Joe Tanaka Chiang in Singapore is making 365 DIY paper toys at Toy-A-Day. Originally a daily project started in 2008, Joe now periodically makes a toy to add to the collection, all of which include a downloadable PDF so people can make their own!...
Why did you decide to do this project? At that time I had a lot of spare time at hand, so I was looking for ideas to do something to spend my time. At the same time, I did not want to start something too difficult so I thought making a paper toy using a simple template was the best solution. Also, I could share the templates easily with anyone as I did not want to do something too self-indulgent.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? The project certainly changed my life in unexpected ways. Toy-A-Day was featured by popular sites like Gizmodo, Technabob, Super Punch, and the official Star Wars blog. I certainly did not expect to have thousands of hits a day when I began this project.
One of the more unusual things that happened was getting an email from Disney asking me to remove all the characters belonging to them within two weeks or they would send in their lawyers! I had no choice but to comply. However, that was not the end of the story. A few months later, I got another email from Marvel (which is owned by Disney). This time round, they wanted to commission me to design several Marvel characters for a new magazine they were starting using the same templates! I have since gone on to have a good working partnership with them.
One of the things that made me feel worthwhile doing this project was when I received some photographs from a school teacher in South Korea of little children having fun making paper toys from my templates on Children's Days. That really made my day!
See all of Joe's toys (and make them yourself!) HERE.
Why did you decide to do this project? At that time I had a lot of spare time at hand, so I was looking for ideas to do something to spend my time. At the same time, I did not want to start something too difficult so I thought making a paper toy using a simple template was the best solution. Also, I could share the templates easily with anyone as I did not want to do something too self-indulgent.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? The project certainly changed my life in unexpected ways. Toy-A-Day was featured by popular sites like Gizmodo, Technabob, Super Punch, and the official Star Wars blog. I certainly did not expect to have thousands of hits a day when I began this project.
One of the more unusual things that happened was getting an email from Disney asking me to remove all the characters belonging to them within two weeks or they would send in their lawyers! I had no choice but to comply. However, that was not the end of the story. A few months later, I got another email from Marvel (which is owned by Disney). This time round, they wanted to commission me to design several Marvel characters for a new magazine they were starting using the same templates! I have since gone on to have a good working partnership with them.
One of the things that made me feel worthwhile doing this project was when I received some photographs from a school teacher in South Korea of little children having fun making paper toys from my templates on Children's Days. That really made my day!
See all of Joe's toys (and make them yourself!) HERE.
2 comments:
What a great idea & very impressive!
Just found your site and I'm impressed with all these people who produce something each day.
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