Hello, Arseny- nice to be here. When I'm not hunched over my bench in reading glasses and optivisor, I'm hunched over my drawing table or tablet at blur studio in Venice, California. I'm the lead concept artist there, and design and illustrate characters, environments, props and vehicles in historic, cartoony, sci-fi, fantasy and realistic styles. I storyboard a lot of our features as well. It's the greatest job in the whole wide world! At home I enjoy life in Redondo Beach with my dear wife Marc and our English Bulldog Dynamite.
- Standard question: How long have you been modeling and what was your first build scale model kit?
Batman made me do it! I got that Aurora kit of the Caped Crusader for my birthday when I was six or seven- and was immediately hooked. My big brother Marty helped me glue it together and paint it- he was an expert car modeler at the time. He's now a sculptor at GM. I built tanks and dioramas as a teenager, thanks to those wonderful Shep Paine pamphlets in the Monogram kits of that era. In college I got hooked on balsa free-flight models, and stayed with them for twenty years. After we moved to LA in 2001 I switched to styrene. There's simply no room to fly, and too much wind from the sea. I sometimes miss the smell of balsa dust...
- Your online builds really stand from the crowd. That's most probably because of those funny (and informational as well) cartoon style pictures, which are very unique - tell us more about the cartoons.
I really fell in love with the online modeling community and wanted to contribute. My first posted work was just typed text and photos, but I can't type and hate to do it. I got a Cintique 21UX drawing tablet at work, and within a week I was so hooked I had to buy one for home. That meant I could simply write my captions on the screen, and readers seemed to like it. My little friends evolved from hand-drawn smiley faces, to simple chuk heads, to the curvy assistants I have today. Lil' Chuk was the sailor who guided my Helldiver build, and I thought long and hard about who would be featured on a Nazi plane feature. In the end it seemed that a good girl and a bad pfennig would be a nice balance, and the other characters grew naturally from it. The Kommandant is Lil' Chuk's evil twin- I never thought I'd use that cliche, but it is fun to play the villain! The art is really an excercise to learn to draw better directly on the screen. I've been getting faster and more accurate as a result, I like to think.
- What do you like most about the scale modelling? Is it scratchbuilding, gathering information, painting, weathering, etc. ? How often do you model?
My favorite part of the hobby is and has always been problem-solving. Figuring out the best way to replicate some complicated and beautiful shape or mechanism in the tiny scale of our models is endless fun for me- and so satisfying when it works. Painting and weathering are a close second- today's techniques amaze and delight me. Filling seams remains a chore- maybe someday I'll come to relish that as well, but don't hold your breath! ;D
- How do you choose your next builds? Are all your models built involving scratchbuilding or are there OOB (out-of-box) as well?
My wife will tell you that I'm a real nutcase when it comes to the next project. I have a rather daunting stash, andjust about every kit cries out to be built. Often it is the level of detail I can cram ionto a project that brings it to the fore, but often a kit's simplicity will plunk it down on the bench. AmTech's Huckbein won out for it's simple grace- but I still had to animate the flying surfaces and jazz up the cockpit a bit. I'm hopeless! My next build will be Planet Model's Ju 388- MPM gave me a vac canopy for the 410 and a choice of any kit from their catalog in exchange for me building it with Fritzi and Hannah. How could I turn down such a generous offer- and such a fabulous kit?
- What's your favorite model and is there one? Are there models that you've started to build, but left unbuilt? How many scale models have you built already?
I still have a soft spot in my head for my He111- it was the first scale model kit I built after more than twenty years, with all the new technologies- PE, Resin, etc. I'm tempted to build another! A few balsa models laguish on my shelves, along with a Marvel Incredible Hulk that just needs some paint. I try to keep just one project on the bench, but I'll be juggling a few in the coming year. I'm participating in the Well Done group build at the Tank s & Things forum, featuring a French well from Monroe Perdue as the common element. An armor build after thirty years? This ought to be fun!
Cheers!
chuk
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Here're some of the recent Chuck's builds and articles online:
Me 410- Promodeler plus kitchen sink
Me 410- Promodeler plus kitchen sink
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