Vinylmation Custom Artist Spotlight: Celeste V

Celeste V created the Adam Lambert custom Vinylmation figure we talked about yesterday. This figure is up for auction on eBay with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. Hurry, the auction ends on February 2nd at 3pm Pacific time. Visit the auction site here. Today, we had the chance to ask Celeste about her work.

Destination Vinylmation: How long have you been creating custom Vinylmation?


Celeste: Vinylmations specifically, about 6 months or so. I started originally with dunny's and mighty muggs before vm came (more like overtook) into my life lol.

DV: How many pieces have you created?

Celeste: To be honost I'm not sure myself, if I had to guess,about 45-50.

DV: What's your favorite piece?

Celeste: I love every piece I created so far, each one has a story of how and why it was created. Every custom made is always a new challenge and I try to incorporate and add new techniques to each one to give it a personal touch. But if I really had to choose it would be probably be my first custom of Edward Scissorhands. I worked on it for a really long time and tried to create something that would stand out above the crowd. It was fustrating at first, new and different for me and I wanted to give up so many times, but when I finally finished I felt accomplished.

DV: Do you collect the Vinylmation created by Disney artists?

Celeste: Of course! I am a vinylmationholic lol. I have to have them all. I actually just picked up a case of Villains on Monday. Love the villains series.

DV: What is your favorite Vinylmation figure?

Celeste: Wow! I have so many favorites, but I really like the Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Day figure from Trade City). It's beautifully done... simple yet elegant.

DV: How did you come up with the idea of an Adam Lambert piece?

Celeste: Funny story... I wanted to make him a while ago. I have been a long time fan ever since the Idol days and been to a few concerts. Around the end of 2010 a friend of mine told me about Adam's charity, mycharity:water and asked if I could try to create him and donate the proceeds. I thought "why not" it was for a great cause and I wanted to see if I could make him. Also Adam's b-day was jan 29 so it was  perfect timing.
DV: Can you describe this figure? The inspiration. And what detail went into it.


Celeste: It is a 9" figure. He is fully painted with artist grade acrylic with a bit of oil paint.
I chose to go with a outfit from his music video "If I Had You" The outfit was something out of the ordinary from his already glamourous look. Part of his outfit has glitter paint to portray a silver metallic look. He has gloves fashioned out of real leather and of course black fingernails. The top hat is fashioned out of a foam like board with added suede, a feather and stones that line around the hat. I tried as close as I could to find a neck piece that fits the same look from the video. The hair is braided and dyed with different colors from thick yarn.

DV: What is your favorite aspect of the Adam Lambert figure?

Celeste: I don't have any one favorite specific thing. I usually look at the whole piece and try to see if It all fits together and have balance.

DV: What was the hardest part in creating this figure?

Celeste: The eyes of course. It's difficult to come up with a certain "look" of a real life person. For me personally the eyes are always difficult to transfer to any media form. I must of tried about five different eye expressions and shades on the eyes to get it correct. But all and all I was satisfied with it.

DV: Can you tell us about this charity and why it was chosen?

Celeste: Most of us take clean water for granted and unfortunatly over a billion people all around the world don't have access to clean water. Charity:water is a non-profit orginization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. I chose this charity not just because of Adam, but because I've been to some of these countries and have seen first hand how not having the basics and essentials of life such as clean water can greatly affect their daily lives and overall health. You can learn more about their vision and mission at charitywater.org

DV: Do you plan on more charity auctions in the future?

Celeste: I have done one other charity auction so far and if this goes well I will probably will hold more charity auctions. Any charity auctions held big or small are always worth the effort.

DV: Where can people go to find out more about your pieces and see your work?

Celeste: I do have a blogsite I recentlly made,you can find me there 

http://celestecustomvinylmations.blogspot.com/ and also you can reach me at celestecustoms@yahoo.com.

Adam’s page for donations is here.

If you would like to place a bid, or find more information, the eBay auction (and more photos) for this 9″ custom piece can be found here.