QQ x Grafflex

Grafflex is a Korean artist who creates his art works through various media such as illustration, painting, installation and art toy based on graphics. He is mainly inspired by pop culture like animation, games, hip-hop, and sneakers which he enjoyed when he was a teenager. He makes his own unique art style by recomposing various objects using thick black lines which is the one of the expression methods of animation. Grafflex has exhibited his works not only in Korea but also in various cities around the world and has been actively doing collaboration projects with various brands. This project is a collaboration between Grafflex and Tencent’s character QQ which planned to produce limited toy reflecting Grafflex’s unique world of art.

‘Bold’ is a character that contains the art world of Grafflex. It is consist with thick lines without face or any face expression, and it changes into various forms according to the character’s posture. Grafflex tries to create various expressions using ‘Bold’ character which omits detailed elements and concisely expresses the characteristics of the object, which reflects Grafflex’s will for his own freedom. Grafflex designed a unique and witty feeling limited toy by applying his ‘Bold’ character to QQ, which is a representative character of Tencent.

This collaboration toy was inspired by the “Fantasia – The sorcerer’s apprentice”, one of the Disney series that the artist liked as a child. It is an animation that Mickey Mouse wears the master wizard’s magic hat and play around. It was interesting to see that imagination became reality, but he was also impressed by Mickey Mouse using magic with the broom. He imagined this ‘Bold the QQ’ character wearing a magic hat, reflecting his old memories. Like the wizard’s hat, this hat of QQ contains the expectation that it would make dreams and fantasies become true. ‘Bold the QQ’ is also posing with confident because it gives confidence that anyone can achieve their dreams when they wear this hat.

The basic shape of the toy was designed in 3D modeling based on the concept sketches. The overall ratio and size were set while testing the pose to make a balanced shape. The shape is simple, but contains the unique strength which we can feel from Grafflex’s art works.

Based on the basic form, various poses were tested. The over-exaggerated or playful postures did not match Grafflex style, and it was not attractive when the movement was reduced. Finally, it was decided with the pose that the character grab the hat naturally and move forward. This direction reflects the artist’s intention while expressing the character of QQ well.

The shape of the hands and feet, the thickness of the scarf and the details were constantly adjusted to make a balance. While maintaining the image of the existing QQ, we created a cartoon-like round hand and feet. For the final design, we eliminated QQ’s eyes which enable people to have more imagination about this toy.

Toy was produce with PVC material in two sizes, 20cm and 70cm. Since ‘Bold the QQ’ is not standing straight but is posing as if it is going forward, we needed to be carful of finding the balance of the toy shape during the production process. Especially, since the shape of the QQ’s hat was large, it was not easy to make it stand. We have added a thin and round bottom to support the toy to be stable.

The package was designed based on the graphics designed by Grafflex. The graphic was composed with capital letter BQLQ which represents ‘Bold the QQ’. This package is designed to be used not only for packaging but also for a bottom table for the toy. ‘Bold the QQ’ was also designed and printed as a graphic poster.

Grafflex tried to convey a bright and positive message to many people who are experiencing a difficult time. Corona virus had lead people to live a completely different life these days. We hope that people will be able to feel happiness just for a while through ‘Bold the QQ’ like Doraemon’s pocket or wizard’s hat. Also, we wish that the day which we can return to our old daily life will come soon just like magic.