I've been playing around with a toy design concept and I thought I would toss it out here to see the range of response to it. Various names for it have come to mind, but currently it remains nameless.

The original idea was a combination of embryonic and larval features, as seen in the sketch, but I simplified it in the rough sculpt. I'm still not sure if I want the full length tail because I didn't like how it looked when I first sculpted it that way. I intend on making a wax duplicate to further refine and modify the sculpt in different ways.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

That thing is freaky looking! In a good way, so real looking. I think it would look better with more of the larval ridges on the body, right now kind of reminds me of a baby that I would never take home!

Nice work from sketch to sculpt too.

I think it looks amazing!

I really like the crustacean feel to the initial sketch though. It feels more insect based this way and I personally like that a lot. Also, without these details the figure starts to become to soft, or as you put it, too embryonic.

Wierd, but I just pictured myself digging this thing out of my garden...

it looks like a cross between a sphincter and a shrimp dumpling--and somehow, thats a good thing.

nice design! I think I saw one of those crawl out of some guys ear on X-files

Nice sculpt! I love the head design...I do prefer the sort of hard carapace look and tail of the sketch...

i love it! really. i know it should creep me out but i find it oddly attractive.
i probably prefer a short tail, but the long one is creepy +

i like the mouth best, looks like the embryonic stage of a "predator" lol!

Shrimcter

Sphimp!!

Sphimpin' aint easy!

I really like it, it's gross and cute at the same time. I like the tail in the scetch, and the ridges make the body a little more interesting. A version in between would be interesting to see.

All around, great work!

Thanks to everybody for all of the constructive feedback. This is encouraging and makes me want to forge ahead with this. I agree that a final version should probably have more of the the original segmented features of the sketch. Hopefully I make can make a variety of different tentative versions in wax and then weed out the clinkers.

I'd like to at least create a batch of these in resin to experiment with paint schemes, and then who knows...maybe a vinyl run down the road when I win the lottery.

HP,

I was wondering where you had been. Hadn't seen you for a week or so....

I like it alot. The front part of the head looks to me like the third stage Navigator from Lynch's DUNE.

That is one creepy little fella!

Yeah, went on a vacation to FL. Now that I am back, this board is so much larger and different that it almost seems like a different place!

I think it is really cute, but I told you that at home.

And I also think he needs a little more reptilian or crustacean flare.

so cool to see people making custom toys
as opposed to just painting platforms as "customs"
(no offense to a few people on this board that do crazy amazing work)
major props for the concept and effort.. very creepy
i may have missed but how big is it?

It stands about 5.5 inches tall. Thanks for the props.

you're gonna totally scare children... but they're just a bunch of babies anyways...

awesome job, you should totally move forward with it... have you thought about trying some of those rapid prototyping processes?

It's funny because I have looked at this thing for so long now that I mostly see the "cute" aspect more than the "creepy" aspect, but it is good to hear because I like creepy/gross stuff typically. The figure probably reflects my personality in some way that I can't fully see

To me the sketch definitely looks creepier than the sculpt, but they are both weird.

I have checked out numerous rapid prototyping websites in the past, but I always had the impression that it is more worthwhile if you have a computerized model that you want to prototype directly. Do you know much about the process and capabilities?

I use duplicating silicone as part of my work as a dental technologist, but this is going to call for a greater quantity than I usually have at my disposal, and that stuff costs an arm and a leg. Once I pull a silicone mold, it should be easy to pour up some wax models. I'd like to try some of that Azbro wax, but it is also pricy stuff in any particular quantity. It might take some time to get the ball rolling, but I really want to make more progress.

I've seen a bit of stuff here and there about rapid prototyping on Make Magazine's blog (http://www.makezine.com/blog/). There's actually some really great potential techniques on there that could be used for building toys and fun stuff. I really should have bookmarked the place i found on the internet... it wasn't that expensive to do.

You're right, i think the whole computer modeling aspect of it is somewhat necessary, but i'm sure there's also digitization processes that could be used to 'scan' a prototype. On the other hand, maybe it's time to learn a new skill and figure out how to draw it out in a virtual world!

It's totally awesome that you'd be using dental stuff to get your start on building things. It makes total sense. I remember making all sorts of wacky molds and stuff with dental alginate (?) in high school art.

Keep it up, man!

Yo Hype,

Your figure looks great! I cant wait to see your color versions.

I DIG that! It's weird and fetal!

Definitely translucent flesh with purple spray!

Finally made a silicone mold for this critter (perhaps $100 of material).

Working on refining wax-ups...

that is amazing! how hard was the molding process?

do you have any pictures from different angles?

great work!

Molding process was simple. I just poured a load of silicone around the original model in like a little box type form. After it was cured (in a pressure pot) I merely cut the sides of the mold far enough down the sides to extract the model (since it was uncured sculpey it broke apart because of large undercuts).

Because the wax I chose is very hard, I was impressed by the fact that none of the appendages broke off during de-molding. This is the first one I poured up last night. Today I will try to pour up a bunch more to play with. It takes at least a couple of hours for this volume of wax to cool enough to be able to pull it out of the mold though.

I'll try to post updates if new developments occur.

Dude! Awesome!

Do some in clear resin!