plush making process: characterisation

So what exactly are you going to draw? Well I guess the overarching title of this industry is what you're looking for: Character Design. You are trying to create character. Loosely defined as one of the three elements of what makes us up as people (character, temperament and personality), character is really important obviously in Designer Plush. You're not usually making toys for small children, most people who buy Designer Plush are adults/teens. So what makes then pick your piece up rather than the multitude of others out there? Things like textures and materials can obviously help, things that feel nice will often seduce people, as will pleasing colours (one of the reasons I always find my plush sells better via bricks and mortar rather than online) but character is primary.


If someone relates to the character, it pushes down on their 'cute' nerve and makes them respond to it, if the piece and buyer are able to strike up some kind of chord, then sales and success are more likely to happen. Interestingly character seems to be conveyed loosely in two different ways



Minimalism


The Japanese are masters of character design. They have companies like Sanrio and San-X who specialise purely in character design. A little different than the traditional character design process for products in the West, where graphic designer for say, Kellogs, design a character like Tony the Tiger and Kellogs retain the right to that character. In Japan many characters, like Hello Kitty obviously, are licensed to a variety of producers of goods to be placed on their products. So Sanrio isn't in the business of making the toilet paper, condoms, toasters, or vibrators that sport Kitty's image (though they do produce some goods I think), they supplement this with licencing Kitty's image to these producers to include on their products to make them more appealing and sell more. Takashi Murakami, god of Superflat Art estimated that 85% of Japanese people owned some sort of character branded goods, so it's obviously a strategy that works.


Minimalism in character design


"Hello Kitty, as well as her family and friends, is generally depicted without a mouth, especially in merchandise. Her current designer says that she should have one because without, she lacks emotion. The official position of Sanrio is that she speaks from the heart, having no need of any particular language [citation needed]. Hello Kitty was depicted as having a mouth in a segment in the series Sanrio World of Animation. However, it has been said that Hello Kitty does have a mouth, but it is not drawn, as the creators wanted Hello Kitty's emotions to be interpreted by the viewer."


Ugly Dolls, the incredibly successful Designer Plush from the US have a similar strategy. Not quite as minimal as Hello Kitty, they still keep the facial expressions in their plush to a minimum (though not so much in other character designs)


What are the Ugly Dolls expressions? Are the sad, happy, angry, wistful, melancholy, indecisive? Whilst some have tongues hanging out, perhaps giving you some sort of clue as to what they're thinking :) it's actually up to you to decide. Sanrio has discussed how the 'blankness' of some characters can be an advantage, it gives you a kind of mental sewing needle, where your brain can stitch on the expression appropriate to your current mood onto the toy and instantly feel it is in tune with what you are thinking and feeling.




Maximalism!


Okay this isn't really the right word for it, but when you make it very clear what the expression of the piece is, let's go with Overt Characterisation for the moment. This is where you deliberately try to convey to the viewer what the character is feeling.



This is Bunny Poo by the fabulous Nerderella. The piece is called Screaming Bunny, just in case you didn't get that by looking at him! I admit this is the kind of character design I prefer. I frequently feel like a Screaming Bunny, so i instantly feel approval for this design. If I only was as cute as that when I was stressed! So if this is the kind of design you choose to make, then you will be either hitting or missing with your viewer. If they don't respond to cute screaming little bunnies, then your design will be disregarded. But it's a pretty safe risk to take, with the prevalence of sado-cute media like South Park, Drawn Together etc, we, as a society, are pretty drawn to the wonderful ambivalence of the cutely insane.


So? How do you achieve either kind of characterisation in your work?



It's a little like any kind of artform, you have to get into the language of character. This beautiful exercise by the wonderful Greg Abbot is a great one to look purely at characterisation. I get kids in my Cartooning class to do stuff similar. The most minimal of shapes and just trying different faces and ways to convey expression. As a beginning exercise, this is great way to discover your style and type of character (if you don't already know)

Researching other people's work is always one way of going about it as well. Artists over the centuries have always talked about how their work came about from being influenced by those before them. Even Picasso, icon of Modernist "originality" and Artist as Hero admitted that Cezanne (and African mask making) was a huge influence on his work. Some people like and some people hate this idea. It depends how hung up on the whole "my work is a completely original and unique display of my inherent wonderfulness" thing you are. Me personally, there's nothing new under the sun, we're all just trying to recombine and mutate things as best we can.


But if you're okay with it, look at other artists work. Flickr, Mojizu, Pictoplasma are all excellent sources of character design from across the globe. Who do you like/dislike and why? How does the person who you do like create his characters? Can you reverse engineer one? This is legitimate practice for the development of style, but not a legitimate means of making characters and selling them. There seems to be a disturbing amount of plush on Etsy and Deviant Art that are direct knockoffs of Ugly Dolls, Shawnimals etc work. These people aren't making millions (yet) and it's not fair to rip off other people's work. It's also illegal, so y'know, play nice.


The important thing though is to distinguish yourself. There's a hell of a lot of plush and character design creators out there. if your stuff is derivative or an outright copy, why will people look at your stuff rather than anyone else's? The sad thing is there are so many Wee Ninja knockoffs out there, as everyone has had the bright idea to rip off someone else's design, that your rip off is out there in a sea of counterfeits. Go for your own ideas and put them out there and see if they are able to succeed in getting noticed.



So you've researched, developed a language of character design that you like, now what? Well Virginia, it's now time to sew....