We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael Karydas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Michael thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Yes! I actually do custom plush work full time, thought it wasn’t always that way. I originally worked a few odd jobs while making plush toys on my own time, it was just something I really enjoyed doing as a hobby. As more and more people became interested in my work, it gradually took over my life, outpacing my actual job at the time.

I’d say the biggest step was taking the risk of leaving my job and going full time as an independent artist, especially since it was only a few weeks before the big covid lockdown. I was honestly scared to do it, but decided to take the risk and thankfully everyone supported me to no end! Not only did I have many regular customers, but getting shout outs from professional animators, making cameos in some indie games, interviews for multiple articles on my artwork, having my art featured in a few galleries etc. definitely played a role in getting my name out there, I can’t thank people enough for helping me get my name out there.

I think jumping into plushmaking much sooner was something I could’ve done, there was just a lot of uncertainty/intimidating obstacles. On top of investing a lot of time and money, learning the entire process is a challenge on it’s own.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Michael and I am a custom plushmaker! My love of sewing started from a young age, I would watch my grandmother sew blankets and it was a great sense of comfort spending time with her. So much so that I would actually rip the patches off my blanket just so I could say “Uh oh the blanket is torn, guess we have to go to grandma’s so she can fix it!” She got frustrated with me haha, but it was from a place of love.

I always thought the concept of bringing your favorite character to life in plush form was an exhilarating one, it was so hard to come by as a kid. Even popular characters such as Mario didn’t have plush toys readily available like we do now, so whenever I saw one on that rare occasion, it felt magical. I wanted people to experience that same feeling I did and built my business entirely around that concept.

There are two things that really make me stand out, my attention to detail and my willingness to take on the most oddly specific plush concepts. If someone wants me to make a pre established characters, I will take notes and be crazy enough to make all the little details, maybe it has a bunch of tiny spikes, a gradient on the body, magnetic hands etc. I am crazy enough to do all of it! Other clients have such bizarre or oddly specific plush ideas, not many people can make them, which is why they come to me. For example, someone wanted a pig plush from Spyro, but wanted it to look like it was from the PS1 era, low polygon, blurry textures etc. you won’t find that kinda stuff anywhere else! My flexibility in what I can make is unrivaled, so much so that even bigger businesses such as Walmart, copied my plush concepts haha. I do not follow trends, I set them.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My ultimate goal is to have my own plush toyline, I was heavily inspired by Ty beanies and other collectibles at a young age, I want my own legacy in the plush industry. I’m actually at the beginning of this, as I’m having my first mass produced plush as we speak! It’s another big risk, but it’s my dream to make my grandmother proud.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There’s quite a few notable examples. In the beginning, I had to teach myself how to sew/create a pattern, so I spent hours making dozens of legs because I wanted to make an octopus. I kept messing up which was a little discouraging, but I’d learn a small new technique that was like seeing light at the end of the tunnel. A lot of late nights where I passed out at my desk trying to learn everything and eliminate the fear of making mistakes.

I taught myself how to hand sew, use a sewing machine, I even taught myself how to do digitizing and embroidery a total of 5 times. The at home embroidery machines actually broke down because I was making that many plushes and had to relearn an entirely new machine/program to keep going, eventually investing into an expensive industrial unit that’s just as resilient as me!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Michaelktoymaker
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelKarydasArtist
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mdkarydas
• Other: Reddit: Michaelktoymaker

Image Credits
Credit belongs to me (I’m a one man army haha)