Scott Wetterschneider is an artist who designs awesome toys and figures for franchises like The Witcher, My Little Pony and My Pet Monster. We asked him a few questions about how he got into the business, and what kind of things he loves to create:
How did you get into toy-making? What’s the best piece of advice you could give someone who wanted to follow in your footsteps?
I went to Pratt and got an BFA, but I’m not a fine artist. I took that degree and immediately got into video game development. After about ten years of making games, I really wanted to try my hand at something physical, that would last longer than the usual short play cycle that games fall into. I took my 3D modeling skill set and got into making toys.
Advice? Be a flexible artist and always go back to working with paper and pencil. Digital tools are awesome, but having a strong foundation in drawing is at the heart of everything that I do.
Did you have lots of toys as a child, or is it a more recent obsession? I imagine you have a pretty large collection now?
As a kid, I was into Lego–this hasn’t changed. I loved my Star Wars figures, but ultimately it was all about the Legos. I’m not obsessed with toys per se. I am really into helping creatives and designers make their toys. I do a lot of reaching out to comic book artists, children’s book illustrators, animators and fine artists. It’s very common for 2D artists to harbor a dream of having a toy based on their work.
Do you have a favourite franchise/IP that you’ve worked on? Any that you’d like to work on that you haven’t done yet?
Favorite franchise so far? I’ve done a lot of work with a few fine artists, Amanda Louise Spayd, Chris Ryniak, Brandt Peters and Kathie Olivas, for example. While it’s not really a franchise, they all have their own worlds that they’ve been developing for years. But… I love Minecraft, Witcher 3, and Halo and I’ve worked on collectibles from all three of those IP’s. I’m a big Game of Thrones fan too, and I’ve done some fun things for that IP as well. Oh and I’ve work on a ton of Skybound characters, everything from The Walking Dead to Invincible, etc.
I like a lot of popular mainstream movies and shows, but I’m seriously drawn to fringe and lesser known characters. The main characters of the big IP’s get so many toys based on them, which makes sense, since it’s expensive to license and produce figures. The downside is that so many creative, engaging, and hilarious background and side characters never get a chance to be adopted into our collections. I suppose this is one of the reasons that I love the indie toy scene – creators get to follow their hearts and make what they want without risking huge investments.
Thanks so much to Scott for taking the time to chat with us! You can find out more about his work over on his portfolio page, or on his Behance site.
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