Diamond Select Toys loves the ladies. Specifically, they love the strong women who make up their Femme Fatales statue line, and they’ve had so much fun crafting 9-inch PVC versions of some of comicdom’s all-stars (Dawn, Darkchylde, Tarot) that they’ve gone a step further and created their own! Dark beauties Alice, Little Red, Snow White, Anne Bonny and Medusa have all been at least partially inspired by popular and historical renderings, but whenever a character has needed some more extensive conceptual work, DST has called in their in-house artist, Art Asylum inmate Uriel Caton. Uriel already handles much of DST’s Minimate design work, but he’s also been behind a handful of Femme Fatale designs, including DST’s latest, so we sat down with him to see how he found the concept for Little Bo Peep.

Art Asylum: What sort of character were you thinking of when you heard that Bo Peep would be the next Femme Fatale?
Uriel Caton: Initially, I was imagining the curly haired shepherd girl but a bit more buxom and curvy, wearing the bonnet and the frilly full skirt. She was kinda cutesy and looking a bit lost herself!

How did you get from dainty shepherdess to savage warrior?
Well, first, Chuck (Terceira, director of DST) wanted to see a different version, something more modern like Little Red, and that was a bit challenging, because I was trying to see that literally in my head, and I was like, “Hmm…what would that look like? What gadgets or gear would be involved?” So the sketches from that were interesting, but not quite the visuals we were after. Then, if I remember correctly, I think Chuck wanted something with more edge to it, more grit, and I think Robert (Yee, product manager) suggested to do something with tones of dark fantasy. Those were excellent suggestions which helped me produce the series of sketches that lead to the final one. I even did a manga-style Bo Peep, just to see what would come out of it.

What do you think of sculptor Jean St. Jean’s fairly spot-on execution?
When I first saw the Bo Peep statue all I could say was ‘Wow!’ I was really impressed with the exactitude of it. Every aspect was handled with such precision, the proportions, the textures, it was wonderful and strange at the same time, strange because even the colors are the ones I saw in my head while drawing it. So yeah, I was very happy with the results.

What’s your favorite part about it?
I was especially happy with the coloring, I really loved the patina effect on the halberd, it gave it weight and age and menace. I was also staring at her boots, the fur and metal details came out so good, I wanted to touch it. I feel really lucky to be part of such a wonderful team of creative individuals, I’m crossing my fingers for the chance to do another one in the future.

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