
by bliss

Groupies
by Theresa, Samantha, and Hillary

Flying Hightop
by xandra

Rabies and Rabies
by laura

Destructo the Robot
by samantha

made by rhya

Our First Workshop!

On Tuesday, the entire Monster Factory (plus two sewing machines, some pattern drafting tools, a variety of fabrics and a bag of stuffing) piled into a car and headed north on Yonge Street, all the way to Aurora and our destination: Arts Day at St Andrew's College.

The lovely Randi Berman, who is the middle school arts teacher at St. Andrews, invited us to come up and instruct a couple of workshops on Monster Making 101. We had a busy day, split into two intense 140 minute blocks of creature creation, with 8 students per session. Our goal was to take the students through the process we undergo when making a monster from start to finish. By the end of the day the St. Andrews boys had designed, patterned, cut, sewed, and stuffed four very original and wicked monsters, complete with names and characteristics.

It was an awesome experience. The students were wildly creative and came up with some fantastic ideas: like snake hands, doughnut-holed torso's, double-headed ambition, and mohawked lizard heads!

We would like to thank Randi Berman for giving us the opportunity to participate in such a wonderful event, and the other great staff at St Andrew's who helped us out through out the day, and of course to the middle school students who made our day an amazing monster riot!

We took a few photos of the event that we would like to share: