Customizer Les Walker

1- What does the word customizer mean to you?
To me a customizer takes an original figure, or set of figures and makes an original that supplies a demand, either personal or otherwise, that fills a desire for a figure that the market does not supply and that is out of reach either through expense or outright lack of production.

The Rocketeer

2- How did you begin customizing?
I have been into figures for a long, long time and was always into re-working them into a more accurate versions of what I wanted or desired. I think the first figure I got, beyond the average G.I Joe Star Wars or Batman toys, was a 12” Horizon Robocop vinyl model I bought in 1990. I began to discover the world of the then growing vinyl figure market that catered to the movie enthusiasts like myself. I remember thinking how cool it would be if the model were a bit more posable. I really only painted the kit, but the seed was planted then. I got so into it that in 1995 I went out to L.A. to the Mad Model Party II convention and met some serious figure folks. Great experience.

3- As a customizer what do you create?
I am primarily into movie characters and lean to figures that I cannot find out there at all, for instance a 12” Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage) from the movie National Treasure. The parts and figures are out there now. It took me about three hours to get the figure I wanted. Got the Dragon Joe Enders (Cage) and clothed him with my clothing supply, repainted the face to accuracy, then outfitted him with a carry tube and repro 4”x5” Declaration of Independence, and viola! I was done. In contrast, the Indiana Jones I started in 1996-98 took me about two years as I couldn’t readily find the parts and materials. Now, supply is everywhere. I do that kind of figure all the time now.

Franky

4- What is your process when you are customizing, from start to finish?
I look first for the base figure, the source of who etc. and make sure I have the attire and accessories, then I begin the building process. I sometimes consider the accessories and that I may have to do some manufacturing, but usually, I can find a similar item or items and go from there. Sometimes that means sculpting a head etc. I keep a fluid method that helps me to change and adapt as I work. I’m finished when the figure is finished. Sometimes, the process is ongoing for long periods. Anything for accuracy!

5- How long does it usually take to make one of your customs?
I never know. Like I said, when the figure is done, it’s done. If it is a commission, then I make a set idea in my mind and work to that, and when the goal is reached, the figure is finished. I could always work them on and on to a better figure, so time isn’t a factor I can easily gauge. However, I would say anywhere from a day to two weeks on average.

6- Have you ever sold any of your customs, if so where?
Not many yet. I am planning on selling on Ebay and using that forum. I do have a website (www.figuremasterles.com) and hope to move more original works through there. However, I am fairly new to this as a business so I can’t claim many commissions yet. My first was a total makeover of a base Cotswold body into a 12” cartoon character for a fellow in New Jersey. That has been an immensely rewarding commission as the things I have learned from it have given me ideas about how to solve some other ideas.

Ned Land

7- What has been the highest price that you have received for a custom?
About $100 to $200 a figure, but I have some in the works that are definitely going to be for much higher prices.

8- Do you get requests?
I do now. Since my website, I have gotten some very interesting ones.

9- What has been the oddest request?
I recently went to the dentist office to get my teeth cleaned and had a conversation with the person working on my teeth. When I was asked about what I did for a living, I responded with “I make figures”. This lead to a very lucrative original figure that will be soon posted on my website. It’s a pretty famous person in my home state that this dental worker just happened to be friends with, and after laughing about the notion of making it, I began the process of producing a figure. I wish it wasn’t a secret, but nor now it is.

10- What has been the easiest item to customize?
Repainting heads for accuracy. I do this ALL the time. Every one of my entire Star Wars 12” figure collection have either been accurized or outright reworked. I repaint almost every figure I ever buy. Generally, because of this, I find the repainting to be the most relaxing and therefore, the esieat thing to do. Need good pictures for that though.

Indiana Jones

11- What has been the hardest item to customize?
Indiana Jones. When I started him back in 1996 there was only G.I. Joe and Ken doll clothing and stuff and even then, no Ebay to look for and find stuff. I had to travel over 200 miles to the big FX Toy show in Orlando , Florida just to find pieces and parts for him. That got expensive. Now, I could make ten of him. Frustrating, but a great learning experience. After that, you LOOK for parts and SAVE everything. EVERYTHING. You never know when you might need it.

12- When you are customizing what are the essential tools one needs?
Good Paint. Great, not good, but GREAT brushes. Access to really good references and a LOT of spare parts and clothes etc. Ebay has become an essential part of my process. If I need parts, there they are. I do find some things on certain figure websites. Some are really good about a-la-carte parts and such. Bodies are an absolute necessity also! Gotta have great source bodies. I would also recommend some good small scale work tools. Dentist tools etc. You never know what you may need.

Unmasked Vader

13- Who in the customizing world or other has been an inspiration?
Alex Rojas and his super Batman custom figures come to mind. I surf around the net and am astounded by how well some artists like Juan Albeurne can simply repaint a Barbie doll into a movie star. Not re-sculpt, just done with paint. Just looking at Juan’s work makes me feel like I am sitting around doing nothing. He gets me off my butt and customizing. Renee Coughlan’s work making fairies is exceptional and I like her style even though I am not a fairy fan. Her paints and costumes are superb. Jim BobWan’s Medieval figures make my jaw drop. Then there’s Hayashi from Japan. I found his site by accident and find his work absolutely top notch, maybe even the best I have ever seen.

14- What project would you like to take on as a customizer?
I am planning on making a full 12” JAWS cast complete with a 48+” Bruce the shark. Since JAWS is my favorite movie and all. I did finally get to make a good set of 12” 1954 Disney, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea cast members and am very satisfied having them. But, JAWS…that’s the holy grail for me. A really BIG Bruce the shark…now, that’s a custom!

15- When you want to see other customs is there a place where you go?
The sites of www.jimbobwan.com , www.dawgestyle.com , www.famousfigures.com, for info on who is out there in the form of famous figures etc., tap-out’s heads on Ebay, Buckwheat’s modeling world for more model info, and I have to mention Jim Maddox for his astoundingly accurate head sculpts and to www.juanalbeurne.com and others. Just looking at Juan’s work makes me feel like I am sitting around doing nothing. He gets me off my butt and customizing. And of course, Eternal Collector.com.

Kharis the Mummy

16- What has been the best creation that you or someone else has made?
That’s a really tough one. Outside world? Maybe Hayashi http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hiroki/hp/ …Mine? Think my favorite result is my Conan the Barbarian, but many folks like that danged old Indy Jones I did. Maybe he’s earned the right to be on the top shelf. I like my original characters too. That’s a new area for me.

17- On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate yourself as a customizer?
That’s tough. I hate rating myself, but I guess I am about a 7 or an 8? Maybe? With luck?

I think my painting is fairly spot-on, but my reworking and accurizing could use more work and overall, I could always get better.

18- What would you say makes your customs different from others?
I think I focus on eyes and that makes my figures a bit different and more lifelike. I don’t care for the more toylike look of say, Anime style, but I do respond to any work that’s well done. I just like the trying to capture the intangibles that are in the more realistic look. I also only ever hand paint anything, so I look at very minute details. Skin and pores and freckles and such make an figure less “painted” than airbrushing etc. I just go for a REAL look when I can.

Conan the Barbarian

19- Why do you think people started customizing? And where do you think customizing will lead to in the future?
For the same reasons I do it, to have a more accurate figure. And, of course, to have one they can’t have or find. As for the future of this hobby? I think customizers are changing the whole thing. We take what is mass produced and make them our own. The reworking of anything makes it personal. I know my collection is a part of who I am. It says a lot about me to others. Some are freaked out by it and think it’s odd for a 43 year old man to be doing this. I think by customizing, we make this public collecting thing into a bit more than just an obsession to be seen and judged badly or wrongly by others. It’s no longer just a “gathering of stuff”, it’s a new art form that exists in this special social and popular culture format. It creates reaction in it’s fans and non-fans alike.

20- Do hope to create your own toy line like McFarlane?
Yes. That would rule. Can I? Who knows. But that would be a fun dream.

21- Do you also collect toys or artwork perhaps for inspiration?
Of course. I have a LARGE collection of Star Wars, Batman and many more. I have a degree in Video and I minored in Art History, so I have exposure. I can’t say I have real favorites as I like a lot of variety. I like fantasy and erotic art and like the classics of Frazetta and Olivia and Achillios and even the likes of Sorayama and Brom and others. It’s hard to say what inspires me in the figure realm. As for comics art, I really like Dave Stevens, creator of the Rocketeer. Also like a bunch of Batman artists. Who? I can’t say. Too many. So, so many.

The Brown Hornet and Stinger

22- Any advice for anyone looking to get into customizing?
Just do it ! Get a figure you like, or kind of like, OPEN THE BOX, and liberate the danged thing from it’s cardboard prison, and slop on some paint! Change the clothes! Try something. You’d be surprised at how satisfying it can be. Just don’t buy figures to keep them in boxes. That is like the 13 th sin isn’t it? Something like…”Thou shalt not leave a figure in it’s box!” Customizing is play at it’s artistic high. Besides, it’s all just so much plastic.