My Illustration Became a PVC Figure Product Overseas?　Illustrator "Aragon" is experiencing a small but big miracle [Hobby Industry Inside vol.68

There is a figure series named "Futsu-no-Kawaii." The figures are based on works by an individual artist named Aragon, and can only be purchased at overseas events or through his own mail-order website. Although production is limited due to limited distribution channels, the products are well received by collectors around the world, and are always sold out immediately. The products have become so popular that they are even being sold in collaboration with a Chinese fashion magazine.
This "Futsu-no-Kawaii" series was first handmade and sold immediately at an event two years ago, so it is a miracle that it has been commercialized by a manufacturer and sold worldwide. How did this miracle really happen?　We interviewed Mr. Aragon, the author of the original story.

His wife began kneading clay to make figures.

─ ─ Mr. Aragon, I understand that you are currently working in the field of graphics or design.

Yes, I used to draw backgrounds for animation, and my wife used to work for the same company. Now I work from my home and do design-related work with my wife.

─ ─ Were you interested in three-dimensional objects or figures?

Aragon No, not so much. ...... I only bought Shokugan at convenience stores and occasionally bought figures of video games at Nakano. Since I was a child, I have only collected Kinkeshi figures with great enthusiasm.

──You uploaded a picture of an omake of Fueraramune on Twitter, didn't you?

Aragon: A friend's child had bought some of these and gave me the leftover ones. When I looked into it a little more, I found that it is a very deep world, and I started buying them myself.

─ Do you like cheap three-dimensional objects rather than cool ones?

Aragon: It may not be a good word, but I like "something with a gap. I like "design with a gap" or something like that. ......

───I understand that your wife started to sculpt the girl characters that you drew?

Aragon: Yes, my wife started kneading clay in the beginning. But my wife has a temperamental personality, so she was impatient with the time it took for the clay to dry. A while after that, 3D printers became cheaper, so I did some research. Around that time, I also went to Wonder Festival (hereinafter referred to as "One Festival") for the first time. As a result, I found that the 3D printer called "Qholia" was not only highly accurate in outputting products, but also that the president of the manufacturer was kind enough to provide information on Twitter, etc. about troubles that occurred during use and how to deal with parts that I did not understand.
But there was no place to put Qholia in the house I was living in at the time. Later, we found a place with a work space upstairs and a small room for painting, so we decided to take the plunge and buy a house. After we moved into our new house and my work settled down, my wife and I took about six months off from work to make figures. I wanted to sell them at Onefest, but I wanted to sell them painted from the beginning.


─ ─ They come in blister packs, like American figures, don't they?

Aragon Yes, I wanted to make figures that were painted and packaged from the beginning. We went to Nakano Broadway and looked at old American figures and studied them. My wife and I both like to think about package design. I found the transparent part of the blister pack on Amazon.com in the U.S., so I imported it personally.

─ So you started making the main body of the figure not with clay, but with digital modeling?

Aragon Yes, I did. However, when I tried to print out the figure using 3D software, the laces of the glasses and shoes did not come out cleanly. In particular, I wrote on Twitter that I was having trouble with glasses because I couldn't do it with a printer (......), and I was approached by Hakufune Koubou. Hakufune Kobo is a company that sells glasses for paper craft figures, and the quality was perfect for our figures, so we decided to use them.
We also made a number of other improvements, such as filling in the space between the legs at first. This is because if there is a gap between the two legs, it is difficult to paint there. My wife is a clothing fanatic, so she is very particular about the silhouette of the T-shirt. In the initial prototype, the details of the T-shirt did not come out well. While improving the prototype, I wanted to ask the contractor to do the die-cutting only, so I asked, "I'm a beginner, is that OK?" and we discussed the division of parts as we went along. It was around the end of 2018 when the die-cutting was completed and the parts were delivered. From there, my wife and I painted them one by one.


─ Did you paint them with a brush?

Aragon: Yes, we did. I had little experience in painting, so I looked for a paint that would not harm the cats we have at home. I found that a paint called "Farejo" seemed to be a good choice.

─ That's a water-based paint, isn't it?

Aragon: Yes, we spent about a month together and managed to paint about 11 units. We sold them at the Wonder Festival in February 2019. I had heard that it is not easy to sell at the first time, but we sold out within 10 to 20 minutes. One of the customers who bought our figures was a Chinese artist. He uploaded our figures on Facebook and said they were well received, so he asked us through Instagram, "Would you like to sell them at the Shanghai event? He asked us through Instagram, "Would you like to sell them at the event in Shanghai?