Toonmasters Popularity Swells as Limited Edition Prints Top $1,000 - Expansion Plans for Austin

What's in a toon?

Well, if you're Austin-based Toonmasters, thousands of dollars.

That's what the company has been fetching for their rarest of limited edition prints, dubbed the "100 Series."

Ever since the release of their earliest works, Toonmasters' prints have commanded rising prices as publications have given them the moniker the "Disney of Modern Art."

While this may seem like a great comparison, we'd say Toonmasters is more like Lego in some respects.

For example, their acclaim has often lead to their prints selling out online as the phrase "backordered" seems to find its way to their website.

 

The company attributes their success to decades of draftsmanship, or, a lifelong devotion to art that has melded with this new digital age.

And while these museum-worthy works of art continue to rise in popularity (and perhaps value), another facet of their creations has helped them gain a growing fanbase:

People tooning themselves.

After a long wait, the magical minds over at Toonmasters have begun accepting commissions for people to send in pictures of themselves for "tooning."

This personalizing of their art form has lead to a boom for the company.

How big of a boom?  Big enough to hint at expansion plans for a public site in Austin.

 

Right now, their studios at 501 Congress in downtown are utilized for the production of their popular prints.

But going forward, the personalizing of toons could be a powerful foray into the livelihoods of not just children, but everyone who wants to be Toonmastered.

 

 

While getting a toon of yourself from Toonmasters sounds like a good idea, you best get in line.

Like the popularity of the prints of their original works, the demand for their personalized toons seems to put their service on hold much like the selling out of our favorite barbecue joints in the city.

If expansion plans are on the horizon for Toonmasters, it couldn't come sooner.