Interview: DST Designer Eamon O’Donoghue Talks About The Artistic Process of Action Figures

You know the toys, but get to know some of the people that helped put some of your favorite collectibles on the shelves of your local comic shop. 

Diamond Select Toys designer Eamon O’Donoghue talked to PREVIEWSworld ToyChest about his background in the toy industry and his artistic design process for action figures, include DST's Select Westworld and Castlevania. 

The interview was originally published in the May PREVIEWS catalog. 

What’s your origin story? How did you get involved in the toy industry?

I grew up in Ireland and you can blame all this on Masters of the Universe as when I was a boy that was what I played with religiously. I used to stare at the toy boxes, the art blew my mind and I wanted to do the same. I never really stopping buying figures…even after I discovered girls. In the 80’s it was He-Man, Bravestarr and The Real Ghostbusters. In the early 90’s it was WWF and Star Trek TNG figures, late 90’s it was of course McFarlane’s Spawn and my interest in all things articulated plastic has just kept growing since.

My first job as a freelance artist and designer was for He-Man, my second Dungeons & Dragons, then Transformers, then MASK…so I serendipitously found myself doing a lot of (DVD) art for toy and cartoon brands. This then led to design work for Hasbro on some girl brands like Jem and Blythe but my work first action figure was for Mezco. Today action figures takes up about 75% of my work schedule. 50% of that is designing figures and about 25% is painting the packaging artwork (Marvel legends, DC Superhero Girls). I can safely say I am in fanboy heaven with this workload and I feel extremely fortunate. 

How does your experience as an illustrator help you as a toy designer?

My style of art is quite clean so I think that lends itself well for action figures as it means providing the sculptor with as much as they could need for them to do their magic. For me presentation is important too as more often than not, the first thing a licensor is going to see the artwork. So it has to be good art nicely presented to help give the line as best a chance as possible at getting the green light. As a freelance artist it is your job to give the clients exactly what they want or expect so I feel that mentality lends itself well to action figure design.

Take us through your process… How does the product go from paper to a finished model?

Well luckily most of what I am asked to draw I am already a fan of or at least familiar with which is of course handy when thinking about what is expected for a particular new figure. But the very first thing I do is to gather reference and I will spend a good day doing that before I start any drawing, especially if it’s a whole wave of figures for a new license. I know what I want to see in an action figure myself so getting details as accurate as possible is vital. Gathering reference for movie or TV licenses involves watching and scanning a lot of movies and YouTube videos with lots and lots of freeze framing. For figures like Diamond Select Avengers movie figures (which are made in advance of the movie’s release) it’s just a case of studying the supplied reference and reading the details as accurately as possible. Sometimes you even have to just figure out what that blurry detail looks like from any angle. But for other lines I might then use things like Pinterest to gather up materials if the figure requires a brand new or updated look. I will send that Pinterest page to the client who can then choose what ideas they like, I’ll draw up a few designs and once the over all look is agreed, I will then do the full turns or “control art” for the action figure. That artwork is then passed to the sculptors who do their amazing work at turning that into 3D and then some.

You’ve recently done products for shows such as Westworld and Castlevania… How do you design a figure so that it stays true to the mood and tone of the show?

It’s all about gathering reference and being familiar with the character you are drawing. I was already watching and a fan of the Netflix’s Castlevania and HBO’s Westworld so having the opportunity to draw these great characters was a treat. Westworld is a reality based show so I felt it important that to try to be as realistic as possible by incorporating the smallest of details on each figure like the unique texture of the Man In Black’s coat or the patterns on Clementine’s dress. The accessories really help with the mood of the character like Sypha’s magic hand gestures for Castlevania. Facial expression too of course plays a vital part. You want to choose that one expression that you think fit that character.

Speaking of Castlevania, you were tasked with designing the first action figures for the Castlevania Netflix show… What was your approach with your design?

Castlevania in particular has that stylized anime look so it was vital to represent the longer lithe anatomy of these vampires and heroes. Luckily the animation in Castlevania is quite consistent so the details of the character usually stay the same but smaller details can vary so you have to choose those more detailed close up frames as your reference (which are hard to find over 12+ episodes) to get as accurate a read of the details and shapes as possible. The clean shapes of the characters in particular is what I think gives this line of action figures a particular appeal. That then along with the smooth clean sculpt helps gives the figure a desired animated look.

Do you have a favorite product you’ve worked on?

As I am sure you can tell by now, I am a mad action figure nut so I do love them all. Westworld was a lot of fun as I got the opportunity to suggest a lot of the accessories and dioramas. But there is something I’m an even bigger fan of that I just finished working on for Diamond Select that I am super proud to be a part of and I think it’s one action figure collectors have been clamoring for. But I cannot say as I love my job and wish to design action figures forever.