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Shin Tanaka
Getting His Paper Right
"Some people say Shin is shifting to vinyl from paper, but I won’t. Real stuff for me is paper forever. This is my style!" Shin Tanaka
Making the transition from painted characters on the streets of Japan, to finely crafted paper constructions that have travelled the world from Capetown to Washington, Shin Tanaka’s self-proclaimed ‘paper toys’ have evolved to a point where they now have a life of their own.
Your characters seem to have a strong link to streetwear have you had much of a chance to translate your artwork to clothing?
My characters don't have a strong link to streetwear, streetwear have a strong link to my character. Because I’m from graffiti art, my characters are born from my graffiti works. When I drew graffiti letters, I'd put some characters next to the letters. Before I know it, the characters became bigger than the letters, haha.
Yes, I have many chances to design some t-shirt for several apparel brands. Now I’m designing some Tee for a brand in NY.
I really liked your turntable characters and how they’re playing themselves, what do you imagine them to be playing? Does music play a part in your creative process?
As for the turntable toy, It means “Do it yourself! If you want to listen good music, you should play spin a tune.” Music is one of very important elements for me. When I was creating a design, I’m always listening to hip-hop music with mega volume. The break beats and rhyming make me activated.
You make some of your paper toys open for any artist to download and then submit designs. Essentially making it a sort of collaboration between you and the artists you select. Are you still surprised by some of the ideas and personalities people give your paper toys?
My paper toys are supported by many artists, it’s a medium between you and me. Because I want to meet many artists and their talents, I started this paper toy project. They often give me a fresh inspiration which I have never seen with their customized paper toy. It’s very interesting for me!
Do you know my paper toys are used for the art education class in elementary school and university? The art teachers ask me they want to use my paper toy for their art class. By now, my templates are used in over 200 schools in the world. I always support art education because we have to bring up the next generations.
The paper toys series has opened a lot of doors for you, what with the Rock Paper Sneakers show curated for Nike and held in Capetown and more recently Paper Toy Live held at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Can you tell us more about how you were able to make these shows happen?
I could meet many fans in the show, it’s my great pleasure! And they gave me a motivation, I thought I have to create more stuff and make them and other people happy.
Obviously your paper toys have links to the vinyl toy craze, what are your thoughts on the current state of vinyl toys? Do you have any favorite artists or characters from the vinyl toy scene?
Yes, we are making vinyl toys, I’m going to make them with the same shapes of my paper toys such as they are replica of my papers. I have a rule that I make only one paper toy per a design, so not many people get my toy. I have received many requests from many of our fans, therefore I'm determined to make vinyl toys. Some people say Shin is shifting to vinyl from paper, but I won’t. Real stuff for me is paper forever. This is my style!
I have many favorite artists on vinyl toy scene; Touma, devilrobots, Kaijin, they are good friends of mine.
We know you love paper but what about other materials? Have you thought about taking any of your characters into different mediums?
I have strong interests in other materials, If I have a chance, I want to use other materials. I just wanna try something new.
So what does the future hold for you and the paper toy series, do you have any collaborations/projects coming up that we should get excited about?
I have many collaboration plans and many new characters in my mind. It’s time that I want most, I have lots of inspiration however I don’t have time to design them as a paper toy. Because it takes about 1 to 1.5 months to design a toy. I don’t use any 3D modeling software because I don’t like polygon shapes, so I repeat drawing line, cutting and building up and modifying the lines several times about over 20 to 50 times. It takes much times but you must be excited by my works in the near future!
To see more of Shins recent works make sure you visit his website. Here you'll also find more about his more latest vinyl toy releases. Also get your fold on and download the special ACCLAIM X Shin Tanaka Spiky Baby available exclusively here at ACCLAIM Online.
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My characters don't have a strong link to streetwear, streetwear have a strong link to my character. Because I’m from graffiti art, my characters are born from my graffiti works. When I drew graffiti letters, I'd put some characters next to the letters. Before I know it, the characters became bigger than the letters, haha.
Yes, I have many chances to design some t-shirt for several apparel brands. Now I’m designing some Tee for a brand in NY.
I really liked your turntable characters and how they’re playing themselves, what do you imagine them to be playing? Does music play a part in your creative process?
As for the turntable toy, It means “Do it yourself! If you want to listen good music, you should play spin a tune.” Music is one of very important elements for me. When I was creating a design, I’m always listening to hip-hop music with mega volume. The break beats and rhyming make me activated.
You make some of your paper toys open for any artist to download and then submit designs. Essentially making it a sort of collaboration between you and the artists you select. Are you still surprised by some of the ideas and personalities people give your paper toys?
My paper toys are supported by many artists, it’s a medium between you and me. Because I want to meet many artists and their talents, I started this paper toy project. They often give me a fresh inspiration which I have never seen with their customized paper toy. It’s very interesting for me!
Do you know my paper toys are used for the art education class in elementary school and university? The art teachers ask me they want to use my paper toy for their art class. By now, my templates are used in over 200 schools in the world. I always support art education because we have to bring up the next generations.
The paper toys series has opened a lot of doors for you, what with the Rock Paper Sneakers show curated for Nike and held in Capetown and more recently Paper Toy Live held at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Can you tell us more about how you were able to make these shows happen?
I could meet many fans in the show, it’s my great pleasure! And they gave me a motivation, I thought I have to create more stuff and make them and other people happy.
Obviously your paper toys have links to the vinyl toy craze, what are your thoughts on the current state of vinyl toys? Do you have any favorite artists or characters from the vinyl toy scene?
Yes, we are making vinyl toys, I’m going to make them with the same shapes of my paper toys such as they are replica of my papers. I have a rule that I make only one paper toy per a design, so not many people get my toy. I have received many requests from many of our fans, therefore I'm determined to make vinyl toys. Some people say Shin is shifting to vinyl from paper, but I won’t. Real stuff for me is paper forever. This is my style!
I have many favorite artists on vinyl toy scene; Touma, devilrobots, Kaijin, they are good friends of mine.
We know you love paper but what about other materials? Have you thought about taking any of your characters into different mediums?
I have strong interests in other materials, If I have a chance, I want to use other materials. I just wanna try something new.
So what does the future hold for you and the paper toy series, do you have any collaborations/projects coming up that we should get excited about?
I have many collaboration plans and many new characters in my mind. It’s time that I want most, I have lots of inspiration however I don’t have time to design them as a paper toy. Because it takes about 1 to 1.5 months to design a toy. I don’t use any 3D modeling software because I don’t like polygon shapes, so I repeat drawing line, cutting and building up and modifying the lines several times about over 20 to 50 times. It takes much times but you must be excited by my works in the near future!
To see more of Shins recent works make sure you visit his website. Here you'll also find more about his more latest vinyl toy releases. Also get your fold on and download the special ACCLAIM X Shin Tanaka Spiky Baby available exclusively here at ACCLAIM Online.
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