David Gonzales

One of Gonzales’s brothers, Robert, has become peripherally involved in the Homies toy line. After a life of crime and violence, Robert became a priest. Himself confined to a wheelchair. Robert suggested that Gonzales create a Homie in a wheelchair. Willie G, as the character was named, has since become one of the more popular Homies, even being promoted by the Special Olympics. In addition, the Homie character Padrecito ("priest") resembles Robert, and has been used to connect with and help those looking for a route out of the ghetto. Through Robert's “El Padrecito’s Online Church,” Homies have made it easier for society to connect with those looking to improve their lives; on the website people can create religious figurines, such as saints.

By 2013, Gonzales had shifted his focus once again to apparel, creating the T-shirt brand DGAtees, featuring his own art as well as his son Anthony's.

David Gonzales has three grown children. After living for many years in Hercules, California, by 2013 he had relocated to Southern California.

In 2004, Gonzales released the Mijos toy line of youth characters related to the Homies. Also in 2004, Gonzales introduced a toy line named The Palermos, featuring a fictional Italian American former mafia family now running a pizzeria;

Gonzales lived in Taos from 1994 to 1998, when he moved back to the Bay Area. It was at that point that Gonzales shifted direction from T-shirts to toy design. He released the first set of Homies figurines, which were initially sold in supermarket vending machines in Chicano communities throughout California. Gonzales initially had trouble selling his product, in particular because the Los Angeles Police Department claimed that the toys glorified gang life. In response, many stores stopped selling the Homies.

David Gonzales (born 1964 in Richmond, California) is a Mexican-American cartoonist, apparel designer, and toy designer. He is the creator of the Homies line of toys.