I Painted My Weird Childhood Sculptures

Painting My Childhood Clay Creatures

For this project, I found an old box of trinkets filled with Disney pins, Pokémon figures, Neopets, lucky cats, and a whole collection of tiny polymer clay creatures I made as a kid. These little clay critters were created 15–20 years ago, and looking back at them now was such a fun reminder of how creative childhood art can be. Some were already painted, so I left those exactly how young Coco intended. But the plain white clay creatures felt like the perfect opportunity for a makeover.

I decided to give the unpainted creatures a cohesive circus-inspired theme using a limited color palette of red, yellow, blue, white, and a few accent colors. The goal was to make them feel like a matching set while still letting each creature keep its weird, original personality.

Finding the Clay Creatures

Before painting, I sorted through the box and pulled out all the little handmade clay pieces. They were so random and imaginative — some looked like spiders, stars, teeth, insects, strange little monsters, and creatures that are hard to describe at all. That was part of what made them so charming.

I loved that they were not based on anything specific. They were just strange, creative little characters made by kid-me without overthinking it. That kind of playful imagination is harder to access as an adult, so revisiting these pieces felt really special.

Some of the creatures were already colorful, and I decided not to repaint those. But the plain white ones were ready for a fresh new look.

Repairing the Broken Creature

Before I could start painting, one of the clay creatures needed a repair. This little bug-like character had broken antennae, so I tried gluing them back on before painting. They kept sliding around and falling off, which made the repair much harder than expected.

I started by trying to glue one antenna at a time, but later in the project, the repair still did not hold. Eventually, I used stronger glue and let the creature rest on a wipe while it dried. It looked like she was taking a tiny glue nap, but thankfully, that final repair worked much better.

Choosing a Circus Color Palette

Once I looked at the full group, I wanted a theme that would make all the creatures feel connected. The existing jester-like and top-hat spider characters gave me the perfect idea: a circus theme.

I chose a limited color palette with bold primary colors — red, yellow, and blue — along with white and a few accent shades. At first, I tried using some pastel pink and purple, but after painting the first few creatures, I realized the pastels were making the group feel less cohesive. They looked fine individually, but not quite like a set.

So I went back, repainted a few characters, and simplified the colors. That made a huge difference. Once the palette became bolder and more consistent, the whole collection started to feel like a strange little circus troupe.

Dottie

Dottie was the first creature I painted, and her shape immediately gave me baby energy. I originally used softer pastel colors on her, but later gave her a bigger makeover so she would fit better with the rest of the circus-themed group. She stayed cute and baby-like, but the stronger colors helped her feel more connected to the set.

When I drew her digitally in Procreate after the video, I gave her a pacifier because it fit her personality so well. That extra detail made her even cuter and helped turn her from a simple clay shape into a real character.

Damon

Damon is the strange little creature with the very long curly horn. At first, he felt a little intimidating compared to the others, almost like he would be the mean one in the group. But the more I worked on him, the more I started to imagine that maybe he could not help having such an intense horn.

I painted his body blue and added stripes and details to make him feel more circus-like. His final design is a little spooky, a little dramatic, and definitely one of the weirder creatures in the collection — but that also makes him memorable.

Ziva

Ziva is one of my favorite clay creatures from the group. Her body has an eel-like shape, and I imagined her as a water-loving character who is actually afraid of deep water. Instead of swimming in rivers or oceans, she prefers puddles and rainy days.

I painted her with a purple body, red legs, and a yellow color-blocked tail. The simple design worked really well with her shape, and she ended up feeling cool, confident, and a little mysterious. Her name is Ziva, inspired by NCIS, because she needed a name that felt strong and interesting.

Steve

Steve is the wild little star-shaped creature covered in tiny bumps that reminded me of barnacles. He looked a little freaky at first, but he really grew on me — literally and figuratively.

I used yellow on the points of the star, which made them look like they had been dipped in mustard. Combined with the red and white, he started to look a little bit like a collection of fast food condiments, but somehow it worked. Steve is strange, silly, and exactly the kind of character that makes this project fun.

Rufus

Rufus looked like a gumball machine to me, especially one of those tall machines where you watch the gumball spiral down before it comes out. I leaned into that idea by using bright circus colors and alternating red and blue around the twisty parts.

When I drew Rufus in Procreate after filming, I gave him dizzy eyes because his design just felt like he should be dizzy. I cannot fully explain why, but it fit him perfectly. Rufus is one of those characters whose personality became much clearer once I started drawing him digitally.

Frankie

Frankie is one of the spider-like creatures, except his legs wrap around his body in a way that makes him feel much cuter than an actual spider. I painted his legs in red, yellow, and blue, then added little dots to give him more personality.

This creature was especially funny to revisit because I apparently made a lot of spider-like clay creatures as a kid, even though adult me is not a spider person at all. Painting Frankie felt like a reminder of how fearless and playful childhood creativity can be. In Procreate, I gave him more expressive eyes and a happy mouth, and that is when he really started to feel like Frankie.

Gerard

Gerard has a lightning-bolt-like shape, so I originally thought about painting him yellow. Instead, I went with a color-blocked design using red and blue to make him more interesting. I also gave his eyes the same split-color treatment.

I imagined Gerard as a creature with a strange legend around him: something bad happens if you touch both ends at once. No one knows if that is actually true, because no one wants to test it. Because of that, Gerard lives a quiet life, but he does not seem to mind. He likes the peace.

Dave

Dave reminded me of both a spinning top toy and a circus ball, so I added a big star design to him. The horn coming through the star made the design feel extra fun and a little superhero-like.

I named him Dave after my nephew, who loves superheroes. The star detail gave this creature a heroic feeling, even though his shape is still very strange and silly. Dave ended up being one of the more playful designs in the group.

Ruby

Ruby looked like a tooth to me, which is weird, but also kind of adorable. Since her shape already had a lot of personality, I kept her paint design simple with classic red and white circus stripes.

To make her even cuter, I gave her a little snaggle tooth in the Procreate version. That one tiny detail made the whole character feel more complete. Ruby is odd, precious, and somehow exactly the right name for her.

Lala

Lala has a similar shape to Dave, so I gave her a matching star-inspired design. She reminded me of the platform a ringmaster might stand on while leading a circus show, so the theme worked really well for her.

This one took several coats of paint because I made a few mistakes along the way, especially with the star and the base color. But after pushing through, Lala came together nicely. Her name was inspired by NCIS: Origins, because apparently my current shows were sneaking into my naming process.

Bugs

Bugs was the last creature of the day, and she looked like a little ladybug to me. I painted her with a red body, a yellow head, blue eyes, and spots. But this was also the creature with the broken antennae, and the first glue repair completely failed.

After both antennae started coming loose, I pulled them off and repaired her with stronger glue. Once the glue finally held, I covered the messy repair areas with paint and finished her details. By the time she was done, I was running out of naming energy, so she became Bugs. Simple, but it fits.

Before and After

After repainting all the plain clay creatures, the full group looked completely different. What started as a set of old white polymer clay shapes became a bright circus-inspired cast of original characters. Each one still had the strange personality of the childhood sculpture underneath, but the new paint colors helped bring them to life.

This project was such a fun mix of nostalgia, character design, and creative problem-solving. I loved revisiting something I made as a child and giving it a new life as an adult. The clay creatures were already weird and wonderful, but painting them with a circus-inspired color palette helped them feel like a cohesive little collection.

It also reminded me that inspiration can come from unexpected places, even an old box of forgotten trinkets. I never would have thought to dig through those childhood clay pieces if I had not been making a video, but I am so glad I did. By the end, I loved these creatures so much that I could honestly imagine turning them into stickers someday.