3D modeling
Animation

Story of the Stone Golem

A magnetic toy concept became a fairytale world. I developed the character, its home and its story while learning Blender from the ground up.

A stone golem in a moonlit forest beside a glowing spirit

Role: Individual project
Duration: 3 months
Tools: Blender
Focus: Toy concept and visualization

The brief

Create and visualize a toy in the fairytale category. I explored how a physical product idea could become a coherent 3D world, with magnetic stone pieces forming a character that could be assembled, taken apart and rebuilt.

I started with mood boards and sketches, exploring a portal, a dragon and a stone golem. The golem gave me the richest opportunity to develop a character, an environment and an animated story.

Fairytale moodboard with a forest cottage and magical characters — Finding the atmosphere

Stone golem toy concept sketches — Exploring a character made from separate pieces

Dragon toy concept sketches showing two dragons and an egg hatching sequence — Exploring a dragon and its hatching sequence

Portal toy concept sketches with hands and a parrot passing through a purple portal — Exploring a portal and a magical reveal

From sketch to character

I built the base from cubes and large meshes, then refined the rocks through sculpting and proportion changes. I also modeled a small cabin to give the golem a home.

Materials, textures and lighting connected the separate objects. Rock surfaces, vegetation and weathering gave the world a tactile quality, while an armature and inverse-kinematics controls let me bring the character into motion.

Rough blockout of the Stone Golem before sculpting — The initial blockout

Refined Stone Golem model after sculpting — Refining the shape and proportions

Final Stone Golem with weathered stone textures and purple eyes — The final character with materials and textures

The result

The final concept combines a modular toy with a world and a short animated story. A build plate provides a starting point for play, while the loose stones invite the player to build, break apart and invent something new.

Watch the final animation

Stone pieces assembling into figures on a magnetic build plate — Building with magnetic stones

Completed textured golem on its build plate — The complete toy concept

What I learned

Learning Blender through one connected project helped me understand how modeling, materials and movement depend on each other. I learned to refine the form before adding detail, and to use the character’s world and animation to explain the toy concept.

Skills I developed: Taking one concept through a complete 3D workflow.

Developing characters, environments and a consistent visual atmosphere.

Communicating a product idea through animation.
Tools & methods: Blender for modeling and sculpting.

UV mapping, materials and lighting.

Armatures, inverse kinematics and animation.

Watch the story unfold.

The final animation brings the Stone Golem and its world to life.

The Stone Golem in a forest beside a glowing spirit — Story of the Stone Golem · final animation