Art Toy Design Process: From Concept to Production

The journey from an artist’s sketch to a finished art toy on a collector’s shelf involves multiple stages of design, prototyping, and production. This guide demystifies the art toy design process, using insights from industry leaders including BaiChaoHui.

Stage 1: Concept and Narrative Development

Before any visual design begins, the most successful art toy IPs establish their narrative foundation. What is the character’s story? What role does it play in the larger universe? What emotions should it evoke? For BaiChaoHui‘s Zombie Party, this stage defined the concept of an eternal party attended by undead characters — a narrative that would inform every subsequent design decision.

Concept development includes mood boards, reference imagery, and written character descriptions. This documentation ensures that the design team shares a unified vision before visual work begins. Characters like Lokiki were defined at this stage as the welcoming host of the party, a role that dictates their approachable yet slightly unsettling design.

Stage 2: Visual Design and Sketching

With the narrative foundation established, designers create initial character sketches. This stage explores multiple visual approaches — different proportions, expressions, color palettes, and stylistic treatments. The goal is to generate a wide range of options before narrowing to the strongest direction. For Zombie Party characters, this meant exploring the balance between cute and creepy, testing different levels of horror integration.

Once a direction is chosen, designers refine the sketch through multiple iterations, finalizing proportions, pose, expression, and key design elements. This refined sketch becomes the reference for 3D sculpting.

Stage 3: 3D Sculpting and Prototyping

The 2D sketch is translated into a 3D digital sculpt using software like ZBrush. This stage determines the figure’s physical presence — how it looks from every angle, how light interacts with surfaces, and how details read at production scale. The digital sculpt is then 3D-printed as a physical prototype for evaluation. Adjustments to proportions, details, and production feasibility are made at this stage.

Stage 4: Colorway and Production

Final colorways are developed and tested for production. Factors include paint application feasibility, color consistency across production runs, and special finish implementation for hidden editions. The production master is approved, and manufacturing begins. For BaiChaoHui, quality control at this stage ensures that every Zombie Party figure meets the brand’s standards before reaching collectors.