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Old 05-08-2011, 04:29 AM   #1
Rocket
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The 2011 Troy McDevitt Interview!

Interview #2

TROY MCDEVITT


Shameless plug?

http://themcdevittstudio.com/



Location?
North Carolina

Age
I'll be forty this year

Martial\Family status?
Happily married with two awesome kids.

Pets?
Two great dogs, a cat and one leopard gecko


Nickname?
"Troyboy" or "Idiot" if you're talking to my wife or friend

Could you give a brief outline of how you got to where you are in your career?
Let's see,....I spent all my early career (about 15 years) as a graphic designer. Jumped into sculpting on a whim and ended up making custom wedding cake toppers for about 3 or 4 years. Gradually worked my way into sculpting superheroes, monsters and other cool, fantasy-related stuff and that's where I'm staying until I'm old and withered and I eventually keel over at my workbench. I LOVE my job and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.




What websites do you love to visit?
Mostly sculpting forums like The Clubhouse, Statue Forum, Marvel Customs, Garagekits.us, Statue Marvels, The Shiflett Bros., and model-citizens.org, to keep up with my peers. I also like to visit other art related sites like drawing board.org and conceptart.org, and movie sites like darkhorizons.com and aintitcool.com . Oh, and I can't forget some of the unbelievable blogs out there by some of my sculpting buddies like http://www.apsculpturestudio.com/blog/ and http://thedawgpound59.blogspot.com/

Who have you done work for in the industry?
Bowen Designs, Reel Art Studios, ARH studios, several small GK producers and some upcoming work from Sideshow and Super7

Favorite property?
Wow, now that's a tough one. If I had to pick just one though, i'd have to say Conan.


Do you read comics?
Absolutely, ever since I was just a wee lad. Love 'em over any other form of media.

Favorite comic?
Yikes, another hard one. Hmmmm, well, I still love to go back and re-read all my old Buscema Conans and The Dark Knight. As far as relatively modern stuff, a few of my all-time favorites would be Preacher, Bone, Powers, B.P.R.D, Astro City and The Walking Dead.

Character?
Conan, with Tarzan and Batman as a close second and third.

Favorite comic related movie?
Oh, DEFINITELY Batman & Robin by Joel Schumacher. Just kidding!!! It's probably a three way tie between the original Superman, Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles.

Favorite sculptor who isnt you?
Professional; Tony Cipriano Amateur; My daughter

What got you into sculpting?
Curiosity and getting burnt out on graphic design (well, at least corporate graphic design that is).



What was your big break?
The Man-Ape and Ringmaster busts I did for Bowen Designs


Favorite sculpt of your own?
The one coming out from Sideshow hopefully later this year

Favorite sculpt by someone else?
Oy, another impossible question. There are just too many to pick a favorite. A few that immediately pop into my head though are Frazetta's "Snow Giants" by Tony Cipriano, "Batman vs. Killer Croc" by Ray Villafane and the DC Dynamics Joker statue by Tim Bruckner. All three of those just blow me away. There are also a few digital sculptors out there who are doing absolutely amazing stuff.

Any sculpting horror stories?
It was about 4am and i was working on a custom cake topper that had to ship out that day via Next Day Air (meaning i had no extra time). Anyway, after pulling a 30-hour, no sleep marathon, the nearly completed sculpt flipped out of my hands, flew across the room and shattered in several places, including the head which completely snapped off. It's the closest I've ever come to just breaking down and crying. Luckily, I was able to pull myself together, repair everything and just barely get it out later that day.



What tools did you use to make you a better sculptor? (books\tutorials\anatomy classes\etc?)
Probably more than anything else is close observation. I intensely study master sculptor's work (living and dead) and trying to match their quality as best I'm able. I'm rarely, if ever, completely satisfied with my own work, but I always try and push myself as hard as I can. To me, the key factors to improving your skill level, and actually being able to turn sculpting into a career are harsh, honest self-criticism, the drive to keep pushing yourself even when you don't feel like working, extreme professionalism with your clients and a lack of ego.



Who do you most admire in the industry?
Wow. Again, there are so many guys that I am in absolute awe of. I guess one of the top guys for me would probably be Tim Bruckner. The solutions he comes up with for misc. effects, articulation, add-ons, etc., never fails to drop my jaw. It makes me feel like a caveman who lives next door to Mr. Spock. Mark Newman is another one. He continues to do stuff in Super Sculpey that most guys can't do in wax or digitally. He's just amazing.

Is there anyone out there you wish you could sculpt like?
Nah. No doubt there are TONS of guys (and gals) who are way, way better than me, but I wouldn't want to be a carbon copy of any of them. I'm far from perfect, but I'm fairly satisfied with my own style. I do wish I was better, but in my own style. I'm confident I'll get there eventually, but it's still a long way off.



Do you have\had a mentor?
The closest thing would probably be Tony Cipriano and Ralph Cordero, who have both given me tons of invaluable advice and help early on and to this day. They're just two of those rare individuals who feel some sort of obligation to pass along the knowledge they've picked up over the years, and I've been lucky enough to become friends with both of these amazing talents.

Do you listen to music\watch tv while working? If so could you elaborate

I live and breathe podcasts. That's pretty much all I listen to as i work. My favorites are "The Skeptics Guide to the Universe", The Adam Carolla Show", "Bill Burr - Monday Morning Podcast", "SuperEgo", "Jordan, Jesse GO!", "WTF with Marc Maron", "The Nerdist", "Comedy Death Ray Radio", "The Bugle", "Doug Loves Movies" and "Never Not Funny", to name a few.

Whats your favorite scale to work in?
Anything from 1:8 to 1:4 scale. Anything smaller or bigger is kind of a pain..


Dream job?
What I'm doing now, but with better pay. My favorite projects are those where my client gives me a brief outline of what they're looking for, but essentially leaves the look and concept up to me. That shows just how much trust and faith they have in me, and I'm fortunate enough to have several ongoing clients like this. I wouldn't be here without guys like them and I try and show my gratitude by working as hard and diligently as i possibly can for them.

Dream character to sculpt?
Conan.


What are you working on now?
A few 1:7 scale superhero busts, a couple full-figures and some cool, retro monsters. I usually work on four or five things at the same time.

Other hobbies?
Not really. I'm lucky enough to make a living off of my favorite hobby. I do like fishing and camping, but i don't get to do it that often.

Favorite movie?
Aliens

Favorite album\artist?
Offspring
Favorite book?
The Secret. Hah! Again, just kidding. Unless it's in a comic format, I don't read that many books. If you ever meet me, you'll find out that I'm far dumber than I look.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Doing the exact same thing I'm doing now, but with fewer calls from bill collectors. Hopefully by that point, my kids will still be interested in all this stuff so I can put them to work and I can take a break for once.



Have you ever travelled?
A little. My wife and I went on a small ship cruise down the coast of Italy for our honeymoon, the last three days of which we spent in Venice. It was amazing and we really want to go back and take the kids..

Favorite place to holiday?
The Beach. Small communities though, not the big, built-up commercial spots. God, I hate tourist traps and any beach that regularly hosts Spring Break gatherings.

What country would you love to visit?
In addition to Italy again, we'd also love to go to France, Australia, the U.K., and Japan.

Any hints on what you're working on currently?
Well, the Sideshow thing is huge (size-wise) and a little hairy, the retro monsters will remind you of your childhood, there's a Lantern who is very handy, a timid young werewolf, a chrome swordsman, and there's a couple X-treme babies in there for good measure.
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Old 05-29-2011, 01:16 PM   #2
CKinSD
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what I cannot believe there is no real mention of his apprentice BOBO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dammit that is just against our mammilian brothers.....................
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