Swamp Orc

This sculpture was done with a very specific reference, and I love this piece a lot.

To this very day, this sculpture is one of my favorites. That is pretty uncommon—usually, as in most work we do, we don't like the early work much, but this one stands out. I think it is in my top three favorites to this day. The reason is that, without planning it, I feel like I succeeded in some very "subtle" things that give me a new feeling when looking at it: it sucks me right into the scene. Getting pulled in like that—really feeling the world and the creature in your imagination—is a very fun experience. The posture and that feeling of movement mark the first time I felt like I succeeded in capturing a specific moment in a complete scene. Even though Venom is a diorama, I don't feel like I captured the moment in that scene as much as I did with the Swamp Orc. I think it all came together because those subtle details were done properly: capturing the movement in the exact moment, and the expression.

There are some things which I don't like as much, like the paint job. I attempted painted lighting for the first time, and it just wasn't executed well enough.

Nevertheless, from this sculpture onward, I started paying more attention to scenery and expression rather than just the realism of the world. The creature isn't just placed in the world—it's doing something in that exact moment. It's thinking of something, and subtly (or obviously) interacting with its environment.