LMC: Any work out there that blew you away?
RL:
TOO MANY TO
NAME AND EXCUSE ME IF I MISS YOU !!
 Of
course Bottin’s THING FX did, and more importantly, they were shot
well by Carpenter.
The
dino’s from
Stan’s are incredible, and intimidating in person, even when you
know they are not real
Bakers “Harry” was
incredibly expressive and totally believable.
Steve Johnson's shop puts out great creatures
for films that usually aren't as good as it's creatures.
Mark Shostrom and
KNB’s work on the Evil Dead films
Ray Harryhausens
body of work.
All involved with the sadly missed Boss films studio, they had a
great talent pool.
LMC:
Talk about SquidzKitz.
RL:
They have been happy
with all my kits, and I'll keep sending them as long as people want
them. They carry things that aren’t so mainstream and have been done
to death.
LMC: Which kits
really sell well?
RL: My Mr. Barlow seems to be the best crowd pleaser. He was always
my favorite Nosferatu interpretation. Look for reviews of some of
them in the next issue of Amazing Figure Modeler or just go to
www.SQUIDZKITZ.COM,
there should be updates frequently on upcoming kits
 LMC:
Which kit is your favorite?
RL:
I don’t really have
A favorite, I end up doing characters that I have not liked previous
kits of or ones that haven’t been done before, I like weird stuff. I
plan on doing a 3 character set from THE RAVEN.
I was very happy
with the Norman Bates, I had seen others of him but he was always in
that dress with the knife. I wanted to do a bust of him “normal” His
expressions were creepy enough.
I am also happy with
my possessed girl bust, most I’ve seen look too monsterous
 LMC:
You do sculpting of all sizes (models on up), what do you enjoy the
most?
RL:
I like it all , all
clays, all sizes. It is equally challenging to me doing scale work
and getting correct form in both.
Right now Wed clay
and
www.Monsterclub.com ProClay are my favorites
The ProClay doesn’t get your hands all messy like some other clays,
and I can work quickly with it, and you cant beat Wed for speed and
ease.
LMC:
You do a lot of tribute masks, is this more for the money or do you
enjoy recreating some of those old icons?
RL:
Trust me its
not for money, I'm barely breaking even if that!! , and doing such a
small edition of any character, its not a production situation.
I take pride in my
work and can’t let anything out of my hands until I would be happy
with it if I bought it. I wish I had help but I am too much of a
quality control freak.
LMC: Who is the typical mask collector out there and what do they
want?
RL:
I don’t think there
is anything typical about a mask collector, they all must be
mentally askew !! LIKE ME !!
Seriously, there is a fan base out there for everything, and I
collected masks for a time, I’ve always liked them but stopped when
everything became so cheap and cheesy.
LMC:
What about collecting some from Indie makers in this day and age who
still strive for quality?
RL:
Once and a while I will pick up a kit or bust from someone else. I
usually tell myself that I could make my own__fill in the blank__,
but of course I rarely find time to do it. It saves me money
thinking that way, and cuts down on the clutter…somewhat…sort of.
LMC:
Do you think the indie mask world is improving and breaking new
ground, or stagnating, or just too small? How can it attract new
collectors?
RL:
Its always been sort of an underground scene, but it can be
expensive depending on the quality or rarity of each piece. Don’t
worry the collectors will come out of their caves and coffins !!
LMC:
Where do you find the time for all these endeavors? Masks, FX
career, models, regular life?
RL:
I usually
have 3 or more things going at the same time, I have to commit to
getting things done. If I didn’t enjoy expressing myself through
these things I would stop.
Regular life………regular life………WHATS THAT ?? I’m usually on self
appointed lock down to get things done, but occasionally I escape
for a movie or party, usually Halloween parties.
LMC:
What has been your favorite character to work on movies or otherwise
and why?
 RL:
I probably have enjoyed my Halloween costumes more than anything,
because I get to wear the product and interact with people. I had a
blast being Austin Powers in his space suit at Steve Johnson’s
Halloween party a few years back , I made a full size Mini Me out
of silicone to carry around with me. I was Slimer and a They Live
Alien at Todd Masters party the past couple years, a lot of fun !!!
 LMC:
Oh man, I’ll bet the competition at an FX Halloween party is fierce
J
RL:
It's usually just a lot
of people having a great time, some go all out, others don’t.
Usually we are too busy or too broke to do our own costumes at
Halloween, but I have seen some really cool ones. Ben FRANKLENSTEIN
was a great one that comes to mind, I should remember more but I
tend to be a little too thirsty at Halloween :) Some of you might
remember Slimer falling down a lot at Todd Masters a couple years
back, probably looked pretty funny!
If there is a prize, it usually goes to the person you’d least
expect to win, or someone who had a more crowd pleasing idea, even
if it took them less time to do their costume than you. Its all for
fun.
LMC:
What has been your favorite movie (TV show) in general to work on
and why?
RL:
Probably Jurassic
Park 3, I thought everything looked great and I liked the film
Time Machine was a
maddening but enjoyable experience.
At Optic Nerve, I
also did some work for the A.D.A.M. character on Buffy, I liked him
a lot.
 LMC:
Let’s talk about some of your movies. What did you do on AI?
RL:
I painted appliance pieces for the welder robot, that was a busy
show !!, and I liked it more than most people seemed to. I have
never seen so much stuff going on before, robots parts, make ups,
dummy bodies, tons of fx artists working like bees.
LMC:
Time Machine
 CL:
Along side a great group of talented people, I was all over the
place on that, I painted, sculpted, fabricated and puppeteered.
Another film that turned out better than I expected, I love the
original ( check out my Flesh Eater bust )
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