[The Amazing People of the SOFUBI World Vol.13] Kimura Toy: This is "Modern Retro"! Korisu no Pokko-chan, Hustle Punch, Sofubi from the Showa Era. Modeling Techniques from a Modeling Class Instructor. Original monster: Kika Kong, Captain Panda
This time, it's Mr. Kimura Toy! He sell original monsters, but he also produce sofubi of manga and anime that was broadcasted in the Showa era. He produce both Showa character sofubi and the original sofubi.
What made me decide to become a sofubi artist
Mr. Kimura: Originally, I used to make puppet animations, but I became less
interested in other than modeling, and eventually I wanted to make a toy myself, and sofubi was relatively easy to make as a toy made by myself.
Commitment to the original character
Mr. Kimura: After working on some copyrighted characters, it is essential to work on the original in order to work as a sofubi artist, so first of all I thought about marketing, or creating 4 different types.
1. Basic monster type, cute group
2. Popular muddy groups in the sofubi world
3. This one is the gorilla group, also popular in the sofubi world
4. A panda, because I had a prototype for another project
so, I made it.
As for copyrighted characters, I'm making characters that I like rather than working on Showa characters, so I've also made sofubi of characters created by "Yasuji Mori", an animator at Toei, and "Jiro Ohta", who worked on old manga and illustrations. I tried my best to pick up as much of the original's colorful lines as possible. On the other hand, I made the originals as I went along.
Mr. Kimura, who also has a modeling class.
Do you do all the modeling and coloring yourself, from Showa sofubi to original sofubi?
Mr. Kimura: I do everything except mold making.
Commitment to coloring
Mr. Kimura: To be honest, coloring is like an extension of making Gunpla, so I'm careful not to overflow. I'm conservative when it comes to coloring combinations, so I'm hoping to bring out more colors that I don't have.
Is there anything that you find difficult as a sofubi artist?
Mr. Kimura: I have a lot of things I want to make, bit I can't move on until I do
something about the things I've already made.
What do you think is the most difficult part of making sofubi?
Mr. Kimura: It takes time from the time you decide to make something to the time it becomes a product. The balance between what you want to make and what you can sell.
