Tell me a little about yourself and what you do.

My name is Eric Nocella (Diaz). I’m a toy proto-typer, sculptor and sometimes even an artist. I started my art career in television animation actually doing a lot of ink work over at Curious Pictures. I always loved toys and was always trying to make cool things so I would eventually sculpt up stuff with my kneaded eraser when I should have been drawing. Sculpting I learned late in life was more comfortable to me than drawing so I stuck with it. I currently fabricate prototypes for vinyl toys, statues, busts, Maquettes and action figures.

How long have you been sculpting and how did you get started?

I’ve been sculpting for close to twelve years now - the first two years was fooling around and making terrible sculpts for friends here and there trying to find good materials to use and people I could learn from. An old high school friend of mine, Mshindo took me over to meet Digger over at the Art Asylum when he found out I was sculpting back in the mid 90’s. Digger was crazy enough to give a newbie like me a shot and you best believe I took him up on it. Working close to him advanced me pretty quick in the ways of action figure toymaking. He had some of the top dogs in the business coming and going through his shop and I was lucky enough to watch those guys work and bug them with my never ending questions…there were no forums back then…everything was live, LOL.

I know from looking at your work, you’ve done a variety of characters and styles. What type of character is the most fun
to work on?

That’s a tough question…I’d have to say human type forms…anything with human anatomy I probably enjoy the most. Or some semblance of human form since anatomy studies was my favorite class in high school. As I get older though I prefer things that haven’t been sculpted up already…odd designs, stylized and sometimes offbeat. My online portfolio is starting to fill up with some zany sculpts and I don’t mind it one bit…somebody always finds at least one thing there they like… except one time - some guy emailed me upset that I had a Mr. Hankey toy sculpt (from South Park fame) in my website portfolio and wanted me to remove it because it was just not working for him, it being in there with my other sculpts…yup…I kid you not…

You’ve done work for Marvel, DC and as already mentioned, Todd McFarlane Toys. What characters have you worked on?

I’ve sculpted up half of both the Beatles Yellow Submarine toy line for McFarlane Toys, worked on the first few waves of the Spiderman and Friends line for Marvel, and worked on a Batman Begins movie maquette for DC.

As a sculptor, which character is your favorite?

Right now my favorite sculpt is the Canti robot vinyl toy based off the Japanese animated television series Fooly Cooly/FLCL (It looks like a rather simple design - but it’s not, trust me). I love robots, always have since I was a kid and to get a project like this was a real treat. I did that prototype for KaChing Brands a few months back.

What other companies have you done work for?

Carnival Cartoons, Neptune studios, Xmoor Studios, Kid Robot, The Level 5 Group, Hasbro, Cartoon network - I have a few more listed in the clients section on my GoldMane Entertainment website.

Many Vinyl Toy enthusiasts and designers frequently visit URL. Along with me, I’m sure many are dying to ask, how does one get started doing what you do professionally?

I’d have to say - get your skill level up to point where people will trust you enough to hire you for their projects. Like everything else, hard work and professionalism go a long way. I got into vinyl toys by sculpting up the Spike TV Video Game award for Kid Robot. Vinyl guru Paul Budnitz over there was gracious enough to have me work on a few other vinyl related projects after that. I never planned to get into the vinyl scene it just happened…I was hoodwinked. Vinyl toys are very addictive.

Do you have any other tips for the beginning sculptor?

The best tips I can offer are to study everything you see and get a camera and take pictures of your work as you do it. The camera is like a unbiased third eye and will help you see what’s wrong with your sculptures as you work on them. Try all ways of doing things - experiment as much as you can, especially with different materials.

What are the mediums that you work with the most, and what are your favorites for sculpting?

My favorite sculpting material of choice is a hard toy wax called Azbro and I use some Super Sculpey from time to time. I taught a toy prototyping/wax working class a few years back at the toy makers’ symposium at Toy Fair. It was a hands-on type affair where the attendees got to learn how to work in wax first hand. Anyone can get their hands on some Azbro with all those other materials and tools of the trade at the Compleat Sculptor Marc Fields and his staff can answer any sculpting material and supply question you can think of. I buy all my sculpting supplies there.

Besides creating the amazing work that you have on the Galtow Warrior bust, what else do you have your skilled hands in over at Xmoor Studios?

Haha…sneaky question that is, LOL…I partnered up with Robert Garrett who’s one heck of a writer, over there at Xmoor Studios to produce a few collectables based on his Galtow series…we’re planning another bust at the moment. I’m also serving as editor and art director on all of the new books coming out. We have a few other things planned that will get revealed later on this year if everything stays on course.

Are there any other artists or sculpters whos work you enjoy or who you admire?

Artists I like right now would be guys like Travis Charest, Marc Silvestri, Dale Keown, Lesean Thomas, Mshindo I Kuumba, Grey, Dave Flora, and there’s probably a ton more that wouldn’t fit in this interview. As for sculptors - Michelangelo, Bernini, Fredrick Remington, Thomas Blackshear, Takeya, Dave Cortes, and Clayborn.

If there was one famous character (cartoon, comic, video game, etc) you wish you designed who would it be and why?

Great question! I’d have to say Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets… especially the latest 2D animated film trilogy it spawned later on, hands down. That series was so ahead of it’s time when I watched it as a kid on television and even now with the updated version. I was so inspired to draw up characters like the ones in the cartoon when I was a kid…that animated series got me going. Yup - no doubt about it.

In closing, I’d like to thank Eric for taking time out from what is very obviously a pretty full schedule to answer all of these questions. I am hoping that this will bring him new fans and customers.

Interview by Sandman