A Monster, in Miniature

If you've admired Tim Bruckner's model kits from afar, but never felt you had the space or money to get one, there's a new reason for you to visit the Tim Bruckner Shop. Hot on the heels of his "Ode to Joy" miniaturization, Tim has shrunk down yet another of his kits to make it more affordable and less voluminous. The original Monster kit, inspired by the Mary Shelley novel Frankenstein, stands 12.5 inches tall with its base, but the new mini Monster kit stands only 5.75 inches tall, with all of the same detail! Additionally, Tim has made a slight modification to the sculpt, wrenching free one of the Monster's neck bolts and leaving behind a knot of twisted wires. So whether you'll be painting it or simply admiring the sculpt au naturel, head on over to TimBrucknerShop.com to get one today!

It's Ludwig Van!

Tim has proven time and time again that he is a master of the fantastic. But he's also a master of the naturalistic, as anyone who's seen his portraits can attest. One of his portraits, "Ode to Joy" -- his rendering of a laughing Ludwig Van Beethoven -- has been offered as a limited edition, but it is now available in model kit form, and much smaller, to boot. Standing only 5.75 inches tall with its base, this new kit is now available over in the Tim Bruckner Shop (www.timbrucknershop.com), and at $50 is an affordable way to show your love of the composer (or the movie "A Clockwork Orange").

Mr. B's Bookkeeper: Introducing the First Model Kit with Modular Expression

In recent months, Tim (Bruckner, Pop Sculpture co-author) has immersed himself in the world of garage kits, a category he's dabbled in in the past, but one he is now exploring fully through his online store, timbrucknershop.com. His latest kit, Mr. B's Bookkeeper, features a new innovation that hasn't been seen in kits before -- ME (modular expression) busts. With six different eye pieces (three left, three right) and six different mouth pieces (three top, three bottom), the bust can be assembled 81 different ways, which has to be some kind of a record. Pick yours up in the shop, and check out all of the different ways it can be assembled below!

Official Tim Bruckner Shop Officially Open!

If you've enjoyed reading Pop Sculpture, then you've probably enjoyed seeing the various sculptures of co-author Tim Bruckner. Not only has he been incredibly prolific in his professional career as a sculptor, he's just as productive in his spare time, creating nearly as many personal pieces as he has commercially available products. Now, for the first time, both are available in one place! The official Tim Bruckner Shop carries many of Tim's most popular pieces from DC Direct, Dark Horse and others, but it also offers some of his personal work as both unpainted model kits and painted limited editions. So if you're looking to pick up a garage kit of Tim's take on Frankenstein's monster, or a finished rendering of Cyrano de Bergerac, head on over to eBay and check it out.

Status Update: Where The Pop Sculpture Authors Are Now, Part 1

Working on this book has been a dream come true for me in that I was able to see inside the brains of two men I admire -- Tim Bruckner and Rubén Procopio. I was a fan of both of them and their work before we started writing Pop Sculpture together, and the amazing thing is that since then, their work has gotten even more impressive. I thought I'd shine a light on some of their coolest recent work, based entirely on my biased views as an unabashed comic and movie geek, starting with Tim.

Tim has worked for literally dozens of manufacturers, but the pinnacle of his career has debatably been spent with DC Direct. His ability to accurately translate the work of 2-D artists has led to amazing toy lines based on Jim Lee's artwork for Batman: Hush as well as Alex Ross's painting style in Kingdom Come. (See Also: The Dark Knight Returns toys, plus statues based on the art of Gary Frank, Brian Bolland and Adam Hughes.) But the man has an amazing style of his own, which is why it's so great to see him creating superhero work that's not based on a specific artist's renderings.

One of the lines of statues Tim's working on now is called DC Dynamics, and it features his designs, as inspired by the paintings of early 20th century illustrator J.C. Leyendecker. Each of the characters leaves behind a trail of smoke, water or energy, which is cast in a translucent material, creating a sense of movement. They're almost... dynamic! Hence the name!. While the Wonder Woman and Superman pieces are my favorites, the fact that the line has expanded beyond the Big Seven to include Supergirl and Sinestro is pretty great. Still, imagine how this effect could be put to use to re-create the Flash's Speed Force, or the Martian Manhunter's speed and invisibility. And how about Dr. Fate? Or Hawkman? Just thinking out loud here.

The second line Tim's doing for DCD is called DC Chronicles -- basically, they're Tim's interpretations of what each of DC's most famous Justice Leaguers looked like back when they first appeared. But despite their old-fashioned styling, they're tough, gritty versions, and they're all pretty bad-ass -- well, except Aquaman, who is clearly enjoying himself at a cocktail party, or perhaps greeting a passing school of fish. Still, the sheer personality rolling off of ol' Arthur Curry more than makes up for him not bending a machine gun like Superman. In my opinion, this line might be a good place to mix in some other older characters who could stand to be made bad-ass -- Metamorpho, Shazam, Adam Strange...

The newest series Tim's working on is called Ultimate Showdown, and it features the classic hero/villain rivals facing off in statue pairs. Green Lantern fights Sinestro in the first set, followed by Superman/Bizarro and Batman/Joker, and I can't wait to see which pairs Tim tackles next. Flash/Zoom? Wonder Woman/Cheetah? Shazam/Adam? Aquaman/Manta??? I'm all a-tingle!

Next week: Rubén Procopio's latest, gushed over by a formerly professional toy nerd.

Name the Statues, Win a Prize!

Hey, kids! We're having a contest. That's right, the first-ever Pop Sculpture Contest Give-Away. And boy howdy, it's fun! Here's how you play: Simply identify which of Tim's sculptures these details belong to. The person who gets the most right with the earliest submission wins! What do they win? Heck-a-doodle, they win a free autographed copy of our book, Pop Sculpture, when it comes out on October 19. What could be simpler? Mail your guesses to: popsculptcontest@gmail.com Only one guess per household. The winner will be announced next Friday.

And here's another clue for you all (aside from the Walrus being Paul): All of these details come from pics at Tim's site (http://www.timbruckner.com). But I hear you asking, "Hey, isn't that just a shamefully blatant way to promote his site and increase traffic?" You bet it is! Ain't America great? Good luck, everyone!

THE JAILHOUSE; Behind the scenes, Behind the bars - PART 1 of 3

"As the flames spread throughout the city, pirates locked in the town jail are desperate to escape before their underground dungeon turns into an inferno. The local constabulary is nowhere to be seen. Only a mangy mutt is around to witness their plight, and he holds the keys to their cells in his mouth. The pirates try to lure the dog within their reach so they can grab the keys and attempt an escape. 'Here, give us the keys, ya scrawny little beast!'" – Ruben Procopio

The Jailhouse Scene statue, based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Walt Disney World, is unique in many ways, among them is the distinction of being the only statue to have employed the talents of three of Pop Sculpture's contributors: Ruben Procopio, Tim Bruckner and Kat Sapene. Ruben designed the piece, Tim sculpted it and Kat painted it. A trifecta!

Ruben faced some interesting challenges in crafting a design that encapsulated the Disney ride experience, as well as creating a backview the public had never seen. "I had to maintain the focus on the characters and their interaction while giving a sense of the mass of their surroundings without overwhelming them," Ruben noted. He succeeded beautifully.

Following Ruben’s designs, and over the course of several conversations, Tim began roughing out the figures in clay. "The original figures themselves are like life-sized puppets with limited expression and movements," Tim said. "The genius of the ride is the full-on experience of lighting, sound and motion that creates, for the viewer, a sensory impression that goes well beyond its component parts. My job was to try and sculpt figures that felt like the ride, not portraits of the audio-animatronics."

Once the scale of the figures was set, Tim built sculpture stands for each figure with a set of wooden dowels as stand-ins for the prison bars. "This was one of the most technically challenging pieces I've ever done," Tim said. "Given the size of the piece and the production material (porcelain), I had to make adjustments to allow the figures to be manufactured without comprising their look. Early on, Ruben and I understood that simple things, like the way the pirates held onto the bars, would have to be modified to work with the various materials used and to anticipate the slight variables that arise from combining porcelain with other materials.”

FRAZETTA'S GHOUL QUEEN

There's nothing coy or retiring about a Frazetta woman. Even simply standing with a pike, her hand on her hip, being admired by one of the undead, she announces her presence with every sensuous curve of her body.

Ghoul Queen is one of the few published Frazetta drawings that is so clearly rendered. It's like a blueprint for a Frazetta woman and an obvious choice for a sculptural interpretation. It was important to pare down the composition to its essentials. And having to decide what some of the ghoul pairs were doing behind her was something best left to the imagination.

As familiar as I was with Frank's work and this illustration in particular, it took a while for me to get out of my own way in order to see it Frank's way. I just couldn't seem to pull her proportions together. Then I realized -- it's the tummy. That's what makes the top and bottom halves of her work as a whole. I kept trying to slim her down. But once I gave into the belly, I knew I was on the right track.

The back view was all guess work. But if you look at a lot of Frazetta's work, you start to see certain patterns and motifs that appear repeatedly in his designs. The exposed spinal column on the skele-ghoul was just a little something to make the back view more interesting. (Not that her back view isn't interesting all by itself, mind you.) This piece really helped when it came time to sculpt my next Frazetta statue, Moon Maid.