THE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW |
 I'm here with Greg Sarabia also known as Spawnsauce, welcome to the Custom Spotlight Interview. Tell us a little bit about your work with action figures. Q. How did you get into the field and what is the attraction to action figures for you? A. “ Action figures are just one of those things that I never grew out of, even if my collecting habits tend towards the higher end collectibles, they’re still toys. As for customizing I remember seeing a 6 inch Magneto figure online one day that I wasn’t familiar with and I just had to know where it came from. A few clicks later and I was introduced to custom action figures and I just wanted to learn everything I could about the figures, how they were made, and the people responsible. I read through every tutorial I could find, learned the names of those in the customizing world as well as their work and figured that I could and should give it a shot. There is just something about having your favorite character in plastic form that you would carry around as a kid that is still appealing to me. And yes the word ‘art’ is and will always be present at this level but I never forget the toy DNA present in all of my custom figures. ” Q. Customizing usually involves a lot of painting, sculpting, and use of tools to modify or fabricate pieces. Do you have any history in artistic creation or was Customizing more of a learning experience? |
A. “ Yes, this goes back to the attraction. I’ve always been an artist, mainly self-taught and when I
saw what other people were doing with their figures I wanted to try it right away to see what
could come up with. I looked at what materials and processes other customizers were using and
stayed within that very basic framework at first. It wasn’t until later that I started to experiment
and my own style started to develop. But it took years of practice and patience with materials at a
small scale, and I guess I’ve always been lucky when it comes to artistic pursuits so things like
painting and sculpting have always come naturally. This is not to say that there was no learning
involved, I’m constantly learning new techniques on any given project or some new material the I
saw somewhere and wanted to incorporate. This is something that will always be with me I think,
and it can be overwhelming walking into a hardware store and imagining uses for all of the bits
and pieces I can get my hands on.”
Q. How would you best describe your artistic process?
A. “ I would say that the process is about 40% working time and 60% thinking/research time.
What I mean by that is trying to visualize what the end product is going to look like, something I do if even I’m painting on canvas or sculpting an object. When it comes to customizing I like to
do things that no one has done or attempted before, at least at this 6 inch scale. Because of this, I
don’t really have anyone else’s work to look at. Sure someone may have worked on a figure and
struggled with a particular detail and I will see that and might glean some information from that,
but I try and stay away from what’s been done and think outside the box. Also, most of the
characters I work on simply do not exist in a 3 dimensional form somewhere, whether they are
video game characters in which I will work off of renders or comic book characters. I like to
make figures of characters that have never had figures made of them; it’s more of a challenge to
bring something into ‘our world’ that has only existed on a page or in a video game world.
Once I get to work physically, I always find a suitable base figure or pieces, sand everything down and then sculpt over or add mixed media elements. I always prefer to have none of the original figure showing if possible. The last step is always painting and that usually makes or breaks the figure. But from start to finish there is always that mental aspect as I sit and stare at a figure, sometimes for minutes on end without even touching it, just thinking of what I going to do and how I’m going to do it. ”
Q. What types of paint, sculpting media, or special tools do you commonly use or would
A. “ My personal tools and materials that I’ve grown accustomed to are:
AVES FIXIT sculpt and Games Workshop paints I always recommend, but the rest is just stuff
that I’ve picked up over the years to serve specific functions and that’s going to be something
different for everyone I think. “
Q.What inspires you on your designs?
A. ” I’ve always been a fan of real-world designs and I think that’s why newer depictions of
characters appeal to me. Let me explain. In comic books, the majority of art may have a cartoony
or stylized look to it but once and a while there might be a limited series or they’ll bring in some
big guns to do some nice cover work and then you’ll see these classic characters depicted as if they actually existed. The same goes for video games. The graphics in games nowadays can show
the most minuscule of details and that really lets the concept artists and digital sculptors go wild
with their character designs. I will usually look toward realistic art of certain classic characters no
matter what the medium. I would say that my goal with any custom action figure or artwork in general, is to make it look real. ”
Q. Is there a scale or toy line you prefer to work with and why?
A. ” I prefer to work in the 6inch scale and have been making use of the recent Marvel Legends
figures as the foundations for my custom figures. They have acceptable articulation most of the
time and that’s really all that concerns me since I will use a power tool to sand away all the detail.
I would love to just skip all of the hassle of competing with collectors for figures and just be able
to purchase ‘blank’ figure frames by themselves. I started collecting high end figures made by Hot
Toys recently and have seen the wonderful things people are doing in the 1:6 arena and I will say
that my first 1:6 scale figure is in development. “
Q. Are there any particular references you use more than others? A. “ It depends on the job really. If I get a commission and the customer is adamant about using certain reference materials then I will stick with those, but when it’s something personal I will scour the internet and find as many images of a character as I can. Every square inch of his/her look matters to me so I will end up with dozens of images before I get to work and ultimately choose a few to work off of. And since I like to sculpt or make everything from scratch I need as much reference material as I can find.” Q. Is there another Customizer who inspires or inspired you when you began Customizing?  A. “ I remember that when I first started out I stumbled across the customizer Glorbes and his mixed media approach just fascinated me at this scale. Anyone familiar with his work and mine can see that the seeds were planted long ago and I owe a lot to him and his work even as I developed my own style. ” Q. What is your favorite Custom Action Figure made by someone else? A. “ That’s a tough one, I’ve looked a hundreds of figures by all sorts of people and there have been many great ones. But I will say that early on I would always return to certain custom threads by the likes of Glorbes, Levit05, Raybot, not to mention Doubledealer’s website where I spent dozens of hours just looking at his works in progress, trying to figure out how he did certain things. ” Q. Do you have a personal favorite of your own work? A. “ I think it’s always the latest one I’m working on actually, whether it’s for me or a commission. I always try and outdo myself and usually succeed, but how far can I raise the bar for myself? But I have to say my second Spawn figure will always be my most cherished even if newer ones are more technically executed. “ Q. What about it made it stand out for you? A. “ Let me just say that I loved McFarlane Toys in the 90s and couldn’t get enough Spawn and every new property that they came up with was mind-blowing. But, I remember never, ever owning a ‘normal/classic’ Spawn figure until I could track down the Image 10th anniversary one which I love. I knew that I would have to make my version of Spawn one day and it would be a while before I was ready. I think it took over 2 years, working on and off before he was done.  I also knew that I was going to have to go big or go home when it came to the cape and that was
a hurdle to be sure but it turned out great and couldn’t have been done without all of the
experimenting with fabric on the figures that came before him. It was really a labor of love and
he turned out just like I imagined. ”
A. “ I think that my sculpting skills have improved tenfold since I started customizing and it was just something that sort of happened as I just kept practicing (there will always be bad sculpts) but the bar has been raised overall and it surprises even me. I also do almost everything different now than when I started out, I just had to learn the ins and outs, what worked and what didn’t, before committing to any particular techniques. “
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Q. Do you do mostly commissioned pieces or make whatever characters are inspiring you at the
moment?
A. “ I do both. If I’m really into a videogame for example, then I will try and immortalize my
experiences in a small scale plastic replica of a certain character. The same thing happens with
commission work, I only accept requests when it’s something that I am or can become familiar
with or passionate about. If I don’t have a personal stake in the character, than the end product
might suffer. For example, I’m working on a commissioned figure and diorama right now, and
since I knew nothing about the videogame or character I had to go buy it and play through it
before I could really understand what I was getting into. Sometimes it can be as simple as going to
Wikipedia and reading a certain character’s backstory, what is their motivation? So to speak.“
 
Q. Where's the best place online or locally for fans to see more of your work?
A. “ There’s my personal Facebook page where I post a lot of updates as well as these websites
where I have a custom action figure gallery. “
“ My email is spawnsauce@hotmail.com and I can be reached for commission requests there or Facebook. “
Q. As a part of the Customizing Community are there any tips, techniques, or words of wisdom you'd like to pass on for those starting out?
A. “ Look out for my custom action figure and diorama based on the Dishonored video game franchise, which is nearing completion and will hopefully be completed soon. “
Well, that's it! Thank you Spawnsauce for taking the time out of your schedule to answer our questions and help us get a better view of the Customizing World. As always Customizing fans, thanks for listening! Come back often to get more insight on the inner workings of a Customizer! |
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