3D prints of my characters

Ryan Ehr

This is a little different, as it's not an illustration, but I figured the group here would appreciate this.

A little back story- I have a book coming out September 1 (less than two months!) that I co-wrote and illustrated with my wife called Pearl and Squirrel Give Thanks. I was curious to see if I could make the main characters into a 3D print. If they came out alright, I was going to send them to some friends and family and to our partners at the publisher. Well, then the quarantine happened, and working on these little guys became my main art project outside of my job. I made five to start but ended up with something like 35 of these painted up... I'm not really a crafty person, so this was a lot of trial and error, but I'm excited about how they came out.

Some more info:
I have a background in games/modeling so I was able to model these in 3D myself but there are online resources where you could potentially hire someone to do the asset creation.
I used a 3D printing service called Shapeways that is pretty reasonable. They print in all kinds of materials- I even got a teeny tiny metal one made so I might use that next time I play monopoly.
The paint was acrylic. I used a brush at first, then used an airbrush on later figures to try to get it smooth as possible. These are tiny, so pictures tend to make them look worse (imperfections are magnified).

I've seen other illustrators have figures or plushes made and that was a big inspiration. Hopefully, this gives others ideas to bring their creations into the real world in new ways.

You can see more Pearl and Squirrel art on my website in the signature, not sure if links are allowed, but here's a link to the book https://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Squirrel-Thanks-Cassie-Ehrenberg/dp/1338592092

Nyrryl Cadiz

@Ryan-Ehr they are amazing!

Ryan Ehr

@Nyrryl-Cadiz thanks! Glad they are out in the world

Nyrryl Cadiz

@Ryan-Ehr You know, I've been planning to crowdfund my own book. Your post is really inspiring Maybe I'll finally do it this time.

miranda-hoover

@Ryan-Ehr This is so cool! Such a clever idea and they turned out great! It must be very satisfying to see your characters like this. Congrats!

Jane Smith

Adorable!

jdubz

That's way cool man! There's definitely something in designing for multiple platforms like this!

Ryan Ehr

@Nyrryl-Cadiz that would be awesome!

Neha Rawat

squeals This is adorable!

Lisa Pickard

Love it!

Kristin Dudish

Holy noodles! This is SooOoOooo cool!!!

Melanie Ortins

Super cute!!!

Denie Kony

Those look great!

@Ryan-Ehr Wow..really wonderful. Artists always amaze me with their ingenuity.

TessaW

So impressed with these! Love the shot of them all lined up.

Jfbray

These figures turned out great! I've always been a sucker for figures.