Memories and Making of Konkon Warabe

A close-up of a child's face with a bobbed haircut and large fox ears — the character Konkon Warabe.

Konkon Warabe is my original character.
A creature like a zashiki-warashi (a child-shaped house spirit from Japanese folklore), with fox ears and a tail.

The idea came to me sometime around 2018 or 2019, and it has been taking shape and staying close to me ever since.
I can’t remember what sparked it. It must have been something small, too trivial to recall.

And so, this little one just ended up by my side before I knew it.
Honestly, I’m not even sure how much I like it myself.
But there’s one person close to me who happens to be a huge Konkon Warabe fan,
and seeing them happy made me glad, so little by little I kept drawing it and shaping it into different forms.

Over time I grew somewhat attached to it myself, and I wanted to record — somewhere it wouldn’t get buried — the memories and making of it mentioned in the title. So I’d like to put them into words here.

A character design drawing of a figure with fox ears and a tail, wearing a white dress — the first drawing of Konkon Warabe.

The first drawing.
I had in mind a creature that simply comes into being and lives, rather than one that exists for people, so it doesn’t have the kind of cuteness that wins people over.

A figurine of Konkon Warabe made from polymer clay.

Figurine (polymer clay)
I’m an amateur when it comes to figurines,
but I thought I could manage something like the meringue dolls you see on cakes, so I gave it a try.

A figurine of Konkon Warabe made by resin casting.

Figurine (resin cast)
Made some time later.
It’s fun to see how my technique has improved.

A Konkon Warabe figurine placed alongside wooden ornaments and a fox ornament, set up as if they're playing together.

I let it play around every now and then.

A Konkon Warabe figurine peeking out from behind a tree.

I’ve come to see why figurines are fun.

A character design drawing of a figure with fox ears and a tail, wearing a white dress — a redrawn character image of Konkon Warabe.

A proper redraw of the character image.
I kept the feeling that it simply comes into being and lives, while making it a little more realistic.

A Konkon Warabe plushie.

Plushie.
I have no sewing experience at all, so it’s mostly a combination of ready-made parts. The face wouldn’t feel right unless I stitched it myself, though, so I did my best with that.

A front-facing drawing of a child with a bobbed haircut, large fox ears, and a red scarf around the neck — the character Konkon Warabe.

Nihonga.
Since I picture Konkon Warabe as a creature native only to Japan, the nihonga technique feels like an especially good match.

That’s all for the record.

Characters are fascinating.
You can take a single personality and expand it in all sorts of directions.
It’s hard to carve out the time, but I’d like to give this one more chances to see the light of day.

#konkonwarabe #making process