SANJIESAN LICENSING / Character product studies
A soft-toy concept needs a map of the character’s essential features
Moving a character from an illustration into a soft-object concept involves choices about proportion, outline and detail. Begin with the established reference and identify what makes that character recognisable. The exercise below is for concept discussion; it does not specify construction, suitability or compliance for a real toy.
List features by their role in recognition
Place the source image beside a plain list of silhouette features, face details, colours and distinctive marks. Separate confirmed identifying features from incidental lighting or pose. Keep the source identifier attached. For Sanjiesan material, retain the existing character or card identity even when the artwork style changes. A new soft-object proposal should never become a new identity merely because the proportions look different.
Show a restrained stylisation comparison
Prepare a small number of rough options, changing one major relationship at a time. Show which features each option preserves and where it makes a new interpretation. Avoid presenting a polished front view without side or overall context if those views are needed to understand the idea. Any unresolved feature should appear as a question for the content owner, not as a quiet omission from the next drawing.
Separate visual acceptance from product development
After a visual direction is selected, keep the accepted reference and remaining development questions together. A production specialist may need to explain how a proposed feature could be represented in the actual object. That conversation does not replace the content decision, and a content decision does not establish a finished product. Describe the result as a concept until the relevant development evidence genuinely exists.