Patrick “The Small” Masson in the spotlight

Today's interviewee is Patrick "The Small" Masson. Thank you for sharing in.
Spotlight are short interviews to introduce some of the artists here at Putty&Paint.

Who are you? Tell us a bit about you.

Hi, my name is Patrick Masson. I am 37 years old, married and have 3 boys. I am a freelance sculptor since may 2011.
This often makes smile when someone says that I was already a sculptor when I was little, because there is indeed a link between my size and my nickname “The Small” … And yes it is true that the sculpture or modeling is an old passion for me … Although I initially tried to draw (especially during school hours …), when I began to touch the Fimo in 1995 this was a revelation.
At the begining I was doing a character from time to time as a gift for family or friends. They were most often adaptation of french comic’s characters like the Fourreux or Fol de Dol from Régis Loisel. In 2002, I did some dragons for Fenryll, these were my first produced pieces.
Then I had a very less productive period (if you put standout my three beautiful children !), my work as an engineer and the family do not allow me to give a lot of time to this passion. But in 2006 I met Arnaud Saran (drawer) and together with Arnaud Gerard (story writer) and Frederic Chollet (webmaster), we have created a website http://ltdk.free.fr and a blog http://latribudek.canalblog.com where we were presenting our work.
This was enough to be back with delight into the sculpting of characters and fantasy creatures …
In collaboration with Arnaud Saran and Thierry Masson, I created the figurines of Mr Bone, Ezop the Werewolf, Barney the Steamthing and I started to show them in different contests in 2009 and as a result it encourages me to pursue.
The hobby-passion quickly took a very important place in my life, to the point that I have decided in 2011 to leave my work and start as a free-lance sculptor… ARTIK TOYS was born!
Since then, I am sculpting for different companies and game as CoolMiniOrNot, DarkAge, SmartMax, Eden, and others and I am still planning to do some personal creations for my own miniature company Artik Toys.

What are your favorite tools, and why do you use them?

Most of the time I’m using a dental tool and a home made wood tool. Then for the very fine details I’m using a needle. These are the main tools I’m using for 90% of the sculpt even if I have tens of different tools. I’m always searching for a new one that might be better but at the end I usually come back to the first ones.
My prefered medium for miniature sculpting (30 to 70mm scale) is Fimo. I am doing a mix of fimo soft grey dolphin with fimo classic champagne plus a small amount of fimo classic black to get a darker grey. Because grey is my prefered color to sculpt. I like the way this color catch the light and the way you can see the volumes. And more other, I really like the fact that the masters look like resin finished parts at the end. It makes very nice masters.
For bigger scale (70 to 200mm) I usually use a mix of Scuper sculpey and Sculpey firm.

How would you describe your own style?

That’s a very difficult question for me. I don’t know if I really have a style, I have some trouble analysing my own work to define that. But to try an answer, in my work I am trying to be realistic most of the time, even if I’m doing comic style there is always a search of realism in the anatomy, in the clothes or in some details. I always search for some realism to try to make the piece “alive” even for cartoon character or monsters, I honestly don’t think I manage to do it every time but I try at least. I like to think the sculpture can move and speak. Maybe this is this point which describes the best my style if I can say so.

Show us your workspace. Do not clean it.

Here is my workspace, still not finalized though … As you may see, right now the desk is not the final one. I am still looking for the final dimension and material for it. It is also not very well arranged and organised for the tools but I am waiting for the final desk to find the best organisation.
At the end I will have 4 locations to work, one for the computer, one for miniature sculpting,
one for sanding and dirty work and the last one for bigger sculpting. In my mind that’s great, maybe one day I’ll be able to finish it ;)
For the cleaning, I’m trying to do it after a certain period (usually about once per month) or when it becomes too crowded to work, you know … when there is only 10 square centimeters free to work … ;)

Who influences your work and what inspires you?

A lot of different people are influencing my work.
As I am a full autodidact in art and sculpture, I have not a huge knowledge in history of art but some masters like Rodin, Bernini or Michelangelo are really inspirations for me. And I can spend hours looking at one piece of them.
In the world of miniature, I would say, Remy Tremblay, Allan Carrasco, Jacques Alexandre Gillois, Pedro Fernandez, Joaquin Palacios, I am always amazed by their pieces. There are also other sculptors in bigger size like Mark Newman, Cyril Roquelaine, Simon Lee, Jose Ismael Fernandez and so many others.
Influences are coming from drawers like Thierry Masson, Arnaud Saran, Brom, Frazetta, Regis Loisel.
And at then end, I will say that every day on internet there are plenty of amazing artists (sculptors, drawers, painters, photographers) who bring me a lot of motivation and inspiration.

What’s you current favourite music/movie/series you enjoy while working?

My favorite music is for sure Pink Floyd. There is no better way of scupting for me than doing it listening to Echoes, High hopes, Wish you were here, Shine on you crazy diamond, Marooned and all the others songs from them. Most often, I sculpt while listening the full discography of them.

Show and tell us what you are currently working on or what you recently finished?

I can not show what I am currently working on as it has to stay secret until the release.
But I can show a personal piece I have started and that I will finish when I can. It is a bit bigger than usual and made out of Monster clay. This is called “The Comforter’s Collector”. I’m quite happy with the idea but I have plenty of stuff to do to make it as I want.

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Visit Patrick “The Small” Masson at Putty&Paint or on his website ARTIK TOYS