I've wanted to make toys for about as long as I've been collecting them (10-12 years). Having full control and making them exactly the way you want them is every toy fans dream, and luckily, even early on, I felt I had the potential to pull it off. So I dreamed and planned but nothing actually came together due to a lack of skills and knowledge. Eventually my artistic path lead me to sculpture where everything started falling onto place. I used my time at OCAD to learn all the skills needed to prototype an action figure. It's much more complicated than it seems at first glance. I trained in figurative sculpture to get a good sense of the human form. I immersed myself in moldmaking techniques (something I'd love to do for others as a side job), which will be necessary to take a sculpt to a finished plastic piece and be able to make multiples. I also took a plastics course that taught a lot of useful fabrication techniques. There I learned about the lathe for the joints, the plastic for casting and the vacuum former for the packaging. The internet filled in the gaps for sculpting materials and working processes.
Finally, getting closer to my final year I was able to gear my projects closer to what I wanted to do instead of having to cram something together to meet a deadline and bullshit an artist statement that I didn't really care about. I came up with "People". They're going to be roughly 14" tall, well articulated, action figures of regular people. For the first series I'm sticking to my close friends, but to the general public these people will look like regular joes (and janes). There will be three per series (James, Patrick and myself), with a second series on the way (Tara, David and Rhonda). I've taken detailed reference shots to sculpt from. Everyone will be in scale with each other and everyone will come with accessories that represent their interests and personality.
Finally, getting closer to my final year I was able to gear my projects closer to what I wanted to do instead of having to cram something together to meet a deadline and bullshit an artist statement that I didn't really care about. I came up with "People". They're going to be roughly 14" tall, well articulated, action figures of regular people. For the first series I'm sticking to my close friends, but to the general public these people will look like regular joes (and janes). There will be three per series (James, Patrick and myself), with a second series on the way (Tara, David and Rhonda). I've taken detailed reference shots to sculpt from. Everyone will be in scale with each other and everyone will come with accessories that represent their interests and personality.