Bloopies & Bloopies Shellies (Doll design and concept/production desing)

Before the animated series began production, I had the opportunity to work as a doll designer, redesigning the merman dolls and creating two very special mermaids—one of which (Siara) later appeared as a 3D character in the show. These were the first racialized Bloopies mermaid dolls, and contributing to that step toward inclusivity is something I’m truly proud of. I strongly believe in the importance of children seeing themselves represented in the toys they play with.

It was also my first time working with thermochromic colors — pigments that change color with temperature. It’s such a simple effect, but for a child, it feels like real magic. Watching a doll’s hair or tail shift color with water adds a level of wonder that’s truly memorable.

Later, in the production of the animated series Bloopies and Bloopies Shellies, I stepped into the role of Production Designer. At this stage, the toy development was already quite advanced, so my creative input as a concept artist was limited. Instead, my focus was on ensuring visual consistency between the toys and their animated counterparts, prioritizing a cohesive and polished aesthetic that stayed true to the product line.

I worked closely with the modeling, texturing, and grooming teams to bring the characters and props to life in 3D, making sure they remained faithful to the physical toys while adding the expressiveness and detail that animation allows. It was a project where my dual experience in toy design and animation art direction came together to serve the storytelling and the brand as a whole.

In this post, I’m only sharing a tiny fraction of my day-to-day work as a production designer—mostly because those tasks are often less exciting to look at on social media. But I do think it’s important to highlight the in-between stages of an animation production: the ones that sit quietly between concept art and the polished final frames we see in a show or video game. That’s where so much of the invisible, yet essential, design work happens—and I’m always happy to shed a little light on it.