Littol Guys

For commissions or for fun, I have been drawing what I dubbed Littol Guys. Then it occured to me that I could give them a corporeal form.

I sculpted two different head shapes in blender, one ear type and one tail type to start. I probably should not have printed all of them at once, but I did and it turns out it had problems. I originally wanted the neck to have a snug fit into the head so that it would not pop off, but would still be able to rotate. What ended up happening is I got a neck that I needed to sand to fit due to the low quality print and it snapped easily. At least I liked the shapes.

By printing this version bigger, they had a better hand size feel to them. Additionally, I trimmed down the neck so that the head more easily spun around. This worked a lot better for assembling, but also meant that the heads were likely to pop off whenever the piece was picked up. Realistically, they were sturdy enough that they would not break, but it was really annoying. So, I had to do something about it.

I looked around for things I had that I could use to stick the head to the neck in a way that still allowed me to swap out heads and rotate them and found a container of small magnents. I ended up printing a third version of the littol guy with a slight indent in the neck and head to fit the magnets. Then I superglued my fingers together trying to get the magnets in the right position. In the end it did work out and I could grab the head without the whole thing falling apart.

Using acrylic paint I painted one to look like my dog, Kazoo. While I think eye marks in the print would make it easier for the piece to be symetrical, that would impair people who have eyeless characters and limit creative freedom. Plus, I think little flaws add charm. Overall I am really happy with the way it ended up looking. I sprayed it with a stain seal and dropped it several times on accident and it still looks great.

Not Currently

I think these would be fun to sell as premades, customs or paint it yourself kits. You would be able to swap out the heads with different ones or swap bodies for different clothing options. To start out I only really make a round or snooted headbase with one ear set, but I could make an unlimited amount of different head styles to fit into what people want. For easier paintability for a kit route I would like to cast them in resin and sell white resin blank kits. I have no resin supplies, so I am unsure how much it would cost. I may sell 3D blanks or customs to gain capital for a resin setup. Then later down the line ask people what new heads and tails I should add.