A mini guide to create your own Vinyl Toys

There’s no denying that vinyl toys, art toys, urban vinyl toys, designer vinyl or what ever you want to call them have been creating quite an impression in the past few years. More and more consumers around the world have tuned-in to this ever saturated world of designer toys. Many of them look to collect and build armies of these figures on the shelves of their homes or offices.

Rather than focusing on the history of this fairly new artist medium, I am going to keep this article short and sweet. My goal is to help and hopefully answer a lot of questions that often hit my mailbox. Which also has sort of the selfish connotation—that by writing this article I can quickly reply back to those emails with just a link ;)

Designer toys come in many different shapes, sizes, colors, and materials. From wood to vinyl to resin to plush, artists have found a new mediums for their art. And with out getting too much into detail please note that in this article we will be focusing on vinyl toys. As each materials has its own limitations and road blocks.

Disclaimer : this article will describe my own personal path which is not necessarily the same for every artist.

Is it worth it?

Yes, it is worth it from many levels except for money. If you’re looking to buy a house with your vinyl design money I would quickly close this browser tab and look for another “how to create a designer vinyl toy” article. That being said, I just want to encourage you to do it because of passion and love for your craft.

Ok, so how do I start?

Assuming that you are an experienced artist you should focus on starting small. Characters and objects usually come from a sketched idea, whether is on pencil or in your head try to focus on a simple clever idea. Usually ideas take a bunch of exploration, research and meditation…

Aha! you have a brilliant idea!

My best advice is to let that idea simmer, give it sometime, personally i give myself about a week or two. During this time, its a good idea to think about it but not dwell on it, share with friends (and i don’t mean through Facebook or twitter), talk about the idea, get the opinions but don’t be influenced by them.

Now that the path is brighter, a good idea is to protect the idea. Go as far as copyrighting if possible.

Find a Manufacturer

I can recommend some, but I found them through Google and Alibaba.com, the trick is to invest time in this step. research, talk to them, show you are serious. Share your copyrighted idea and ask for a quote, turnaround, quality and shipping.

Money talks

In our case to make a vinyl toy we are usually talking about thousands not hundreds of dollars. And to be honest I won’t be throwing any numbers at you, mainly because they depend on the amount of detail, quantity, color and size of the vinyl figure. But know that is not cheap to make your own rotocasted vinyl toy.

Some advice that I can offer you, is to take a step back and 3D model your idea, even go as far as 3D printed, see how it feels and if your are still excited but don’t have the money keep reading.

I don’t have the money

Its ok! Right now, we live in an incredible time. Technology is evolving faster than ever, for sake of our article we will be focusing on the ever amazing website Kickstarter. Inventors, artists and creative people can now ask for funding more easily than ever.

Post your toy idea on Kickstarter!

Present your friends, family and followers with your idea, provide a clear projected path for it, make a short video and post! But note that Kickstarter is not only a venue to raise money, but it also helps to test the market and see the demand for your idea.

Promote

The are times that with a magnifying glass you can find a needle in a haystack, the trick is not to look through the glass. But to use the tools given to you as an advantage! It’s easier to find that needle in ash.

All im trying to say is to use the tools you have, the best way possible to promote your ideas to the world. Use Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Vimeo, Flickr, Tumblr, WordofMouth … to broadcast your Kickstarter page!

Good luck and if you have further questions, feel free to write me at ph7labs.com.

Thanks!