I think it's pretty funny that when people express an opinion other than major a$$-kissing, they get beat down for it, or their own skill get called into question, as if the only people who's opinions count are professional sculptors.
I guess most of the people on this board better stop bi+ching about TV and movies because they don't actually create comperable product.
Is Howard an excellent sculptor? Obviously. Is he perfect? Well, who is?
Recreating the human face is one of the most difficult things to do. Unless you have a frozen puss
(and I mean "face") like Paris Hilton, no one's face ever takes exactly the same picture twice, and we all have different ideas of what looks "right". And the way humans react to art is subjective, visceral and emotional.
I remember Chevy Chase coming into the Wax Museum, sitting in a set and setting up a camera to catch people commenting on his "wax figure", then he'd jump up and surprise them.
More people than not complained that it looked nothing like him.
Nothing like him???
Were they thinking Chevy should look like he did during his SNL days, or were they remembering him from "Caddyshack"? Whatever they were referencing, it wasn't the flesh & blood guy sitting 5 feet away from them.
As far as MY opinion
(for what it's worth) on the Brosnan sculpt.
The angle of the head-on pic of the sculpt may not exactly match the reference pic I'm using
(which, of course can alter perspective), but my first impression was that the head looked a little short and a little wide, and when I went looking for comparison pics, it seems to be the case.
But, the only person's opinion who really matters in this, of course, is the client.
Also, when you're working in a medium other than wax, rubber or silicone, then add sculpted hair as opposed to plunged/laid, you're going to end up with an "action figure" look as opposed to the real subject standing there. You just don't get the translucent look that real skin has.
The Hollywood Wax Museum has been using Gentle Giant technology over the past few years, when possible, to scan subjects, then have the heads made out of silicone. One of the nicer examples is Hugh Hefner:
This images.google.com link:
http://images.google.com/images?q="hollywood+wax"+hefner&gbv=2&hl=en&safe=off
...shows more of the real Hugh Hefner with his dopplganger.
Now to me, that's cheating. Regardless of the outcome, first, it ain't wax, secondly, while there's artistic skill needed to tint the "skin", lay the hair, etc., the sculpting is taken out of the equasion.
Howard does really nice work, and as long as he keeps making things he like and that others appreciate, that's awesome for all parties concerned.
I'm NOT implying that this is the case with Howard, but if all people want is brown-nosers to kiss their feet whenever they toss their pearls before us swine, they might want to just start a new site at
www.patontheback.com.
But hey...that's just me...
Steve
