MEET THE AUTHORS

Tim Bruckner's clearest memory of sculpting was when he was seven. He used to sculpt little heads of the Seven Dwarves out of the wax tubes that a disgustingly sweet liquid candy was packaged in. He's not sure if it's an irony, but from the very beginning, he was a wax sculptor.  He uses a different kind of wax now and stays away from sweets, for the most part. He started working professionally at 18 as a jeweler's apprentice/wax carver. He sculpted several hundred wildlife waxes that became rings, pendants, broaches and belt buckles. It was the single most valuable endeavor he's ever done. It taught him more in those two years than he could have learned in four times the time anywhere else.

After leaving the jewelry racket, he found a very patient and sympathetic agent and started working as a freelancer. He worked for Max Factor, and he sculpted two alligator suits for the movies Joe Panther and Alligator. He did a few album covers, one for Ray Charles, and a dust jacket for Cat Stevens. His non-sculpting album covers include Ringo Starr, Average White Band, George Clinton and Parliament.  He stepped away from sculpting for a little while to pursue a music career. When common sense returned in the form, shape and substance of his amazing wife, Mary, he went back to sculpture with a vengeance.

A partial client list (partial because he can't remember all the crap he made and for whom he made it. Another small mercy): DC Direct, Mattel, Kenner, Hasbro, Toy Biz, Bowen Designs, Sideshow, Gentle Giant, Electric Tiki, Reel Arts, Enesco, Dakin, The Hamilton Group, Hallmark, Applause, American Greetings, Department 56, Ashton Drake, Franklin Mint, Geometric, Graham Nash, Harry Nilsson and the Danbury Mint. He was under contract to DC Direct for four years and worked almost exclusively for them for a total of six. He went back to freelance, and a year later started designing and sculpting a line of statues called DC Dynamics. Working with DCD and his friend, boss and collaborator Georg(no E) Brewer has been extremely gratifying and has helped him develop as a sculptor and designer in ways he can't imagine under any other circumstances.

For the past 23 years he and his wife and their two kids have lived and thrived on a 40-acre hobby farm outside a small town in western Wisconsin. They have three dogs, one horse and, in the summer, more frogs around the pond than you could shake a pair of noise-suppressing headphones at. Lean more at TimBruckner.com!

Rubén Procopio is a multi-talented artist with more than 25 years of experience in the animation industry.  Rubén’s parents, émigrés of Italian origin, came to Los Angeles when Ruben was 4 years old and his father Adolfo began an acclaimed 35 year career as a Walt Disney Imagineering sculptor whose works can be seen in Disney theme parks worldwide.  Rubén is a “chip off the old block” whose artistic development was guided through daily drawing assignments from his father.  After earning scholarships to Cal Arts and Art Center, Rubén joined Walt Disney Feature Animation at age 18, where he Rubén trained under Eric Larson, one of Disney’s legendary “nine old men,”  as well as other Disney veterans.

Rubén worked as an animator, artistic supervisor, head of department, character designer, story-board artist, video game supervisor, and maquette sculptor on over 25 Disney feature films, featurettes and shorts, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Aladdin, The Lion King, Mulan and Tarzan, several of which received Academy Award nominations. Rubén is credited with restoring the maquette process to feature animation film production in the early 1980’s, served as an international ambassador for the company promoting its films, and was dispatched by Roy Disney Jr. to oversee construction of the Walt Disney Monument in Madrid, Spain.  His Ursula maquette from The Little Mermaid holds a place in the Smithsonian Institution permanent collection. Learn more at MaskedAvenger.com!

Zach Oat is the former editor of ToyFare magazine, the leading publication for fans of toys, action figures and collectable statues, and was a longtime writer and photographer for their all-toy fumetti strip, "Twisted ToyFare Theatre." He was the original "toy wrangler" for the stop-motion TV series Robot Chicken on Adult Swim, and he serves as a judge for the annual Poppies toy awards. He also co-created the Bearriors, arguably the most popular fake toy line ever created. He is currently the Marketing Supervisor for Diamond Select Toys, and is formerly of TelevisionWithoutPity.com, a popular TV and movie news and commentary Website. Zach and his wife Melissa run HobocampCrafts.Etsy.com, the handmade clothing company where he sells his T-shirt designs, and the two of them have a daughter, Hazel. Lean more at BusterOfChops.blogspot.com!