Jonathen Dewar

Jonathen Dewar and me go back about 20 years or so. I only met him last year, but we go back a good two decades i reckon. Picture the scene: Its the early 90's, the Garage Kits scene is starting to kick off in this country and the likes of Forbidden Planet, Comet Miniatures, Creatures Unlimited and The Cinema Store start stocking kits based on fantasy film subjects way different from the usual Universal/Alien/Aliens/Predator/Hellraiser characters that the big companies are producing. One of the most distinctive producers i soon cottoned on to were Jaydee Models, which not only had a real diverse and interesting choice of subjects, but the sculpting had a very unique style to them and very often the poses alone set them apart from the rest. At the same time, Forbidden Planet had fully painted up, unique pieces that were just jaw-dropping in their audacious subject matter and execution. It didn't matter then that i'd trek to FP and not buy anything - it was enough to just stand stare at these incredible works of art that (A) i had no chance of owning, (B) I had no chance of emulating. It wasn't until the UKGK book came out in 1997 that i was finally able to link the above two together, as this execellent book had B/W shots of all of these models and one-offs i'd been hankering for, plus a name in Jonathen Dewar. So i was stunned and amazed to meet him last year at Brampton as he was THE sculptor in that book for me. It was fantastic nattering to him yesterday and to see his work "in the flesh" and i do heartily recommend a visit to his new site - http://www.jaydeemodels.co.uk/index - and i thought i'd have a delve back into the UKGK book to show you his works that i SO wanted. First up, THE Crow kit for me - never, ever seen it bettered:

Seth from "Dusk Till Dawn" was also up there and id've loved to have gored this up:

Next up, we have one of those one-offs from the FP cabinet, the creature from "JOhn Carepenter's The Thing":

I used to study and marvel at this for ages and i'm sure i was getting looks from the staff. But it was a revelation to me to have mixed media in the scene - all the different materials for the pen alongside the clay fo the beast. And the teeth. The teeth were done in some sort of clear resin and i stared at them too, wondering how he did them and how the heck did he get them that sharp. But by far, THE figure that i did it for me was Rawhead Rex:

I'd been a fan of the short story long before the rather naff film and Jonathen's take on the fella blew away any memories of that experience. A superb example of a creator reading a book and actually coming up with what was described, i love this sculpt and out of all of Jonathen's prodigous output (get the book to see just how much that is), this one for me exemplifies what makes his work so special - a fantastic, original depiction of a not obvious subject, totally unique and distinctive. Out of all his kits, sadly i've only the one - Mad Max. An excellent kit, ruined by me by attempting a sun-bronzed look. And failing:

I'm SO pleased that Jonathen's up and around on the Net now and its about time the guy is recognised for the huge contribution he made to the Garage Kit scene and i'm so looking forward to what he has to show us in the future.