FIGURAMA COLLECTORS INTERVIEWS SILENT HILL 2 TEAM 🩸

Ahead of the preorder for our Silent Hill 2 Red Pyramid Thing vs James Sunderland Elite Exclusive statue, we have had the pleasure of speaking with both Concept Artist Daniel Kamarudin and 3D Artist Miguel Hernandez about their experience on the project. Check out the questions and answers below to unlock an insider’s perspective on the exciting creative journey behind our iteration of Silent Hill 2! 

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Concept Artist Daniel Kamarudin 

📻 What does being involved in the Silent Hill 2 project mean to you?

A: I’ve been a big fan of the franchise for a very long time, and getting to work on a character as iconic as Pyramid Head for my first project under the Silent Hill license was like ticking something off my bucket list! 

Silent Hill 2 is my favorite of the bunch and it’s been a pleasure being involved in something that’s had a part in influencing my early development as a painter.

📻 As a concept artist, you are involved in the earliest stages of statue development. When you learned you would be on this project, what were the details you knew you could not leave out?

A: I definitely wanted to capture the nightmare vibes and body horror themes of Silent Hill. From the dingy floor and bloodied characters, to the base design that borrows some of my favourite enemy designs from the game.

My favorite addition is the ‘dog key’ easter egg that unlocks, in my opinion, the most entertaining ending in the game.

📻 This statue features five different character representations, the most of any Figurama Collectors piece. What was the most challenging aspect of your creative process for a piece like this?

A: Definitely balancing all of this so that the focus was still on James and Pyramid Head, but also maintaining harmony with the action above and the base motifs below.

I wanted to design something that not only showcased a dire situation, but also encapsulated the feel of the license, to not just be a character piece of Pyramid Head with James as an accessory. 

📻 The original Silent Hill 2 game was the inspiration used by the Figurama Collectors team to create this statue, as opposed to the remake. Why do you think it was significant to do this?

A: I think the original was more ‘raw’. The dated look left a few things up to the players imagination, whereas the remake has everything clear. Playing the game at the time, our imaginations filled out the dark spaces, silhouettes and sounds in the distance, adding to the nightmare, and somewhat created our own interpretation of Silent Hill when we think back to those experiences. 

In the context of the statue, we took some design liberties in certain places, and essentially, this is our interpretation of the characters and scenery as opposed to copying everything verbatim. 

📻 How do you hope that collectors will feel when they witness the Silent Hill 2 Red Pyramid Thing vs James Sunderland Elite Exclusive statue in person?

A: I hope people feel the spirit of Silent Hill in this piece. I want them to feel the imposing nature of Pyramid Head when seeing the statue in person, and enjoy the details added into the body horror by Miguel. Collectors will find something new every time they look at it. This was one of my personal favourites to work on, and I hope collectors and fans will enjoy the piece as much as I did!

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3D Artist Miguel Hernandez 

📻 What does being involved in the Silent Hill 2 project mean to you?

A: I played Silent Hill 2 a long time ago when I was young. It was a terrifying experience, but thrilling at the same time. I remembered the sounds, the soundtrack, and even the graphics in that very low-resolution polygonal age of the video game. I remembered feeling completely immersed in the experience of that story. I felt a huge amount of responsibility trying to recreate the same feeling of that time playing the game, portraying all of these scary moments in just one statue. It was an honor being part of such an amazing franchise.

📻 Did you come across a challenge at any point in the 3D sculpting process that you thought you might not overcome? How did you resolve it?

A: The most difficult part was trying to condense many important things for the story of the game into a small composition on the base of the statue. Additionally, the pyramidal shape that we chose for it had many limitations. At the end of the day, I could organize the multiple easter eggs that we wanted to expose thanks to the art team that helped at that stage of the sculpting process. We had to reduce the size of the creatures because the base itself had to be something more symbolic, separated from the main characters of the composition. The base itself is an allegory of the game.

📻 What do you think sets this piece apart as a representation of Silent Hill 2? Is there an unexpected detail of the statue that you think collectors will appreciate?

A: I think that the piece has many things that recall memories of the game. If you look closely enough, you will discover that every single detail is extracted from the game. Examples are James' jacket and boots, the Red Pyramid Thing, the creatures hanging off the base, and the cages where the creatures are placed. However, something that I felt compelled to do, and another challenge, was the Louise Box, because I had to sculpt it exactly as it was in the game. 

📻 Is there a piece of behind-the-scenes information about this statue that the average collector would never guess?

A: Yes, there is something related to the second option of the base. Instead of James Sunderland, we have this iconic vintage television that appears in the game, and the video playing on it is truly significant for James, the main character. I don't want to spoil more about it, but I think that it will look really good if you turn off the lights of your room with the statue in it!

📻 How do you hope that collectors will feel when they witness the Silent Hill 2 Red Pyramid Thing vs James Sunderland Elite Exclusive statue in person?

A: I just want the best reception possible for the piece because the way that I sculpted it was full of pure excitement and passion. I was trying to capture the same creepy, dirty sensation of the title, bringing back the same aesthetic, forms, colors, textures, and even emotions to our collectors. I translated my experience of playing Silent Hill 2 to the sculpture. It has to look gross, but splendid at the same time!

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