D's Toys

These are some concepts I produced for a local, independent toy developer. The line centred around a 'classic' superhero team of kids with amorphous forms (relating to the main features of the toy range) and a need to save the world!
Below are some of my initial sketches of the characters; trying to develop a single defining style as well as the individual characters' personalities. At this point the basic story had been defined but the graphic style was as plastic as the team's superpowers.

From there I started developing the first draft of concepts. At first I actually tried to bring their 'powers' into the forms but it was decided to stick with a more generic look for each as it was still very early days for both the characters and the focus of the toy range... In fact one of the difficulties was that there was still a lot of decisions to be made concerning exactly what form the actual toys would take- It certainly made it a challenge.

The purple and token 'bad girl' had to be pulled back a bit so she was more accessible and 'friendly'. Her hair was also simplified from its 'medusa' look, mostly to make my job easier later with ongoing art!
The blue 'ball' boy was pretty much, universally despised by anyone who saw him (including me to be honest)- So it was back to the drawing board for him...

Below is the final concept! It was a pretty interesting (and fun), collaborative process. One of the most rewarding elements was that as I created the characters visually, their personalties took shape in my mind which in turn fed back into the the narrative. Story influenced art, which in turn influenced story.