In the past, parents constantly urge their children to be back  home after playing outdoors before sunset.And they do this by telling them scary stories about children being taken away by monsters and ghosts that lurks in the dark at these hours. This is one way to ensure the safety of their children, as well as instill a sense of punctuallity. 

Actually, there is grain of truth about this 'waking' hour. 

Unlike people, Monsterku and other supernatural being, besides animal, come out from their slumber after sunset.
And just like very one else, they run their daily activities up until the sun rises again. That is why, weird stuff always happen during these hours,especially from after midnight till 5am. So if you decide to take a stroll in the forest around this time, don't be startled when you cross path with 'them'. Unless you have malevolent intentions toward them, they  would just ignore you and proceed to their own business.

I love experimenting. One of the first thing i did when the early versions of monsterku were sketched out, was  experimenting on how to create actions figures or vinyl toys. All i could think of  at the time was plasticine.It was  pretty easy to use but after awhile, i found it wasn't solid enough to build a mold of. So i tried using self hardening clay  (water based) next, which was not bad because for one thing, it was cheap! And two,you don't need kiln to bake the clay. However, because it's a self hardening clay,it dries up pretty quickly especially once water is applied.Therefore you have to work really fast. There's pros/cons with this material,but as a start i think the result was ok.Plus,you get to color the figurines once the clash are dried.And that itself was an experiment as well. I went pretty wild with the patterns and colors.Originally the monsterku's suppose to be simple with desaturated  colors.In the end it turn out to be something unexpected.

An early sketch of the monsterKU family. At the time,there were no specific back story about these lovable creatures. They're just a bunch of sketches, using water color and graphite  on paper , inspired by Hayao's Miyazaki's work.
Unlike humans in the cities who destroys the environments to accommodate their lifestyle, the monsterKUs adapts and embrace their environment.And in process, influences their personality,characteristic and physical form.That is why some of the monsterKUs especially in later development appear organic in terms of design. 

An early sketch of a monsterku that didn't make the cut. It was inspired by both Miss Piggy from The Muppets and Baloo the Bear from Jungle Book, which explain the fluffy nature of the character and the tutu.