Working in the 3rd Dimension: Paul Harding

Monday, November 16, 2009

Paul Harding

Let's play with the insanely talented Paul Harding!

After graduating from Syracuse Universtity (Illustration) in 1998 Paul moved to NYC and began a career in multi-media design. Soon after, he began sculpting and working for various toy companies. Nearly ten years later he continues to work for companies such as DC Comics, Hasbro Toys, and Marvel Entertainment making statues and action-figures.

How did you start working dimensionally?
I began working dimensionally in an effort to impress a newly-formed contact in the toy industry. This was my first real experience with someone who was responsible for the things that gave me the most pleasure as a child-- action-figures. The rare, beautiful sculpt on a toy would immediately become a favorite posession and the not-so-rare awful sculpt always haunted me.

Please describe your working process.
In terms of my medium of choice, I use a wax-like clay called castilene to rough out sculpts. Then I mold them and cast in my own version of "hasbro" wax to finish. Other than that, just a bunch of small tools do the job... oh yeah, and a digital waxer to drip on wax and carve away.

What do you enjoy the most about working dimensionally?
What I most enjoy about 3 dimensions is that I can see all angles to a subject. With 2d art the subject is limited to one heartless angle. It can seem more difficult to achieve the results that I originally had in mind.