Discover the comic book and horror goodie-filled studio of fantasy sculpting duo Brandon and Jarrod Shiflett.
Nerds paradise: The Shiflett's have a space to envy
Our studio is a big mash-up of practical work space and a collection of all the things that inspire us. It's important for us to keep the statues, books and images that you see here around us, to remind us why it is we do what we do.
Blade Runner has been a huge influence on the brothers
We used to rent studio space, but now work out of our house – so we can just roll out of bed and get sculpting!
The Shiflett's use Super Sculpey Firm as their material of choice
The tools of the trade are vital to us and you can see them all around us, in every direction. We use some big electrical tools for cutting pieces apart or for constructing bases, but the important tools in our arsenal are the sculpting tools.
2014 Spectrum Gold Award for Dimensial work awarded to the brothers
We have ball tools, loop tools, old tools given to us by dentists, and most importantly for us, a piece called a burnisher, with which we do most of our work. A large supply of watercolour paintbrushes also comes in handy for applying alcohol to smooth imperfections out of the clay and to apply petroleum jelly, which allows soft, unbaked Super Sculpey to adhere to the hard, baked stuff.
Simon Lee's sculpture of one of the brothers' characters
And of course, not all the cool statues in and around our studio are our work! We proudly display the work of heroes and friends of ours, including Japanese master Takayuki Takeya, Paul Komoda, Hollywood sculpting icon Jordu Schell, Bryan Wynia, Simon "Spiderzero" Lee, Missmonster, Yuji Oniki, Greek sculpting freak Aris Kolokontes, and others.
It's always good to have plenty of inspirational references
We keep all the fantasy and sci-fi and classical art books we’ve ever collected in our studio and will turn to these for reference at a moment's notice. Studying Rodin late at night always helps!
An original Frank Frazetta sketch, a gift to the brothers from Spectrum publishers
We also collect portfolios and sketchbooks of two-dimensional artists (yes, 2D artists are artists, too!) that we look up to, easily within reach. This group includes Claire Wendling, Travis Charest, Simon Bisley, Frank Frazetta and Moebius. If you're having a bad night, and you pull down a Moebius book… ta-dah! Instant inspiration.
A print of the work of the French sculpting witch, Virginie Ropars
Lastly, we have our studio mates (not pictured), all of the canine variety: Little Red, Scar, Hoss, Zoe, Max and Watson. They are only interested in clay if they think it's food and we like having them around because they are never, ever critical of our work.
The brothers sculpted a Venom vs Spiderman statue for Bowen Designs and Marvel Comics
Brandon and Jarrod Shiflett are comic book sculpting nerds who sculpt nerdy stuff. They live in Texas, with herds of pirate dogs, listening to Kate Bush and pondering their chances of taking over the world, one fantasy sculpture at a time. This article originally appeared in ImagineFX issue 117.
