Ever wonder who the FiGPiN staff is and what their favorite FiGPiNs are?
Every month of 2021 we will be featuring a different FiGPiN staff member and their favorite FiGPiNs! Kicking off this little Q&A series is one of our senior artists, Jay Barber, Senior FiGPiN Artist!
How long have you been with FiGPiN? It will be two fun-filled years in April!
Thinking about the FiGPiNS that you drew in 2020, can you name a favorite (or a few of your favorites) and why? Where to start?! 2020 was a bumper crop of fun fandoms and characters, but the closest to my heart would have to be the Batman: The Animated Series lineup, with Mr. Freeze as a personal favorite as I’ve always been obsessed with his character and design iterations on the show.
A close runner up is Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas for getting to make him with a sackcloth texture and a glow-in-the-dark variant!
What did you find to be the biggest challenge while working on these designs? Translating 3D characters into a 2D pin form that still retains a sense of being tactile with all of its details intact is very challenging, but so rewarding when you get it right.
Is there a part of the development process that you find the most exciting Exploration for characters is always rewarding when they all come together and you know you’re making something really fun for the fans and collectors, but my favorite part is when I get the finished product in my greedy little hands!
Are there pins that you didn’t get to draw that you wished you could have worked on? Probably more of the Mandalorian characters, but I know they’re in better hands with other artists who craft them into some of my favorite FiGPiNs of all time!
Of all of the great licenses that FiGPiN partners with, what are your favorites to work on and why? Anything Disney including Star Wars and Marvel as they consumed my childhood (and still continue well into adulthood).
What licenses that FiGPiN doesn’t currently partner with would you like to see as FiGPiNs? I would love to get my hands on some Adult Swim properties like The Venture Brothers or Rick and Morty, and a series of Archer pins would send me straight into the danger zone!
Do you collect anything outside of FiGPiNs? What don’t I collect? My office is a menagerie of records, Lego, art books, and action figures. I’ll always be a big kid at heart.
What would we find you listening to while you work? Music, Podcasts, TV, Quiet? My workday is a nonstop rotation of vinyl records, leaning towards garage rock, classic rock, and some new wave thrown in.
Check back every month to see learn about the FiGPiN staff and their favorite characters!
