Name: Steven J. Buddle
Birth: 19/10/1975

Residence: Cornwall (South West of England)
Household: Me and the little green people

Short description: dominating the world, one female elf at a time
Favourite race to sculpt: I do like sculpting elves
Favourite Mini: Aaaargh! Too many to choose from.

Favourite Book: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Favourite Movie: Before Sunrise or Evil Dead 2 (depending on my mood)
Favourite Music Band: Don't really have a solid favourite. I listen to a lot of movie scores (Matrix: Reloaded has some great moments) but, if I was pushed band wise, I'd say Alice Cooper is on my stereo pretty often.

S.B.: Well, I'm 28 years old and live in (occasionally) sunny Cornwall in the South West of England. I've lived here for most of my life except for a few brief upheavals to Nottingham on various miniatures-industry-related jobs.

At the time of writing I'm planning another upheaval to change my place of residence from the tiny village where I am currently (some of the awful BBC sitcom Wild West was filmed just up the road) to the local town, Truro.

I'm currently single (hello ladies!) which I've found quite unusual amongst sculptors. Most are married with kids at quite a young age. I think it was Tom Meier who said that mini sculptors need to marry young so they've got someone to beat some money-making sense into them. Maybe that's why my bank balance isn't what it could be...

After many years of planning to break into the video games industry as a programmer I eventually went down the route of the miniatures industry (after far too much time unemployed) and have gone through being a freelance painter to an in-house sculptor to a freelance sculptor and finally running my own little minis company: Spyglass Miniatures.

S.B.: When thinking about what to call my business I wanted a name that would sound appropriate to miniatures, appropriate for fantasy, sci-fi and historicals, and sound vaguely classy. I also screened possible names by checking that I could get the relevant dot com. After a lot of thinking I settled on Spyglass Miniatures which was one of my earliest ideas. I felt it worked pretty well for my purposes.

My education is unremarkable. I went to college studying various computer-related studies. I've not placed much faith in education systems and, to be honest, the only qualification that has ever helped me is my driving licence.

Hobbies-wise I am a bit of a slave to buying DVDs. Mostly genre stuff although I rarely find time to watch much. I do life drawing every week which I find to be very useful with regards to my sculpting and as a hobby by itself. I also practice T'ai Chi which I find very rewarding.

And that's where I am right now. Planning world domination. With little lumps of metal. It might happen. Maybe...

Homepage Link: Spyglass Miniatures

Miniatures made for: Foundry, Kenzer and Company, Dark Age Games, Games Workshop (Warmaster, Inquisitor, Blood Bowl), Newwave, Spyglass Miniatures

How would you describe yourself?

S.B.: A thinker. I do tend to roll things over in my head far more than would normally be considered healthy. I'd consider myself someone who is ill at ease with the modern world. I can handle gadgets and technology but I'm not a big believer in fitting the mould. Stress is something that man made for himself and, to be honest, I could do without.

How did you get into the miniatures hobby?

S.B.: Back in 1987 I started playing Talisman at secondary school with a bunch of friends. I was very taken with the figures and started to paint.

Do you play any tabletop games?

S.B.: I enjoy playing tabletop games but rarely get the chance. I get too bogged down in the quality of my painting and never get enough minis painted to play with. I do plan to get back into gaming sometime soon though (and I've been saying that forever).

S.B.: Yes. I'm a regular at the UK Golden Demon awards and I think it was in 1999 that it happened (I remember the day, just not the exact date). I was entering a Skaven Mordheim Gang and had built a display base for it. Unfortunately my converted Rat Ogre went seriously wrong and wasn't really too salvageable. But there was a spot for it on the diorama. My local GW had no more Rat Ogres in stock and mail order couldn't get me one quick enough to make the contest. All I had was a roll of green stuff I'd bought some time previously. So I grabbed some wire and sculpted one. A hunchbacked, one armed (to save time) Rat Ogre. Went quite well, all things considered. I thought: 'I can do this'.

What was the first mini you sculpted?

S.B.: It was the aforementioned Rat Ogre. I was working for Foundry as a painter at the time so I had a chat with the owner, Bryan Ansell, about sculpting and he gave me some tips. So I had a go at sculpting 28mm stuff. And the rest is history...

S.B.: Ooooh, the biggie. Difficult to answer. I don't really consider myself an artist in my figure sculpting. I see mini sculpting as more of a science than an art. It's more about knowing your trade and all the subtle nuances of sculpture than about artistic expression. That said I wouldn't say there was no artistic quality in mini sculpting.

Do you think it's possible for the miniature art to reach someday the same status as classic sculpture?

S.B.: I doubt it. Mostly for the above reasons. Especially as, to express yourself artistically through miniatures, often you must put aside technical perfection and most viewers of miniatures cannot get past this. As far as painting is concerned, I've rarely seen miniatures that I consider art. John Blanche's earlier work strikes me in this fashion though. Most great mini paintjobs are a combination of great technical skill, colour theory and ideas but don't quite have an 'artistic' quality.

Perhaps because mini painting and sculpting requires so much precision and concentration it doesn't really allow well for such expression. I've probably tied myself in knots trying to explain that and it still probably makes no sense. Plus I've probably offended half the great painters in the world. It's a hornet's nest of a question and I'm in no way going to say that my view is right and everyone else's is wrong.

Could you say something of your work habits?

S.B.: It is a pretty torturous process for me. I'm very bad at just sitting and sculpting all day. I need to work in short bursts or I burn out quick. I'm known for being a slow sculptor. This isn't, strictly speaking, true. I just can't settle to work long hours. I tend to work on lots of different things instead.

S.B.: More. Definitely more. If the market dried up and I couldn't make money I'd still do it. It's something I love (despite my previous answer). I'll probably do this forever regardless of whether it is my job or not.

S.B.: Yeah, work at it. It's difficult to learn to sculpt but it can be done. It needs a cast-iron will to succeed though. You've got to work hard as hell and be ruthless with yourself. When you can't do something, don't give up, do it a hundred times until you can. Hard truth is that if you don't take this attitude to it then you are unlikely to succeed unless you have an insane raw talent for it.

Your Sherlock Holmes miniatures (Foundry and Spyglass) are very impressive and in my opinion the finest interpretation of the great detective. Are you a fan of him?

S.B.: I'm not a big Holmes fan as such although I do like Victorian visual style. I love the idea of Victorian Scifi miniatures but I haven't seen it done really well.

How far away do you think the Dr.Watson miniature is - how many weeks...months...years :-) in the future?

S.B.: Holmes has not been a big seller. Probably doesn't help that he's marketed alongside so many fantasy figures and his target audience may not be seeing the figure. So, Watson is not a high priority unless Holmes suddenly has a burst of sales. But I'd probably sculpt Moriarty before Watson. A more interesting character to be sure.

Any chance to see some Victorian miniatures by Spyglass?

S.B.: I've occasionally talked about doing a load of fictional Victorians (and thereabouts) such as more Holmes Characters, Jeckyll and Hyde, Dracula, Van Helsing, Quatermain and so on. But it's a fairly big project and time is, as usual my enemy.

The other thought that I do like is to do Victorian Scifi. The problem there is, aside from time, is that I need a great artist to work with. I'd want the visual ideas to be totally spectacular. I'm a good designer but I know fantasy much better than Victoriana. Still, it would be amazingly cool. Perhaps one day I will hook up with the right people and make it happen. I think it could be extremely cool.

Have you seen the movie "The League of extraordinary Gentleman"? How do you found it?

S.B.: I have seen it. It was quite fun though nowhere near as good as Alan Moore's comics. Now they were good. I'd love to see an accurate film based on the League comics, especially the second book.

Your new Spyglass women miniatures are all roughly the same figure, just slim and graceful. Why this beauty? It is your imagination of a perfect woman or only a marketable decision?

S.B.: An interesting point. It's a bit of both although I intend to break away from this way of doing things a bit. It would seem very commercial to be sculpting so many female figures and for them to be quite idealised in their proportions, but I do like sculpting beautiful women. In reality I'm a little more open-minded about what women look like though. Interestingly I've had a lot of very positive comments from women about the style in which I sculpt the female form..

These really wonderful women's are all somehow static. They stand around and look pretty :-) Will it be there a "women in action" miniature by Spyglass?

S.B.: I do like miniatures to be quite static but I do try to give them some life beyond 'just standing there'. Shae the Half Elf has got a lot of positive feedback about her posing despite her being quite understated. That all said I may well do some more action oriented poses in future. At the moment my range is small but as it gets larger I think it would become stale if I didn't branch out in style a bit.

What are you thinking of Liberty miniature of Kev White?

S.B.: Well, I paid money for one :)
It's a really great figure. But I don't think it's her physique that makes it great, there is far more to her than that. Interestingly I did something similar for Foundry (though not nearly as well, it was early in my career). I produced a limited edition Viking Goddess who was very large and buxom but without trying to make her unattractive. I think she was quite popular. But Liberty is miles better than that one was.

S.B.: Yes, I think it could be described as a new direction. I'm not much of a fan of the way scales seem to be creeping up. I think that 28-32mm is a good scale for this sort of figure. If I'm going larger I prefer to go straight to 54mm (which I will be doing with upcoming figures). I like to try and make figures that are small and slight yet have a visual impact. Si'Rene the Elven Warrior is a figure that I'm very proud of who makes this point. I think she has a lot of presence but is far from chunky.

Your Spyglass miniatures have without exception unique and authentic faces, very real and spirited. How do you do it? Are there "living prototypes" for ?

S.B.: I sometimes get inspiration from real people I see but in general they are designed in keeping with the figure's look. I suppose the main thing is that I do spend a lot of time making sure I am happy with the faces. I think the success of them is less in the face itself but more in the angle and tilt of the head. I think I need to inject a little more variety into the styles though.

Do you have a favourite sculptor?

S.B.: I consider Brian Nelson at Games Workshop to be the best sculptor out there but I'll admit I'd like to see more of what he is capable of. He seems pigeon-holed by GW, mostly doing Orcs and big, savage things. His Lord of the Rings characters showed a lot more of his capability. I'd seriously love to see what he'd do with more interesting subjects

Other sculptors I love would be Jes Goodwin, Kev White and Chris Fitzpatrick. Jes produces such finely designed figures, Kev is a master at creating characters just a little out of the norm and Chris makes some of the most paintable figures I've seen.

Have you been influenced by other artists and if so, how?

S.B.: Mark Copplestone was a big influence early in my career. Bryan Ansell taught me to sculpt using mostly techniques similar to Mark's. Mark also showed me how to sculpt heads (a very useful day).
Since leaving Foundry I've been influenced mainly by the four sculptors I mentioned in the last answer. I suppose the biggest influence has been Fitz. His way of sculpting simple figures that paint up really easily with a lot of scope for painting really affected my design philosophy.

Tell us about your Games Workshop experience?

S.B.: It was pretty positive really. I never worked in-house as a sculptor though, so I can't really shed much light on the arcane goings-on within the GW studio. I worked freelance doing the odd project for them over a period of about three years. Mainly through Jervis Johnson, Mark Bedford and, later on, Tom Merrigan. They were all good to work with and open to suggestions and opinions. I've had far harder times with taskmasters at other companies. It was a lot of fun really (although the end of the process of sculpting the Warmaster Dark Elves got pretty painful). I loved working on Blood Bowl and Inquisitor. You never know, you may even see more figs from me at GW (that's not a hint, I just mean it could happen if they want me to do something).

You belong to the new generation of miniature designers. How do you now regard the old school designer Perrys, Tom Meier and others who were sculpting in the days before you began to sculpt?

S.B.: Most of the old school mini sculptors have moved with the times or found their various niches. Alan and Michael are just incredible at what they do. They have more ability with natural posing and proportion than anyone out there. I don't really like painting their figures as I prefer a more precise finish but they make the best looking armies out there. Tom has certainly taken a step forward this last year or so. I really saw him as a bit behind the times. Probably because he hadn't really been part of the industry for so long. But with his figures for Dark Sword, then his Elves at Thunderbolt Mountain he has totally redefined the standard for technical precision. Those figures are incredible to behold as a sculptor.

As a general rule I don't judge a sculptor by how long they've been in the industry, I judge them by their work. If it's great it's great. If it's not, it's not.

You like sculpting elves. What think you of the elves by other sculptors? Do you like their interpretation?

S.B.: I'm not madly keen on most of the elves out there. Most don't really feel 'elven' to me. Tom Meier's new Wood Elves look very interesting. The style isn't something I'd go for but they are very interesting. I'd like to do an elf range at some point. That'd be a lot of fun.

What direction do you feel the miniatures industry is going in? What has changed and where do you think it is going?

S.B.: I think the most significant thing is that smaller companies can thrive much better now. With the net making advertising cheap and effective, small manufacturers such as myself can survive and flourish.

As far as the minis themselves are concerned they're, as usual, getting bigger. So much stuff is 35mm or larger now. I prefer to stick slightly smaller but I didn't want to go too small as it'd make my figures look rather out of place in collections that include other companies' figures.

Stylistically I think Rackham have had a huge impact. Their style doesn't do much for me really but the level of dynamics with all those flowing cloaks and the involved poses has really pushed us sculptors onward. The days of selling countless figs standing holding a sword dead upward in one hand and a shield in a pose like a scarecrow have passed.

GW still have the stranglehold over the industry but I'm not sure if other companies may finally start making inroads into their marketshare. Up until recently I'd have laughed at anyone saying that but I think things are changing. Warmachine have shown that it is entirely possible to have a smash hit that isn't GW. Will they be able to keep it up? Will other companies manage something similar? I dunno, but it's going to be a laugh finding out.

Size-wise I think the fantasy/scifi market continues to grow. Partly due to people migrating from GW to other companies' games and partly because the hobby of painting in it's own right is expanding. The latter group is especially a growth area as traditionally mini painting was a male dominated hobby but a lot of women are getting into the hobby. I know that Spyglass has a lot of female customers.

What is your great achievement in your designer career? Your great regret?

S.B.: I think the great achievement is that I have a career and that it's my full time job. I'd hate to be stuck in an office somewhere doing the photocopying and making the tea while wishing I was sculpting.
No real regrets though. Any mistakes I have made have brought me to this moment and things aren't looking too bad.

Besides making miniatures, what do you, or would you, like most to do?

S.B.: Currently I'm quite heavily into Life Drawing and I find that to be both useful to my sculpting work and a rewarding hobby in it's own right. I try to get a 3 hour session in once or twice a week. I also practice T'ai Chi which is a lot of fun. I do need to practice a lot more though.

Is there anything your fans are going to be surprised by?

S.B.: They may be surprised by one of the two favourite movies I suggested above. Especially when they find out that Before Sunrise isn't a vampire movie.

Is there a miniature which you wish to sculpt?

S.B.: I sculpted Mean Machine Angel from Judge Dredd for Foundry ages ago and I'd love to have another shot at him. Not sure if it'll happen of course.

What is your current project?

S.B.: Just working on some 54mm fantasy figures. Not something that has been done much before so I'm going in totally blind..

What are your plans for future work?

S.B.: I've got something quite amazing planned that will hopefully be announced in the coming months. But that'll have to wait.

Oh, and I'm tempted to sculpt a Dragon at some point.

And last question…Your plan of world domination…if things work out…What then?

S.B.: Whatever I want. And that's surely the point ;)