ARTWORK COURTESY SKAFFS
Skaffs' character Mai is immortalized as a limited-edition, 7-inch vinyl toy, scheduled to be launched in early 2009, in four different colors.
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Skaffing up fans
An Australian artist-musician turns his agile talents to children's books
As one of a legion of young multiplatform artists traipsing around the world, building empires of T-shirts, toys, prints and videos, Luke Feldman, aka Skaffs, has one surprising ambition.
Rattling off a list of projects in the works, from his first line of unisex T-shirts, a solo art exhibition in L.A., collectible resin sculptures and limited-edition prints due just before Christmas, and vinyl toys due early next year, he suddenly remembers, "Oh, and I'm writing a children's book."
Say what? His book series will be launched early next year with "Chaff n' Skaffs: Mai and the lost Moskivvy."
While few artists spend much time thinking about the too-young-to-consume set in the pursuit of more lucrative merchandising deals, or create dark, adult-oriented imagery and themes unsuitable for children, Feldman's direction reflects a rather straitlaced path toward artistic stardom.
Before moving to San Francisco to take a shot at the independent lifestyle of the global road-warrior artist, he was working for Australia's Department of Education, developing Web site content for children, from words to pictures to videos in which he also composed the music.
His lush, colorful dreamscapes appealed to adults as well, as he applied his skills in creating languid, vaguely Asian-looking women with large cat eyes set on heads shaped like lemon drops. He could just as easily draw men, but said he finds women easier because of curves that allow a continuous sweep of a pen or brush, with no stopping for angles.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Skaffs creator Luke Feldman staged an impromptu demonstration and signing earlier this month at Split Obsession, in the Koko Marina Shopping Center, which carries his artwork. At the event, he greeted fans, showing prints, life-size stickers and a prototype of a limited-edition resin sculpture to be released this fall.
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His recognizable Polynesian-pop-meets-anime aesthetic is partially a result of a life-changing trip to Japan for a friend's wedding.
"I was blown away by the culture. It was a big influence on me, the combination of old school and new school," Feldman said. "I was always inspired by anime and the work of Hiyao Miyazaki. I love his style. His way of storytelling is amazing, and his work is phenomenal. He showed that you don't have to do hard-core animation to tell a story."
The influence is evident in "Who Saved the Moon," a 90-second video presented during the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival in San Francisco last year.
Skaffs has been featured by companies as big as Coca-Cola, Microsoft and Apple, including a booth Feldman created at the MAC World Conference earlier this year, with a jungle theme. "That was a good project," he said of seeing his work scaling 30 feet.
ARTWORK COURTESY SKAFFS
Mai is one of the many characters populating Skaffs' world. She's also one of the characters to be featured in creator Luke Feldman's children's book "Chaff n' Skaffs: Mai and the lost Moskivvy," due early next year.
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FELDMAN was in Honolulu earlier this month on a whim to meet friends from Australia who were vacationing here. He dropped in on Split Obsession in Hawaii Kai for an impromptu art demonstration and signing.
Because of the last-minute accommodations, fans were sadly unprepared for the signing. Joannie Pan timidly approached the artist, saying, "I don't have any paper; can I borrow yours?"
The accommodating artist ripped a page out of his sketchbook. Someone else busted out a dollar bill, and pretty soon everyone else was opening their wallets to have their money Skaff'd, one of the nonsense words he invented while playing one of his word games, a must when writing for children.
Pan said later, "When I saw his work I fell in love with it. It's so friendly, welcoming, a little mysterious in a way."
Considering the mysterious figures and at times murky palette, Feldman is a gregarious individual who laughs easily.
"I love socializing," he said. "A lot of times I'm behind a computer, so it's fantastic to get out and meet people. The Australian accent helps."
ARTWORK COURTESY SKAFFS
The bottle illustration is from the book.
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