This Saturday morning blog is for those interested in indie toy design and toy making. If you’ve ever considered creating a toy line of your own and don’t know where to start, this is a good place. I’m not going to sugarcoat it—this is going to be a massive amount of work. But if you’re willing to put in the effort, you can do it.
The very first thing I want to discuss is the importance of originality. It’s not easy coming up with a concept of your own, which is all the more reason you should never attempt to knock off someone else’s intellectual property. This is an art form, after all, and we should respect other people’s creative work.
I’ve seen way too many versions of Funko Pops or attempts at recreating Beanie Babies. Just because you changed the shape or called it a “Funky Pup” doesn’t justify the copyright violation. You’ll get more respect from your peers and customers if you come up with something of your own. You don’t need to go as far as creating a full backstory. A creative and fun design with a cute—or grizzly—tagline, and you’re good to go.
That said, no one’s going to shame you for using references to give yourself a boost. We all need inspiration to help get started. In fact, half the fun of the design process is looking at all the amazing creations already out in the world.
When I set out to create Bitty Bigfoot, I borrowed the idea from my own creation. I’d been working on a documentary about Bigfoot and was tasked with creating a life-like creature suit for eyewitness reenactments. Pieces of Bigfoot were everywhere—extra heads on racks, arms and feet scattered around, fur all over the place. For years, those Bigfoot bits kicked around the studio.
One day, someone asked me to create something cute for an art show. I didn’t do cute and struggled with the idea. Someone joked about a Bigfoot family, and the concept just popped into the world.
My Bigfoot design wasn’t cute. It wasn’t scary. The suit was designed with a peaceful, earthy wisdom in mind. Turning that into a baby wasn’t easy. I looked at gorilla babies, chimps, some caricatures, and comic art to transform my creature into a toy so ugly it was cute.
I couldn’t have done it alone. I needed inspiration—not because I wasn’t creative enough, but because this was out of my usual creative paradigm. It’s funny because if you look at Bitty Bigfoot, it really does look like the offspring of my Bigfoot suit.
Another thing I considered was a concept I picked up early in my special effects career: diversification. The goal is to replicate in a way that frees you to create a multitude of individuals. If you wanted to create a lion, you’d sculpt a lioness. You’d mold that sculpture and use the mold to create a lioness, a lion, a tiger, a panther, etc. You wouldn’t be stuck using the mold for just a lion because you sculpted in a mane.
So when you’re designing, try to get the most from your sculpt. Can you create a base version that can be customized during finishing? Remember He-Man? Once they sculpted his body, they used it for nearly every other male character. Diversification.
This next suggestion is more about purpose than artistic choices. Is this toy meant to be played with? Or is it meant to be a cool display piece that just sits on a shelf? Knowing that ahead of time is important to the end user. Sure, it’s cool to build a character in an action pose—but if that pose is static, kids won’t have much to do with it. A dynamic sculpt looks awesome, but not if your backyard hero looks like he’s taking a dump mid-flight.
Hey, if it’s meant to sit on a desk and look cool, go nuts. Just know that it limits the diversification we talked about. The whole point of diversifying your mold is to create multiple characters without revealing that Skeletor is rockin’ He-Man’s abs.
So there you have it. Tips to help guide your design process from someone who’s been in the trenches and learned a thing or two about toy making. Come up with an original idea. Don’t be afraid to use references. Build in diversification wherever you can. And think about the end user—play vs. display.
Make something great. And if you have any questions or want me to dig into something specific, drop a comment below. You’re probably not the only one wondering. I’ll do my best to get you an answer.
I look forward to hearing from you.