See into the process of how we created the Attack On Titan anime figure that won multiple awards. Attack On Titan is one of the most well-known IPs in the world of entertainment, with consumers interested in anime citing it as in their top 10 of all time and consumers not involved in the sector still knowing about the IP.
Attack On Titan is one of the most well-known IPs in the world of entertainment, with consumers interested in anime citing it as in their top 10 of all time and consumers not involved in the sector still knowing about the IP.
It has brought about it iconic and motivational lines, social media trends and of course, memes. So to take on the project of creating a collectible figure that is as iconic as this IP, is something that fans of the IP are willing to spend their hard earned money on, and blows all of the competition out of the water... and there was a lot of competition.
We wanted to bring this to life in a way no-one else had before, a gigantic, 1/3 scale statue with the face-off between the Attack Titan and Armoured Titan. Until we created this, other statues were single character poses, we broke the boundaries.
But how do you bring something like this to existence, without the Founding Titan’s powers?
Statue Design
First let’s look into the design of this mammoth statue, at 1/3 scale it stands at a whopping 60cm high. This size gives you a lot of room for incredible detail to be added, it also gives the challenge of making sure that every detail is added, at this size no detail can be missed, no texture incomplete and absolutely no boring space or gaps because it would be very obvious.
After in-depth research into the series, what’s available currently and most importantly, what the community desperately wants, we came up with the core concept of the battle between the Attack Titan and the Armoured Titan. An iconic battle between foes, and friends, that hadn’t been represented until this piece.
We spent many hours working on various designs options for this battle, we needed to pick the most dynamic poses that would reflect this fight as a stopped moment in time. But it doesn’t stop there, because a pose doesn’t make an interesting statue, you have to add the ambience around it to give the statue feeling and energy. To do this we spent just as many hours creating the rubble at the base with torn up houses and dust clouds, we made sure the steam you see coming from wounded titans is there to show they are mid battle and of course, a tiny Mikasa, being a big part of the series and this battle.
Because of this great attention to the details, this statue won multiple awards and rave feedback from collectors.
Statue Design and Manufacturing Process
The process for designing a statue like this has been honed by over 10 years in business creating for ourselves, only now are we offering this refined process to clients, here’s how it worked for Attack On Titan.
Step 1: Market research
In this first and very important step, we undertake a period of research where we go deep into three key areas:
- The license and series
- The competition
- The current market wants and needs
These three areas help us to define the best direction for the product, that includes the scene that we want to bring to life, the size of the end statue and what price people are willing to invest for something like this.
Step 2: Concept art
From our research we start to create 2D concept art that consists of overlayed images and sketches to help us realise multiple ideas quickly, that we can then tweak and pick from to help choose the final direction for the statue.
Step 3: Grey 3D model
We then move our chosen concept into 3D, starting with a grey 3D model first. This helps us to gain an understanding of shape and space for the statue and let’s us balance the design and make any quick changes that we see before spending time colouring and texturing.
Step 4: Colored 3D model
Once we’re happy with the grey 3D, we will then colour and texture the model. This is where we have to make sure we are checking every small detail, because this model is what will be sent to prototype, so everything has to be perfect.
It goes through multiple rounds of internal review from our team to ensure every piece is looked at thoroughly.
Step 5: Colored prototype
The truly exiting part can now begin, we create the first 3D prototype of the design. It’s always incredible to see the true image and scale of a physical piece and this is where it happens.
Every piece of this is manufactured and hand-painted to send to us for review. We go over this, take photos and see what the engineering is like on this first piece to see where we can make improvements.
Step 6: Manufacturing
Once the prototype is signed off, it’s sent to our factory along with all the technical details and manufacturing begins!
By going through this process with every piece like Attack on Titan, we can make sure that everything about that piece, from the design, to materials, to ease of assembly is perfected for the final, award-winning piece that the customers receive.
If you’re interested in starting a merchandise project with us, get in touch.
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