Artist Mike Trcic: Movie Monster Maker and Dinosaur Sculptor

You may not be familiar with the artist Mike Trcic, but you have most likely seen his work many times.  Although I’ve only discovered who Mike was about two months ago, I have been a huge fan of his since I was 5 years old.

Mike Trcic is one of the key artists responsible for many of Hollywood’s iconic characters and monsters.  If you’re a fan of memorable movies such as Batman Returns, Terminator 2, and Jurassic Park, then you’ve definitely seen Mike’s magic.  Side note: he was also a zombie in Day of the Dead!

For me personally, Jurassic park was a huge part of my childhood.  I can remember my mom taking me to the theatres expecting to be scared half to death, only to witness one of the greatest movies of all time.  My favourite part of the movie was definitely the T-Rex.  As I am sure with many of you, I can remember thinking “man that thing looks so real!” 

Mike sculpting the full sized version (Photo cred:Stan Winston School)

 

Mike Sculpting the 1/5 scale T-Rex( Photo cred:Stan Winston School)

 

Mike was actually the key artist in sculpting the T-Rex, so we owe a lot to what we saw on screen to his crafty hands!   The T-Rex was first sculpted at 1/5 scale for Stan Winston’s approval.  It was mentioned that the original sculpture looked more like a movie dragon than a dinosaur.  As a huge dinosaur fan himself, Mike had a back and forth struggle to convince Stan Winston to bring the sculpt back around to make it look like an actual dinosaur.  Believe it or not, the final T-Rex is only 60% of what Mike wanted to get it to …. I wonder what his full vision would’ve really looked like! After approval it was then created at 1/16 scale and the full sized 1/1 - 40 foot long version.

Above is a cool shot of all three versions Mike sculpted.

 
Cool side note: the 1/5 and 1/16 version were going to be used in the film until ILM created them in CGI.  So the only version we see on screen is the actual full sized model.  We also have to remember that this was just around the time that CGI was just realising its potential.  At that time, artists like Mike didn’t work in computers to create monsters, but hand sculpted full size versions of them.  I guess that’s why movies seem so much more magical to me back then.
 

Mike Trcic’s Work Today

Since his movie days, Mike has opened up his own business - Trcic Studios.  He is known as one of the top Paleo-Artists in the world and has sculpted beautiful, accurate and realistic Dinosaurs without the constraints of a director telling him how they should look in Hollywood.  Below are some of my favourite pieces from Mike’s collection:

All three photos are taken from Trcic Studio (trcicstudio.com)

If you’d like to own a piece of Mike’s work, please visit his website.  His recent work includes a lot of bronzes  that celebrates key figures in Western American History.  A lot of time, research and sculpting is invested into each piece he creates. All this is followed by a long process to create the bronze.  You can also purchase the 1/16 scale Horizon T-Rex model kit which is a direct casting of the 1/16 scale T-Rex that Mike sculpted.

I first emailed Mike back in June of this year and we’ve had a few conversations about his work.  I can tell you that Mike is a down to earth, helpful and humble artist.  It still amazes him that a movie made so many years ago has such strong and interested fan base.  For me personally, it would be an honour and dream to own a personal piece from Mike Trcic (fingers crossed).  I hope you enjoyed this article, until next time!

Action Figure Sculptor and Industry Legend: Tim Bruckner

Well I did exactly what I thought i'd do when I started this blog, not post for months.  My apologies to anyone who came to visit in the last little while, but I've got a very special post today.

A few months back I did an article about a very talented sculptor, Jonathan Matthews. I had a chance to speak with Jonathan and he recommended I check out Tim Bruckner. 

As with all artists I seek out, I immediately hunt for their portfolios. When I got to Tim's characterful website (www.timbruckner.com) I quickly saw many familiar faces.  If you're a wrestling figure fan like myself, you will definitely remember the Toybiz WCW/NWO figures, some of my favorite wrestling figures ever.  Guess who was responsible for sculpting those? that’s right, Mr. Tim Bruckner. 

I can remember 1997 clearly, I was 12 yrs old and studying these incredibly sculpted wrestling figures: Scott Hall, Goldberg, Sting, Hogan... and thinking “Toybiz does a way better job than Jakks... I wonder who made these?"  I never thought I’d get a chance to know one day.

Tim has had a long career spanning many different companies.  If we go back even further in the 90's, we can see some of the great and memorable sculpts by Tim, here are some of my favorites:

Tim has had a long career spanning many different companies.  If we go back even further in the 90's, we can see some of the great and memorable sculpts by Tim, here are some of my favorites:

Now I can tell you that Tim’s HUSH Batman is tied for my favorite Batman figure ever, along with the new Greg Capullo Batman. Consequently, Jim Lee and Greg Capullo are my favorite Batman artists. 

Just looking at Tim's work, I feel his finished pieces project a lot of character... For example, he has done many Joker action figures, each one capturing the insanity that is synonymous with the character, while also staying true to the original comic artist’s interpretation:

You can tell he has a unique talent of taking 2d comic characters and really bringing out the comic artists vision.  I would like to believe this is a combination of raw talent and many years of his skills honed into creating these excellent figures and statues.  You may also notice that the paint jobs on these are superior to the one you might own, that’s because Tim has hand painted these himself.  They are called paint masters, and they provide an example to the factories of how the figures are suppose to look.  Tim is a one-stop-shop, meaning he not only sculpts, but he casts and paints the figures too. 

Some of his more recent DC work includes the incredible DC Dynamics statues. These pieces, not just the sculpts, but the idea behind them, are just pure genius.  It is no wonder that so many top profile sculptors admire Mr. Brucker, he is truly a legend in the industry.

From reading interviews, I get the sense that Tim really enjoys a solving difficult puzzles in respect to sculpting.  He seems to embrace the challenge of tackling sculpts he's never done before, or finding better ways of executing a piece. 

Now I’ve only shown you a glimpse of Tim’s work, and I’ve stayed only within the realm of Toy Biz and DC Direct action figures.  For some of his personal work, statues, commissions and other great projects please see Tim’s facebookpage. 

Tim played a very pivotal role in creating some of the best and most memorable collectibles in my lifetime. Thank you Tim for all the great work, I look forward to more amazing accomplishments from you.  

Jonathan Matthews: The Man Who Brought Comic Characters to Life

I had a hard time coming up with a good title for this blog, but IMO "The Man Who Brought Comic Characters to Life" is a great representation of the artist i'm about to blog about.  To me, he truely took these characters straight out of comic books and transformed them into tangible sculpts.  

Last week I was scouring the net looking at various sculptor's work and got caught up in an 4 hour long journey...  That day I ran across the work of the incredible Jonathan Matthews.  

If you haven't heard of Jonathan Matthews, you've probably seen or owned some of his work.  JM is a top industry sculptor that works exclusively for DC Collectibles (lucky company), and the action figures and statues he's created are nothing short of perfect.  

On his web site, some of the action figures he's showcased are Scarecrow (from HUSH) and Killer Croc:

These pieces are some of my favorite renditions of these characters.  The amount of detail and character that was put into these sculpts really took them right out of the pages of the comic book. It's even more amazing to think that these were sculpted almost a decade ago (or more?)..oh no.. i'm getting old!

I ended up on a non-stop hunt to find more of JM's work,  looking through past interviews and anything with his name attached.  I discovered he was responsible for the recent Greg Capullo line of Batman characters.  In my opinion, these figures are some of the best Batman figures to ever be released.  I feel he really brought Capullo's art to life coupled with great articulation and accessories:

Everything from the sculpt of the anatomy, the face, and pose-ability are awesome... These were the Batman figures I've been waiting for!  

JM is also responsible for these Batman statues that I've seen in local comic book shops.  The one done of Mike Mignola's Batman (first one) is a 3D statue that I could swear would be 2D from certain angles... it takes a particular talent to be able to interpret another artists 2D work and translate it so perfectly into 3D... JM is that talented.

Jonathan is a traditional sculptor that sculpts in Castilene but I've heard he's made some progress as a digital sculptor.  As you may know, I am a huge fan of traditional sculpting, I just love looking at raw hand sculpts or the WIP pictures.  I hope JM becomes a great digital sculptor but always keeps delivering great products through traditional methods.  You are a master of that art form.

You can find some great interviews of JM on the net where he talks about his work, process and favorite pieces.  

I have had the pleasure of contacting Jonathan via email and he is a very nice, humble and helpful person.  It is always great to see an artist,that is so talented, take the time to share their insight with fans.

I must say that in a span of a few hours,  I immediately became a huge fan of Jonthan's work and will watch his career closely to see what other amazing works of art he creates.  In the short time that I have had the pleasure to discover his work, I've determined it would be my dream to one day own a personally commission sculpt from him to add to my collection.  Unfortunately for me, he works exclusively for DC Collectibles... but hey... a man can dream right? 

I hope you enjoyed Jonathan's work as much as I do.  Stay tuned for some more posts!

The Incredible Jacques Alexandre Gillois - Miniature Sculptor

Since I was 6 to 7 years old, I‘ve been a huge fan of Warhammer 40k. This is mostly due to my older cousin who was an avid gamer (he’s about 17 years older than me).  Oddly enough I wasn’t too interested in the gaming aspect but more so the miniatures and the lore. 
 

It captivated me that such detail could be captured in such small models.  As the years went on from the late 80’s/early 90’s the quality and detail of models also progressed.  Eventually I began seeking hobbyist who sculpted and converted miniatures – Coolminiornot.com became a daily visit and I always looked forward to seeing Golden Demon winners in White Dwarf Magazine (now past and present winners can be seen here).

I discovered that the miniature hobby is filled with very talented sculptors, but to me, one stood out amongst the others, Jacques Alexandre Gillois aka. JAG.  I have been following JAG’s work for the last 6 years and I can easily say he is my all-time favorite miniature sculptor. 

The first work I ever saw from JAG was from Helldorado:

These pieces caught my attention because of the incredible amount of detail.  Many of these Helldorado miniatures had a lot going on (anatomy, skulls, armour weapons and pieces hanging off), but JAG was able to capture all the chaos and make the miniatures make sense. 

A few years later I started noticing his work for Studio McVey.  I really enjoy seeing sculpts in their raw or unpainted form because I can really appreciate the crisp clean sculpts and attention to detail:

Whether a dynamic or static pose, JAG can make miniatures very captivating.  Today he has progressed to creating amazing works of art for companies like Kingdom Death: 

Slenderman is one of my favorite pieces from JAG.  The sculpt is so smooth, precise and the details are perfect.  I had a feeling of eeriness when I first saw Slenderman, for me to actually get that feeling from looking at a miniature is very rare but I believe JAG is one of those sculptors that can really capture the feel and essence of a character in his work.

To me, it appears he has a very strong understanding of anatomy because his pieces seem so realistic.  For example, all the feathers and anatomy on his Pheonix appear so natural.

I hope you appreciated his work as much as I do.  You can see more of JAG’s work on his website, which is a library of his past work.  For more recent work you can visit Kingdom Death, Studio McVey (Sedition Wars and 7 Sins), and Mierce Miniatures.  JAG does do commission work for other companies from time to time.  You can also see his own brand of miniatures: Miniature Factory, and purchase some of his work.

 

Due to his incredible talent, JAG is a very busy guy.  I've been on a wait list for a commission for years and hopefully I will be lucky in 2015!  If I am so lucky, I’ll definitely share the progress of work on this blog! Until next time.

The Mysterious Jurassic Park Cardback T-Rex: A Prototype Lost in Time

The Jurassic Park T-Rex toy was a childhood favorite for me.   I had many great memories of the movie Jurassic Park the T-Rex was always my favorite dinosaur. 

Often referred to as the “Red Rex,” the original Jurassic Park T-Rex toy was released in 1993. I was 7 years old at the time and recalled the enormous T-Rex with rubber skin, stomping sound action and roar. Before its release, every dinosaur toy was a solid piece of plastic with no acticulation, so it was definitely a game changer for me when they released the Red Rex.

Let’s jump back a few months before the release of Red Rex; it must’ve been early 1993 when they started releasing various Jurassic Park toys (In Canada, the T-Rex was released later in the year).  My favorite thing to do besides buying the toys was checking out upcoming releases on the cardbacks. What I saw blew my mind even until today:

This was the T-Rex pictured on the back of the card.  Needless to say I was way too excited for it, this version looked like it came right out of the movie screen.  What we got several months later was this:

Still a fairly good representation of the movie T-Rex, but nothing close to what the cardback had us drooling over.  

I guess most kids at the time didn’t notice the difference, but I was kind of weird and my first thought upon seeing Red Rex in person was: “oh wow! That can’t be it… It looks so different…” 

From 1993 until today I always wondered what the cardback T-Rex was and where I could get it…

I thought I’d contact the experts at JPtoys.com, and asked them if they had any info on the mysterious cardback T-Rex.  Ankie, who’s title at JPtoys.com is “Administrator Carcharodontosaurus”, was very helpful and replied with the following info:

• Toy companies often make these pictures in early production phases resulting in prototypes or completely different stand in models.
• The “Red Rex” was still in production when they took the cardback photo, so the one pictured on the cardback was a stand-in.
• The stand-in is based off the Stan Winston Maquette, but is NOT a copy of it.  In fact, it’s a new model in itself.
•  Unfortunately, this model has NOT been found except in the one cardback photo.

Well folks there you have… the “mysterious Jurassic Park cardback T-Rex stand-in prototype” is lost in time!  If anyone has any info on this amazing piece, please leave a comment or shoot me an email.  Until more info is revealed, it will always be a hidden treasure to me.  Thank you to JPtoys.com for the photos and info. 

Side Note: The closest collectible you can get to this T-rex is the Horizon T-Rex Model kit:

You can find this on eBay! Good luck hunting.  

DoubleDealer: A True Master of the Customizing Craft

I would’ve wanted to save this post for a later time when this blog would have more traffic, but I couldn’t wait and will probably re-post it again at a later date.

DoubleDealer Aka. 2dtoys is my all-time favorite customizer/action figure creator.  I first discovered his work through chatting with other customizers back in 2006 (Cal’s Customs and Zombihamma).  I recall asking them if there was a cusotmizer that influenced them or they admired and one name stood out in their minds, DoubleDealer. 

I visited 2dtoys.com and that day changed how I saw action figures.  To me, 2D knew exactly how to make the perfect version of each character.  Here's a sample of some of his work: 

 2D used to chop up figures, fuse them together and then dremel them down, leaving him with a skeleton to work with. He would then sculpt beautiful pieces finished with amazing paint jobs.  His website is a catalogue of his work, you can see his skill evolve from his early work (2001/2002 although I heard he started in the late 90’s) as he advanced his skill set.

A Little Personal History

I first introduced myself to 2D on TheFwoosh forums, and asked him for a commission of Cable based on his old 80/90’s design (big shoulders pads, tons of pouches):

I remember him saying “Sounds interesting, it would be fun to do a Cable from Rob Liefield’s design!” and that was it … I didn’t know if that was a yes or a no!  So I messaged back asking if he would and he replied “Sure! I’m busy this month but I can start next month” and that’s how my first commission from 2Dtoys started. 

For Cable, he was originally going to use a ML Hercules base… then a few days later I get a message:

2D: “Hey, had some problems with the Herc figure… his hands are ugly… are you okay with using ML Thor as a base?”

I couldn’t picture how that would work, but I trusted his talent and went ahead with it.  

I was curious: “Why Thor?”

And his reply was: “Thor just has a sexier build to him.” 

I knew when he said that it was going to be good.  A few weeks later, I get this in my inbox:

I was mind blown. What an amazing creation.  This was everything I was looking for in a Cable figure, and he delivered it perfectly. If you were to see the reference art I provided, it literally looks like he jumped out of the comic.  To today, this is definitely still my favorite Cable action figure.  

Since then, 2D and I have emailed back and forth for the last 8 years.  99% of the time it’s me bugging him to make me a custom, and over the years I've managed to hunt (sometimes literally HUNT) down a few more from him:

I am a very fortunate to own such masterpieces and they are definitely the highlight of my collection.  His work really captures exactly what I want in a figure…the feel, likeness, proportions, everything is perfection.  I really enjoy the idea that these are one-of-a-kind pieces I own, hand crafted by the man himself.  It adds a high sense of rarity and uniqueness that I value very much so. 

I remember after he sent me Cable in 2007, he mentioned his goal was to sculpt for a living.  Nowadays, Fred has transitioned to sculpt for Hasbro, working on lines such as GI Joe, Star Wars and Marvel.  He sculpts using a wax and his attention to detail has gotten even better if you can believe it. 

Please check out his website: 2dtoys.com .  It hasn't been updated for years, but he provides a lot of his thought process for each figure he made.  For more recent work, check out his facebook page.

There is a lot to say about 2D’s work, I’ll save it for another time.  If you ever get a chance to chat with him, Fred is a great guy with a deep passion for his work. 

I've got a small list of characters I've always wanted him to craft for me (actually it’s 6 characters).  My dream is, if he’s willing to; to hopefully get them done sometime in the near future.  If I do, I’ll be sharing the process and the finish piece with you guys here.  Hope you enjoyed this post!

Uncovering Bantha5 Custom Clone Commanders from 2006

The other day I was cleaning out my old room that I had since I was a kid which eventually became a storage room years ago.  The room was packed with random family items and tons and tons of action figures, some of which haven’t been seen in over a decade!  

Upon packing my old collection into their appropriate boxes, I uncovered something truly special, custom Clone Commander pieces I ordered from Bantha5 customs in 2006.

What you’re looking at is a custom cast head sculpt of Commander Neyo, which can be fitted to a regular clone trooper body, as well as the shoulder guard and backpack for Commander Cody.  Next to it was the card Ryan (Bantha5) mailed with every order.  What a fantastic head sculpt, you can see it here compared to the Commander Neyo from 2008 Anniversary Collection, 2013 Black Series and Bantha5's version: 

Compare them to Commander Neyo himself and I think Bantha5's comes out on top:

The package I ordered also came with a Commander Cody helmet which for some reason I can’t seem to find (I will post it if i'm lucky to find it hidden in my room). 

Take a look at Bantha5’s website.  Here you can discover his amazing talents of customizing and sculpting some awesome star wars figures, most notably his work in the vintage collection.  His journey began with a passion to create the figures that were missing in his collection or never released. I think he did a great job of staying true to the vintage era of design and sculpting, his work looks as if Kenner produced it. 

I tried contacting Ryan but with no luck! I’m not sure if his email works or not, but if you’re reading this, please reach out to me, I’d love to interview you for the fans to see! 

To me personally, Bantha5 customs brings back memories of the original Star Wars customizers that I saw from years back.  When Ep. 3 came out, there was a huge Clone Trooper craze, and Bantha5 truly brought the Clone Commanders to life.  

I would guess that copies of these head sculpts are fairly rare today, so if you have one, make sure you hang on to it.  Til next time.