Brain Theft Studio Sculpture Blog

2012-01-10T20:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a sculpting update. LOL ok I swear I'm gonna have a decent post coming up. I have a bunch of new work to show. Just gotta find the time to organize all this nonsense!

Skateboard Sculptures

2011-04-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are looking for my skateboarding sculptures, please visit Sculpt or Die.
http://skatesculpt.blogspot.com/

Drawing...Painting??? No way!

2011-02-03T21:35:00.000-08:00

Obviously haven't updated for a while. Recently been doodling around in Photoshop. I used to be really in to painting. I love the work of the 19th century French traditional painters. If you've never heard of Theodule Augustin Ribot, go check him out. Anyway here's me playing around and doing something other than sculpting... although I will have sculpting updates very soon!

Digital Sculpting

2010-10-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

Without going in to all the positives and negatives of sculpting digitally (as they have been hashed out over and over at this point) I will say that I found it advantageous to learn the process. There are certain things that can be done digitally now that have made hands on fabricating obsolete. Especially when it comes to hard edge symmetrical modeling and weapon fabrication. There is no point even trying to do that stuff by hand anymore when it can be done so easily and cost effectively in 3d programs. Anyway this monster I'm showing here is completely of my own creation and was the first 'complete' digital project that I tackled. I had it printed by Ownage. It was definitely a learning experience and I can already see things that will approach differently next time. But overall I would call the experiment a success. I finished this model after studying ZBrush and Maya intensely over a 3 week time period. I then modeled this over the span of a week, learning as I went. At times I was so frustrated I nearly gave up on digital modeling all together but in the end I think it was worth it. I see myself doing this a lot more in the future. To be honest I will always prefer the old wax and dental tool methods but for commercial work, no one can deny that digital modelling is the future of the collectibles industry.

Mark Gonzales Sculpture

2010-10-14T07:48:00.000-07:00

For the most part I'm pleased with how this turned out. I may come back and tweak the portrait when I find better reference. And yes the pants were very difficult to lay the decals on. If anyone has any ideas on how to make a sculpture levitate... let me know. Thanks for stopping by.

Casca finally finished

2010-09-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

Here are better pics of the Casca sculpt form Berserk. I'm selling a very limited quantity of these. Please e-mail if you're interested. Thanks

New York Comic Con - October 8-10, 2010!!

2010-09-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

Hey all. Come visit the Brain Theft booth at the NY Comic Con. Just a week away! I'm going to have several of my sculptures there and it should be a good time. Hopefully I won't be falling asleep at my desk from all these looooong days I'm putting in trying to finish everything. I've never even been to a convention before so this is gonna be really interesting. Anyway make sure you drop by.

Here is my latest sculpture. The man, the legend Mark Gonzales. One of the most creative and influential skaters of all time. Possibly the only skater that is so cool, he can just ride his board down the street and it's an art form. Yeah he still needs a few extremities but he'll be finished soon and he'll be with me at Comic Con! Thanks for stopping by!

2010-05-13T05:36:00.000-07:00

King Arthur. In various stages of completion.

John Cardiel Sculpture

2010-02-01T09:18:00.000-08:00

Here's my latest skateboard related sculpt. John Cardiel is a very inspirational dude. As Mark Gonzales put it, "He's an original ripper... he's an original Coors."

Casca (from Berserk)

2010-01-17T15:21:00.000-08:00

This is the first anime/manga style sculpt I've done. It was very challenging. In fact it drove me to the brink of my sanity. I believe it was worth my agony though. At this point it is not quite finished. I still want to slim down the legs a little. Then I'll have to finish the sword and scabbard.
The character is named Casca. She's from the Berserk manga by Kentaro Miura. It's a crazy story with a very involved plot and lots of interesting characters. You'll have to read it to find out more! ;) Hope you like her.

Been a while...

2009-12-04T21:38:00.000-08:00

Ridiculous that I haven't updated this thing recently! But it's been for good reasons. I've been extremely busy with my art. And that means that I've been doing well since getting let go from McFarlane. Trust me, I've had my sleepless nights trying to figure out how to pay the mortgage but as time goes by, I miss my old job less and less. I'm realizing that I don't need Todd McFarlane to pay me anymore!
Since leaving TMP in June I've done quite a bit of work for other companies. Mainly for a young company named ARH. It's owned by a young artist named Arahom Radjah. He's a great guy and he has given me the kind of opportunity I needed to jump start my career post McFarlane. Here are the pieces I've done for him so far...
SWAT Officer-

Firefighter-

Soldier-

It's been a great experience so far working with Arahom and I hope we can maintain a business relationship for years to come. If you haven't checked out arhstatues.com yet, GO NOW! Like I said before, it's a young company, it's growing quickly and I believe it will be a force in the industry for a long time. Arahom actually suffered a terrible tragedy when his studio caught fire, destroying a lot of his work and killing his dog. He bounced back quickly though and proved to everyone that he's here to stay. And I plan to help as much as I can! Keep your eyes open for more of my work soon. Perseus and King Arthur... Here's to the future!

2009-05-09T16:13:00.000-07:00

I've been passionate about skateboarding since the age of 15. I spent a good part of my youth doing nothing BUT skateboarding. Of course, like a lot of other kids, I wanted to become a sponsored skater. I wasn't too bad at it but I certainly didn't have the chops to go pro. Here's a vid!

So as the years went by I started to take my art more seriously and skateboarding fell down my list of priorities a bit. I've NEVER stopped skating but I just don't have the time for it I once did. In effort to come up with some sculptures that I did outside of McFarlane, I decided to sculpt a few skaters. The first one I tackled was my all time favorite Jamie Thomas. I sent photos of it to Jamie's company as the sculpture progressed. He was impressed enough with it that he asked if I would let him have it. He took it down to Texas with him and had it auctioned off at the Johnny Romano skate jam. Jamie actually won the bidding on the sculpt and he now owns it! The sculpture was also shown in the January '09 issue of Transworld skate magazine. This was an awesome experience for me! It was the first sculpture that I completed ENTIRELY on my own. I did the rough sculpt, the detailing, the paint, the decals and the fabricating on the base and the skateboard.

The second skateboarder I sculpted was Steve Caballero. He actually commissioned me to sculpt him after seeing the sculpture of Jamie Thomas. I couldn't believe it! Steve's a legend! I was so happy with the result when I finished it. Once again, this sculpt was done completely by me. This thing was a lot of fun to paint! Steve loved the final product and sent me a bunch of super rare skate swag. It was an experience I will never forget.

2009-05-08T18:51:00.000-07:00

Sculpts completed while employed by McFarlane...
HALO Jumper

Bernie Parent

2009-05-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

Some more pieces I did at McFarlane...
Dany Heatley

Demarcus Ware

Steve Young

Spawn (one of many)

2009-05-06T20:49:00.001-07:00

This Nightmare Spawn was very entertaining to sculpt. Definitely one of my favorite projects at McFarlane.

Getting Started.. My Art.

2008-09-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

Hi folks. I'm just getting this rolling so that I can begin making connections and continue to advance my career as an artist.
Here's a little info about me. I was born and raised in Pennsylvania in the suburbs of Philly. My parents are both artists. My mom is a great land scape painter and my father has been working as a sculptor for 30 years. He has done some very high profile portrait work for Tonner and the Franklin Mint. Aside from winning Doll of the Year three times, he is also an established classical oil painter. My brother is a blossoming author currently residing in south east Asia where he teaches English.
I stumbled my way through public high-school and failed art! I nearly did not graduate. Admittedly I was very distracted by skateboarding. Upon graduating, I took a job at a department store. I hated it so much it convinced me that I had to do something more with my life. I decided to fall back on my art. I ended up enrolling at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia. I was very happy there. I painted and sculpted non-stop. I felt like I had finally found my niche. Upon graduating I worked for about a year selling land-scape paintings and doing commission work. I decided I wanted to get married (to my girl-friend of 2 years) so I needed to find gainful employment. To make a long story short, I submitted my portfolio to McFarlane Toys and they hire me in June 2003.
My employment at McFarlane has been quite an adventure. Needless to say I was very inexperienced when I was hired. In fact I spent a good portion of the first year I was there sculpting nothing but shoes and gloves for athletes. I slowly worked my way up though. I had the honor of working with and being trained by some major industry heavy-weights. Jean St Jean, Mike Locascio, and Andy Frank to name a few. I have had the opportunity to work on hundreds of varied projects. From monsters, to athletes, TV personalities, and comic book characters. There is very little that I have not had some experience with.
As of June 2009, I will no longer be employed at McFarlane Toys. Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, the company has found itself in a position where a major restructuring was needed. It's no secret that the terrible economic recession had a large part to play in this. This has led to the layoff of nearly ALL of the in-house artists. Unfortunately my job is among these. It was a great ride while it lasted.

So here's to the future! I'm now a freelance artist. I'm hanging out my shingle. I'm a young, motivated artist that is looking for a chance to prove myself with other companies and individuals willing to tap my abilities. I enjoy being challenged and I look forward to expanding my experience. Thanks for looking!!