Interview with custom figure designer/artist Thomas Gillespie (AKA Dinosauria)

By Geoff Bough

When I first stumbled upon Thomas Gillespie's figures, I was instantly amazed at the amount of detail put into these highly customized figures. Thomas hails from Glasgow, Scotland and also goes by the alias 'Dinosauria'.

The interesting figures he primarily works with are called a 'Dunny' and they are the highly collectible figures from KidRobot. Thomas takes those figures and transforms them into one of a kind pieces of art.

We spoke with Thomas about his work and love of horror, check it out...

Rev: When did you first start customizing figures and what kind of figures were you customizing?

Thomas: I first started customizing around April last year. I have a degree from Art school and I also used to work in graphic design and at the time I’d been looking to get back to painting and vinyl toys seemed like a fun way to ease back into it. The first figures I painted were actually horror ones on the Munny platform. They were Jason (sans mask), Leatherface and a squidhead guy.

Rev: How long does it take to customize a figure and what kind of materials do you use to work with?

Thomas: It really depends on the detail. Generally speaking simple designs can take a couple of hours, some more complicated ones can take a few sittings. If I’m using spray paint, drying times come into the equation…it’s hard to pin it down because I tend to work on a few pieces at a time. I guess it takes around the same length of time as a regular canvas would, like a canvas the vinyl gets cleaned, primed, painted and sealed the only difference is that the toy gets painted on all sides.

My materials list is pretty short. I use Black spray primer, Citadel Acrylics (best flow and colour) and satin purity seal all from Games Workshop. This stuff is designed to be used on models so you get a really great standard of finish with it.

Rev: Your custom zombie figures are amazing! Can you tell us what inspired you to create those?

Thomas: I’ve always been a zombie fan, I started off with a spare set of Gorillaz toys and I didn’t really know what to do with them. Zombification seemed like the natural choice!!! I was into the idea of changing the shape of the figures and creating wounds only using paint. Some of these tricks and techniques I picked up from fx by Tom Savini. That guy is a genius, illusion + attention to detail = suspension of disbelief. Pure genius. I’ve always been into horror customs and I was overdue some zombie style!!

Rev: The 'Dunny' figures were basically created to be fully customized by artists and have received a lot of praise all over the world. Can you tell us more about the Dunny history and how you came to customizing those? Your Dunnies are some of the best I have seen yet!

Thomas: The Dunny is only released with designs on them, they’re like the flagship toy from Kid Robot. The DIY toy they make is the Munny (it’s human shaped instead of rabbit) it comes in black, white and G.I.D. Dunny come with designers paintjobs already applied. They come in 3 sizes, 20” which don’t come out very often. 8” ones that come out almost monthly and 3” ones those come out in series’ a few times a year. The 3” ones are blind boxed (just like buying collectable cards) so anyone that collects them ends up with duplicates of the more common designs.

Obviously because the common ones are worth less money they tend to get snapped up by people like me, stripped and repainted. These are fairly easy to get your hands on and if you start with the 3” ones it’s an inexpensive way of getting into it. The 8” Dunny is my preferred platform. There are a lot of talented people working in this scene right now. (for a lok at all the official Dunny released by Kid Robot check out www.kidrobot.com

Rev: You also customized The Gorillaz figures who are known to be big zombie fans, how long did those figures take to customize?

Thomas: When I did the original Gorillaz set they came together really fast probably because there was no planning involved, I just grabbed the brush and started having fun. That sounds kinda corny but that’s the way it happened. When I was making the second set I made…around 12 of them at the same time so they probably took 2 or 3 days all in to prepare, paint and seal. It was basically a little production line.

Gorillaz and zombies just seemed like a good fit, I know Jamie Hewlett (the guy that designed/draws them) likes his zombies. I think their label/publishing group is actually called Zombie Flesh Eaters. The 2D figure is a really good candidate to become a zombie as he’s so tall and thin. I’d like to say it was my great foresight and talent that made me paint them as zombies but in reality I just happened to have a spare set and just gave them a try. No big plan it just worked out for the best.

Rev: Do you take custom orders from people to customize figures?

Thomas: Yeah I do this full time so I do take commissions.

Rev: If so, how would someone place an order?

Thomas: I can be contacted at info@dinosauria.co.uk just pop "commission" in the subject line.

Rev: What are some of your favorite zombie films?

Thomas: First and foremost Dawn of the Dead (my blue/gray Gorillaz zombie is a direct nod to this movie) I also have a soft spot for Day of the Dead and I’d really like if Romero revisited his original script for that someday. Other notable ones in my DVD collection are….. Dead Alive, Undead, Zombie Flesh Eaters, The beyond, Delamorte Dellamore, Bad taste (technically aliens I suppose), Shaun of the Dead and I really liked Diary of the Dead too.

The first ever horror movies I remember seeing were Dawn of the Dead and City of the Living Dead so I’d say they are my top 2. I must have about 5 different versions of “Dawn” on DVD. I’m also into the Evil Dead movies, but that’s more in the “Demonic Possession” category and 28 Days Later but they were “infected” not zombies. I don’t get too into all those details though so they’re all in my zombie section. There’s probably a lot more and I’m just forgetting them. I also liked the Savini helmed NOTLD remake and the recent Dawn one too, Day sucked real bad though.

I also like the old black and white Dead World comics by Vince Locke who later went onto drawing the Sandman comics for vertigo, Necropolis by Mitch Waxman and The Walking Dead from image comics. There’s also a one shot called Tales of the Dead that’s worth picking up if you ever come across it. Great art.

Rev: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us Thomas! For more information on Thomas' work, you can check out www.dinosauria.co.uk - He does have some custom figures available for sale and if interested in purchasing or placing a custom order, drop him a line at info@dinosauria.co.uk

GALLERY