Tim Bruckner: Hands Behind The Heroes (cont.)

Tim tends to work about 6 months to a year ahead. Generally it's a year before a figure he's sculpted comes to market. For example, the recently unveiled figures based on the classic Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons Watchmen series won't be in stores until the middle of 2001.

Tim takes his sculpting seriously, whether it's a statue piece, or an action figure. Each piece gets the same care and respect. "There's nothing flip about this." he says. "You're sculpting for someone with a greater interest than your own who's going to lay down cash for it". One of the favorite pieces he's done in his career has been the John Constatine, Hellblazer figure.

Tim also continues to produce work for himself, as well. These days his schedule only permits for him to work on one or two pieces a year for himself. "You are always trying to buy yourself time to do your own work". Tim has also had his work featured in the annual Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art Vol. 6 publication (available from Amazon.com).

The challenge in sculpting, especially with the volume of work that Tim produces each year, is to "not repeat yourself. To go to places where you haven't been before. Always trying to work on your weaknesses, problem area...especially in the human form"

His biggest challenge is "looking to see what I can do to make my work better. It's always about trying to make the work better. I can look at a piece and see things that I hope that nobody else sees."

Tim's material of choice is wax, although the formula he uses today is a far cry from the candy wax he sculpted in as a child. "I've used the same wax formula for 30 years now, stolen from an old dead guy," he says with a smile, "so it's much older than that. It's something of a clay/wax hybrid..."

For statues, however, he usually starts out with a clay rough to establish to form of the piece, before starting to work in wax.

Tim is excited by the work being produced by many of the younger generation of sculptors in the industry, such as the work coming out of Art Asylum and people like Phil Ramirez.

His advice for young sculptors, or those interested in pursuing a career in sculpting, is to "do it all the time. Don't wait for the job. Just sculpt everything, all the time. Know your art history. Vary the materials you use. And, talk to other sculptors.

One specific piece of advice Tim wants to pass on is, "realize that hair is made up of thousands and thousands of strands. But, you don't have to sculpt each one." He talks of the relationship between form and rendering, and that over-rendering can actually work against the form of the piece. Over and over he refers to the masters of old and the need to study their work, and not just the work being produced by contemporaries.

Tim is presently working on upcoming DC Direct projects that are bound to please collectors immensely.

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