When worlds collide!
My past recently met up with my present to create a CUPIG: THE VALENTINE'S DAY PIG plush toy. PLUS upcoming in-person EVENTS!
Designing the CUPIG plush toy with MERRYMAKERS!
In my former career as a toy designer for companies like Fisher-Price and Hasbro, I had the fantastic opportunity to design toys for brands like Disney, Sesame Street, Dreamworks, and countless others. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have the opportunity to help design one of my very own book characters into a plush.
The wonderful folks at MerryMakers Inc., who specialize in making toys based on the characters in picture books, approached Penguin/Random House, the Flamingo Books team, Claire, and myself on the possibility of creating a CUPIG plush in time for Valentine’s Day. As an admirer of all their plush items for such a long time, I couldn’t be happier to put back on my toy design shoes for a bit and work with the incredible MerryMakers design team to make it happen.
With all plush toy design, there is quite a bit of back and forth to get the character just right. I thought I would share some behind-the-scenes drawings to show how we reached the finals. It is always hard taking something from 2-D to 3-D, but luckily, I had done turnaround drawings as I do for most of my characters at the beginning of the sketch phase for the book, which helped immensely for this project.
In later rounds, we decided to have her hold a bow and arrow in her hands, which I think makes her over-the-top ADORABLE and more like CUPIG from the book.
The final product makes me smile from ear to ear, and I couldn’t be more proud of all the work MerryMakers did to make this happen in time for Valentine’s Day.
You can purchase the plush toy of CUPIG now at https://merrymakersinc.com/products/cupig
Upcoming Events
I’m so excited to be in NYC this week for an upcoming event with Claire Tattersfield to celebrate CUPIG: THE VALENTINE’S DAY PIG on February 3rd at BOOKS ARE MAGIC (Montague St) at 11 A.M. for a reading and signing.
I will also be doing a Bay Area reading, signing, and drawing activity with the wonderful READING BUG for a special Valentine’s Day Party in San Carlos on February 11 at 11 A.M. I hope to see some of you there and give you an extra special high-five!
Awesome plush to go with the book! So cute in his little undies!
The plush looks perfect!