Pint Size Heroes: Interview with Artist Greg Ham
Where did the idea for Pint Size Heroes come from?
The idea for Pint Size Heroes came from Brian Mariotti. Back in February Butcher explained to me Brian's idea and asked me to stop what I was doing and create concepts for a new line that would showcase super cute stylized figures packed with personality. I dived in right away because the opportunity to design a brand new line was super exciting and I already had something in mind.
What was the biggest challenge of deciding how Pint Size Heroes should look?
The biggest challenge was creating a design aesthetic that would pack a wallop of personality into a pint size 1.5 inches. All the personality was going to be in the facial expression since we knew that the body was going to be standardized. To achieve the desired amount of cute with personality I revisited a series of pop-culture noggins that I had been creating since 2007 in my free time as fan art. The noggins were very minimal in detail but big in personality and design but needed a few tweaks to bring them in line with the Funko brand. Once the style of the heads was captured there were multiple attempts at various body styles but ultimately the Dorbz body was already perfect. With a dash of awesome Art Direction from Butcher and Wilky, and a couple adjustments of the head and body proportions, the Pint Size Heroes were born.
It is definitely worth mentioning that creating the Pint Size Heroes was a team effort. In addition to the amazing Art Direction I had lots of encouragement from Brian and my co-workers. But a ton of credit absolutely must go to Darcy Harlan for taking my design concepts (pictured below), which she wasn't quite used to, and creating amazing 3D sculpts. When she showed me the designs in 3D form for the first time I was blown away because they were super cute and completely captured all the personality we were striving for.
How long did it take to create the first three series?
Once we had the style locked down and the 3D sculpt forms decided upon for the male and female forms it took about three weeks to design the concepts and full body turns for each series.
If you could create a set of Pint Size Heroes for any license, which would you pick?
Please don't make me pick just one. I would love to do a set for Hanna Barbera, many more in the Marvel Universe, the best of Cartoon Network (Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Dexter's Laboratory, We Bear Bears, Teen Titans Go etc.), Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, and Adventure Time.
Which Pint Size Hero is your favorite?
I was really happy with how Green Goblin turned out!