DesignerCon 2023 On the Spot Interviews and Recap

Happy New Year! It’s less than a day into the year but memories of DesignerCon 2023 is still strong. Winter colds and holidays will not delay Squeedar any longer in recounting this event!

DesignerCon 2023 has come and gone and it was a bittersweet experience. In 2024, DesignerCon will be taking the convention to Las Vegas, NV. Squeedar has spent years watching the convention grow within the confines of the walls by filling the space with with art, collectibles, and just unexpected discoveries. It’s a mix bag of feelings. An equal mix of pride (knowing that the convention has grown large enough for even bigger pasture) and sadness (for those pastures are in a completely different state).

The best strategy to tackle this convention is with friends who have also supported and loved the convention. With more than one pair of eager eyes and twice the enthusiasm, we walked through the doors with one unifying thought: what are we going to learn about this year?!

Matthew Crumpton (Painter/ Illustrator)
website: https://www.matthewcrumpton.com/ / IG: @crumpton
An example of one of the creative booths at DesignerCon. It was a definite crowd-stopper plus Crumpton was an absolute delight to speak to.

DesignerCon is a convention that is more than just collectibles, art prints, or apparel. It’s all about discovery. Every year has been a different presentation or highlight of the tip of the ever changing art landscape. Catching an artist or item that holds the eye is thrilling for those who love to explore. What makes DesignerCon beat is always changing. To go in completely clueless on what to expect is an adrenaline boost like no other.

Amusing written word art behind one of the booths

The convention hall was significantly (and thankfully) much more constrained in space this year compared to the overwhelming amount of stuff last year. The aisles and activations were spaced well enough to walk comfortably but close enough to always appease the roving eyes. After a few hours of walking the aisles, we both felt like our eyeballs were permanently ping-ponging back and forth.

It was a Sunday that we arrived and there was an overall sense of contented exhaustion. Many of the vendors shared that it had been a hectic few days especially on Thursday since the convention allowed VIP access. The calmer ambience allowed for a more relaxed atmosphere to learn and talk to a couple of the vendors so we were able to conduct some unique on the spot interviews. Both vendors had no time to prepare themselves but were completely thrilled to take on the challenge of being interviewed.

Diner miniature by Centerpoint Studios (IG: @centerpointstudios)

During one of the walks, we noticed a large tabletop diner miniature. When we bent down we were thrilled to recognize several Star Wars character. This was how we were introduced to Centerpoint Studios.

Elliot Garnet’s interview was a complete gem to conduct. His humor and brimming enthusiasm for the craft was compellingly entertaining. The creative and resourceful techniques that he used to create the diner encouraged a visit to the local hobby and art store

Interview with Elliot Garnet of Centerpoint Studios

Squeedar: Can you introduce yourself and Centerpoint Studios?

Garnett: My name is Elliott Garnett and I run centerpoint studios out of my house. Yeah, home studio. And I've been doing diorama as well as custom action figures and 3D printed parts for almost a decade now.

Squeedar: How and why did you start Centerpoint Studios?

Garnett: Money. I need money (we both laughed)

Squeedar: Can you share the origin story?

Garnett: The main reason behind all of this and why people are buying this for dioramas, and the customs is action figure photography. A lot of people are doing close-up shots and they need in-depth environments as well as highly detailed painted figures and heads for existing Hasbro and imported figures and when the toy companies fall short, that's when people come to me.

Squeedar: How did you get into it?

Garnett: I first started with the action figures when I was a lot younger and it was sharpie paint pens with the three and three quarter inch line. And none of those creations will ever see the light of day. Mark my words, I will die.

Squeedar: Can you talk to me about the diner? Why did you work on the whole diner thing?

Garnett: Ever since Attack of the Clones came out and I saw that, I fell in love with the 50s aesthetic that George Lucas chose and I just knew that when my skill level set had gotten to a level that I was comfortable with, I had to build this.

Squeedar: Can you share the construction detail?

Garnett: So this entire piece was built 98% practically out of XPS foam which is pink insulation foam from Home Depot, 1/4 inch thick corrugated foam board from Michael's and styrene sheets. You can see all the styrene sheets for all of the different handling on the roof and the sides.

I mainly used a hot wire cutter for the xps foam. For all the styrene pieces, I created digital templates in Photoshop, black and white templates of the individual pieces and then you used a Cricut cutter to cut every one out.

Squeedar: Are you serious? Cricut?!

Garnett: Yep

Squeedar: Wow. That's pretty freaking amazing.

Right next to the diner was another miniature building from another Star Wars movie so we had to talk about that one too.

Squeedar: then for this one, Can talk about like the inspiration for this whole setup and design?

Garnett: So just like with the diner, I fell in love with the aesthetic of this hotel from Andor. It's a 70s art deco look that was modified for the specific planet that this takes place on, which is Ferrix.

And with San Diego Comi con coming around, I somehow managed to book a booth for that. I knew the diner was not going to be done in time and I had to build something else. So, I managed to turn this piece out in about just about under two months.

Squeedar: This is a two month project...?!

Garnett: This was a two-month project working on. Oh, geez, 12 16 hours a day.

Squeedar: I feel really lazy right now.

Garnett: I took up to six months off, each time I stopped working on this. You're fine.

Squeedar: So what are your future projects?

Garnett: I don't have a space....

Squeedar: No! What are you gonna do??

Garnett: Well, a year and a half ago, I built a custom built. A 4x8 foot work table. And underneath it has a just under 4x8 foot bay for storage. This piece and the diner are taking the vast majority of it. So I either need to offload these or get them in a museum or something because I do not have the space for anymore.

Squeedar: These are professional grade. These are amazing. No, these are. These are like showstoppers

Garnett: Thank you for honest. I only see the flaws. It's the curse of artists.

Squeedar: Are you gonna keep sticking with Star Wars? Or are you gonna expand beyond that?

Garnett: If I can somehow find the space, I would love to tackle some period pieces. Namely, 1930s art deco New York. Since I'm working with electronics and LEDs, I would love to do some of their beautiful vintage signery from vintage New York. That is my dream.

Squeedar: That'd be awesome...

(End interview)

Elliot, we truly hope you get to make that dream come true. It would be a stunning piece to see come into life indeed!

A certain consequence of experiencing a large event at DesignerCon is complete visual fatigue. The senses can be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of artwork that it just becomes a blur of stuff. Booths just begin to look the same.So it’s highly recommended to always step aside and just take a break . There are live events to sit and enjoy or spend some time outside in the fresh air.

During such visual fatigue, the most unique booths will stand out the most from the rest. To our tired eyes, it was the booth with the giraffe enjoying a coffee break. Styled like 2D cafe, we were warmly invited into a tent full of delightful wonders that Mary Poppins would happily jump into.

The handdrawn jazz band by Yadear Studios (IG @yadear.studio)

Interview with Yadira Guitteriez of Yadear Studios

Squeedar: Can you tell me your name and the name of your company?

Guitierrez: My name is Yadira Guitierrez and my company name is Yadear studios.

Squeedar: Can you give me a little background on your art

Guitierrez: Ever since I was little, I would always love 2D animation, like classic Disney.

I actually started drawing, inspired by them. So, what I would do, back in the day, was VHS.I would pause the movies and quickly try to capture or draw what was in front of me.

Squeedar: Now I'm curious, which VHS tapes?

Guitierrez: Bambi was like number one! Then Lion King and 101 Dalmatians.

Squeedar: Any particular strong memory while drawing these scenes?

Guitierrez: If I took too long, the screen would turn blue...

Squeedar: I remember that!

Guitierrez: ..and so I would have to play it, rewind again and try to get the exact spot to continue drawing! That's how I fell in love with character design.

Also, Norman Rockwell is my biggest inspiration. I didn't know at the time, but when I would go to Hometown Buffet when I was little, there was this painting when we would walk in. There was a painting that said "No swimming" So if you look that up, you'll see which one.

Squeedar: I think I know which one you're talking about!

Guitierrez: Every time we would go, I would make up a story, a different story every time, from that still painting. It would just always come to life to me. It was good illustration.

Inside Hometown Buffet, they would have more of those pictures. And there's one with the little girl, and behind her is the sign, "No swimming". So I would connect those two together.

Squeedar: Share us your love of Spyro

Guitierrez: Growing up. I didn't have Playstation or anything. Every time I would go over my cousin's, I would play Spyro.

I just love the way they animated him and I love dragons. He was just so cute! I remember when you pick up the sheep and fly around!

The newer game, I love how they redesigned it. If you compare first Spyro to now, it's like it's different. Original Spyro was so pixelated! Totally different but in my mind when I was a kid, I would always see it then how it was redesigned now.

Squeedar: Do you have any formal background in art?

Guitierrez: I kind of started studying art a little like later. I wish I would start earlier. My first art class was in high school during free period.

When I went to college, I started taking beginning painting but I've always liked and appreciated fine art as well. I was always into cartoons and wanted to do animation. I did take some animation classes but it was all just 3D animation. I wanted to do the old school 2D!

Squeedar: Keep at it! We all missed 2D animation. If you could right now, do your own 2D animation, do you have an idea of what that project would be?

Guitierrez: I have no idea! (both laugh) I would probably do them as like little books first though.

Squeedar: Is there a story with the jazz band?

Guitierrez: This my first time at DesignerCon. I've never had booth. Before, I just had a table.

So, when I looked up DesignerCon, I saw that it was about the experience. For my booth, I would love for people to walk in into my world. Since I love 2D, everything is hand-drew everything.

Squeedar: Whoa, what?!

Guitterez: Yup, the floor, the frames. And I wanted to bring some characters to life and just make people feel like they walked into a 2D little world.

Squeedar: You did, you absolutely did! Do they have names?

Guitterez: Yes! The Orangutan is named Stanley because we were figuring out how to make him "stand"! The hound dog is Slim Jim, there's Rocky Racoon- like the Beatles song, The fox hasn't been named them yet but we call him the mysterious fox.

Squeedar: Thank you so much! This was amazing [Turning to friend who is waiting outside the booth] Look! She drew the floors!

(End Interview)

Yadira, your artwork is absolutely precious and gives hope to 2D animation on keeping it alive and well!

So much talent, so much creative energy all in one event. So many perspectives of the looking at the same world, sharing similar stories and interests. DesignerCon is a wonderdul convention that is so hard to explain in words. It is experience where every single attendee will walk away changed in some way of form. Some may be inspired, some will find joy in collecting. It will definitely be sorely missed in Los Angeles. May DesignerCon continue to thrive in Las Vegas and continue being the hub center for all burgeoning creators.