Joel
A collection of Joel’s figures.
The focus of Joel’s art
Joel’s art focuses on the creation of 3D fantasy figurines. His ever-growing universe of intertwined characters, the likes of Megatron and Plunicorn, have distinctly unique personalities and supernatural abilities. For their physical appearance, Joel takes inspiration from wherever he finds it with elements nodding to the Roman and Egyptian eras, lobsters and robots, and everything in between. Regardless of their differences, these fascinating characters are united in their fight against the power rangers.
The beginnings of a model
Bringing Joel’s characters to life
Like all of Joel’s figurines, his most recent work, Maniset, was created from an entirely novel process developed off the back of an ambition to build models with life-like mobility.
All designs start life as detailed drawings in Microsoft paint and their subsequent construction follows a series of techniques, a craft honed over the course of making upwards of 20 figurines.
Joel starts every project with a lego structure - the bones - which provides the models with structural integrity and mobile joints. Clay is layered on top to create what could be envisaged as the surrounding flesh. Socks - always clean - are then loosely fitted to the structure, a method Joel created in order to provide the figurine with an unconstrained skin. Once painted and varnished, and varnished again, the models are finished with googly eyes, or gems, and blue tac hands. The finished product is a weighty and mobile figurine encased in an armour which is both malleable and shiny in equal measure. What’s often the most striking is Joel’s attention to detail; some figurines have such subtle expressions they’re almost human. Others even feature electronic components.
Joel & Artbox
Although Joel typically likes to work independently, over the course of his time at Artbox he’s started to increasingly enjoy presenting his designs to the group and most recently, has been working collaboratively to bring his characters to life digitally. The end aspiration is to create a virtual reality simulation, where the user will experience the true magnitude of the characters, and their world, from a previously uncharted perspective.
Going forward, Joel is keen to continue to sell his work in order to buy more materials and fund the ongoing evolution of his art. In their next life, Joel reckons the figurines could act as anything from a present for a child, a decoration, to even a museum display - what’s undebatable, is their breathtaking presence and the ingenious mind that created them.
Please get in touch if you are interested in buying one of Joel’s creations!
