Interview with Devilman Sirene 3D Artist - Miguel Leonardo Hernandez

Welcome to this exclusive interview with Miguel Leonardo, the digital sculptor behind the breath-taking Devilman – Sirene Elite Exclusive statue by Figurama Collectors. Miguel Leonardo has poured his passion and skills into creating this masterpiece, and he has graciously agreed to share his insights and experiences with us. Join us as we delve into the intricacies of creating a follow-up to our highly regarded Devilman vs Amon statue, the challenges of merging realistic aesthetics with anime/manga style, and the careful balance between sensuality and respect in artistic representations. 

Get ready to explore the artistic journey behind the creation of The Devilman – Sirene Elite Exclusive statue and gain a deeper understanding of the artistry involved in bringing statues to life. 

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Q: Introduce yourself. Who are you, what is your role, and what does that mean?  

A: OK, I’m Miguel Leonardo, I’m the digital sculptor of the Devilman Sirene statue, I had the pleasure to put all my passion and skills into this piece and I enjoyed the whole journey. 

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Q: This is the second full size statue for the Devilman line for Figurama Collectors, forth statue for us if you count the busts. Do you think it is harder to create a follow up statue or to create the first from the line?  

A: As a freelance sculptor for the company, I’m not aware of the time when the first statue was created but as a follower and fan of the company’s work, I know about the popularity of the first Devilman statue and I felt a huge responsibility to put the piece as the same level of the other, pushing the project to a high standard of quality on the pose, anatomy, dynamism, and details. Fortunately, I was following the feedback from a great art team, specials tanks to Daniel the art director.  

 Something interesting for me in the process, the most challenging time, was sculpting the wings. I decided to shape each wing, and assembled it, feather by feather, I sculpted a collection of feathers that I used to get all the massive composition and style of this, also the small feather texture over the skin part of the character, took me time but I wanted the control over each line on the whole piece. I had to work over the path of an overwhelming reference because the first statue had good detailing textures and realism and I needed to pay special attention to these wings, as the main part of the statue.  

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 Q: This is one of the most realistic statues Figurama has created (alongside Claymore), what I mean by this is a large volume of the Figurama catalogue has been created in more of an anime/manga style. What are the challenges involved with this?  

A: For me, I think that is more interesting if the artist has more freedom in terms of printing his own style into a statue, but I also know that is important to be really close to the reference material, the original design from the creator of the manga or anime indeed. I consider myself respectful about this, but the idea of a new interpretation and bringing on a little bit more of a realistic aesthetic is a new area to explore taking these new digital sculpting tools where the artist can exploit these resources and his skills into a high level of details over the statue and this put the pieces into a high level of quality for the collecting desires. 

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Q: This is possibly the goriest and the most sexualized statue Figurama Collector has created. What challenges does this create?  

A: Yes, this is a sensitive point, but from my perspective, I always consider women’s or men’s nudity statues with complete respect as an opportunity to take time into a contemplative opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the human anatomy. On the other hand, it is also a character from a fantasy and the events in that fantasy should be resolved following the truth of the myth, as a personal preference I prefer the body anatomy fully revealed, but we have to respect the point of view of others and be careful to not break sensibilities, so I decided to play covering the chest area with a soft touch with a bunch of feather organized over the breast, following lines and rhythm that gave beauty and sensuality. Regarding the gore, I think, this has a good balance between the main part in the composition of the Siren itself and the background, on the first plane we have the big wings, behind those the body, and in the third plane the gore on the base, but you have to take special attention into the gore design that it will be far apart of the beauties of the other parts of the piece. I insist, it looks creepy but is part of the myth.  

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Q: Figurama Collectors style is to create statues which capture a moment, an iconic snapshot. Normally in a very dynamic scene from a battle. Do you find creating a statue like Sirene with what some may say is a more simplistic pose (on first impression) brings its own challenges?  

A: Nothing is simple, even these poses that have to tell a story with fewer elements, result in more complexity because you have to capture a moment, create rhythm with static anatomy, looking for beautiful angles, and good spaces on his silhouette without interacting with another character, just the idea of a pass or future events like expose into a single main character composition. For me, creating a character that plays the role alone is more challenging than a whole scene where you don’t have to suppose what is happening. I think this Sirene piece is not separate from the Figurama Collectors style, it also tells a story, the gore and visceral look of the base close to his claws, how the wings barely touching the floor create a floating effect and many other things that the spectator will discover traveling around the piece, as other pieces from Figurama this Sirene is full of details.  

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Q: Leading on from the engineering point. Figurama Collectors make (what many consider) some of the most dynamic statues in the industry and push the team to constantly push the boundaries. As an artist how does this process work for you?  

A: Here I have not too much to say, I had complete freedom sculpting the piece, obviously thinking in the balance of the whole composition, following a solid 2D concept. I remember that I was part of the design process, changing some angles of the wings, where the tips are touching the ground on the base, to get solid support for wings that comes from his head, but nothing too different from the original idea just and slight change, the sculpting process flowed really good for me. 

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We hope you enjoyed this captivating interview with Miguel Leonardo, one of the talented digital sculptors behind the Figurama Collectors creations. Through his words, we gained a deeper appreciation for the challenges and complexities involved in this masterpiece. We send a huge thank you to Miguel for sharing his insights and allowing us a glimpse into his artistic process. Devilman Sirene stands as a testament to the remarkable artistry and innovation found within the Figurama Collectors line.