the cosplayer: Bulma
Genesis
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The Bulma art toy came together through a series of spontaneous circumstances.
One day, while walking down the street, I ran into the tattoo artist Ben Banzai,
whom I hadn’t seen for a long time.
I’ve always admired his work, both as a tattooer and illustrator. He told me he’d been following my art toy projects and proposed an exchange: he would tattoo me, and I would teach him how to sculpt. Of course, I accepted immediately.
A few days later, he came to my studio, and we started some improvised lessons. To show him my process, I decided to take one of his drawings and turn it into an art toy. I chose one inspired by the character Bulma, which, though quite erotic, I had always liked for its distinctive style. We both share a huge admiration for Akira Toriyama’s work, so it felt right.
Limited Edition​
As expected, I got absorbed by the piece. As it evolved, we both realized it was turning into something special. At some point, we decided it could become a limited-edition collaboration.
From that moment, I went all in.
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It was a complex sculpture, so thinking ahead to production, I modeled it in separate parts that could be easily 3D-scanned and assembled later.
Production
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Once the prototype was finished, we began looking for a manufacturer. I asked for quotes locally, but the available options didn’t match the quality or production standards I was aiming for.
Over the years, several Asian companies had contacted me about mass production, so after comparing all possibilities, we chose the one that best fit the project.
Meanwhile, to fund the production, we launched a Kickstarter campaign. Given the sexualized nature of the piece, we had doubts about how it would perform, but we managed to reach our goal.
Since I didn't want to risk shipping the original sculpture, I handled the 3D scanning myself and refined details digitally. From there, I worked closely with the manufacturer to ensure the best possible result for the art toy, an alternate colorway that I designed and the packaging.
To avoid any potential issues related to the character’s intellectual property, we titled the piece The Cosplayer: Bulma, making it clear that it represented a girl dressed as Bulma, not the actual Bulma herself.
Legacy
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From a technical standpoint, it’s one of my favorite works, for its level of detail, finish, the collaboration with Ben, and the challenge of managing both a crowdfunding campaign and production from scratch.
