As for the concept of the toy, I tested different versions of the character. I observed different types of toys and tried to find some common elements of toys.
For the first version, my inspiration came from an old wooden bird toy. Coincidentally, this toy is very similar to my character, they are both in the form of birds. So referencing this toy, I simplified the character model and added wheels to both sides of it.
For the second version, I was inspired by the plastic material of the character Buzz Lightyears in Toy Story film. I put the wheels under the character’s body and added a clockwork on its back. And the texture was changed to be more reflective and smoother.
After reflecting on these 2 versions of the character, I realized there is no accurate clue to the audience that the character is a toy. So I tried to explore the character image further. I isolated the character’s body parts to increase the mechanical sense. This also provides convenience for character animation production. For example, the movement of the character’s head does not affect its body movement because they are not connected. In this way, I do not need to build a complete rigging system to animate the character, which greatly improves production efficiency.
