Toy Design Tag

After initially giving me permission to share my work, a client changed their mind and asked me to remove this project from my website due to legal confidentiality reasons. Sorry about that. You can view my other toy design, illustration, and cartooning work on my Portfolio page or my blog....

Last year I was hired by a toy entrepreneur who had a vision to create plush tortoises that would be appealing but also scientifically accurate. He wanted toys that would help children learn to distinguish between breeds as well as explore various differences in body, pattern, and texture. The challenge was to create something that was cute and cuddly but...

Over the years I've worked on dozens of projects for Hasbro. Most of what I do for them is "planning and production" so the artwork stays behind the scenes and will never be seen by the general public. The toy business is competitive and Hasbro is naturally very protective of their ideas, which I respect. Every once in a while something...

Recently I was approached by the Smiley Company. They wanted to pitch the Rubik's Cube people with some ideas for expanding the Rubik's brand into other toys and they needed a lot of artwork to help sell the concepts. They gave me a giant list of really fun ideas. Most were fully formed but there were also a few I helped develop, all under the art...

Recently I was approached by The Smiley Company, a lifestyle brand based in London. They create and sell a lot of licensed merchandise based on the world-famous smiley face symbol. They've been so successful that they've even developed those little yellow guys into an animated property called Smiley Kids. Of course, what's an animated property without a corresponding line of toys? Smiley wanted to pitch...

The other day the nice folks at Wacom included one of my toy design concept drawings on their Behance  "Featured" gallery. Like most artists who work digitally, I'm a long-time user of Wacom's products. They make quality hardware and they are the go-to brand for digital drawing equipment (tablets, Cintiqs, etc.). It's a real honor to have them shine their massive...