IronMan helmet prototype
Date: 06/10/2008
I was brought on to Iron Man as a 'concept sculptor', and was given the task of translating Adi Granov's design (by way of Phil Saunders' into a life-sized sculpture. I believe I used a lifecast of Marlon Wayans as an armature. He had a big head, so I figured there would be plenty of room for anyone to wear it if it were to be molded and cast, which it eventually was.
Good old Phil raked me over the coals with this one, introducing me to a variety of techniques used by people who design cars and sculpt prototypes for them. There was much fretting about reflections, and much new terminology was learned my yours truly about curves and transitions, and other very serious transportation design verbiage, and special tools were used, as well as lots of bits of special 'tape'. I'm not sure how much of this was really needed, as I would have probably arrived at the same place with or without all the added restrictions, but it did make things interesting.
I tried to adapt the drawings into 3D as elegantly as I possibly could. I remember Avi Arad stopping by my smelly little office and commented that "Whenever in doubt, I should err on the side of 'heroic'".
Made sense to me.
This prototype was intentionally asymmetrical. Each side had a slightly different solution as to the breakup of the lines, and the shape of the eyes. Hardly noticeable.
Good old Phil raked me over the coals with this one, introducing me to a variety of techniques used by people who design cars and sculpt prototypes for them. There was much fretting about reflections, and much new terminology was learned my yours truly about curves and transitions, and other very serious transportation design verbiage, and special tools were used, as well as lots of bits of special 'tape'. I'm not sure how much of this was really needed, as I would have probably arrived at the same place with or without all the added restrictions, but it did make things interesting.
I tried to adapt the drawings into 3D as elegantly as I possibly could. I remember Avi Arad stopping by my smelly little office and commented that "Whenever in doubt, I should err on the side of 'heroic'".
Made sense to me.
This prototype was intentionally asymmetrical. Each side had a slightly different solution as to the breakup of the lines, and the shape of the eyes. Hardly noticeable.
IRON MAN full-body maquette
Date: 06/01/2008
After I finished the helmet, and it was sent off to Satan Winston's studio to be molded and cast, I moved on to this sculpture. They wanted a massive maquette of the full Iron Man mark-3 costume, and they wanted it to be over 3 feet tall. I argued against this for a bit as a statuette of this size is not only cumbersome and difficult to armature, it would also take much, much longer to complete, but they were paying me, so they got what they wanted in the end. I think I was given 3 weeks to a month to finish it, and I went over that by a week. Maybe I am a slow sculptor, but through all the fighting of the armature (revisions that require tearing the damn thing apart many times), and trying to work out the proportions and shapes and details, I never really got to take this thing to the finish I aspired to. It was ultimately a tight 'rough' concept sculpt.
They never molded this big boy, so I imagine that it is sitting somewhere in one of John Favreau's garages, crumbling...and crumbling.... This maquette was carefully kept out of all the making of books and documentaries. I am still not sure why. It was an inspirational piece that allowed everyone to walk around it and discuss it to see what worked, what didn't, and to suggest improvements.
They never molded this big boy, so I imagine that it is sitting somewhere in one of John Favreau's garages, crumbling...and crumbling.... This maquette was carefully kept out of all the making of books and documentaries. I am still not sure why. It was an inspirational piece that allowed everyone to walk around it and discuss it to see what worked, what didn't, and to suggest improvements.
Hogsqueal prototype
Date: 06/10/2008
This was the first pass made at a design of Hogsqueal done for 'The Spiderwick Chronicles' sculpted and designed by myself, and assisted by sculptor Bill Basso, and my Wife Malena who made the costume. The design was, of course. based on the illustrations from the book series, but much needed to be worked out in making him a 3 dimensional entity. Sadly, they redesigned this character for the film, and in my humble opinion, made it more insipid. Sorry if I offend anyone who was involved in the redisign. I know how these things can quickly turn into mush when designed by commitee.
This statue stood over 3 feet tall, and looked fantastic in person. I never did get to take good photographs of the little guy, so this is the best I have to show for all the work. The shoes are authentic children's shoes from the late 1800's that I found on Ebay. The rest of the crap in his pockets came from one of my old 'junk drawers'. Never underestimate the usefulness of junk drawers!
This statue stood over 3 feet tall, and looked fantastic in person. I never did get to take good photographs of the little guy, so this is the best I have to show for all the work. The shoes are authentic children's shoes from the late 1800's that I found on Ebay. The rest of the crap in his pockets came from one of my old 'junk drawers'. Never underestimate the usefulness of junk drawers!
Toad Goblin
Date: 08/03/2008
I created this little concpt sculpture for The Spiderwick Chronicles, before the project was greenlit. It was sculpted in SuperSculpey, and painted with acrylics, using marbles for eyes, and wires for whiskers. This is my wife's favorite sculpture of mine. I wish I still had it.
Robin Suit
Date: 08/04/2008
This is one of the beautiful photographs from the official publicity shoot for the film done by Herb Ritts. Notice that the crotch-piece is slightly misshaped. Chris O'Donnell asked that the costumers use this piece from a trail suit fitting because he thought it made his foam rubber 'package' look more real.
Robin suit-colorful-web
Date: 08/16/2008
Here is a rare color photo of the finished Robin suit, complete with gay nipples, but looking very polished. I liked the choice of darker and slightly muted metallic colors.
We fought the nipples, Jose and I. We really did. We fought the good fight and lost.
We fought the nipples, Jose and I. We really did. We fought the good fight and lost.
WATCHMEN - Old Nixon makeup
Date: 02/15/2009
I sculpted this makeup with Greg Cannom for The Watchmen. It is one of three stages of Nixon makeups: Young, Middle-aged, and Old, and it is beautifully applied by Greg and Will Huff.
Yes, you are indeed correct, the nose is massive. The director asked that the likeness makeups be a little characatured to blend with the style of the film as a whole.
I hope it works, because it is one hell of a schnozola!
Yes, you are indeed correct, the nose is massive. The director asked that the likeness makeups be a little characatured to blend with the style of the film as a whole.
I hope it works, because it is one hell of a schnozola!
WATCHMEN - Old Nixon again
Date: 02/15/2009
Hre is another shot of the old age Nixon makeup by the same artful photographer, Clay Enos, who apparantly took a massive series of detailed and artful B+W shots of virtually every actor and extra that appeared in the film.
WATCHMEN - Nixon middle-aged
Date: 02/15/2009
I believe this might be the middle-aged makeup, but I am not sure. It may be the youngest one. I am pleased that it stands up to the scrutiny of this very detailed photograph.
WATCHMEN - Sally Jupiter - aged
Date: 02/15/2009
I sculpted one stage of old age makeup for Carla Gugino, who played Sally Jupiter. The two shots on the left are the same makeup under different lighting conditions. You can tell that the B+W shot was taken later in the day when the makeup was breaking down. The shot in the center is probably a frame from the film, and the image on the right is a publicity photo of Carla Gugino looking sexy at her current age.
WATCHMEN - The Comedian
Date: 02/15/2009
I sculpted the scar that the Comedian receives in Viet Nam (left), as well as the old age makeup he wears later in the film (right). The actor reminds me a bit of Robert Downey Junior. He could almost be his bigger, tougher brother.
WATCHMEN - JFK makeup
Date: 02/15/2009
Although I do not have a better picture of this likeness makeup I sculpted, it was a rather extensive one. I was told it was only going to be used in a grainy recreation of the assasination in Dallas, it appears it was used in other ecenes as well.
REIGN OF FIRE - Crouching Dragon-01
Date: 08/05/2008
This beautiful maquette is one of my all time favorite pieces. It was one of 6 maquettes created by myself and a very talented team of sculptors over at Disney's now defunct 'Secret Lab' in Burbank which was formerly Lockheed's 'Skunkworks', where they developed the stealth bomber amongst other things.
Anyooo, this sculpture is the labor of myself (who helped design the pose), and Bill Basso, who worked out the pose and did the heroic work of creating the armature for this thing. There was much suffering as he had to make the wings twice due to an error on the part of the late night janitorial crew, who thought the wings were garbage, and threw them away. A trip to the dump actually proved successful in finding the wings, but they were so crushed and mangled that they could not be salvaged. Bill did a great job of roughing in the basic sculpture before he had to pass on the baton.
Along came big Jim McPherson, rugged Scottish Highlander, prone to wearing tartan, to fill Basso's fine Italian shoes and take the maquette to a very nice, detailed finish. This also included sculpting a rocky base for the model. Along the way I stepped in and did little bits here and there, but my job was chiefly art direction.
Jordu Schell painted the final maquette used as reference for the film. The glory of this piece, for me, is that it looks great from every possible angle. This is a very rare thing to achieve, and, aside from the design of the creature itself, is the ultimate goal of any sculpture.
Many people tell me that they like this film quite a lot and that they loved the dragons. I have mixed feelings about both. Mostly I can just say that we were trying to do a modern take on the dragon 'Vermithrax' from the 1981 film DragonSlayer, which I have always felt was one of the best dragon designs put on celluloid. However, Vermithrax had the body of a snake with tiny little chicken legs, and our Dragons needed to be more robust. We incorporated a bit of dinosaur anatomy into our interpretation. Our Dragons were more a cross between a T-Rex and a giant Pterasaur of some kind, with a little classic dragon design in the head and neck.
I had hopes of making these dragons more exceptional, but there was a lot of 'design by committee' that happened on this politically difficult show, and my role became that of the guy who fought to keep the dragons from becoming so generic that they would have no character at all.
The difference between the smaller male 'Bull' Dragons was supposed to be more dramatic from the Queen Dragon 'Ashley', but in the end, they all essentially looked the same.
Note to producers and execs: "Please just leave the artists alone. They will come up with something far better without your input, and in the end, it will make you all a lot more money".
It's an uphill climb to argue against that I think.
Anyooo, this sculpture is the labor of myself (who helped design the pose), and Bill Basso, who worked out the pose and did the heroic work of creating the armature for this thing. There was much suffering as he had to make the wings twice due to an error on the part of the late night janitorial crew, who thought the wings were garbage, and threw them away. A trip to the dump actually proved successful in finding the wings, but they were so crushed and mangled that they could not be salvaged. Bill did a great job of roughing in the basic sculpture before he had to pass on the baton.
Along came big Jim McPherson, rugged Scottish Highlander, prone to wearing tartan, to fill Basso's fine Italian shoes and take the maquette to a very nice, detailed finish. This also included sculpting a rocky base for the model. Along the way I stepped in and did little bits here and there, but my job was chiefly art direction.
Jordu Schell painted the final maquette used as reference for the film. The glory of this piece, for me, is that it looks great from every possible angle. This is a very rare thing to achieve, and, aside from the design of the creature itself, is the ultimate goal of any sculpture.
Many people tell me that they like this film quite a lot and that they loved the dragons. I have mixed feelings about both. Mostly I can just say that we were trying to do a modern take on the dragon 'Vermithrax' from the 1981 film DragonSlayer, which I have always felt was one of the best dragon designs put on celluloid. However, Vermithrax had the body of a snake with tiny little chicken legs, and our Dragons needed to be more robust. We incorporated a bit of dinosaur anatomy into our interpretation. Our Dragons were more a cross between a T-Rex and a giant Pterasaur of some kind, with a little classic dragon design in the head and neck.
I had hopes of making these dragons more exceptional, but there was a lot of 'design by committee' that happened on this politically difficult show, and my role became that of the guy who fought to keep the dragons from becoming so generic that they would have no character at all.
The difference between the smaller male 'Bull' Dragons was supposed to be more dramatic from the Queen Dragon 'Ashley', but in the end, they all essentially looked the same.
Note to producers and execs: "Please just leave the artists alone. They will come up with something far better without your input, and in the end, it will make you all a lot more money".
It's an uphill climb to argue against that I think.
REIGN OF FIRE - Crouching Dragon-05
Date: 08/05/2008
This beautiful maquette is one of my all time favorite pieces. It was one of 6 maquettes created by myself and a very talented team of sculptors over at Disney's now defunct 'Secret Lab' in Burbank which was formerly Lockheed's 'Skunkworks' where they developed the stealth bomber among other things.
Anyooo, this sculpture is the labor of myself (who designed the pose), Bill Basso, who did the heroic work of creating the armature for this thing and roughing it in before he had to leave. Along came big Jim McPherson to fill Bill's shoes and take this thing to a very nice, tight finish. Along the way I stepped in and did little bits here and there, but mostly I art directed. Jordu Schell painted the final final maquette for the film. The glory of this piece, for me, is that it looks great from every possible angle. This is a very rare thing to acehive, and, aside from the design of the creature itself, is the ultimate goal of any sculpture.
Many people tell me that they like this film quite a lot and that they loved the dragons. I have mixed feelings about both. Mostly I can just say that we were trying to do a modern take on the dragon 'Vermithrax' from the 1981 film DragonSlayer, which is one of the best dragon designs of all time. However, Vermithrax had the body of a snake with tiny little chicken legs, and our Dragons needed to be more robust. We incorporated a bit of dinosaur anatomy into our reinterpretation. Our Dragon was more a cross between a T-Rex and a giant Pterasaur of some kind, with a little classic dragon design in the head and neck.
I had hopes of making these dragons a little more exceptional, but there was a lot of 'design by committee' that happened on this politically difficult show, and my role became that of the guy who fought to keep the dragons from becoming so generic that they would have no character at all.
The difference between the smaller male 'Bull' Dragons was supposed to be more dramatic from the Queen Dragon 'Ashley', but in the end, they all just kind of looked the same.
Note to producers and execs: "Please just leave the artists alone. They will come up with something far better without your input, and in the end, it will make you all a lot more money".
Would you want to argue against that?
Anyooo, this sculpture is the labor of myself (who designed the pose), Bill Basso, who did the heroic work of creating the armature for this thing and roughing it in before he had to leave. Along came big Jim McPherson to fill Bill's shoes and take this thing to a very nice, tight finish. Along the way I stepped in and did little bits here and there, but mostly I art directed. Jordu Schell painted the final final maquette for the film. The glory of this piece, for me, is that it looks great from every possible angle. This is a very rare thing to acehive, and, aside from the design of the creature itself, is the ultimate goal of any sculpture.
Many people tell me that they like this film quite a lot and that they loved the dragons. I have mixed feelings about both. Mostly I can just say that we were trying to do a modern take on the dragon 'Vermithrax' from the 1981 film DragonSlayer, which is one of the best dragon designs of all time. However, Vermithrax had the body of a snake with tiny little chicken legs, and our Dragons needed to be more robust. We incorporated a bit of dinosaur anatomy into our reinterpretation. Our Dragon was more a cross between a T-Rex and a giant Pterasaur of some kind, with a little classic dragon design in the head and neck.
I had hopes of making these dragons a little more exceptional, but there was a lot of 'design by committee' that happened on this politically difficult show, and my role became that of the guy who fought to keep the dragons from becoming so generic that they would have no character at all.
The difference between the smaller male 'Bull' Dragons was supposed to be more dramatic from the Queen Dragon 'Ashley', but in the end, they all just kind of looked the same.
Note to producers and execs: "Please just leave the artists alone. They will come up with something far better without your input, and in the end, it will make you all a lot more money".
Would you want to argue against that?
REIGN OF FIRE - Crouching Dragon-02
Date: 08/05/2008
This beautiful maquette is one of my all time favorite pieces. It was one of 6 maquettes created by myself and a very talented team of sculptors over at Disney's now defunct 'Secret Lab' in Burbank which was formerly Lockheed's 'Skunkworks' where they developed the stealth bomber among other things.
Anyooo, this sculpture is the labor of myself (who designed the pose), Bill Basso, who did the heroic work of creating the armature for this thing and roughing it in before he had to leave. Along came big Jim McPherson to fill Bill's shoes and take this thing to a very nice, tight finish. Along the way I stepped in and did little bits here and there, but mostly I art directed. Jordu Schell painted the final final maquette for the film. The glory of this piece, for me, is that it looks great from every possible angle. This is a very rare thing to acehive, and, aside from the design of the creature itself, is the ultimate goal of any sculpture.
Many people tell me that they like this film quite a lot and that they loved the dragons. I have mixed feelings about both. Mostly I can just say that we were trying to do a modern take on the dragon 'Vermithrax' from the 1981 film DragonSlayer, which is one of the best dragon designs of all time. However, Vermithrax had the body of a snake with tiny little chicken legs, and our Dragons needed to be more robust. We incorporated a bit of dinosaur anatomy into our reinterpretation. Our Dragon was more a cross between a T-Rex and a giant Pterasaur of some kind, with a little classic dragon design in the head and neck.
I had hopes of making these dragons a little more exceptional, but there was a lot of 'design by committee' that happened on this politically difficult show, and my role became that of the guy who fought to keep the dragons from becoming so generic that they would have no character at all.
The difference between the smaller male 'Bull' Dragons was supposed to be more dramatic from the Queen Dragon 'Ashley', but in the end, they all just kind of looked the same.
Note to producers and execs: "Please just leave the artists alone. They will come up with something far better without your input, and in the end, it will make you all a lot more money".
Would you want to argue against that?
Anyooo, this sculpture is the labor of myself (who designed the pose), Bill Basso, who did the heroic work of creating the armature for this thing and roughing it in before he had to leave. Along came big Jim McPherson to fill Bill's shoes and take this thing to a very nice, tight finish. Along the way I stepped in and did little bits here and there, but mostly I art directed. Jordu Schell painted the final final maquette for the film. The glory of this piece, for me, is that it looks great from every possible angle. This is a very rare thing to acehive, and, aside from the design of the creature itself, is the ultimate goal of any sculpture.
Many people tell me that they like this film quite a lot and that they loved the dragons. I have mixed feelings about both. Mostly I can just say that we were trying to do a modern take on the dragon 'Vermithrax' from the 1981 film DragonSlayer, which is one of the best dragon designs of all time. However, Vermithrax had the body of a snake with tiny little chicken legs, and our Dragons needed to be more robust. We incorporated a bit of dinosaur anatomy into our reinterpretation. Our Dragon was more a cross between a T-Rex and a giant Pterasaur of some kind, with a little classic dragon design in the head and neck.
I had hopes of making these dragons a little more exceptional, but there was a lot of 'design by committee' that happened on this politically difficult show, and my role became that of the guy who fought to keep the dragons from becoming so generic that they would have no character at all.
The difference between the smaller male 'Bull' Dragons was supposed to be more dramatic from the Queen Dragon 'Ashley', but in the end, they all just kind of looked the same.
Note to producers and execs: "Please just leave the artists alone. They will come up with something far better without your input, and in the end, it will make you all a lot more money".
Would you want to argue against that?
REIGN OF FIRE - Crouching Dragon-06
Date: 08/05/2008
This beautiful maquette is one of my all time favorite pieces. It was one of 6 maquettes created by myself and a very talented team of sculptors over at Disney's now defunct 'Secret Lab' in Burbank which was formerly Lockheed's 'Skunkworks' where they developed the stealth bomber among other things.
Anyooo, this sculpture is the labor of myself (who designed the pose), Bill Basso, who did the heroic work of creating the armature for this thing and roughing it in before he had to leave. Along came big Jim McPherson to fill Bill's shoes and take this thing to a very nice, tight finish. Along the way I stepped in and did little bits here and there, but mostly I art directed. Jordu Schell painted the final final maquette for the film. The glory of this piece, for me, is that it looks great from every possible angle. This is a very rare thing to acehive, and, aside from the design of the creature itself, is the ultimate goal of any sculpture.
Many people tell me that they like this film quite a lot and that they loved the dragons. I have mixed feelings about both. Mostly I can just say that we were trying to do a modern take on the dragon 'Vermithrax' from the 1981 film DragonSlayer, which is one of the best dragon designs of all time. However, Vermithrax had the body of a snake with tiny little chicken legs, and our Dragons needed to be more robust. We incorporated a bit of dinosaur anatomy into our reinterpretation. Our Dragon was more a cross between a T-Rex and a giant Pterasaur of some kind, with a little classic dragon design in the head and neck.
I had hopes of making these dragons a little more exceptional, but there was a lot of 'design by committee' that happened on this politically difficult show, and my role became that of the guy who fought to keep the dragons from becoming so generic that they would have no character at all.
The difference between the smaller male 'Bull' Dragons was supposed to be more dramatic from the Queen Dragon 'Ashley', but in the end, they all just kind of looked the same.
Note to producers and execs: "Please just leave the artists alone. They will come up with something far better without your input, and in the end, it will make you all a lot more money".
Would you want to argue against that?
Anyooo, this sculpture is the labor of myself (who designed the pose), Bill Basso, who did the heroic work of creating the armature for this thing and roughing it in before he had to leave. Along came big Jim McPherson to fill Bill's shoes and take this thing to a very nice, tight finish. Along the way I stepped in and did little bits here and there, but mostly I art directed. Jordu Schell painted the final final maquette for the film. The glory of this piece, for me, is that it looks great from every possible angle. This is a very rare thing to acehive, and, aside from the design of the creature itself, is the ultimate goal of any sculpture.
Many people tell me that they like this film quite a lot and that they loved the dragons. I have mixed feelings about both. Mostly I can just say that we were trying to do a modern take on the dragon 'Vermithrax' from the 1981 film DragonSlayer, which is one of the best dragon designs of all time. However, Vermithrax had the body of a snake with tiny little chicken legs, and our Dragons needed to be more robust. We incorporated a bit of dinosaur anatomy into our reinterpretation. Our Dragon was more a cross between a T-Rex and a giant Pterasaur of some kind, with a little classic dragon design in the head and neck.
I had hopes of making these dragons a little more exceptional, but there was a lot of 'design by committee' that happened on this politically difficult show, and my role became that of the guy who fought to keep the dragons from becoming so generic that they would have no character at all.
The difference between the smaller male 'Bull' Dragons was supposed to be more dramatic from the Queen Dragon 'Ashley', but in the end, they all just kind of looked the same.
Note to producers and execs: "Please just leave the artists alone. They will come up with something far better without your input, and in the end, it will make you all a lot more money".
Would you want to argue against that?
REIGN OF FIRE - Crouching Dragon-06
Date: 08/05/2008
This beautiful maquette is one of my all time favorite pieces. It was one of 6 maquettes created by myself and a very talented team of sculptors over at Disney's now defunct 'Secret Lab' in Burbank which was formerly Lockheed's 'Skunkworks' where they developed the stealth bomber among other things.
Anyooo, this sculpture is the labor of myself (who designed the pose), Bill Basso, who did the heroic work of creating the armature for this thing and roughing it in before he had to leave. Along came big Jim McPherson to fill Bill's shoes and take this thing to a very nice, tight finish. Along the way I stepped in and did little bits here and there, but mostly I art directed. Jordu Schell painted the final final maquette for the film. The glory of this piece, for me, is that it looks great from every possible angle. This is a very rare thing to acehive, and, aside from the design of the creature itself, is the ultimate goal of any sculpture.
Many people tell me that they like this film quite a lot and that they loved the dragons. I have mixed feelings about both. Mostly I can just say that we were trying to do a modern take on the dragon 'Vermithrax' from the 1981 film DragonSlayer, which is one of the best dragon designs of all time. However, Vermithrax had the body of a snake with tiny little chicken legs, and our Dragons needed to be more robust. We incorporated a bit of dinosaur anatomy into our reinterpretation. Our Dragon was more a cross between a T-Rex and a giant Pterasaur of some kind, with a little classic dragon design in the head and neck.
I had hopes of making these dragons a little more exceptional, but there was a lot of 'design by committee' that happened on this politically difficult show, and my role became that of the guy who fought to keep the dragons from becoming so generic that they would have no character at all.
The difference between the smaller male 'Bull' Dragons was supposed to be more dramatic from the Queen Dragon 'Ashley', but in the end, they all just kind of looked the same.
Note to producers and execs: "Please just leave the artists alone. They will come up with something far better without your input, and in the end, it will make you all a lot more money".
Would you want to argue against that?
Anyooo, this sculpture is the labor of myself (who designed the pose), Bill Basso, who did the heroic work of creating the armature for this thing and roughing it in before he had to leave. Along came big Jim McPherson to fill Bill's shoes and take this thing to a very nice, tight finish. Along the way I stepped in and did little bits here and there, but mostly I art directed. Jordu Schell painted the final final maquette for the film. The glory of this piece, for me, is that it looks great from every possible angle. This is a very rare thing to acehive, and, aside from the design of the creature itself, is the ultimate goal of any sculpture.
Many people tell me that they like this film quite a lot and that they loved the dragons. I have mixed feelings about both. Mostly I can just say that we were trying to do a modern take on the dragon 'Vermithrax' from the 1981 film DragonSlayer, which is one of the best dragon designs of all time. However, Vermithrax had the body of a snake with tiny little chicken legs, and our Dragons needed to be more robust. We incorporated a bit of dinosaur anatomy into our reinterpretation. Our Dragon was more a cross between a T-Rex and a giant Pterasaur of some kind, with a little classic dragon design in the head and neck.
I had hopes of making these dragons a little more exceptional, but there was a lot of 'design by committee' that happened on this politically difficult show, and my role became that of the guy who fought to keep the dragons from becoming so generic that they would have no character at all.
The difference between the smaller male 'Bull' Dragons was supposed to be more dramatic from the Queen Dragon 'Ashley', but in the end, they all just kind of looked the same.
Note to producers and execs: "Please just leave the artists alone. They will come up with something far better without your input, and in the end, it will make you all a lot more money".
Would you want to argue against that?
REIGN OF FIRE - Crouching Dragon-04
Date: 08/05/2008
This beautiful maquette is one of my all time favorite pieces. It was one of 6 maquettes created by myself and a very talented team of sculptors over at Disney's now defunct 'Secret Lab' in Burbank which was formerly Lockheed's 'Skunkworks' where they developed the stealth bomber among other things.
Anyooo, this sculpture is the labor of myself (who designed the pose), Bill Basso, who did the heroic work of creating the armature for this thing and roughing it in before he had to leave. Along came big Jim McPherson to fill Bill's shoes and take this thing to a very nice, tight finish. Along the way I stepped in and did little bits here and there, but mostly I art directed. Jordu Schell painted the final final maquette for the film. The glory of this piece, for me, is that it looks great from every possible angle. This is a very rare thing to acehive, and, aside from the design of the creature itself, is the ultimate goal of any sculpture.
Many people tell me that they like this film quite a lot and that they loved the dragons. I have mixed feelings about both. Mostly I can just say that we were trying to do a modern take on the dragon 'Vermithrax' from the 1981 film DragonSlayer, which is one of the best dragon designs of all time. However, Vermithrax had the body of a snake with tiny little chicken legs, and our Dragons needed to be more robust. We incorporated a bit of dinosaur anatomy into our reinterpretation. Our Dragon was more a cross between a T-Rex and a giant Pterasaur of some kind, with a little classic dragon design in the head and neck.
I had hopes of making these dragons a little more exceptional, but there was a lot of 'design by committee' that happened on this politically difficult show, and my role became that of the guy who fought to keep the dragons from becoming so generic that they would have no character at all.
The difference between the smaller male 'Bull' Dragons was supposed to be more dramatic from the Queen Dragon 'Ashley', but in the end, they all just kind of looked the same.
Note to producers and execs: "Please just leave the artists alone. They will come up with something far better without your input, and in the end, it will make you all a lot more money".
Would you want to argue against that?
Anyooo, this sculpture is the labor of myself (who designed the pose), Bill Basso, who did the heroic work of creating the armature for this thing and roughing it in before he had to leave. Along came big Jim McPherson to fill Bill's shoes and take this thing to a very nice, tight finish. Along the way I stepped in and did little bits here and there, but mostly I art directed. Jordu Schell painted the final final maquette for the film. The glory of this piece, for me, is that it looks great from every possible angle. This is a very rare thing to acehive, and, aside from the design of the creature itself, is the ultimate goal of any sculpture.
Many people tell me that they like this film quite a lot and that they loved the dragons. I have mixed feelings about both. Mostly I can just say that we were trying to do a modern take on the dragon 'Vermithrax' from the 1981 film DragonSlayer, which is one of the best dragon designs of all time. However, Vermithrax had the body of a snake with tiny little chicken legs, and our Dragons needed to be more robust. We incorporated a bit of dinosaur anatomy into our reinterpretation. Our Dragon was more a cross between a T-Rex and a giant Pterasaur of some kind, with a little classic dragon design in the head and neck.
I had hopes of making these dragons a little more exceptional, but there was a lot of 'design by committee' that happened on this politically difficult show, and my role became that of the guy who fought to keep the dragons from becoming so generic that they would have no character at all.
The difference between the smaller male 'Bull' Dragons was supposed to be more dramatic from the Queen Dragon 'Ashley', but in the end, they all just kind of looked the same.
Note to producers and execs: "Please just leave the artists alone. They will come up with something far better without your input, and in the end, it will make you all a lot more money".
Would you want to argue against that?
Excorcist-the beginning makeup
Date: 05/28/2010
This is a makeup I sculpted for Gary Tunnicliff, the makeup FX artist on 'The Exorcist:The Beginning'. Underneath the rubber and contacts lenses is the beautiful Annabelle Scoropko I believe.
Rocky Balboa
Date: 08/03/2008
This ill-fated sculpture was commissioned by Sideshow, but ultimately was never produced. It fell victim to some kind of legal battle going on between Stallone and MGM regarding licensing rights for the Rocky character. Something like that. It was to have cloth boxing shorts and a metallic belt.
Meg Mucklebones Model
Date: 08/04/2008
I did a garage kit of this character from LEGEND back in 1992 for Dimensional Designs. I ran out of time and never was able to put the big iguana on the log as a tribute to the old Aurora Creature from the Black Lagoon model.
Life can be so cruel.
Life can be so cruel.
Space Vampire
Date: 08/04/2008
This nice maquette was done for a TV show pilot I worked on for Greg Cannom back in the mid 90's called 'House of Frankenstein'. Needless to say, no one ever saw it. This is probably a good thing, as the costume we made from this maquette did not live up to it's promise. The Frankenstein makeup turned out well though.
This character was supposed to be Dracula, but from outer space. Don't ask why.
I designed the creature, built the armature, and roughed it in. Credit must be given to Hiroshi Katagiri whom I hired to detail the sculpture and bring it to a nice finish under my art direction, while I moved on to other aspects of the show.
This character was supposed to be Dracula, but from outer space. Don't ask why.
I designed the creature, built the armature, and roughed it in. Credit must be given to Hiroshi Katagiri whom I hired to detail the sculpture and bring it to a nice finish under my art direction, while I moved on to other aspects of the show.
Chasing Amy
Date: 08/08/2008
Here I am with too much hair, chasing little bits of excess bits of clay off of the Amy sculpture for Congo.
Chasing Amy! Get it?
Chasing Amy! Get it?
Grim-Grinning-Ghost-mask
Date: 08/04/2008
This is a mask I did on the side in trade for a friend. I enjoyed myself sculpting this Haunted Mansion tribute, and kept it quick and simple. I don't think I detailed it more than this, leaving just the tool-marks as texture. You can see the finished, painted, foam-rubber mask on the right. The teeth were molded seperately and cast out of resin.
It still doesn't quite look right till you put a top hat on it with stringy hair, and don a highwayman's coat.
It still doesn't quite look right till you put a top hat on it with stringy hair, and don a highwayman's coat.
Jennifer Aniston's Pregnant Belly
Date: 08/04/2008
I sculpted this pregnant belly piece for Greg Cannom's shop. It was custom made for Jennifer Aniston for her pregnancy scenes in 'Friends'. I pulled this off in one night. A 'one night stand' if you will. One might say I 'made her pregnant'.
Little John Carter maquette
Date: 04/18/2007
This little guy was just 6" tall. I was happy to have caught a little bit of Frazetta in this tiny maquette.
Thinner-Sheriff makeup
Date: 07/07/2009
I really don;'t have any good pictures of this makeup I sculpted for the movie Thinner. It was poorly featured in the film as well, and you never really get a good look at it. Here is a shot of the actor in his makeup chair with the makeup almost finished.
The Associate
Date: 08/16/2008
Another film that nobody saw was 'The Associate'. I sculpted a makeup to turn Whoopie Goldberg into an older white man. For some strange reason, she had gotten to know Marlon Brando, and insisted that we try to make her look as much like him as possible. So this is my attempt to graft Brando's features onto Whoopie Goldberg's head. I never saw the film so I don't know how well this makeup worked. I had to build that clay up pretty damn thick in some places, and that usually makes for a tricvky makeup that moves funny.
The sculpture in these photos is still rough as the final detailing is done after the pieces are cut and floated off of the stone life cast.
The sculpture in these photos is still rough as the final detailing is done after the pieces are cut and floated off of the stone life cast.
Miles+DemonVampire
Date: 05/29/2010
In this strange and kind of silly picture taken in 1989, I am posing with my Demon Vampire sculpture for an amateur photographer friend. It looks like I am serving it up like a cooked goose. I don't know about that shirt either.
Ed takes a bow
Date: 02/16/2009
Here is a beautiful b+w shot of the finished chimp costume. I sculpted the head and the hands. Gino Acevedo painted it, and a crew of specialists did the hairwork, built the suit, mechanized the arm extensions and the hands (which worked very well), and of course the actress who played him and the puppeteers who worked the mouth all did their parts to bring this thing to life.
Ed.
The best chimpanzee costume that no one has ever heard of.
Ed.
The best chimpanzee costume that no one has ever heard of.
'Ed'- finished
Date: 08/16/2008
Here is a shot of what I think was the finished ED. I think that this chimpanzee suit made at Animated Engineering, was one of the best ape suits ever made for any film. The problem is that the movie was so genuinely horrible that nobody saw it! We worked long and hard to make a great-looking suit with great movement, top-notch hair work and mechanics, but I fear it was in vain. The woman who wore the suit was a tiny lady who had been an Olympic gymnast. I forgot her name, but she was fantastic to work with, and she could do wonders in that suit. The puppeteering was great as well.
'Ed' test makeup-1
Date: 08/07/2008
The head is not finished here, as you can see, as the fur still needs a final trim.
Captain Barbell sculpture
Date: 10/01/2006
Here I am in a makeshift work space, sculpting the main body of the 'Captain Barbell' costume. They made it clear that the style of suit they wanted was something very similar to the Robin costume from 'Batman Forever'. I changed very little, but I did leave out the nipples.
Wolverine sculpture
Date: 08/05/2008
This is a sculpture I almost finished for a Wolverine garage kit back in the day. Somehow, it never happened.
A boy and his Deinonycus
Date: 08/04/2008
I created this rather lame Deinonycus sculpture for Dinamation down in Orange County back in 1987. Dinamation manufactured robotic dinosaurs for traveling museum exhibits. The dinosaurs generally looked better than they moved.
Many talented sculptors passed through the doors of that toxic warehouse before moving on to careers in special makeup effects in Hollywood.
And yes, I know I have Billy Squiere's hair in this picture. He already emailed me. He wants it back.
Many talented sculptors passed through the doors of that toxic warehouse before moving on to careers in special makeup effects in Hollywood.
And yes, I know I have Billy Squiere's hair in this picture. He already emailed me. He wants it back.
My massive Mammoth
Date: 08/05/2008
Another one done for Dinamation. I had yet to acquire the big 80's hair, but it was on the way.
Corastin sculpture
Date: 08/04/2008
Jorune haunts my early work like a lingering dog fart.
This is a very bad photo I took of a very detailed sculpture I made of a creature called a 'Corastin'. I did this as a side project when I was working for Rob Bottin on my first real movie gig.
Not long after I designed this creature, a video arcade game came out called 'Rastin'. In this game a barbarian battled a big lizard man that looked an awful lot like my creature. The Corastin had first been featured in the Skyrealms of Jorune role playing game, published in 1984.
If anyone knows anything about the origins of the Rastin arcade game, please let me know.
This sculpture was made into a mask released by Dave Smith's 'Stroke of Midnight Studios' mask company in 1986.
Tom Savini bought the first pull out of the mold.
This is a very bad photo I took of a very detailed sculpture I made of a creature called a 'Corastin'. I did this as a side project when I was working for Rob Bottin on my first real movie gig.
Not long after I designed this creature, a video arcade game came out called 'Rastin'. In this game a barbarian battled a big lizard man that looked an awful lot like my creature. The Corastin had first been featured in the Skyrealms of Jorune role playing game, published in 1984.
If anyone knows anything about the origins of the Rastin arcade game, please let me know.
This sculpture was made into a mask released by Dave Smith's 'Stroke of Midnight Studios' mask company in 1986.
Tom Savini bought the first pull out of the mold.
Ogre Mask
Date: 08/04/2008
This was my very first mask. I sculpted it on the side while I was attending Art Center full time in 1983. I don't know where I found the energy.
This mask was very inspired by the work of Julek Heller in the book 'Giants'.
This mask was very inspired by the work of Julek Heller in the book 'Giants'.
