Today we bring you an interview from another talented artist, here is the 27th installment of the CTU's interview series...

Presenting the CTU's Dirty Dozen featuring: Kevin Gosselin



1. What name do you go by and why?
Just plain old Kevin Gosselin. I never participated in the graffitti scene so there was no real need for an alias. And when I was growing up there was no famous person with my last name so I wanted to bring some much needed attention to it. John and Kate beat me to that. But I still like my name and I'm sticking with it.

2. Why did you get into custom toy making?
It was all by chance. I had been playing with sculpey for some years making original sculptures for myself and family and then when KR had their contest little over a year ago I entered and suddenly there was this whole new world of possibilities open to me. Since then I've been fortunate to have enough interest in my work to keep me busy and allow me to continue to learn and grow as an artist. Now that I've found this I'll continue as long as people are interested.


3. What influences / motivates your work the most?
First it's a solid foundation of sci-fi/fantasy and popculture that I've grown up with. After that I'm influenced by the my fellow artists and the platform in front of me. Top it off with a touch of beer and or wine and you have my recipe for influence and motivation.




4. What is your favorite platform to work with?
To be honest, I prefer the medium of air. Meaning no platform at all. I love doing original works. But as long as people request customs of a particular platform then I'll be more than happy to continue and my prefered platfrom is the Munny. Not so much what it IS but rather what it isn't. It's the least specific platform which allows me to be the most original I can be. I don't know, the celsius was a pretty cool platform to work with cause it was a simple design and actually more in line with correct proportions.


5. What tools of the trade do you use?
Just about everything under the sun. Whatever the individual piece calls for. But for the most part it's always going to be sculpey products, magic-sculpt and golden acrylics.

6. Do you have any formal arts training?
Now you got me started. I do. I got my degree in Fine Arts with a major in Illustration at Ringling School of Art and Design down in Sarasota FLorida. But I personally think that you don't need art school to learn art. It's not like other disciplines. Anything you're going to learn you're going to have to learn by doing anyway. The only way to become good at being an artist is to practice and never stop. You don't need an art school to do that. What school can be good for is after you've learned by doing you tend to build up all these questions. Sure you have
lots of questions to begin with but you don't know the right ones to ask yet. Any old book or video online can provide you with the basics. Why waste all that money learning the basics of painting or sculpture. Learn that on your own and once you get to a level where you plateau and you have all these advanced questions thats when you seek the advice of a teacher who might have answers that only a really seasoned pro would know.

I say this from my own experience though. I got a real late start on art. Aside from doodling I did little art until my senior year of high school when I had to choose where I was going to go to college. My twin brother wanted to be an artist and we had similar talents so I took my required art class, applied and followed him to art school. The 10 pieces I submitted for my portfolio were about the only ten pieces of art I had ever done. So when I got to art school I had no idea what to do and had never painted. I worked my way through school and just sort of skated by without really learning much. Work was really my priority, not art. There was little time for art after classes and work. SO when I graduated I Finally had the time to explore my art. I really started painting and after about a year I had all these great questions but no teachers around anymore to answer them. So you see, from my perspective, I think that it's wise to wait until you are sure you're ready and have all those questions. But that's just my experience and not necessarily for everyone. Some people do it right the first time. But when you're staring down the amount due of your student loans I think you really have to ask yourself, do they have something in that school that I can't learn without just diving into my art on my own? For someone who wants a real job in a trade industry like cgi and the job requires a degree then I do think school is extremely important. But for a fine artist like me the answer is NO.

Sorry about that. It's a heated question, my formal arts training. Let's lighten the mood on the next one.




7.What other artistic mediums do you dabble in?
I used to love painting in acrylics. Essentially I'm doing the same thing now as I used to but on 3 dimensions. I'd like to get back to it eventually and really explore my illustration roots. Also, for the same reason, I love using illustrator and making vector art.


8. Who are your favorite artists?
Well, coming from an Illustration background my favs all tend to be illustrators like Norman Rockwell and Darrell K. Sweet. Frazetta, Waterhouse and Brom are also up there for me. If you're taking about 3 dimensions I love Richard MacDonald. I hope to one day get a portfolio together and attend one of his workshops. But you want to know my favorite toy artists and customizers. They are Chauskoskis, JRYU, Fplus, and Nerviswr3k.

9.Who or what pieces do you collect?
Sadly I don't. I make the toys instead. Someday when I find myself with money I'll invest in the artists I mentioned before. I
really want to get my hands on an original Chauskoskis

10. What piece are you most proud of?
For me it's usually the last piece because I'm so fickle about my own work. After a few days distance from any piece I tend to be aware of all the many could haves and should haves. But all that aside, I was really happy with my Stone Golem piece. Which btw was never bought up for charity and is returning home. Anyone interested in purchasing can contact me.



11.Do you have any shows or exhibitions in the works?
I have the sketchbot V2 show coming November 19th at Munky King. After that I have a long list of commissions to get to. There are some very patient people out there. I've got some platform commishes and a couple originals on deck. Next year there are a couple small group shows where I intend to do a lot more of my own stuff.

12. Do you take commissions?
Always. Admittedly the waiting list is quite long now( ) but I love paying work and as long as people are requesting and don't mind waiting in line, then I'll be happy to work with them to create a piece that makes them happy. Besides, I find I do my best work for commissions. If you're interested, just contact private message me or contact me through my website at http://kgosselinart.com

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The Custom Toy Union would like to thank Kevin Gosselin for his time and for sharing his work with us.

You can see more of Kevin Gosselin's work here:

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Love it! One of my favorite customizers.

I wholeheartedly agree with your take on learning art...musashi miyamoto became a master painter very late in life simply by applying his theories of strategy.

Always a fan of what Kevin comes up with and the skill he does it.

this guy does fucking amazing work.

I couldn't have said it better myself. Just wanted to add that he's an awesome guy on top of that

Your ideas and your sculpting skills were top notch! I'm a big fan Kevin!

Can't wait till KG get's my custom started!! Hip-hop-Ho-ray!!!

Great Art and interview! Nice to meet you!