Self initiated project.
As a long time collector and admirer of designer vinyl figures I've always had an itch to create one of my own. Years ago I had the luck to work with Kidrobot customizing two of their world famous Dunny figures, but this time I didn't just want to add a design to a pre-existing figure, I wanted to design the whole figure itself. On top of that I wanted it to represent the Mexican culture without falling into the clichés of the lucha libre. Not necessarily because it's bad, but because I felt it had already been done in vinyl toys before and with very good designs too.
Combining the ideas of Mexican food, street culture and my memories of growing up there, I decided that the characters were going to be a 'taquero' (street tacos vendor) and a foul mouthed raw piece of stake as his sidekick.
After the first sketches I realized that if this was going to be a real figure I would need help of a sculptor in order for it to look good from every angle and have evenly distributed weight for it to stand firmly. I approached my friend David Dick and he took the project to the next level, turning it into something tangible.
With this first part of the project done, we got a manufacturing partner and the figures were mass produced, fulfilling the dream of having a designer 8-inch vinyl figure of our own out in the world.
This is how Lethal Taco was born.
Below:
THE 3 COLOR VARIATIONS IN WHICH THE FIGURE WAS PRODUCED
DAY OF THE DEAD - ORIGINAL - PREMIUM CUT
Below:
EACH OF THE COLOR VARIANTS COMES IN A DIFFERENT BOX
Below:
DIFFERENT ANGLES OF THE DAY OF THE DEAD FIGURE
Below:
DETAILS OF THE OG AND DAY OF THE DEAD VARIANTS
Below:
POSTER, POSTCARD AND STICKER PACK THAT CAME WITH THE FIRST 100 FIGURES
Illustrated by David Dick
Illustrated by David Dick
Below:
ILLUSTRATIONS DONE DURING THE CONCEPT / EXPLORATION PHASE OF THE CHARACTERS
Below:
LOGOS FOR LETHAL TACO AND ALL ITS COLOR VARIATIONS
I WANTED THE LOGOS TO BE LEGIBLE IN BOTH 2D AND 3D EXECUTIONS
Below:
THE PROCESS
THE VERY FIRST SKETCHES SHOWING THE IDEA FOR THE CHARACTERS
Below:
DAVE'S INITIAL SKETCHES - ANATOMICALLY CORRECT AND SHOWING DIFFERENT POSES IN WHICH THE FIGURE COULD STAND ONCE TRANSLATED TO A SCULPTURE
Below:
DAVE'S MASTER SCULPTURE
LETHAL TACO AND MEAT HAD JUMPED OUT OF THE SCREEN INTO THE REAL WORLD PROVING THAT THE FIGURE HAD A SOLID STAND AND THAT IT LOOKED GOOD FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES
Below:
PAINT OVERS OF THE MASTER SCULPTURE SHOWING THE 3 DIFFERENT COLOR WAYS
WE NEEDED TO DEFINE THE LEVEL OF DETAIL FOR EACH PAINT JOB NOW THAT WE KNEW WHAT THE CHARACTER LOOKED AS A REAL OBJECT
Below:
3D SCAN OF DAVE'S SCULPTURE - THIS WAS THEN USED TO CREATE THE IRON MOLDS FOR THE FINAL FIGURE
Below:
EARLY EXPLORATIONS FOR THE LETHAL TACO LOGO
Below:
INITIAL SKETCH AND FINAL ILLUSTRATION FOR THE FRONT OF THE ORIGINAL VERSION BOX
And Finally:
A COUPLE OF SHOTS OF LETHAL TACO IN THE REAL WORLD
AND REMEMBER: