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Old 05-08-2011, 04:32 AM   #1
Rocket
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Melbourne, Aust
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The 2011 Tim Bruckner Interview!

Full credit again goes to Bullseye for this one guys, we have been blessed with top shelf talent with these interviews so far, but he's managed to get an interview from the master, Tim Bruckner!!



Shameless plug?

http://timbruckner.com/

1. First name?
Tim
2. Location?
Rural Wisconsin
3. Age
60
4. Martial\Family status?
Married to my amazing Mary, thirty years this November. We have two kids, Errol and Anne, both amazing in their own right.
5. Pets?
Three dogs. Henry, the thinker. Sophie, the licker. And Basil, our English Mastiff. Mary is the manager of our county’s human society. When he came to the shelter it was clear that he’d been abused. He weighed one and nineteen pounds. We were only going to foster him until he was in good enough shape to be adopted. And then he fell in love with Mary. And she fell in love with him. He’s been part of our family now for almost three years. He’s healthy, happy and devoted. He tips the scale at one hundred and seventy-five.
6. Nickname?
None that I’m aware of.




7. Could you give a brief outline of how you got to where you are in your career?

Is that what I have? The short version: I started sculpting professionally at eighteen working as a wax carver and apprentice jeweler. From there, I started doing giftware. Did some special effects work. More giftware. A lot more giftware. Did some premium work. Worked as an illustrator. Did a few album covers. Worked in the music business, wrote, produced and performed three children’s albums for McDonalds. Got a Grammy nod. Watched my life going nowhere in a hurry. Met my wife, returned to sculpting and the rest, as they say, is History.
8. Primary field?
Sculpting
9. Who have you done work for in the industry?
At one time or another I’ve worked for: Max Factor, The Stansbury Group, The Hamilton Group, The Franklin Mint, the Danbury Mint, Ashton-Drake, Kenner, Hasbro, Mattel, Enesco, Hallmark, Bowen Designs, American Greeting, Geometric, Toy Biz, Diamond Select, Dark Horse, Electric Tiki, ReelArts, Department 56, Gentle Giant, Sideshow, Dankin, Applause, DC Direct. And various and sundry other companies while pursuing my own work.




10. Favorite property?

I honestly don’t have one. I like working on some more than others. Its more about the people I work with than what I’m working on.
11. Do you read comics?
I used to when I was a kid. Then I discovered Famous Monsters, Eerie and Creepy and, for me, comics couldn’t compete.
12. Favorite comic?
I like the ones that a really well drawn.
13. Character?
The Joker. I don’t know how many times I’ve sculpted him. Maybe a dozen? Both statues and action figures, and with each one, I discovered something about revealing his character I hadn’t been aware of before. The DC Dynamics Joker statue, the last of the series, is the closest I’ve come to what might be my definitive Joker. Its unlikely I’ll ever sculpt his again, so I’m okay if that’s where it stops.




14. Favorite comic related movie?

I don’t have one. I’m not a big fan of Comic based films. Once you take it off the page, it loses something for me. Not everything should be something else, just because it can. One thing that bothers me consistently, is the seeming need of directors/producers/designs to redesign a character’s costume. Some of these characters have worn the same costume for decades, but apparently, because their headed of film, they need to be “updated” and made film worthy. That’s just silly.
15. Favorite sculptor who isn’t you?
I am my least favorite sculptor. I have a real fondness for dead sculptors. Really dead sculptors. Among the living, the list is very long. Go to any of the forums or sites devoted to sculpture and you’ll see their names often. I’ve heard the clang of the death knell of pop sculpture for decades, and it’s just getting louder with digital imaging. But you at some of the work of my colleagues and contemporaries, and you can see, the work is better, stronger and of an increasingly very high quality. Traditional sculpture is at a crossroads, to be sure. But it will survive quite well, due to the dedication of sculptors working today.




16. What got you into sculpting?

I don’t mean to be flip, but I didn’t get into sculpting, it got into me. I started sculpting when I was seven. I don’t think I had much of a choice.
17. What was your big break?
I’m still waiting for my big break. My career has been a series of little breaks. But my relationship with DCD for a dozen years has really allowed me create work I might not have been able to anywhere else.
18. Favorite sculpt of your own?
I like bits and pieces of a lot of my personal work. And for a lot of different reasons. Belle at la Bête still holds up for me. Major Marjorie, Prometheus and some of the Christmas Carol figures still work. I’ve been doing a number of portrait head over the last few years, and those I enjoy doing a lot. Ode to Joy (Beethoven smiling) is a piece I’ve wanted to do for years, and after having done it, it makes me want to explore that area much more.




19. Favorite sculpt by someone else?

Honestly, too many to list. I’m a huge fan of sculptors and sculpture. My tastes are very eclectic. I like good, thoughtful work. I don’t like grandstanding. I don’t like to see a sculptor show off. It should never be about us. It should always be about the piece. If you can’t add anything or remove anything from a piece and not diminish its quality, that’s a good piece of work. Excessive detail is just plain annoying.
20. Any sculpting horror stories?
We all have them. Mine almost always involve a deadline that won’t budge or an Art Director whose head is so far up their ass they can’t see your work to help you. I’ve been very lucky to have worked with some really amazingly talented AD’s. And that’s been the case more than it hasn’t. But, every now and then, you come across an AD who makes the piece about them and how they can put their mark on it, for better or worse. That approach doesn’t do any good for anyone. Least of all, the piece.




21. What tools did you use to make you a better sculptor?

Careful and cultivated observation. The rest of it will take care of itself. But appreciating the human condition and being able to tell a story by plugging into it makes for better art, whether its a guy in tights or bolts through his neck.
22. Who do you most admire in the industry?
That kind of sounds like a suicide question. I admire originality above almost everything else. And a personal ability to make their vision real. It’s a very tough business. Anyone who can make a success by following their dream gets my admiration in spades.
23. Is there anyone out there you wish you could sculpt like?
Being hands-for-hire, you end up sculpting like a lot of people, and they you. I don’t think I have a particularly evident style, which I think lets me mimic, to varying degrees of success, a lot of sculptors. But the Brothers Shiflett are in a league all by themselves. Nobody does what they do, and I don’t think anyone can. I’m a big fan of their stuff. And they happen to be really nice guys.
24. Do you have\had a mentor?
Not really. I wish I had. Art books were my biggest influence. Its why I try, if I can, to be available to artists asking my advice. It was one of the guiding principles in writing the book.
25. Do you listen to music\watch tv while working? If so could you elaborate
I listen to MPR classical radio all day long, or audio books. Classical radio is like a station devoted to cover versions. Its like listening to dozens of different versions of “I am the Walrus” or “Bohemian Rhapsody” And sussing out which bit of a song you know well, you like better. And, I like the energy. It doesn’t compete, in enhances. And audio books… its nice to have someone read you a story.
26. Whats your favorite scale to work in?
Action figure to a figure maybe eight to ten inches tall. For portrait heads, about half life size. I just kind of suck and larger scale work. And I think, because of the way I finish work, its becomes way too labor intensive.



27. Dream job?
Having my own small company. Sculpting what I want, the way I want and hoping people will want to buy it. And commission work, I’ve done very, very little of it over the years. But I think that would be fun. Someone comes to you with a concept and the challenge would be to give them what they want while giving yourself over to it. If that makes sense.

28. Dream character to sculpt?
There’s no one particular character I’d have jones to do. What I would like to try is to create a multiple figure work that tells a story from various perspectives.
29. What are you working on now?
Finishing this interview.
30. Other hobbies?
I’d like to do a lot more drawing and painting. I’d like to get back to playing and writing music. Maybe do some recording again. For now, I putz around the farm. And write. I write short stories, radio play and have a couple of books in the works but I really don’t have the time to devote to it that I’ like. And I’d like to try my hand at competitive napping.
31. Favorite movie?
Bride of Frankenstein, Metropolis (restored), fantasia (no.1), anything with Laurel and Hardy, and film or TV with the occasional naked woman.
32. Favorite album\artist?
Beatles, XTC, Jeff Beck, Chopin, Gershwin, Electronica, some Bowie.




33. Favorite book?

Christmas Carol, Carter Beats the Devil, Secret History, The Help. Anything by Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett. The occasional Dean Koontz.
34. Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I’ll be 70. I’ll be happy to see myself just about anywhere.
35. Have you ever travelled?
Italy.
36. Favorite place to holiday?
Sun, water…lounge chair… a nice tequila and a damn good book.
37. What country would you love to visit?
Japan.
38. Any hints on what you're working on currently?
Sorry…
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