Spotlight On: Cesar Diaz

Last week, Cesar Diaz from Reseda, CA sent us pictures of his custom Vinylmation LOST set. Check it out here if you missed it. Impressed by this set, we asked Cesar a few questions about his artwork.

Destination Vinylmation: How long have you been creating custom Vinylmation? Cesar: I’ve been doing customs for about a year now. Only recently has it become more serious. DV: How many pieces have you created? Cesar: I’ve done about a total of 25 vinylmation customs. I started off with Munny customs. But once Vinylmations were introduced there was no turning back.
DV: What’s your favorite creation? Cesar: My favorite so far is Lilo. That was the first custom I added clothes to. DV: What other art-forms do you create? Cesar: I do illustrations and cartoon/comic drawings.
DV: Do you collect the Vinylmation created by Disney artists? Cesar: Of course I do! I only collect the ones I like though. DV: What is your favorite Disney Vinylmation figure? Cesar: My favorite is Stitch (Park 5), although Buzz Lightyear is great as well.
DV: Can you describe the creation process of the LOST figures? Cesar: The origin of the LOST customs came from an idea my cousin Steve Zaragoza and I had. We started to talk one day about how cool it would be if Disney would make a LOST series. But we realized that probably would never happen. So I decided to make my own. The first one I did was Locke. My cousin Steve sent me a sketch of Locke. Once I get the sketch I modify it to make it work on a vinyl. Steve designed Locke, Hurley and Kate. The others were designed myself. I always knew I wanted to do a series of 12 vinyls. Some days I would make 1 per day, others it was 3 per day. As far as the clothing, I wanted to put them in the clothes they wore the day of the crash. None of them were really hard to do, just a lot of fun to make.
DV: Some artists struggle, but you made good use of the ears. Was painting the island on the ears your plan from the start?
Cesar: Your so right! The ears are always a challenge. When my cousin Steve sent me the first sketch of Locke he put the island on the ears, which I thought was brilliant. It wasn’t until I had a couple of vinyls made that I decided to make a part of the island in the ears, so when you put them together it completes the island.
DV: Which one of the Lost figures you created is your favorite? Cesar: I don’t really have a favorite. I love them all. I did have a lot of fun designing Charlie, his shoes especially.
DV: Where you happy with the LOST finale? Cesar: At first I was a bit disappointed. Not many things got answered about the island. But as time went by, I re-watched the finale and I get it now. It was never really about the island. It was always about the people. So I’m happy with the ending. LOST will always be a big part of my life. DV: Will we see a LOST Series 2 from you? Cesar: Most definitely! I’m already thinking about the characters. One thing’s for sure, Series 2 will be the Dharma edition. I’m really looking forward to creating Desmond and Ben. DV: Do you have any for sale? Cesar: All the vinyls I create are for sale. I also do special requests. DV: How can people contact you? Cesar: If people are interested in any customs, they can email me at darthcees@gmail.com also they can add the facebook group “My Customations”. DV: Any tips for people who want to begin creating custom Vinylmation? Cesar: The only tip I can give is to have fun with it! Oh, and try to get your work seen. It’s always good for people to review your stuff.