Time for another artist interview! This is one
of my favorite sculptors creating items that I personally collect.
The sculptor is none other than the massively talented Tim Miller
of
T.K. Miller Sculpting. This
talent is one who folks most likely have an item or two within
their
The Lord of the Rings collections and for sure if
they collect items from the
MARVEL Universe. I wanted to
take the time for you all to get to know a little more about this
great talent, especially since he truly knows how to bring
Middle-Earth to life.
As I said, you probably have items from sculpted by Mr. Miller
within your collection of
The Lord of the Rings. Tim has
been responsible for bringing to life characters such as Gandalf
the Grey, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, and my personal favorite,
dwarf Gimli, son of Gloin. These items range from Sideshow
Collectibles 1:6th action figure line to the new statue line. The
latest item from Mr. Miller is the
Gimli, son of Gloin statue
which we just reviewed recently and is a great example of Mr.
Miller’s skill.
1. Tim, Can you tell us how you got into sculpting and what
do you enjoy about being able to make these pieces feel as if
they’re part of the real world?
It was a total fluke. Bear in mind, I never took any art classes in
school, but I was constantly doodling. My senior year of college
(B.S. in Biology) I was working every campus job available
including the art gallery on campus. I’d helped with an
installation of Americana through Puppetry, and during the opening
of the show, I met a bunch of puppeteers and special effects
artists from ILM, CWI, and M5. I started hanging out with a few of
them, got involved with the local puppetry scene, and shortly after
college I got hired by a small effects company and sculpting house
as a shop monkey. I saw that the sculptors had the coolest gig, so
I’d go home after work and play with Super Sculpy. Five years later
I went freelance and almost immediately began doing a large portion
of the portrait work for McFarlane Design Group.
As for what I enjoy about the work, I’d say it’s the whole process.
I especially enjoy problem solving, and figuring out weird
engineering of a piece is a joy. My wife would tell you I’m
notorious for taking on complex projects and Gimli is an excellent
example of this.
2. Can you point to any one particular artist who has most
influenced you, or the direction your career has taken? And which
of your contemporaries would you list amongst your personal
favorites?
Kamela Portuges. She’s a co-owner of the small shop I got my start
in, and she was sought out by companies like Galoob for her ability
to translate celebrity portraits into a Barbie style. She’s the
sculptor responsible for most of the Spice Girl dolls or the Pamela
Anderson Barbie. She was merciless in her pursuit of perfection and
really drove me to accept nothing less the sublime in my own work.
It’s probably for this same reason that I’m never truly satisfied
with any of my pieces.
I’ve always had a great respect for Clayburn Moore, and Mark Newman
and Trevor Grove are also big favorites. Brandon and Jarrod
Shiflett are amazing, and Jordu Schell is awe-inspiring. I won’t
mention Randy Hand, because he’s not worth mentioning.
3. The Lord of the Rings has been around for over 50 years
now and has become a major part in many fans lives. When did you
first become familiar with Middle-Earth and what have you taken
away from reading or watching the happenings in that
world?
I’m not sure if it was third or fourth grade, but a teacher played
the old Rankin/ Bass Hobbit movie in class, and I was hooked. I
must have read all of the books by the time I was in seventh grade,
saw the Ralph Bakshi film when it first hit theaters, I was a total
nerd for LOTR as a kid, so getting to work on Sideshow’s line has
been an absolute joy. I told my wife if I were offered a sculpting
gig on The Hobbit she could at least come for a visit in New
Zealand.
4. Tim, You’re well known for sculpting HFB (Hot Flossy
Babes) but have also done several items from The Lord of the Rings
(Sam, Frodo, and Gandalf the Grey 1:6th figures). However, Gimli is
your first statue from The Lord of the Rings. How much more complex
was this piece to do than your other projects from
Middle-Earth?
Gimli is probably the most complex piece I’ve ever sculpted. EVER!
There were times that I’d contemplated growing my hair just to pull
it out. He wasn’t without his missteps either. At one point, I’d
toyed with the idea of doing the chainmail and the leather braiding
as texture pads, or even as casted bits to lay up over and over. I
never got it to work though so everything had to be done by hand,
link by link, and braid by braid. It was extremely
time-consuming.
5. Is there one character among all the amazing characters
in Middle-Earth you want to get your hands on? Who is this
character and why are you looking forward to sculpting
him/her?
I’d LOVE to sculpt the Mouth of Sauron! I’m not really sure why,
maybe it’s because I’ve got a big mouth and feel some affinity for
him.
6. There is an obvious challenge in doing HFB making sure
they look good and capture what needs to be captured. Is the
pressure similar in anyway or how different is it to do so with
something like Gimli?
I think there’s just as much pressure with fan-favorite characters
like Gimli, maybe even more. Let’s face it, there are plenty of
poorly sculpted female figures out there, but as long as there’s a
pair of boobs (or sometimes more than just a pair) and a booty,
someone’s going to buy it.
With characters from film, there’s always going to be a level of
scrutiny that’s sometimes nearly impossible to stand up to. For
example, when Sideshow first put up pictures of the Kit Fisto I
sculpted for their Star Wars line, someone on one of the online
forums had put up comparison shots of the actor in makeup next to
photos of my sculpt within ten minutes of it going online. Fans can
be brutal if a sculptor doesn’t get everything absolutely correct.
So yeah, the pressure’s on.
7. Tim, What is the hardest part for you as a sculptor in
order to bring these characters to life? Do you do anything to help
make it easier? Say, watch some of the movies, read the comics to
get things down.
I think sometimes the hardest thing about the work is recognizing
that I’m not going to ever be completely satisfied. Good reference
helps though. We had great material directly from Newline Cinema,
but while working on Gimli, I probably watched each of the movies
all the through at least ten times, oftentimes pausing on a
particular shot for hours at a time. I once watched all three
movies back to back just to see what the tread of Gimli’s boot
looked like.
8. One of the great things about the statue line is they
don’t capture exact screen captures of the characters. How does
this aide you as a sculptor in anyway or does it actually make
things harder for you?
I’m sure for many sculptors it’s a boon to have the flexibility of
not doing a specific shot, but I like having an absolute to work
from. Many times I’d be thinking, ‘Okay, so if he’s in this kind of
pose, how is this particular element of the costume going to react,
flow, drape?’ When you’re working from a screen-cap, the math is
done for you.
9. What is it like as a sculptor see something you’ve
created be so loved by the fans of that license? Gimli has been
well received and we know folks love your HFB.
It’s a relief.
10. Finally, If you could be any character from within
Middle-Earth whom would you choose to be? Following that up why
would you choose to be this character?
Duh! Aragorn of course, because he’s the king!