Featured Art: Prototype Boba Fett Minis

The road to creating a truly original work of art is often littered with mistakes and setbacks. Taking too few risks is a recipe for mediocrity, while risking too much can have very different but equally disastrous results. Standing out from the crowd can indeed be a tricky and difficult target to achieve, let alone sustain.

In the ever-growing community of custom toy makers, artist and packaging designer Ryan Spencer accomplishes both with his Minis line of custom toys. Equal parts unique and nostalgic, Ryan strikes the perfect balance between iconic designs from the Star Wars universe and the signature simplicity of Fischer-Price Little People. Have you ever seen Mos Eisley Cantina patrons reimagined as vintage children’s toys? Neither have we.

In addition to his completed creations, Ryan also posts numerous concept sketches and work in progress photos which are every bit as fascinating. Take his Boba Fett design for example: We get to see everything from glimpses of a concept drawing, a preliminary sculpt, and addition of details, to further experimentation, development of accessories, production mockups, and packaging ideas all the way to the first finished product. Brilliant.

As if his thorough photo documentation wasn’t enough, Ryan offers even more insight into his art in his interview with us. We are given honest and candid glimpses of how his journey as an artist was both inspired and impacted by his life experiences, molding him into the artist he is today. We trust that readers will find his story just as engaging as we did.

What are three interesting facts about you that most fans may not know?

I am a proud dad in my early 40’s of twin girls who are almost five. They have been introduced to BB-8 and have watched The Force Awakens. They like it. They do know of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker through my collection floating around the house but haven’t seen the original trilogy yet.

I designed Wonka Fun Dip in the late 90’s and the last line of Irwin Toys Dragon Ball Z. Having the pleasure to work on my favourite candy and a toy line in my package design career was pretty great. Working on any licensed material, I always love being a big fan boy in general.

I had an online comic I called BluBoy on Deviant Art. Very Emo, about a little cute ghost wandering around in the after life. Hence why I brand my work under the name BluGhost Productions, as it’s a bit of a call back. I had a pretty decent following until my life turned upside down a few times, so my head wasn’t there anymore. Star Wars always made me happy and I always find a great escape artistically and nostalgically.

What are your earliest memories of Star Wars?

I’ve been collecting Star Wars since I can remember. I was probably four or five when my mom had ordered Hammerhead, Greedo and a Snaggletooth from Sears. Getting to open that box and seeing the card art and action figures was so amazing to me. I had a friend down the street who had almost every figure and ship so I was exposed to all of it early on. I remember shopping at the Hi-Way Market in Kitchener and just being in awe of the amount of action figures on the shelf. The whole aisle was black and silver. I just never wanted to leave, and just kept staring at it all. So I think I was introduced to the figures before seeing the movie. I know my parents took me to see Star Wars but at that time I was too young to really remember. Then The Empire Strikes Back came out and then finally Return of the Jedi. That was really my favourite one. I loved the speeder bike scene, rancor, and Jabba. I could perceive the advancement in special effects and the varied amount of aliens and new trooper outfits inspired the pants off me. I really wanted to work as a sculptor for movies when I saw the behind the scenes books. Collecting Topps cards was huge for me too. It was the only way to see the movies again and again back in the day. Typical lifestyle for most of us 70’s kids, I think.

What toys did/do you collect, and how do they influence your art overall?

I mainly collect Hasbro Star Wars action figures for the most part. I love the Vintage Collection and the six inch Black Series lines, although space and cost is becoming a factor. I try to restrict myself to certain characters or designs like Boba Fett, troopers, and aliens. Mostly bad guys. I have great admiration to what Hot Toys and Side Show Collectibles put out. The detail and the amount of product development that go into those are mind blowing. The Funko Pop! figures are right up my alley too as I typically draw fun cute-looking things when it comes to my fan art.

I lost my original Kenner collection through divorce years ago and have slowly been rebuilding that, which is what I look to first for inspiration typically. I love seeing the new Star Wars characters and designs and get inspired by that also. But mostly sculpting-wise, I try to stay simple and true to that time period where the computer was not running the show. I love the simplicity and try to capture that look and feel in my work on the Minis Collection while at the same time developing my own look and feel. The more you do, the better and faster you get. Learning and understanding new techniques is all part of that process.

How did you first know that you wanted to do art and design for a living?

I always loved to draw ever since I can remember. Star Wars and Disney always inspired me to pursue a career in art. My first dream was to become a comic artist and have a character of my own like the Peanuts comics and Garfield. I then looked to cartoons more and more and almost went the animation route. I loved to draw and when it came time for college I couldn’t decide which route to take. I applied to an illustration program, animation, and graphic design program. Through high school I pursued sculpting and computer graphic design, which was pretty new at the time. I found I was really great at sculpting and loved doing it, but computer art was so new and interesting and I thought for sure that was the way to go. So I chose the design route. I ended up focusing on packaging. Again, probably because of my toy collecting and keeping my stuff in the package. I appreciate art where ever I saw it. I have been in the package design industry since 1996 and on the side pursuing my other interests in comics, illustration, and toy making.

How did you decide on making a line of figurines based on Fischer-Price Little People, and what can you share about the process of designing and creating them?

After retiring from my comic, I got the creative bug again and thought about what I could do. I found my continued interest in action figures and collecting Star Wars was something I always fall back on. It’s nostalgia and an inspiring universe full of all kinds of cool-looking characters. I started drawing Star Wars fan art in my own way. I called the series MiniWars, and posted on Flickr and my other sites. I got some interest from the online Star Wars community. I drew them in vector so I could have the ability to use them in any way I wished. I created T-shirts and then being influenced by my collecting, I started using the illustrations and designed them into a “Kenner card back” which I could print out as artwork and as a packaging piece. As a package designer I just love to have something I created to hold in my hands.

Before my sculpting, I discovered the bootleg and resin art scene. I met online Mike Woods of FalconToys. We collaborated to create a vintage mashup I called Insecta-Droid. Which was a Transformers G1 Insecticon Kickback combined with a Death Star Droid. Mike resined it and added to the figure design itself and I conceptualized it and did the card art.

After that I naturally started to think about how my work would translate into a toy. I missed sculpting and thought I should get back into that so I just jumped right in, collecting tools and equipment and watching the pros on YouTube, mainly Adam Savage’s Tested program with Frank Ippolito. It was also nice to get away from the computer screen everyday. I first worked on a Greedo sculpt that resembled my MiniWars Greedo design. I found it took a long time to create and soon realized I needed a simpler design. I’m always thinking of a series, and never a one-off piece, so knowing that I thought “how could I make this work?” Being already in the vintage toy realm, Fischer-Price Little People was always in my mind, having grown up with them. My favourite was the castle set with the dragon and knight. So I basically thought hmm, let’s see how a Boba Fett would look in that style as I have never really seen it done before. At the same time I did three others: a Tusken Raider, Greedo and Hammerhead. Being a simpler design, it was nice to work within that structure. I developed a frame upon each new character I would build upon. I’m excited about the Warduke I did and Death Trooper. I also started to come up with my own designs, heavily inspired by Star Wars or anything science fiction. I’ve even done General Ursus or Urko from the Planet of the Apes series. I try to sculpt the designs, keeping in mind some variants I can do with them. Helmet or no helmet. I love building helmets and removable pieces. In the Darth Vader I did, the helmet and mask are separate pieces held together with a magnet. They were a pain to paint and put together, but turned out great. I had the help of Aaron Arlof casting for me after Greedo was done. He was perfect in helping me with all the little parts I was asking for.

The craziest thing that happened during the evolution of building these figurines is that it got Hasbro’s attention. Back in 2014, Steve Evans, the Star Wars director at Hasbro, liked my Boba Fett creation on Instagram. I then approached him about the idea. He was on board and asked me to send him a proposal. He took it, and it would have been for a 2017 release but Hasbro didn’t move forward with it. During this process, I started a patent on my designs and now have a Star Wars Boba Fett patent under my belt. I’ve found it’s a very difficult sell though, being Star Wars and all.

How do you generally determine which characters and vehicles to create Minis for?

I typically just make what inspires me or what I think is cool. It’s a self indulgent hobby pretty much still.

The first set I designed was based around the Kenner cantina aliens and Boba Fett. Boba Fett being my favourite Star Wars design next to Vader. The alien characters I mentioned earlier were my first figures I owned, and truly are classic in their colour schemes and designs.

Of course, Boba Fett needs the sea serpent, as was seen in the classic Holiday Special. Through diving into the ships and larger creatures I basically see them as bases to sit the figurines onto for display, as my abilities are limited.

What inspired you to create prototype Boba Fett-inspired Minis?

I am a huge fan of the Boba Fett design or designs. From the movie costume and concept art to the Kenner and more recent Hasbro renditions. The beautiful thing surrounding Boba Fett are all the different colour schemes around the character. From the animated version to the Kenner prototype to the movie prototype. Even the Ralph McQuarrie concept work he did. I sketched out a rendition on that as well. The main inspiration was when I first saw and collected all the Kubrick Boba Fett figure colour variants. So basically the white prototype had to be done in my mind.

I’m at the point where I’ve now been going beyond that into my own new variants like the Predator Fett or Trophy Huntor that I did as an exclusive for a Canadian toy show for Mothership Gallery.

We recently featured your friend Julio Del Hierro, who contributed the packaging artwork for your Prototype Boba Fett Exclusive. How did you decide to do this particular collaboration with him?

Oh, well I love networking through Instagram and meeting other like-minded artists from around the world. It’s pretty cool. Collaborating is something that seems to happen naturally when two artists admire each other’s work. You usually can end up with something pretty great from that. It just feels great to team up and put something out that much better than on your own. I know myself and my own abilities and time can only go so far. When I put out my Greedo and Electrocuted Vader, I had a cool artist Rob Bazylewicz do some wicked artwork for my cards backs. Rob passed away unfortunately in 2017. He was a great collaborator not just for me, but others in the resin figure scene as well.

Getting back to your question, I was looking for another artist for the exclusive I wanted to enter into the Mothership Gallery show. I didn’t need to look too far as I noticed my old college buddy was working away on his instagram feed with his amazing marker renderings. He was drawing everything I loved: Blade Runner, Predator, and Star Wars pieces. I thought for sure he would be a good fit and I wanted something original and hand done, as it reflects my own efforts. I sculpt and paint and package all by hand. So amazingly, he said yes! Glad he was able to put his time towards it.

What is the most important advice you were given that you would like to pass onto aspiring artists and designers?

Just keep doing what it is you are doing. Put your best effort into whatever it is you are doing and just see how far you can take it. Just remember some things work out and some don’t for many reasons. And if it doesn’t, think to yourself what else is it that makes you excited and go for it. So perhaps it’s don’t give up, but do what makes you happy. It’s true what they say: ignore the nay sayers.

Last but not least, what is your dream goal or project as an artist/designer?

Well, I have always dreamt as a package designer to work on some actual Star Wars-related design for Hasbro. It would be fun for me to work at Pilot Studios. At the same time, I would love to have my hobby and work really take off, and create my own line of toys. I would have loved to work for Hasbro on a Star Wars toy line. Who knows, we can all only dream. I hope still to better my skills and get into casting and molding my sculpts myself. Perhaps one day, set up a Kickstarter to do a series of runs from time to time. I’m always looking to team up with people, so anyone interested let me know out there.

About Ryan Spencer

Born in Canada, Ryan Spencer is an artist and Star Wars fan/collector since he learned to talk. He has been working as a Package Designer and Art Director in Toronto since 1998, and has worked on projects for Pepsi, Irwin Toy, Tim Hortons, and Kraft. Ryan also has a passion for developing characters and takes his illustration talents into many of his design projects.

Ryan can be found online as BluGhost Productions on Instagram and Facebook.