Ever since my last semester I've been interested in toy design. I have no inclination to go back to school and spend a large amount of money to learn, but I'd like to learn on my own. Even if it doesn't yield a job in the field, it would make me a better artist overall (understanding how a drawing would work in real space is something that's inticing and elusive).
Anyone else have the toy bug? How does one become good at it?
Originally Posted by Diff-chan
Bust out the sculpey and get the fuck to work!
Draw up a model sheet-style character turnaround as a blueprint and just hack away at sculpting it until it works.
I keep wanting to get back into maquette making, it was fun in college. Making something super-simple like Kid Robot stuff would be a lot of fun.
Last edited by YellerDog; 29 May 2008 at 02:20 PM.
robot boy
i came accross a few websites a while ago that have tutorials...but i can't recall any of them at the moment. i guess practicing with sculpy is the easiest thing to do at the moment. i had the "toy bug" for like a month last year...but then i had to get back to drawing.
I remember McFarlane or some such toy group had a bunch of model sheets/work-in-progress tutorials at some point or another, I'll dig around sometime and see if I can't find 'em.
Zoobesucherin
Toy design in the 80's would have been just about the coolest job ever.
No kidding. So much rad shit constantly coming out. You want a fucking car with a buzz saw held by slime? You got it. A sort of mosquito man with REAL BLOOD in him? All right.
Kids today don't know what they're missing.
Last edited by YellerDog; 29 May 2008 at 04:57 PM.
die cast ....
such a lost art.
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Today's sculpts and paints are much better but yeah, they're sort of dead inspiration-wise. As a small sampling of the toys I had growing up, there was an Egon whose tie flipped up and eyes bugged out, a Ninja Turtles toy whose torso was filled with water with his eyes and organs floating around, a rock that transformed into a Pterodactyl, a Ceturion that had a billion places where you could lock on a wide array of awesome battle shit, a Mumm-ra whose eyes would light up when you put a special ring against his back, and a He-man that fired off fucking blast caps when he punched.
Exactly. EXACTLY. Modern toys trade nice sculpts for play value. I had a fucking glow in the dark Robocop with a gatling gun for an arm and a paper-cap smacker built into his back.
Did it look as good or "movie accurate" as the McFarlane Robocop? Nope! Was it better? Yes absolutely. And it was LOUD AS HELL.
And oh shit, I had that Ninja Turtles dude. His last ride was when I replaced the water in him with the green ooze from the "sewer slime" playset.
If I had kids, I'd make an effort to pick up 80's toys for 'em. Mostly for my benefit.
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