About Artist: Vladue
How did you start working with toys?
By 2015, when I finished college, I wanted a career related to creativity because I had been trying to draw since 2008. I chose graphic design. Around my second year, I learned to use graphic editing software and started drawing characters. That is when the cat character emerged. Why a cat? In my childhood, we moved frequently, I did not have close friends, but I had a cat I hung out with, talked to, played with, and drew. I decided to draw the cat because it was my childhood friend who I never got bored of spending time with.
By my third year, I managed to land a job as a graphic designer for an IT company while drawing on the side. That is when I met Maxim (Maks Afes). We went to the same university. One day, I saw a Korean figure on Behance and showed it to Maxim, asking if he knew what it was. It turned out he knew all about it and how it was made. He introduced me to the world of toys, and I always went to him with my first questions.
Before buying a 3D printer in early 2020, I made my first 3D toy model, but I did not print it. It was also a cat, but it was terrible because I had no skills.
What do you mean by terrible?
I did not know anatomy, and I had never worked with volume before. So, when the first 3D model didn’t work out, I set it aside for a while. But I returned to it after following other artists on Instagram and gathering references. My new figure turned out much better than the first. It was also a cat. I made the 3D model and wanted to print it, so I looked at the cost. It turned out to be very expensive, and I decided it would be cheaper to buy a budget 3D printer and learn how to do it myself. Of course, it did not work out the first time. YouTube helped me a lot – both with 3D modeling and 3D printing.
When I finally printed the figure, I realized I had done it all wrong and had to redo it. It took me three tries. Then I faced a new problem: how to paint it? I knew how to use spray cans but had no idea how to use an airbrush, which is needed for quality painting. I turned to Maxim again, who had an airbrush by then. After watching some videos, I painted a few test pieces, got the hang of it, and painted the figure – though just in one color. I assembled it and glued it together, and I was really proud of myself.
Before this, I posted the model on social media. It was a huge "wow" moment for everyone, especially me – the post got around 600 likes. That is when Martian Toys, a company from America, reached out to me. They offered a collaboration, but at the time, I was so caught up in the process that I thought I could do everything myself, so why would I need to work with them. I was skeptical about their offer and declined, as I did not fully understand how the industry worked.
Later, I bought the 3D printer, printed the figure, and realized how difficult it was. The whole process took about a year, given that it was never my main focus. When I posted the first finished, unpainted figure, the same company reached out again. This time, I agreed, and we signed a contract.
The cat character remained my main focus. I simply dressed him in different outfits, made a new 3D model, gave him new clothes, and added a bucket hat. I also bought a new, larger printer because I realized the small one could not handle large figures. And to be honest, I don’t see much point in making small figures because a figure should have a “wow” factor. I took out a loan, bought the biggest printer I could find at the time, and started working on the second figure. This was when I really immersed myself in the process.
I also started making Reels to showcase the figures. At one point, a video where I talked about the American company went viral. That is when people started ordering my figure, and within a month, I had a sold-out production run. One of the buyers was Alexey Lokontsev, the founder of the TOPGUN barbershop chain. He asked if I could develop a figure for his brand, and this became a significant milestone for me.
You also had another collaboration, right?
Yes, I had a collaboration with Danil Yad – CATHEAD KAIJU. I was thrilled because his figures were one of the references I used when creating my first cat. It felt like a personal victory to collaborate with Danil.
Recently, things have been moving upward, especially with the opening of TOYiARTi. Everyone involved in this scene has felt the benefit of the support those guys have given us, and I respect them a lot for that.
What have I learned from all this? Now that I have started down the path of a toy designer, I don’t want to become just a contractor. Some well-known artists have approached me, asking me to make figures for them, but I always had a clear goal of producing my own figures first. I turned them down because I knew my own projects would always be more important than commission work. However, the fact that major brands are reaching out shows that this is starting to become relevant in Russia, and that is exciting.
Right now, I am working on many projects: one is your ArToys project, another involves more figures for TOPGUN, and I am also working on a new figure that will be a step up from the previous ones.
The message I want to convey is that at first I knew nothing and had no skills, but that did not stop me from achieving something. I still feel a bit of an impostor, but for me, it is important to keep moving forward and to remember that nothing is impossible.
Popular toys of the artist: