Michael Martinez of Mercury Art Studios and his fiance Hollie.
This holiday weekend the customizing community suffered a great loss. Saturday night Michael Martinez of Mercury Art Studios was killed in a head on collision with a drunk driver leaving behind a daughter and his pregnant fiance, Hollie. The 27 year old from Georgia wasn't just one of the coolest customizers out there, he was also a good friend. When Dad first started customizing, Mike and Dad would spend time chatting on Facebook about customizing and the joys of fatherhood. He would share stories of his little girl holding a Dremmel to action figures and making the appropriate sound effects as she imitated her dad. He would always speak about his family with great adoration. Mike was always so generous and eager to share his wealth of customizing knowledge and help Dad out with tips or parts for a new customizing project. It was Mike who recommended Dad use Animoto.com to create the videos we feature in our Customs I Wish I Owned. To Dad, Mike was truly an inspiration. I think at some point or another, all customizers have often dreamed about what it would be like to earn a living solely from the toys we produce. Mike was doing just that. Mike told Dad he was able to support him and his family by making just ten custom action figures a week and selling them on ebay. We've loved his customs ever since we first saw them on Yakface.com and couldn't tell you how saddened we are by the loss of one of the greatest talents within this community. Just Thursday night we sat and listened to him express his enthusiasm for the customizing hobby that we all share when he was interviewed on Custom Action Figure News by Lucasclones and Tamer not knowing it would be the last we'd ever hear from him. We offer our condolences to his family and all his loved ones. Mike you will truly be missed.
MERCURY ART STUDIOS
Click any of the three links below for more from Mercury Art Studios:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mercur ... 9501317704
http://www.myspace.com/mercury_art_studios
http://www.youtube.com/user/mercuryartstudios
http://www.myspace.com/mercury_art_studios
http://www.youtube.com/user/mercuryartstudios
