Thomas the Tank: Take-n-Play series

Over the years I have had the honor of being involved in the creation and development of many Thomas the Tank toys that have come from Fisher-Price.  Including their wooden line (similar to Brio brand), Trackmaster and die-cast lines, Take-n-play line, and other licensed specials, that covers a significant amount of toys produced for Thomas.

I love working with the Thomas license and I've had a lot of fun designing for the different categories and their sets.  More recently, the world of Thomas has been expanding in the media with spin-off shows like Flynn the fire engine and Jack & the pack.  It's exciting to be working on those as well, and hopefully I'll be showing more as they hit the store shelves.

In the meantime,  here are a few of the 'Take-n-play' sets Fisher-Price Brands asked me to design for Thomas;

This smaller basic set explored a couple of themes, but relied on simplicity and the key compact storage that the Take-n-play line promoted.
Ultimately they decided to go with the 'Tidmouth tunnel' theme here;

Here is a Take-n-play set incorporating a pirates' treasure theme.  The final version came together from a number of concepts I did, combined with more in-house development.

The case was similar for the 'Blue Mountain' quarry climb set, which initially employed a very cool mechanism.  The mode of track play changed when a knob is turned, the mine shed flips up and open, revealing another level of track.  It offered some very cool play in a compact space, but it was passed on for something that was equally portable, and offered more presence;

Blue Mountain Quarry set closed

Blue Mountain Quarry set open

There is more to show from the 'Take-n-play' line, including my work on the big 'Misty Island Rescue' play set, which I'll post soon.
For now I'll leave with this, the 'Sodor Engine Wash' set. It has a working washer mechanism and features a water-activated color change, allowing a "muddy" Thomas to get all cleaned up.

Sometimes there are a number of iterations in developing a concept like this, other times it only requires a couple of passes to nail it.
There are varying reasons that factor into this, often it's just a matter of quickly exploring the best options, then synthesizing them into a more cohesive final version, ..maybe with some minor tweaks.
This is another one of those cases where it went pretty unchanged from the first pass to the toy store shelf, which is always fun to see happen.

more posters

It has been a little while since I've posted illustrated works for promotional posters, which are always loads of fun to work on.  The majority of what I've generated up to this point has been for Arcana comics and Rough Sketch Studio, specifically; Koni Waves, which has seen its initial arc of success in published form, and is in some stage of development as a film project or TV show. Exciting possibilities, but nothing definite as of this writing.

In the meantime, there have been a few 'Art of.." books to which I've contributed,  as well as the occasional isolated project, like the following illustrations.
The first was done for the relaunch of Captain Action, an action figure line from the mid 1960s, who has his own comic book. The current redux includes a counterpart heroine called 'Lady Action';

Another was a quick commission done for last years' ComicCon in San Diego, to cross-promote 3 of Arcana's leading published heroines;  Koni, Jinky, and Eve.  The theme was 'Arcana's Angels', my treatment was titled 'Angels raising hell';

It's not immediately apparent that the huge explosion behind them takes the form of a skull.
















"Anything strange or other-worldly, ..not just aliens, vampires and zombies."
I like that kind of freedom, which eventually pitted Koni against a swarm of nasty looking 'hellbats';

.. and inspired this poster involving a vintage Corvette and some vintage pteranodons;

Little People

A perennial favorite among parents and kids, 'Little People' have become a part of contemporary childhood as much as Radio Flyer, Frisbee, or Legos. There's some basic fun play that endures, along with the actual product, allowing them to become toys that are handed down for generations. 
Fisher Price introduced the first Little People sets in 1960, and though they have expanded and evolved over the past 50 years, they have retained their signature identity and irresistible charm.
I have been fortunate enough to work on a lot of Little People concepts over the past 20 years. Some have explored new approaches for classic Little People themes, different play patterns, innovative twists on existing ideas, ..one of the most recent being the 'Wheelies' line, which combines classic LP character play with vehicle and track play.  It's an exciting new direction and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.  I'll post a few of those soon.

In the meantime,  here is one of the very first Little People concepts for which I was brought in by Fisher Price. Their 'Discovery City' took Little People character play to a (then) new level of action, lights and sound FX.
Initially it was called 'Smart City', and sadly, I don't have a copy of the color rendering to post.  This job was done before the advent of the internet and emailing scanned jpegs,  back when I sent original art to clients via FedEx. ..Oh, those primitive times!..  

Designed years later, another example of putting an interactive twist on a classic theme, the Little People 'Pop N Surprise' train set;

As I said earlier, there have been a lot more over the years, these being just a couple, and I'll post more in the future.
The following project was more recent, and in celebration the aforementioned 50th birthday.  Fisher Price wanted to reproduce a line of classic Little People play sets to mark the occasion, and I was called in again.  As much as everyone loved the idea of simply re-releasing these sets as originally produced, some trimming was required and the approach ended up being more simplified and commemorative in nature.  The sets produced were the Little People Farm, the Little People House, and the Little People School.
Here are those designs;

 Here is how they turned out;

.. I also came up with a design for the Little People A-Frame House set, which I thought was awesome as a kid (though I never had one).  The actual A-frame home design was hugely popular in the late 60s to early 70s, at this point acquiring a dated mid-century charm.  I admit, I was pulling for this one to be in the line, but alas; it didn't make the cut.

..simplified, as the others in the line, but still a delightful trip back in time.
For those of you who don't remember the original;

Winnie the Pooh's 'Travelin' Tree House'

Some years ago, Fisher Price approached me to design a large tree house playset for Winnie the Pooh.
I have probably designed a dozen different Pooh playsets over the years, for Disney and different toy makers who have held the license, and they all had their own unique spin.

One that I designed for Fisher Price focused on the 'Tigger & Pooh friends: Super Sleuth' features (which introduced the character: Darby).  Among the array of toys designed and produced for that property was this super-secret changing tree house playset:

     










In spite of the fact that the play figures for these were only a couple of inches tall, these were pretty formidable and busy sets.  But the required exploration garnered plenty from which to choose in whittling down to the essentials, ..which produced the next round of drawings:  several smaller sets, separated into individual features, playing up the launching 'sleuth scooter'. I went simpler and more compact on the actual tree house;

..And here is how it all turned out when it was produced;

_____________

Pooh's Travelin' Tree House was different in a number of ways, one being that it was classic Disney Pooh, and not focused on the Super-Sleuth property.  It was also different in that it folded up and could be carried or pulled on wheels by extending the handle, much like a rolling suitcase.  Although this playset started out being pretty formidable, like the aforementioned Sleuth tree house, it stayed largely unchanged.  It ended up being quite a big item in the Pooh line, and consequently a heavier (but still popular) investment for parents.
It may bear mentioning this item was produced exclusively for the European market, and though it's no longer in the retail stores, it can still be found in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia, mainly on ebay.

Anyway, here are the drawings I did in designing the Travelin' Treehouse;

open view

Treetop cottage detaches for separate play

wheels remove and open into accessories

 

































































I think it's evident I had a lot of fun with this, and getting the most play out of every part.  The creatives at Fisher Price loved it as it was conceived.  Other than eliminating the removable cottage (scale and cost issues), it was produced pretty much as is;