Role
Product Design
3D Sculpting
Prototyping
Overview - An exercise in visual synthesis—taking two seemingly unrelated cultural influences and blending them into a fresh collectible with its own identity.
The Graffateer explores the intersection of nostalgic pop culture and modern street art by reimagining the classic rocket-powered adventurer as a contemporary graffiti writer. The goal was to create a collectible character that felt instantly familiar while establishing an original visual identity rooted in hip-hop, vinyl toys, and urban culture.
Design Challenge - How can a recognizable retro silhouette be transformed into a fresh collectible without relying on direct imitation? The challenge was to preserve the excitement and optimism of vintage adventure heroes while introducing the expressive style, bold attitude, and visual language of graffiti culture.
Design Solution - The final character combines rounded toy proportions with layered clothing, custom flight gear, a stylized skull-inspired helmet, and an oversized rocket pack that doubles as a strong visual anchor. Accessories such as the spray can reinforce the character's story, while exaggerated shapes and clean forms were intentionally designed to translate well into physical manufacturing and collectible production.
Tools
Maxon Zbrush, Adobe Substance Painter, Marmoset Tool Bag 4
Adobe Photoshop
Lessons Learned - Any project is subject to a unique set of challenges. This time around nailing the balance point to ensure a shelf-stable figure proved a bit more challenging then normal. Keeping material tolerances in mind the thinner fin areas on both the backpack and the characters helmet were a bit challenging to pull of properly.
