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Artistic talent, imagination and creativity seem to run in the family. From the 30's through the 50's, a time when most images for print were oil paintings on canvas, my grandfather had the best Commercial Art Studio in St. Louis.
A third generation commercial artist, I was born in the 50's in St. Louis. I was obsessed with model kits and built every model car, plane or monster that I could get my hands on. I would sculpt and paint Frankenstein's head out of clay and paint it with those little foul-smelling bottles of Aurora Enamel paint. On Friday nights, I got to stay up late to watch black & white monster classics, then I would faithfully render dynamic drawings of Rodan being shot to death by the Japanese army, to entertain myself and my friends.
I won a Halloween window-painting contest while
in the sixth grade. A couple of years later I won a "Draw Bruno J.
Grunion's Man-Eating Plant Contest" on a local AM station. I built
and flew model rockets. I looked in vain for meteor fragments. Helped
build a one-man (-boy) hovercraft. Cut and welded bicycle frames and bought
an old lawn mower engine and built a mini-bike. Got older and renovated
junk cars, started copying Ed "Big Daddy" Roth characters onto
t-shirts with a laundry marker and fluorescent spray paint. Annually won
local Halloween costume contests.
In the 60's I began playing guitar, and started a garage band. We won a Battle of the Bands in 1970. I made a record with song writer Jack Spellaza which became something of a hit on local St. Louis radio stations. Moved to California with stars in my eyes and Frank Zappa's pigeons in my face.
In 1980, I assisted in the planning, designing and running of Roark Graphic Supply, a successful art supply store in LA's famous artists' loft district. I ran an alternative art gallery there and showed many of the incredible talents gathered in the downtown art community. During that time I kept up my own art chops, doing various free-lance jobs -- illustration for print, worked on the Talking Heads video "Road to Nowhere", did marker renderings and story-boarding for TV.
I began working with toys in the late 80's, designing
original prototypes in clay, and creating detailed paint masters for
various toy companies. I also created props for the movies.
In the mid-90's I co-founded Boggs & Lambur, a sculpture and design studio for theToy Industry, in Hermosa Beach, CA. I planned and scheduled multiple projects run simultaneously with timelines and met demanding deadlines. I've supervised a staff of over 18 artists, sculptors and mold-makers working on a myriad of projects for licenser approval. I've worked with nearly every major licenser and licensee in the Toy Business. I've travelled to Asia many times to oversee pre-production, and I've designed entire toy lines from scratch. I'm exceptionally knowledgeable with mass production processes such as injection molding, blow molding, roto casting and cold casting.
I currently work independently, both in industrial design, and as a toy designer, sculptor and consultant.
Lyle Lambur
2000
