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05-08-2011, 04:33 AM
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#1
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Art of Mod
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Melbourne, Aust
Posts: 63,785
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The 2011 Shifflett Brothers Interview!
Credit to Bulls again guys as we get to hear from the brilliant Shiflett Brothers!!!
Shameless Plug?
www.shiflettbrothers.com
1. First name?
J: Jarrod
B: Brandon
2. Location?
J: We're both in Texas.
3. Age
J: 38.
B: I'm the smarter, older brother. 42.
5. Pets?
J: Five dogs.
B: Two dogs and a cat.
6. Nickname?
J: The Tiger.
B: The Tiger? Wow, that's ridiculous.
7. Could you give a brief outline of how you got to where you are in your career?
J: We were big comic book nerds, could kind of draw but not really, started sculpting Wolverines and showing them at conventions, and we're still basically doing that.
B: Yes, we got "discovered" at the San Diego Comic-Con. In the art show. We owe everything to Comic-con.
8. Primary field?
J: Sculpting.
B: My field is sculpting...his fields are mostly Bazinga!Bazinga!Bazinga!Bazinga!Bazinga!ing and whining.
9. Who have you done work for in the industry?
J: Bowen Designs, Moore Creations, Toy Biz, Franklin Mint, Verotik Comics, Dynamic Forces. These days, though, mostly Shiflett Brothers Originals.
10. Favorite property?
J: I've been feeling nostalgic lately , anything H.R. Puff n Stuff.
B: It's no secret we're Marvel fanboys. I love me some Batman, too, even though we've never done anything for D.C...yet.
11. Do you read comics?
J: Comics are what it's all about, all the cool stuff starts as a comic. I like Mignola, Guy Davis. Brandon reads an absurd amount of stuff and shows me what he thinks I will like. I can always read X-men or anything with Thor or the Hulk.
B: Yeah, a lot of sculptors in this industry come at it from a love of movies...we love movies too, but that wasn't our inspiration tostart sculpting. Our inspiration...the reason we sculpt... is comic books. That's where we come from. We're Comic Book Fans first.
12. Favorite comic?
J: Nexus probably. I still yell out when I see Steve Rude at Comic-Con, ' The Dude!' He thinks I'm crazy, or maybe knows I'm crazy.
B: Yeah, I love Nexus, too. Obviously Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns is a landmark for us. I love BPRD, Kick-Ass, Planetary, Daredevil, Gotham Central, Hellboy, Grendel, Ex Machina, The Ultimates, and Powers.
13. Character?
J: If I said anything besides Wolverine I'd be fooling myself. I've sculpted a crapload of Wolverines just for fun so I guess he's my favorite.
B: Either Batman or Nexus. Jarrod has sculpted over 100 Wolverines. Seriously. This is a real number. 95 of them for himself. About 5 professionally.
14. Favorite comic related movie?
J: Superman 2 maybe. I am really enjoying The Walking Dead series and can't wait for the second season of that.
B: The Dark Knight. The Hellboy movies are great too. And Sin City.
15. Favorite sculptor who isnt you?
J: Takayuki Takeya, Jordu Schell, Paul Komoda, SPIDERZERO.
B: Yep, what he said.
16. What got you into sculpting?
J: Way back when at the Dallas BullDog Prouctions Shows in the late 80's there was a dinosaur sculptor named John Fischner. He worked in papier mache and a little bit of super sculpey, anyway every year he was there we would question him more and more. That was a major turning point for us to start experimenting with whatever materials this guy would tell us.
B: When Jarrod and I started, there was no real comic book statue industry. It was just barely getting started (yes, this means we are old). We wanted to see versions of our favorite comic characters in 3D. If no one was making them, we'd have to do it. Simple as that.
17. What was your big break?
J: Glenn Danzig owns Verotik Comics and he let us do 3 Simon Bisley Verotik characters as resin kits, those were the first 3 resin kits we ever did and if we've had a big break I guess maybe that was it.
B: Around the same time, Lorne Lanning asked us to work on his video game project, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. We sculpted the maquettes for the game. That was big. Then Jess Falcon from ToyBiz and Clay Moore helped get us going as well.
18. Favorite sculpt of your own?
J: I guess the Draco from the movie Dragonheart, people seem to love it.
B: Our unproduced creature from the Black Lagoon Sculpture done originally for Moore Creations.
19. Favorite sculpt by someone else?
J: Paul Komoda's Elephant Man comes to mind. I 'm thinking Jordu's Deer Alien thingy.
B: I like Oniki's Nina Darkness and Takeya's Alien Pile. Takeya's Skull Soldier and Operation in Progress are standouts, too.
20. Any sculpting horror stories?
J: Sculpting is one long fix. We are lucky to be doing something in the industry because this kind of stuff is really what we are into. So the worst night fixing cracks or realizing it looks nothing like Kevin Sorbo , it's all part of it.
B: Our sculpting horror stories are legion. But, yes, likenesses are particularly hit and miss with us. We've had epic fails on Kevin Sorbo, Mark Hamill, and others.
21. What tools did you use to make you a better sculptor? (books\tutorials\anatomy classes\etc?)
J: We are self taught, so I always say you can do it yourself , especially with all the info online now. We had some good Buno Lucchessi video's, How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John Busema, even though it's 2-d it has some great rules and tips that we used. We have a new DVD that shows our process, we were lucky enough to do a DVD with The Gnomon Workshop which was sweet and we really put all the sculpting info we could into it.
B: We always say that our sculpting education was X-Men Comics in the mid to late 80's and early 90s. We also studied what the Japanese guys were doing...Nirasawa's Creature Core Book was our bible.
22. Who do you most admire in the industry?
J: Yasushi Nirasawa. The effect of the Creature Core book and Fewture is pretty cool and it's had a huge influence on us.
B: Clayburn Moore was a big help to us early in our careers. Randy Bowen has been a good friend and kinda made us famous overnight. Those two guys are responsible for so much fo the success we've had. We look up to both of them.
23. Is there anyone out there you wish you could sculpt like?
J: Simon Lee
B: Simon Lee
24. Do you have\had a mentor?
J: Clayburn Moore did a lot of shows in Texas with us when we were coming up and gave us a lot of guidance which he did not have to do, and our first coldcast porcelain piece Draco from Dragonheart was with his company Moore Creations.
25. Do you listen to music\watch tv while working? If so could you elaborate
J: I love showtunes , rap and old country. The Smiths. Kate Bush.
B: I have my TV on, but listen to my Ipod with headphones. The Smiths, Kate Bush, Radiohead, Rasputina, Morrissey, Joy Division, Sigur Ros, Bjork, The Beatles, The Cocteau Twins, CocoRosie, The Dresden Dolls, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Velvet Underground.
26. Whats your favorite scale to work in?
J:1/7
B: We've gotten smaller as we've gone along. Even the Bowen Stuff is just a touch bigger than we are totally comfortable with.
27. Dream job?
J: Something with Fewture.
B: Yeah. Something with Nirasawa or the French Comics Icon Moebius. We worship him as a God.
28. Dream character to sculpt?
J: Rancor, so much of what I do is just a Rancor rip-off at the end of the day.
B: Because we don't do many movie or TV characters, I would say Roy Batty from Bladerunner or The Major from Ghost in the Shell. Or Moebius' Major Grubert.
29. What are you working on now?
J: Right now I'm waiting for stuff to get back from Monsterpalooza and so I'm doing a Satyr of some kind.
B: Most of what we do now are our own original characters and designs. We've just released the Komodo King Bronze Edition. It is our third bronze piece, after Ol' Scratch and Deal with the Devil. Everything looks better in Bronze!
30. Other hobbies?
J: I like to work in wood, just 2x 4's and wood screws and plywood and just make some shelves or something for the dogs, it is a happy place for me from my youth to construct something and then to have it and work on it over a couple of days.
B: Science fiction books and movies. They consume my life.
31. Favorite movie?
J: The Color Purple, The Thing.
B: Bladerunner (easiest question so far!).
32. Favorite album\artist?
J: Sinead O Conner The Lion and The Cobra
B: The Smiths, The Queen is Dead
33. Favorite book?
J: Watership Down
B: Anything by William Gibson, Ian McDonald, Neal Stephenson, or Iain M. Banks.
4. Where do you see yourself in ten years?
J: Bald as Bazinga!Bazinga!Bazinga!Bazinga!.
B: Brother of Bald as Bazinga!Bazinga!Bazinga!Bazinga!.
35. Have you ever travelled?
J: I've been to Mexico.
B: We only need to get to San Diego for Comic-Con every year. That's enough for us!
36. Favorite place to holiday?
B: Comic-Con is both business and fanboy pleasure for us.
37. What country would you love to visit?
J: Amsterdam
B: England and Japan.
38. Any hints on what you're working on currently?
J: We have things in the works with the great Concept Artist Wayne Barlowe. Also collaborations with painter Chet Zar and sculptor Paul Komoda could be coming up. The Barlowe Thype piece is cast and the ad is being created while our part of the Komoda collab has been sculpted and sent to Paul, tentatively called "Satan's Way" and will be a resin kit.
B: We have some exciting projects coming up that we are not yet allowed to talk about. For the last few years, we've been working on so much personal stuff for Shiflett Brothers Originals...the only hint I can give about the upcoming year might be... Excelsior!
J & B: Thanks To Bullseye, DROD, Galactus and all our Statueforum people. We really appreciatte the support!!
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05-29-2011, 01:18 PM
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#2
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Crush Mod
Super Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: once in SD now in NC
Posts: 8,869
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I've got to finally pick up Chloe, espically now that the next in that line was shown........................ fregging have loved the details in Chloe and think the shiflets just ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!
__________________
Recasters suck big time!
Banning is what i do best!!!!
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07-02-2011, 11:31 PM
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#3
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100,000 sperm and you were the fastest?
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1,814
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The Frazettas of sculpting!!!
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07-02-2011, 11:54 PM
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#4
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Columnist Thunder Mod
Super Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Denver Area, between Asgard and Krypton
Posts: 21,360
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The Shiffletts are the coolest dudes on the planet. Unrestrained talent, unbelievably nice guys and a hell of a lot of fun to party with. I friggin' love those guys!
Last edited by wktf; 07-04-2011 at 02:59 PM.
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07-03-2011, 03:43 PM
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#5
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Phoenix
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Silver Spring, MD
Posts: 12,143
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That unproduced Creature From The Black Lagoon is the coolest thing in the world. He must be a "Return" creature on account of the shackle around his leg. Great interview. Are we lucky or what to have these guys doin' what they do.
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07-12-2011, 10:52 AM
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#6
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Sculptor of Gods
ProducerSculptor
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ann Arbor, Mich
Posts: 4,807
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wktf
The Shiffletts are the coolest dudes on the planet. Unrestrained talent, unbelievably nice guys and a hell of a lot of fun to party with. I friggin' love those guys!
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Couldn't have said it better myself Joe... word!
__________________
--
Keith
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07-12-2011, 11:11 AM
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#7
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The Phantom
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Atlanta GA
Posts: 4,097
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I just one to say these two brothers have created some of my absolute favorite sculpts, as well as the first statue I ever purchased, Draco.
Thanks for choosing to do what you do guys. This hobby would not be the same without you.
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07-20-2011, 07:21 AM
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#8
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3 kinds of people: those who can count & those who can't.
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Nomadic tribesman
Posts: 5,075
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ComputerFly
I just one to say these two brothers have created some of my absolute favorite sculpts, as well as the first statue I ever purchased, Draco.
Thanks for choosing to do what you do guys. This hobby would not be the same without you.
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HERE HERE!
SO, WHEN will we see any of the BRos' mastery at SSc!!!!?????
Come on guyz lets us know please!
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01-17-2012, 09:24 AM
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#9
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Phoenix
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 12,830
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Awesome.
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