My process of designing my Tenshi/Angel Toji plush bc wow it was a process lol
So I drew up the draft above back in September 16 thinking it's going to be a cute and simple idea since it's an ant body type, and I just give them the design and be done with it... But I greatly underestimated the amount of details and attention goes into the design process and how through I have to be in order to get it to look exactly how I wanted.
[First Prototype]
It wasn't until Sept 30th in the middle of the night when I got my first draft and I was... flabbergasted LMAO.
My first impression of it was "I didn't pay almost 1k for custom plushies (before shipping) to have it look like that." I told my manu, Cindy, "Heyyy yeahhhh I got some notes." LOOL. Like obviously this is a design made from scratch so of course the first prototype won't look exactly how I wanted. I didn't think the face looked bad, and I liked that they were able to make the clothes removeable, but obviously w how the limbs hang, it ended up looking awkward.
I was actually laughing when I saw the video of the person spinning the plush around w the thin rope arms and all I was reminded of was the Spongebob hanging up on the ceiling in the wizard outfit LOL
[Revisions]
So one of the main issues was the clothing and how it hung off the body. I used examples of the many plushies that I owned as references on what I'm looking for. I was inspired to make this kind of plush from my Sasuke noodle plush who's a bit beat up, but he's my favorite and I wanted to make my own Toji version to my taste lol.
I quickly made some revisions on my phone to fix up the hair, blush, and face shape and Cindy suggested that the string in the initial Toji draft was thinner and the one for Sasuke was thicker, so we decided to have it thicker to be better structured. Not only that, but we decided to have the clothes sewn together, meaning that it couldn't be taken off the body in order to maintain a better shape. I accepted that since I'd rather have a good quality product instead of something that I'm not too proud of.
I even made a request if it was possible to have the blush where the round pink part was printed and the darker lines were embroidered. So a mini detail, but I thought it would look better than have it full embroidery! I used another one of my Toji plush as an example of the type of blush I wanted lool
For the hair, I went and took pictures of other Toji plushies I own to have better reference for the manufacturers to follow.
I even requested to have the wings changed (bc the initial version looks... yeah...). So I wanted them to be puffier and fuller, and I added details of where I wanted the embroidery to be, making the wings bigger to have it easier.
[Second Prototype: Part 1]
They sent me a second draft on Oct. 15th without the face and embroidery of the wings to make sure everything looks good so far, and I definitely was happier with the second version! I LOVE HOW CUTE AND ROUND HE BECAME! So we're heading in the right direction! Though I did ended up making some adjustments LOL
I thought the white thread on the shirt was too jarring so I asked if it was possible to replace with a black thread or something that matches the clothes.
[Second Prototype: Part 2]
Then on Oct 23 I got an update with the new face and wings and I was sooo happy w how well they adapted the new updates to the face! They did the blush so well, so cute!!! Even made the changes to the thread used for the clothes so it looks better imo. But I did have just one last revision before I can fully proceed to the final draft.
I KNOW I KNOW I'M SO... PICKY BUT I CAN'T HELP IT OK. I HAVE LEARNED NOT TO SETTLE AND IF I CAN MAKE CHANGES THEN I WILL. I am so thankful to Cindy and the manu for being able to take my revisions and make it come true LOL.
So some of the small changes I had was with the hair. The length at the bottom was too long for me, so I asked to trim off some parts to make it shorter. I also noticed that they didn't have the belt, so I updated a file and drew a belt for them to use as reference to screen print it onto the clothing. I also asked if they could use the same fabric as the clothes for the shoes instead of the fuzzy material.
The second revision I wanted was to change the black thread of the wings to a lighter color like gray embroidery instead of black bc it was too bold for me. I wanted it to look like dainty angel wings HAHA
And that was it, hoping that the next one is the final draft!
[Final Prototype]
While I was in Portland for Kumoricon, I got the final draft in the middle of the night and I was SOOO ECSTATIC. Like he actually turned out like my draft and I LOVE IT!
The clothes fell better on his body, the wings were cute and puffy w the stitched pattern that had that look of hand stitch HAHA the shoes weren't fuzzy THE HAIR is A LOT BETTER.
I did want to make sure that what was in the back wasn't this awkward bald spot, so I'm glad I got some clarity w it!
But when I got it, I realized that while he wasn't bald, there was this awkward cut that made it look like a bob cut??? So I had to go back and hot glue the back down, pulling it towards the stitch line along with lining up the other strands to cover up the blank spots so it looks WAAY better. I also take an extra step to glue the wings together to have them sit upright instead of drooping down because I want to make sure the plushie holds up and looks good!
It was so funny to see Cindy's reaction to everything, even she was impressed and proud of the work together HAHA Like... we came a long way... HAHA
AND THEN SHE MESSAGED ME AGAIN SAYING THAT YOU CAN TAKE THE CLOTHES OFF?? HELLO HIS HEART NIPS LOOL. WE WERE BOTH SURPRISED. Apparently they stitched the clothes together instead of having the shirt and pants separated, but you can pull it down his body??? HAHA Can put him in other things without having to worry about the wings getting in the way LOOL
I FINALLY got the plushies on December 1st after paying customs and for some reason the delivery guy didn't know how to get into my neighborhood because he thought we had a gate/code and I'm like??? This isn't the first time I've had packages from DHL come in, there's no code-- And after we figured that out yea they're here and I love them and I'm glad I was able to sell several already at my first con this year at ALA.
But anyway, it was a LOONG process, if I ever make more plushies these are things I'm going to keep in mind in the future so that maybe the process would have less back and forth-- but knowing the nit picky person that I am, I'll probably have changes to make to make sure it looks as close as I've envisioned it. Despite the small hiccups (bc like why is the butthole in the middle of his back and not down where I placed it— LOL) and having to fix some stuff up after getting it, I'm pretty happy with how my angel Toji plush came out and I've learned a lot, so hopefully if I make more next time, I know what to expect and look out for!
