So you are just starting out in designer toys...

These are the slides from a lecture I deliver at SVA in NYC to art students. When Jason Freeny asked me to guest lecture in his Designer Toy class, I thought about the most useful info I could deliver to artists just starting out in the designer toy field, and this is what I came up with.

The greatest obstacles emerging artists deal with (in my opinion) are:

1. Getting people to care enough about their characters to drop money on their art, and

2. the extremely high cost of producing a designer toy.

So my lecture attempts to help them navigate and overcome these obstacles.

I will write more detailed notes about all of this on my website, but essentially my advice is as follows:

PART 1: BUILD A WORLD which is a universe or concept of your own creation.

By that I mean, you cannot just come up with one character and put it out there to buy - you won't sell much. Customers need to identify with the character in order to want to spend money on it.

Think about your answers to the following questions:

• What is your character all about?
• What is the concept you are building?
• What else exists in your universe aside from your main character?
• Who does your character interact with?
• Why does anything happen in your world?
• What are the dynamics?
• What is the message you are trying to relay?
• Is there a feeling or emotion you are communicating?

A character does not exist in the vacuum of outer space. There is a world you build to give your character context. Flesh that out and the dynamics become more relatable.

• Does your character have enemies or friends? Family?
• Does it exist in a place? Does it travel?
• Is there an adventure or a challenge?

There needs to be a push/pull or a relationship to create a story arc. The above are questions only YOU can answer. Think about your world and write it out, sketch it, whatever you need to do to give it some context for your character.

In the first half of this slide show, I show you some examples of world builders in our space and I write on each slide what I think they are doing well. All handles are Instagram handles so you can go and DYOR.

PART 2: MERCHANDISING - What products could you make that will help youi build up to the goal of producing your own designer art toy?

Unless you are a mega wealthy young person with a real creative ability, you most likely cannot afford to design and produce a designer toy on your own at this time. So what to do?

Well, the first step is to get products out onto the market featuring your character so that people have SOMETHING to buy. This will build familiarity with your character and brand.

As you are doing this, make sure you are gathering your tribe in a way that allows you to communicate with them. The best / easiest way to do this is build up Instagram followers and also start an email list using a signup form. That way, when you have a new item to sell, you can easily share it with the people who care the most.

There are a number of items you can design and self produce for under $100 that would allow you to begin the process of merchandising your IP (intellectual property).

My suggestions are:

1. stickers
2. enamel pins
3. prints 
4. apparel 
5. original art 
6. resin statues (small runs by local artists or yourself)
7. soft vinyl (made in USA) 
8. sofubi (made in Japan) 
9. designer toy (usually made in China) 

The above list is ordered in overhead cost order. You can start with low-cost, low-run (low overhead) items like stickers and pins, and work your way up to collectible toys.

Note that MANY people I know stop at stickers, pins or prints and build their communities based on those items - very successfully!

Doing it this way prevents you from going broke while you build up a community of customers and collectors. In the second half of this slide show, I show you examples of the items on the above list, and I write on each slide an Instagram handle so you can go and DYOR.

There is no shortcut, no matter how excited you are. Typically to gain traction and notoriety in the character art collecting community, it may take you anywhere from 5 to 10 years to gain enough interest and familiarity to allow your IP to begin paying for itself ( and then paying for your life, aka turning a profit for you). The above are the VERY basic concepts and further info is available!

Drop a comment below and ask any question! 

• Benny Kline, CEO of https://tenacioustoys.com/