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| Site Name: Drew Williams - Figurative
Sculptor |
| Site Owner: Drew Williams |
| Nationality: United States of America |
| Languages: English |
| Site URL: http://www.jwdc.com/dw/ |
| Contact: dwminiatures@Comcast.net |
| Brief: Homesite of the supremely
talented sculptor, Drew Williams, which includes an extensive
gallery of his work. |
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Drew Williams
If you haven't heard of me before now, that is no surprise. I have
only been sculpting for a short while, and have only recently begun
doing it full time. Readers should be made aware that I am NOT the
Drew Williams currently associated with Iron Wind Metals and their
Classic Battletech line (Yes, that's right, there are TWO of us in
the same business!). Our other Drew currently lives in Ohio, and I
am eager to see him become a stronger player in the business now that
he has also started working full time as well.
I will begin with the observation that many of my colleagues in the
miniature sculpting business started as carefree miniature painters,
gamers, and simply enthusiastic hobbyists who just kept developing
their craft. In some respects I am much like them. I began playing
Dungeons and Dragons back in the early 80's when first started to
really become popular with the younger crowd. I remember fondly, of
going to the local indoor shopping mall each weekend and buying Ral
Partha miniatures from Electronics Boutique (back when the stocked
an RPG section) and gawking at the pretty gilded dragonettes in the
tobacconists window display. It was when Citadel products became more
popularly available that I switched over to wargaming, and realized
that my first love was always with the miniatures themselves.
But unlike many of my fellow miniature sculptors that is where the
similarity ends. For the most part I have always been sculpting or
drawing fantasy. Graphic and sculptural art was and is an ever present
theme in my family. When I was only four or five years old, my loving
grandmother began presenting me with bricks of professional plasticene
clay every Christmas and birthday (Play-doh sucks). With that wonderful
gray clay I spent many childhood hours making dinosaurs, tanks, battleships,
space ships, and comic book figures. All very small. At one point
I sculpted an entire WWII battalion in 10mm and my Mother fondly reminds
me how I dubbed them my 'Tweensy Army'.
Years passed and I was always ever known and regarded as the 'best
artist in school' whether it be grade school, middle school, or high
school. Teachers would take me out of classes to complete posters
for school events, and annual congressional art exhibit submissions
and awards were a regular occurrence. When it came time to attend
college, it was the Maryland Institute College of Art that I finally
decided upon. But all the while that I was supposed to be painting
on stretched canvas or drawing on Bristol vellum for my home studio
assignments (I chose a Drawing Major), I was rushing to find the private
time to collect and paint my miniatures. I was training for success
in the graphics business but all I ever felt passionate about were
small sculptures. My greatest roadblock to understanding this aspect
of myself and my art was in my colleges policies barring students
from taking any figure sculpting courses unless they were essentially
third or fourth year sculpting majors. My alma mater has since corrected
this flaw in their curriculum, but not soon enough to be of service
to me.
It was only after a couple frustrating years of illustration work
directly following my college graduation when I realized that I was
miserably bored and generally wasting valuable time doing anything
other than miniature sculpting. Running into the talented part-time
sculptor Bobby Jackson was a turning point for me, as he showed me
his most recent greens and enthusiastically encouraged me to give
it a try. Encountering the likes of Chaz Elliot and Sandy Garrity
early on, and milking them for advice and guidance further cemented
my opinion that this was what I simply had to do.
 It
has since become apparent to me that many other sculptors have a much
easier time at sculpting miniatures, but are often incapable of doing
any really creative larger work. It also seems that most are very
enthusiastic about the exact shape of a particular sword or a helmet,
but become completely lost with the bare human form itself without
ready guides. Manga and comic book art is often the only graphic 'language
that many of them can communicate in.
Coming from a classically trained background I have experienced the
opposite reaction to my miniature work; where the human form is often
a matter of sheer joy and expression for me, and the act of adding
specific detailed equipment a duldrouse chore. This may sound like
a bonus in some respects. But in the subjectively motivated world
of miniature toy development, it actually can become a handicap.
Now a few more years have gone by and I've resolved to make my entire
income from the making of miniatures. My work is starting to look
somewhat competitive, with a quirky and unique feel not seen in most
others. I look towards larger figurative work in the future and will
likely attend the New York Academy of Arts for my Masters Degree in
another couple of years. From there I might do more work for the action
figure industry, or simply begin operating a "fine art"
studio, or possibly both. Perhaps I will stick to this same small
scale miniature sculpting when all is said and done. But one thing
is for sure, this is NOT my second passion. For better or worse, sculpting
small figures is, and always will be, my life's greatest passion.
Everyone who reads this feature about me is welcome to visit my web
site at http://jwdc.com/dw
and email me with propositions for other types of sculpture besides
just miniatures. I am considering making bas relief plaques, personalized
action figures, and lots of other things I just need a good excuse
to start on. My website also features my own two cents worth of advice
and instruction on how to sculpt miniatures for yourself, as well
as links to tool suppliers.
Well thanks for reading this, but its time for me to get back to sculpting.
Now where did I put that Wax 5?
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