The Gnomon Workshop

by Travis Bourbeau

GW: So, Jarrod and Brandon – comic book geeks at heart?

Jarrod: Total comic book geeks at heart. We’ve always called ourselves “Comic Book Sculptors” as opposed to something more pretentious. We grew up on comic books and we understand comic books and their characters. I think we are actually failed comic book artists, who just wanted to draw The X-Men, but weren’t good enough.

Brandon: Jarrod has said he wants “Comic Book Sculptor” on his tombstone. We’re not sculptors from some other discipline trying to understand this industry. We grew up on comics, and comics inform everything we do, even our original work. We’ve also developed an artistic shorthand with each other based on comic art. I might say to Jarrod, “Make it more Sienkiewicz” or “Give this sculpt more of a Moebius feel.”

GW: How did you get into sculpting and what kind of work are you doing these days?

B: It was really sorta accidental. We have no formal art training. Once we realized we could sculpt a little, we locked ourselves into our rooms for about a year and a half, just working on getting better. Then we sculpted some comic characters, still really having no idea what we were doing, using the wrong materials, and brought these pieces to the art show at the San Diego Comic-Con. People started calling us to hire us soon after. It really was that simple.

J: A big turning point for us was seeing a dinosaur sculptor named John Fischner at these Texas comic book conventions. He was working in papier-mache and would have dragons and dinos fighting and so every con he would have a couple of new pieces. I remember once he had made a large Queen Alien for someone and we rode the elevator down with him as he was carrying it to the customer, there was an energy as he walked it across the convention floor.

GW: You guys have managed to work together for the life of your career. Does it ever get difficult dealing with your sibling? Do you push each other? How do you function as one?

J: Brandon creates a lot of drama, I tacked this sign up in his workroom that says ‘Melrose Place’ and he left it up for like 6 months. Seriously, its the most minimal amount of friction you can imagine, I can count the really big arguments on one hand. And I won each of those arguments if I recall.

B: Many pieces we both work on, other pieces we art direct each other. I’m great at looking over his shoulder and telling him how he’s screwing it up. Seriously,  we basically have exactly the same aesthetic. If I look through an art book and list the 10 pieces I really like, Jarrod will go through the book and list the exact same 10 pieces. So artistically, there are virtually no disagreements. We’re always surprised by the shock people have that we can work together as brothers. Its never been a problem for us.

GW: Do you have any formal training? How do you keep yourself from burning out?

J: No formal training, but maybe I wish we had, it might have saved us a lot of time. What’s great nowadays is the way the Internet can provide so much info and really fast-forward people through what might be a couple of years of guessing and possibly using the wrong materials and stuff. Burn out is scary, as a professional you do have to sculpt sometimes when you don’t feel like it, but hey we just try to keep it all in perspective, the worst day sculpting isn’t really that bad, right? It sounds counter- intuitive but I will start another sculpt, this somehow releases stress for me, then when I get tired of working on the new sketch I can go back to the old one and feel like hell this one’s almost done!

B: We’re a bit envious of the people with great formal training and proficiency at what they do. Clayburn Moore for instance, who was a bit of a mentor to us early in our careers, studied sculpture in Europe. And it shows. He’s very, very good. We, on the other hand, just sorta make it all up as we go along. We always say, “Clay studied in Europe, we studied in 1980s X-Men Comics.”

GW: What artists have you been excited to work with? What projects have been your favorite to work on?

J: Man we have been lucky, we co-sculpted a couple of pieces with Alex Ross… that was really rad. He called us at one point and wanted us to sculpt his father as Norman from Kingdom Come. We were like Alex you can probably do this, but we didn’t argue. We also did an Earth X Captain America with him. Right now we are psyched to be working with Wayne Barlowe, sculpting his original character, Thype, from his classic book Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials.  We have been big fans of his forever so in our nerd minds it’s an absolute dream project.

B: Yeah, the Barlowe project has been a blast, because we grew up on his stuff. We were also pumped to work with David Mack on a Kabuki statue and Matt Wagner on a Grendel Prime statue (our comic book roots showing again). Also, collaborating with statue industry legends like Clayburn Moore and Randy Bowen has been really good for us. Both of those guys have been super supportive of us and our careers.

GW: What types of materials do you use in your work?

J: We use a polymer clay called Super Sculpey Firm, it bakes in a conventional oven and can be carved, sanded and it has a lot of properties that we like. Nowadays there are a ton of materials to choose from like Castilene, Plasticine, WED clay , and Fimo. It’s important we think to try a little bit of everything and see what suits your needs and likes since everyone is trying to achieve something different.

B: A lot of companies like you to use wax or different mediums these days, but we love Super Sculpey. It works for us.

GW: When did you see the possibility of creating sculptures full time for pay as a viable reality?

B: It still might not be a viable reality for Jarrod. He works slow and his sculptures are sloppy. I kinda carry him like a dead weight.

GW: How much freedom do companies like Marvel give you with the work you produce?

B: Not enough. On the one hand, these companies rely on our knowledge of the characters. They don’t need to tell us what the Juggernaut’s all about, because Jarrod has a little shrine to the Juggernaut in his house. On the other hand, many of these guys want a cookie cutter look. They don’t want a cool new interpretation. They want the most watered down look that will appeal to the most possible statue fans. Generally, they want things more Marvel Universe Handbook and less crazy Simon Bisley (or Shiflett Brothers) interpretation.

GW: How much interest do you have in traditional sculpture as opposed to fantasy art?

B: We study classical sculptors. That’s about as far as our interest in other types of sculpture goes. We’re not about to start sculpting ballerinas, clowns, or people’s kids.

J: Everything we do is genre related. I try and consistently ask “Is this hardcore enough?” By which I mean, “Is this hardcore Sci-Fi or hardcore Fantasy enough?” That’s want I would like our stuff to be. We would much rather hang out with the fantasy artists. I give everything a battle axe because that’s what I’m into. A dude without an axe would look cooler with an axe. A dude with one axe would look cooler with two axes. Or like any cool animal will look even cooler with dragon wings, I mean in a general way that could be our philosophy.

GW: What are some of the best ways to exaggerate anatomy or add interest to a character?

J: Triceps! I like to do big triceps and shoulders, then make the face something you wouldn’t expect like a calm demeanor. The eyes and hands are what people look at first almost in a microsecond so those are crucial in getting the gesture and feel. Also the stance, get one foot out in front of the other or even better on different levels like stepping up or over something. Standing is so boring – give a twist or hunch a sculpt over for a lil’ fun.

GW: You have become the influence for many aspiring young artists. Who are your inspirations and how have they, if at all, changed from when you started in the industry?

J: Hey thanks, wow that makes me feel old! Brandon will always be older than me though. Frazetta and Moebius we both love. For me personally I would say Simon Bisley was a huge influence on the way I like to try and interpret anatomy, what I think looks cool is stuff that reminds me of a BIZ Lobo.  I also love the work of Mark Texeira, specifically the Sabretooth limited series he did. We always see him at the con and I try to tell him what he meant to us, but what can you really say except “Hey man you were a huge influence on me”? Luckily, he’s a super nice guy.

B: We’re still really fanboys at heart. We are affected hugely by our artistic heroes. In 2D, our influences include Frank Frazetta, Moebius, Bill Siekiewicz, and Wayne Barlowe. More recently, we love the work of comic book artist Travis Charest, painter Jon Foster, and concept designers Carlos Huante and Daphne Yap. Three dimensionally speaking, our biggest influences are our Japanese heroes, Takayuki Takeya, Yasushi Nirasawa, and Yuji Oniki. We’re huge fans of Jordu Schell as well. I pay homage to many of these people…Jarrod just rips them off.

GW: What keeps you in Texas with so much of the industry in California?

B: Jarrod’s a Momma’s Boy. He won’t leave. We’ve found that with digital photos, the internet, and a little help from FedEx, you can really do it from anywhere.

GW: What are your thoughts about the work artists are doing in apps like ZBrush these days? How do you think they could benefit from working in clay?

J: We’ve got to try some ZBrush. I just saw a Rick Baker Wolfman in ZBrush that freaked me out.  It’s all a trip. Honestly Brandon is the tech guy. If one of us masters ZBrush first, I predict it will be him. The technology is growing so quickly. I’m sure that at some point we will have to jump in.

B: Hey, more power to those guys who can do that. I think I still need the clay. It’s like a security blanket. I can’t believe using clay sorta makes us old school now! But there are a lot of happy accidents that happen with a physical sculpture that you can push, pull, drop, and bang around that might not happen with those programs. Again, though, I applaud the guys who can do it…their work blows me away.

GW: How has the 3d print market affected the work you guys are doing for the comic industry?

J: Not much, because there are so many different sculptors who use various techniques, we are so incredibly slow we could never compete with the fast guys anyway. There is honestly always someone better and quicker, with our online forum we moderate we see them every time we sign on. We love seeing all kinds of sculpts, all the different ways they’re produced is pretty interesting to us.

GW: You guys have run an online sculpting forum for years. What’s that all about?

B: Its a very laid back place, where pros and amateurs alike gather, show work, and talk shop. Its really cool for up-and-coming sculptors because some real statue industry badasses come in like Paul Komoda, Simon Lee, Randy Bowen, and lots of others.

GW: You have your own line of sculptures for sale. Could you tell us a little about them?

B: We have a line of original concept bronzes, pre-paint statues, and resin kits that are released under the banner of “Shiflett Brothers’ Originals”. We’ve been thrilled with the response to these pieces. Our original stuff takes up most of our time now and its been a total blast. We’re not constrained by anyone else’s opinion of what our stuff should be. We’re having an especially fun time with the bronzes. Everything looks better in bronze!

J: This is the greatest time of our careers because our original work has really taken off. No matter how cool a Hulk sculpture is, you know that people really love it because it’s the Hulk. We’re really incredibly flattered and proud when people love characters of our own creation.

B: We wanna thank you guys for your interest in our work. We’ve been huge fans of Gnomon for years, so we really appreciate Alex, Travis, and others for reaching out to us. We’re honored and humbled. Thanks so much!

To see more of the Shiflett Brothers’ work, go to: www.shiflettbrothers.com

The Shiflett Brothers are teaching a Master Class this November. To get more information about Gnomon Master Classes and sign up visit: www.gnomonschool.com/master