Interview > Sculptor Jean St. Jean

Even if you’re only a casual action figure collector, chances are you’ve heard of Jean St. Jean – and you’ve almost certainly seen (and probably own) his work. His career has spanned many companies and toy lines, among them Diamond Select’s Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, The Munsters and Universal Monsters, and Marvel Select toy lines; Mezco’s mega-scale Thundercats figures; and DC Collectible’s World of Warcraft. He’s also an all-around cool guy. –PG

Jean St. Jean

Real Name: Jean St. Jean
Specialty: Sculptor / Musician
Base of Operations: Northern New Jersey
Website: http://blackplague1348.deviantart.com/
History: Jean St. Jean is a musician turned sculptor, who began his career in a small upstate NY toy sculpting studio doing mostly preschool toys and dolls. Five years later he joined McFarlane where he spent almost 7 years helping them develop their hyper realistic style, the last 4 years as Sculpting Supervisor. In 2004, he left McFarlane to start his own company, Jean St. Jean Studios offering sculpting, painting and prototyping services working on such licenses as Diamonds Select’s Stargate SG-1, SG Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica lines, Mezco’s Cinema of Fear, DC Direct’s World of Warcraft and Ame-Comi and Amoktime’s Killer Klowns and Day of the Dead lines. His current projects have been the Lion-o and Mumm-Ra for Mezco’s Mega scale Thundercats line, the Munsters 7″ Select line and various Universal monsters for DST including the Metaluna Mutant and Phantom of the Opera as well as contributions to the Marvel Select figure series. He has sculpted more than 30 mini-busts for DC Direct including Heroes of the DCU, Blackest Night and various movie properties.

Poe Ghostal: The new Marvel Select Venom looks fantastic. What was the process for sculpting this figure? What was your inspiration for the sculpt, and how do you approach Marvel Select sculpting in general? For example, do you tend to skew toward the work of a particular artist, or do you try to create a blend of elements, or come up with your own design?

Jean St. Jean: As with all of my DST projects they usually evolve out of extended conversations with Chuck Terceira (DSTChuck on his Art Asylum blog). In the case of Venom, he’s been requested for so long we wanted to do something special and get slightly outside of the usual MS formula and create a Venom with multiple custom options rather than one version with a base. As with all of the Select projects I’ve done, I picked up a bunch of the collected story lines and graphic novels and re- familiarized my self with his history to find what I thought were the coolest incarnations of the Eddie Brock Venom. First of I wanted a totally badass terrifying Venom with tons of teeth and a nasty tongue and a transforming Eddie Brock. So the “Lethal Protector ” storyline inspired me for those two heads and a huge pair of nasty claws. Then there’s been a lot of requests for the crazy multi-armed multi-headed version from the “Madness” story line, and I came up with a pretty interesting way to create that Venom. Last but not least I wanted to do an old school Todd McFarlane Venom with a big grin! The trick was all these permutations had to work on the same body; all the heads are interchangeable and there are multiple hand options.

In terms of Marvel Select in general I try to find the best elements of the character, such as the Marvel Select comic version Hawkeye (Disney exclusive DST Avengers), Nightcrawler, or Anti-Venom. Diamond expects me to bring my interpretation and vibe to the Marvel line, so I essentially get to do exactly what think should be done with the sculpt and paint work. They are the one company that actually utilizes me as an art director/ project manager and sculptor, so I particularly value my years of collaboration with them. (more…)

Vintage Toy Ads > Spawn (1994)

Funny to think that Spawn, which never had a kids’ cartoon* and was a very adult-oriented comic book featuring lots of murder, death, and dark religious imagery, had ads for toys on daytime kids’ television. Loving the Malebolgia cameo.

* But of course it did have an adult-oriented HBO animated series.

Odds ‘n Ends > October 19, 2011

Today’s Odds ‘n Ends is sponsored by the letter Î©, who surprisingly had a PayPal account.

  • The Spawn Message Board was taken down last Friday. Rustin Parr of OAFE has written an excellent obituary here. His comment that the Spawn Board was the birthplace of the online toy collecting community is only mildly hyperbolic–I certainly got my start there, and many other well-known online toy personalities, such as Michael Crawford, congregated there in the late ’90s. I invented the pseudonym “Poe Ghostal” for that board, way back in 1999. Of course, I hadn’t visited the board in years–ever since McFarlane Toys began its long slide into sports and statuism after the Spawn lines of the early 2000s (with the one positive blip being Halo)–but the board’s demise is still worth some brief reflection.
  • Diamond Select has created a rather awesome “Mini-Mation” video starring their pirate-themed “Calico Jack” Minimates.
  • ItsAllTrue.net has a great review of the TRU-exclusive 1970s-style Arkham City Batman (it comes free with a purchase of the game at TRU, or, like me, you can buy it separately for $14.99). Of course, the actual 1970s game skin is a completely unique model, not just some new graphics over the regular suit…
  • BigBadToyStore has two major new exclusive G.I. Joe 7-Packs: Slaughter’s Marauders and the Dreadnoks. You can save $10 if you buy both sets together. The sets include a mix of new figures and repaints.
  • Bandai let me know they’re having a Ben 10 Sweepstakes. Kids can enter the contest by submitting codes from Ben 10 toys to helpben10.com. The winner gets an all-expenses paid trip for three to London to ride the Ben 10: Ultimate Mission roller coaster at the Drayton Manor Theme Park in Tamworth, Staffordshire — plus the winner will have a bonus chance to win $10,000 on top of the grand prize. So if you’ve got a child, grandchild, or nephew or niece who’s really into Ben 10, be sure to mention it to ’em.