Sculpt toys and collectibles with modern-day tools, techniques and applications used by today’s top industry professionals Ever since a 12-inch G.I. Joe took toy soldiers to a whole new level by giving them the ability to pose via moveable parts, as well as interchangeable clothing and accessories, the business of creating pop sculpture icons for the mass market was off and running. Superheroes came next, followed by TV show and movie characters, most notably those from Star Wars. Today, action figures exist for sports stars, rock stars, even presidents. With today’s blockbuster success of animated films, action figures and collectibles have become a behemoth industry—with a growing need for skilled artists who can bring these characters to life. So how do you get started? The trio of veteran industry insiders who authored this book take you on an incredibly thorough journey that begins with drawing conceptual drafts and continues through rough sculpting and honing the final product. Along the way, you’ll learn how to research your character, shape casts from a variety of materials including wax and resin, make accessories, articulate characters so that they are poseable, paint them, and ultimately convince an art director to buy and manufacture them. Whether you want to make small PVC toys, collectible statues, or larger high-end collectibles, Pop Sculpture offers step-by-step demos and words of wisdom from the pros.

Are you dying to create the next great action figure sensation? Avoid spending tens of thousands of dollars taking the traditional route. Go full indie and build them yourself. Special effects artist Russ Adams will take you through the process of building your own unique action figures from concept to production, and you can do it all from home. There is no need for expensive machinery. This how-to includes tutorials for making your own tools and armatures. You will learn sculpting techniques, fabrication, silicone molding, casting methods, and painting tips from a supportive self-taught special effects artist with over twenty years experience. What are you waiting for? The world is anxious for the next big action figure sensation.

Here at last is the complete and definitive collection of the more than 2,500 Star Wars® action figures produced over the last 35 years. Fans and collectors can finally trace the evolution of each character in toy form from the time of their first appearance through the designs of today, with pages of amazing and inventive variations crafted to tell the stories of Luke Skywalker, Darth Maul, and literally hundreds more. Compiled by Stephen J. Sansweet, owner of the world's largest private collection of Star Wars memorabilia, the book also showcases and details the rare, popular, forgotten, and beloved figures coveted by fans the world over, drawing figures from the feature film, video game, and cartoon realms of the vast Star Wars universe.

The indie world is producing extraordinary toy characters but little is known about the designers creating them or the processes used to make them. We Are Indie Toys! profiles the most interesting toymakers and reveals how they turn their unique ideas into one-of-a-kind collectibles.

Kids can make their own fun with Cool Action Figures & Dolls! This title has everything needed to create one-of-a-kind toys. Readers will create a Barbie Adventure Case, Twig Things, Found-Object Action Figures, Springy Sprites and more! Step-by-step photos, materials lists, and extra tips and tricks get kids started. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

This book is full of amazing sketches that will help you draw action figures! I love action poses based on the comic approach of human anatomy. This book will help you learn the basics, so you can create amazing action figures, with poses you wouldn't be able to figure out on your own. Look inside now and don't wait any long if you want to be an amazing action artist! Some of the things you'll learn in this book: Comic anatomy Sword fighters and gun or arrow shooters Creating female figures Foreshortening Drawing muscled men And much more! Keywords: drawing comic figures, draw action poses, drawing action poses, how to draw action poses, how to draw comic poses, draw cool comic figures, draw comic characters, how to draw comic characters, draw action poses well, methods to draw action figures, ways to draw action figures, action figure drawing book, action figure book, action figure art, drawing guide, draw action guide, drawing action figures ebook, book about drawing, drawing books, drawing comic book, comic book drawings, draw females, draw swords, drawing females, drawing males, drawing women, drawing men, how to draw women, how to draw men, draw archers, draw swordsmen, foreshortening, basic proportions, draw poses, drawing swords and guns, how to draw guns, how to draw muscles, draw muscles, draw anatomy, how to draw anatomy, learn to draw, learn to draw anatomy, learn to draw action figures, learn to draw men, learn to draw women

In Cartoon Animation, acclaimed cartoon animator Preston Blair shares his vast practical knowledge to explain and demonstrate the many techniques of cartoon animation. By following his lessons, you can make any character—person, animal, or object—come to life through animated movement! Animation is the process of drawing and photographing a character in successive positions to create lifelike movement. Animators bring life to their drawings, making the viewer believe that the drawings actually think and have feelings. Cartoon Animation was written by an animator to help you learn how to animate. The pioneers of the art of animation learned many lessons, most through trial and error, and it is this body of knowledge that has established the fundamentals of animation. This book will teach you these fundamentals. Animators must first know how to draw; good drawing is the cornerstone of their success. The animation process, however, involves much more than just good drawing. This book teaches all the other knowledge and skills animators must have. In chapter one, Preston Blair shows how to construct original cartoon characters, developing a character’s shape, personality, features, and mannerisms. The second chapter explains how to create movements such as running, walking, dancing, posing, skipping, strutting, and more. Chapter three discusses the finer points of animating a character, including creating key character poses and in-betweens. Chapter four is all about dialogue, how to create realistic mouth and body movements, and facial expressions while the character is speaking. There are helpful diagrams in this chapter that show mouth positions, along with a thorough explanation of how sounds are made using the throat, tongue, teeth, and lips. Finally, the fifth chapter has clear explanations of a variety of technical topics, including tinting and spacing patterns, background layout drawings, the cartoon storyboard, and the synchronization of camera, background, characters, sound, and music. Full of expert advice from Preston Blair, as well as helpful drawings and diagrams, Cartoon Animation is a book no animation enthusiast should be without.

Action figures are more than toys or collectibles--they are statements on race, gender, class, body positivity and more. This collection of nine new essays and one interview argues that action figures should be analyzed in the same light as books, movies, television shows and other media. Through an examination of the plastic bodies that fill our shelves and toy boxes, "Action Figure Studies" can inform the next generation of toys.

Following the unprecedented achievements of his Fourth World titles, Jack Kirby returned to the DC Universe in 1984 for two special miniseries celebrating Kenner’s new DC-themed Super Powers toy line. Together with such creative collaborators as Joey Cavalieri, Adrian Gonzales and Paul Kupperberg, Kirby revisited all of DC’s greatest heroes and villains in the pages of SUPER POWERS, and launched them through time and space into the kind of cosmic adventure that only the King of Comics could deliver! Jack Kirby reinvented the superhero genre with his sprawling saga of the Fourth World—a bold storytelling vision that was decades ahead of its time. In honor of this extraordinary talent’s centennial, DC Comics is proud to re-present the groundbreaking work of the King of Comics in a brand-new series of trade paperback editions collecting his classic DC titles in all their four-color glory! Revisit this bygone era—and thrill to the imaginative power of one of the medium’s greatest masters—in SUPER POWERS BY JACK KIRBY, collecting both of the dimension-spanning sagas that capped off the King’s triumphant tenure at DC. Collects SUPER POWERS #1-6.