Tado

Tado is Mike and Katie, two very hard working people who do graphic design, illustration, animation, toy design, and a bit of everything in between.

Tado are based in Sheffield UK, enjoy eating ice cream, and playing with their dogs. The pair work across a huge range of projects, from logos, animation and web design through to customised cars, designer toys and home-ware!

Over the past 7 years Tado have worked like demons to continually produce all kinds of projects – it is the diversity of their work that they love. Tado enjoy all aspects of what they do and try their best to spread love and happiness to the unsuspecting world.

As well as their commercial design and illustration projects Tado also have a lot of other projects such as exhibitions and toy and merchandise production. Their first solo exhibition was held in 2006 in LA and was a collaboration with designer retail outlet Kidrobot. Since then recent exhibitions include "MTV Toy" at ‘Design Week’ in Milan (MTV Italia), window dressings for the prestigious Le Bon Marche department store in Paris, and a collaborative show with Jon Burgerman, also in Paris.

Tado work closely with several companies on various toy, artifact and fashion based projects. Companies they have collaborated with on these projects include the likes of Nike, MTV, Puma, Adidas, Vodafone, Elle Magazine, Star Wars, Selfridges, McDonald's, Microsoft's Zune, and Kidrobot.

Mr Toast

Dan Goodsell is an artist living in Los Angeles. The basis of his work is a fictional place called the Imaginary World which is inhabited by an odd assortment of characters including Mr. Toast, Joe the Egg & Lemonhead. His artwork chronicles the adventures and lives of these characters. A major influence on his art was "the golden age" of education; when science, history and nature were taught through state fairs, roadside attractions, illustrated books and animated classroom films. Over the last six years, he has created and maintained the Imaginary World web site where visitors can find weekly web comics, read illustrated stories and purchase Mr Toast books and toys.



When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

My path to work in graphic arts was not at all straight forward. I come from a very creative family but at the same time we were all very interested in science. So when I entered college it was as a physics major but after taking a few art classes that all changed. As an art major I worked mainly in performance and video. I didn't have the patience to try to learn any real classic art skills. So I left school and did not really pursue an art career.

Well after a number of years working in art galleries and museums, I decided to get back into art. The project I cooked up in my mind was to create my own theme park similar to something like Disneyland. I quickly found that to make the park I need characters and the characters needed stories. I had characters from my college years including Mr Toast. So I began to paint and draw to try to establish who the characters were. Slowly I taught myself to paint and
draw over the last 6 years. Also I have never been paid to work as an illustrator. Any money I have made has been through selling my own paintings and products I have created myself.

Who or what inspires you?

I was lucky enough to attend the Pictoplasma Conference in October of 2006 in Berlin. I came back completely inspired because everyone there was really doing there own thing and everyone seemed to be finding room in the world to live and create. Life is not a competition but a giant conference where we can all share ideas.



Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

As I said before, I am self taught. I started with trial and error and now I find I look at other artists and can look at their technique and learn a little about how to perfect my own skills.



How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I keep fresh by observing the world and trying to bring it into my work. I was walking the other
morning and I saw a giant spider web in the tree. Immediately I was working it into a story I had been thinking about. I also like to go to sleep working on an idea and then have it percolate inside my dreaming state. Often in the morning the idea will have worked itself out or sometimes transformed completely into something new and even better.


What are some of your current projects?

Right now I am beginning to put together a little book of my work which I will self publish. I have a show of my paintings coming up in May that I have to start work on. Also I will hopefully begin work on a Mr Toast children's picture book to be published by a "real" publisher. This last one I am both excited about and terrified since I will not be in total control but you have to let go at some point.



Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

I am proud of the books I have self published - Mr Toast at the Circus, Imaginary World Comics #1, GAGS and The World of Mr Toast. I am really proud of them because I did everything in them from the writing and illustration to the design. It is great because if you choose to you can do it all yourself with the help of a computer. It cost some money but by doing it myself I have learned so much more.


Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I am about to give gouache a try. I want to try to do some classic old school magazine type illustrations. I have no idea if it will work out but it will be fun to try.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Work, work, work. Try to figure out what it is you care about and follow it through. Never quit just keep moving. Art is about momentum and once you get going you won't be able to stop (at least until you run out of room to store all your stuff).



What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

As long as you are happy with a piece, it is a success. When it comes to my weekly comics, if I show it to my wife and get a laugh, I know that it is successful. I also benefit from getting feedback via my blog and Flickr and it helps me assess which things seem to strike a cord with people and which seem to fall flat.



What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

My main motivating factor is my age. I am about to turn 42 and I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do since I spent about 10 years not doing my art. Maybe at some point I will be satisfied about where I am at but right now I can't seem to get enough done. There are always plenty of paintings and drawings that need to get done. I used to be afraid of running out
of ideas, now I just want to find the time to get them all done. It drives my wife crazy because I have 5 projects all in progress throughout the house (I use the kitchen as a painting studio).

Design Context Presentation (chapter 1)

Design Context Presentation (chapter 2)

Design Context Presentation (chapter 3)

design Context Presentation (chapter 4)

Design Context Presentation (chapter 5)

Design Context Presentation (chapter 6)

Max Toy Company







Ask anyone who knows Mark to describe him and the two things that will come up are toys and art.

After attending the Academy of Art College in San Francisco during the late 80's and picking up a New York artist's rep, Mark embarked on a 10-year plus journey as a freelance commercial illustrator. Over the years he's worked with a diverse client list which has included Scholastic Books, Bantam Books, Harper Collins, Becketts Publications, Schlage Locks, AMD, Genentech, IBM, Square Soft, Activision, DC Comics, Sony, Galoob Toys, Lucasfilms, Hasbro Toys and numerous Advertising and
Design firms nationally and internationally. The highlight of this time included over 40 cover paintings for RL Stine's Goosbumps book series, Give Yourself Goosbumps.

Churning out hundreds of assignments over the years, coupled with deadlines from hell took a toll, both mentally and physically. "I had to reassess what was important in my life and refocus my abilities towards a new goal. " said Nagata.

"I'd been collecting Japanese toys all along, and suddenly realized it would be cool to have a magazine of some type devoted to them. So it's no surprise that Mark ended up creating and co-publishing Super7 Magazine. After successfully building the Super7 brand for nearly 4 years , it was time to move on."I wasn't able to paint as much as I wanted, and I realized that the part of Super7 I enjoyed the most was creating toys and artwork " reflects Nagata.

Thus was born Mark's new venture called Max Toy Company, named after his son Max. With a nod to the Golden Age of Japanese toys, Max Toy Co. will continue the tradition of offering classic Japanese character toys by all the best toy companies. Max Toy Co. also produces its own exclusive toys, both licensed and original. Many of the original toys offered are hand painted by Mark Nagata. A tradition that goes back to Japanese toy makers. Also most of the offerings feature unique artwork on the headercards painted by Mark.

In September 2007 the first group Kaiju show in the United States featuring artists and companies from Japan, USA and South America was held at Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago. Called Toy Karma ( www.toykarma.com ) it was a historic gathering that featured many custom painted toys and art.

Following on the heels of this event in October 2007, over 30 of Mark's original paintings, toys and a selection of his vintage toy collection were featured in Beyond Ultraman: Seven Artists Explore the Vinyl Frontier, at the Pasadena Museum of California Art , a joint exhibition with LaTda , Los Angeles Toy, Doll & Amusements Museum. This marked the first time in a musuem setting that the influence of Japanese toys on California artists was explored.

And in 2009, Mark curated Mark Nagata and Kaiju Comrades art show in Tokyo, Japan, once again bring together artists from different aspects of the kaiju toy movement in this first of it's kind art toy show. From 2008 to the present Mark has also been selling his hand painted custom Kaiju toys via the prestigous auction houses Philips De Pury and Christies in New York and London. Mark's customs have sold in every auction and continue to spread the Kaiju art toy movement into new uncharted areas of the art world.

In addition, Mark has also written and Max Toys have appeared in the Eiji Tsuburaya biography from Chronicle Books,the soon to be released, Kaiju Attack from Collins Books and Full Vinyl book from Harper Collins, Otaku USA magazine, and Japanese magazines, Hyper Hobby and KaiZine, Spectrum Fantastic Arts annual book, to name a few.

More recently Max Toy Co. has teamed up with well known Art Toy distributor, StrangeCo .,to help wholesale and distribute its product to a much wider audience.

"Max Toy Co. allows me to produce original artwork, sculpt new toys, and work directly with a lot of my talented artist friends." Nagata says.
Max Toy Co is a synthesis of toys and art ... both life long passions.

Gama Go

	Chris Edmundson Founder Chris Edmundson was born in a straw-laden manger to a virgin mother and a carpenter father. After a quick stint of healing lepers and curing the blind, he turned his attention to rock. He spent his youth headbanging his way across America, ultimately settling in San Francisco. He quickly solved San Francisco's endemic homeless problem to the surprise and consternation of the mayor and the majority of SF's liberal-wanna-be-do-gooder residents. Bored, antsy, and with pockets full of change - he co-founded GAMA-GO. He currently spends his time teaching orphans to hug and bitterly complaining about the proliferation of upscale donut shops. He's a sharp dresser and enjoys telling hippies to "sit on it, Potsie."
	Greg Long Founder As a child my father taught me the three B's of life: Bear Wrastlin', Big Nacho Platters, and Buck Naked Croquet. I put in my time learnin' the B's. A lot of blood, sweat, bear saliva, and delicious hot cheese went into making me the man I am. The skills I acquired learning to put a hammer lock on a 850lbs grizzly have proven to be directly applicable to the day-to-day operations of GAMA-GO. Not a day goes by that I don't thank my dad for showing me how to wack a croquet ball clear into next Tuesday. I currently spend my days teaching my young son the intricacies of choosing a proper croquet mallet and determining which chip to first pull from a nacho pile. I'm fortunate to be working with a group of like-minded, free-thinking, talented folk here at GG. I live in San Francisco and am extremely thankful for my friends, my family, and my excellent sense of smell.
	Jennifer Brown Sales Manager Jennifer spent her formative years in Minneapolis, MN behind a Polaroid making fake ID's so that she and her friends could get into rock shows. She also studied at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. While employed as a buyer for an indie retailer in Seattle, Jennifer fell in love with Gama-Go's RAD tees and hoodies...coincidentally (or not) Gama-Go headquarters happened to be in SAN FRANCISCO, a city she had left her heart in as a child. In 2006 it all came together and she couldn't be happier living or working anywhere else. When not jet setting around the country to tradeshows showing off the latest Gama-Goodies, you might find her urban-deep-sea-diving for mid-century modern pieces at estate sales, or walking her fox through Golden Gate Park.
	Wednesday Kirwan Illustrator Wednesday Kirwan (artist/designer) Wednesday's fine art has been exhibited at M Modern Gallery, The Corey Helford Gallery, Gallery 1988 (SF and LA) and Roq la Rue. One of her pieces was recently published in the Fantagraphics Books collection, Beasts II. Wednesday's illustration clients have included Merriem Webster, Scott Foresman and Harcourt Books for Kids. She has written and illustrated two books for children, "Nobody Notices Minerva," Sterling, 2007, followed by "Minerva the Monster," Sterling, 2008. Wednesday lives in San Francisco with her small dog, Nemo. Wednesday has been a Gama-go contributer since 2007.
	Jackson Pritt Illustrator Born and raised in California, Jackson is a graduate of the Design programs at both UC Davis and the California College of the Arts. He currently lives in Berkeley, CA with his wife, cat, and collection of clip-on ties.
	Stephanie Sampang Office Manager Steph first spotted the wonderful world of Gama-Go at Wishbone boutique on Irving St. And with the good fortune of a Craigslist posting & the encouragement of her best friend, Kori, a longtime Gama-Fan, Steph applied for a position with the company. Three years and hundreds of tee designs later, she makes sure the wheels are cranking on a daily basis and is now part of a growing team dedicated to bringing things that bring a smile to your face. When not in the office, you can find this artsy fartsy singing tunes in an 80s/90s pop cover band called “Slick Blow & the Tenderonies” & performing in various theatrical productions. To all the friends, loved ones, and fans who have supported us through the years....a big THANK YOU!