Spotlight On: Custom Vinylmation Artist Brian Shapiro

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Destination Vinylmation: TRON seems to be a fun choice for custom artists, and you have a few in your portfolio. Your TRON Donald and Pooh are wonderful. What was the inspiration for these? 
Brian Shapiro: I created those two figures before TRON: Legacy came out. I've been a huge TRON fan since I saw the original as a teenager in 1982. Like Beauty and the Beast, other artists had already done customs that we're based on characters from the original film and from the soon to be released sequel. That's when I decided to do mash ups with Disney characters, since I loved the action figure mash ups of the Disney and Star Wars characters (I can't wait to get my hands on the Disney Character Star Wars vinyls, quite possibly my favorite set ever). I selected Donald Duck for TRON since his name worked perfectly as TRONald, and I selected Pooh since his name worked perfectly for Winnie the CLU. I thought it would be funny to adapt their GRID outfits to the characters' traditional outfits, so TRONald has a bow-tie and Winnie the CLU just has a belly shirt!

I also gave each character a back story. TRONald's is as follows: "Once there were three young ducks who wanted their uncle to buy them the latest video game console with motion sensing technology. Since he was a thrifty duck, the uncle tried to build them his own game console instead. To his surprise, not only did his homemade creation scan his movements, it scanned him right into the digital world where he became TRONald! While his three nephews were disappointed not to get the console they wanted, they sure had fun putting TRONald through all kinds of video game trials on the Game Grid!"

Winnie the CLU's is as follows: "One day, a silly ol’ bear tried to digitize a pot of hunny so he could replicate an infinite supply without having to worry about getting stuck in trees or stung by bees. Unfortunately, the honey spilled from the pot, causing the computer to go haywire and digitize the bear. Now, trapped in the Hundred Acre Grid, Winnie the CLU is desperate to escape back to his home!"

When I get the time, I want to create JessiQuorra Rabbit...

Destination Vinylmation: You also have another TRON figure. When creating these, is there any rhyme or reason to the lines, or are they just a random aesthetic design choice? 
Brian: The other TRON figure I painted was inspired by the classic look of the original movie. I love the scene when TRON, Flynn, and RAM escape the Game Grid on their light cycles while being chased by Recognizers. I wanted to capture that on a vinyl, and I thought the feet on the Vinylmation canvas look like two light cycles side by side. I made one blue and one yellow. I then painted a classic Recognizer on the torso, and covered the dark areas of it with a hand painted gloss finish to offset it from the rest of the black areas on the figure. To keep the rest of the Vinylmation interesting, I used the ears, head, and back for the angular light trails that the classic cycles created.