My ninth book, Building Amazing Creations is now available! (Also check out my other books)
This 384-page hardcover book showcases how and why I create my work and covers a breadth of subject matter, including architecture, portraiture, animals, installations, exhibitions, and more.
Page 105:
It was important to me that you could see straight through the latticework, the way you can in real life. … I wanted to be true to the spirit of the original.
Page 342
The North American Brooklyn Buck is spotted foraging for taxis in its native habitat. One can tell from its look of consternation it is clearly thinking, “You can never get a cab when it’s snowing. I should have taken the train.”
Page 263:
Many people think my portraits must be computer-generated. Nothing could be further from the truth; they are all hand-drawn illustrations. A portrait is more than simply what someone’s nose is shaped like… it has to capture the essence of the subject, it has to have a spark, a spirit, some kind of life.
Page 41:
Color, in particular, was tricky with the lion’s eyes. We settled on a hard-to-find golden-colored radar dish as the iris of the eye, which perfectly mirrored the cool golden gaze of the real thing. And for the whiskers, I used fibre optic tubes that came in a spaceship set in the late 1990s.
Page 358:
A picture is worth a thousand words! My assistants and I make drawings to communicate our ideas with each other. We have to think about how the sculpture will be attached to its base, how large of a crate it will need, and many other things that are external to just building the model itself.
Page 270:
It seems that society puts very little emphasis on exploring one’s creative side. We are taught that good students excel in serious subjects like math, science, history, economics, and engineering, and that lazy students take auto shop, drawing, and sewing. We are taught that to be “successful”, we must get good school grades in serious subjects, and then go and get a good job at a good company.
Page 324
My sculptures always start off as ideas and drawings; I have always loved to draw. All of my assistants are artists as well. We research and draw as we explore how to capture the emotion of whatever we are creating. … For this sculpture, I wanted the baby bears to be cute and playful.
