Sandy's world of Sand castle villages is sustained by robots who build and maintain these fragile and transient dwellings. One of the most common robots you see in her village is the sand mover crab robot, which I first concepted out as a vehicle/character for use in a game, and then as a real-life sand toy.
Original concept for the in-game robot.
Color Explorations
Sketches of some preliminary exploration for possible robot types
ROBOT TOYS
With the world of Sandy the Sand Witch, I wanted to explore designs that crossover between the real world and the digital world. As a start, I took the concept for the Sand Moving Crab Roboto, which serves as a sand transporter in Sandy's village of sand castle homes, and thought about how it would work as a toy in the real world. For me, I want a toy you can really play with, so this design has working joints, a hidden compartment, and a little crab to play with. Here are some breakdowns I did to explain a 3D prototype to be 3D printed in resin.
Once I knew what direction I wanted to go, I built out a 3D model in Blender that was broken into parts for 3D printing. As I did this, I worked with the technician at LCAD's fabrication lab, Hugo Hernandez, to ensure that the final prototype would have functional joints, with enough tolerance and durability to print properly, fit together and function without breaking, and have margin for painting the final prototype.
For more details and explanation of the process and making of this toy, check out my Artstation blog, where I have more behind the scenes details and videos. Thanks!