An Interview with Electric Tiki

This month I was able to connect Zodak101 with Tracy Mark Lee of Electric Tiki. The following interview gives some insight into the ideas behind the sculpts and licenses of Electric Tiki and the tools and methods of Tracy as well:

GF: 1. Who makes up Electric Tiki? How do all the responsibilities of a design studio with direct and indirect sales get assigned?

Tracy: I'm actually my only employee. I design the majority of the pieces, art direct the sculpts (which are done by freelance sculptors), do the majority of the package design, negotiate contracts, keep books and sweep the floors. For the first three or four years I painted most of our paint masters, but eventually gave up that duty, because my technical skills were a bit lacking. I use a wonderful painter now, Kat Sapene. My friend Ruben Procopio pointed me in her direction and I've been abusing her ever since.

GF: 2. The name "Electric Tiki" is, in my mind, a great description of your work but just where did the name come from?

Tracy: Ironic that you would say that. I just wanted to have a logo with a tiki on it, but the name caused quite a bit of confusion at first. People literally thought we created electric tikis. It took us a while to have our name associated with our product. I also wanted a title t(and logo) that was fun. Some of the dominating tag lines from other companies in the industry when I started were things like "Ultra Realistic", "Extreme", "Radical", "toys with attitude". With that corner pretty much covered I wanted to do light, fun stuff. Classic nostalgia with a fresh feel.

GF: 3. You have said you wanted to get into collectibles, but what made you choose statues? What brought Electric Tiki into being?

Tracy: Well first of all, I was a big statue collector, so it was my first and only goal. Also, the expense is far less than, say, action figures. Economically it made sense with my limited resources.

GF: 4. The 'Tooned-Up' characters are quite fun. Are all your licenses available for the 'Tooned-Up' treatment? How do you decide who should get 'Tooned-Up' ?

Tracy: No, the "Tooned Up" line is one of our 4 lines we currently produce. Usually, when I go after a license, it will fit into one of those categories...so the licensor knows my plan at the outset.

GF: 5. You've tackled everything from Mighty Mouse to Green Hornet, from Rescue Rangers to Buffy. What do you look for in a license? Do you actively go after most licenses or do they come to you? Which comes first - The License or the design concept?

Tracy: Actually it is a bit of both. For the most part I go after licenses I have personal interest in. It's either from a personal standpoint or marketability. Nowadays I usually go after a license before I put any design time in. We have enough of a body of work to show a potential licensor what we do. In the beginning it was quite the opposite, I had to do presentation concepts in hope of getting a license. Many of the "art directors" in corporate consumer products depts. aren't trained artists by nature, so sometimes it was a bit difficult getting them to understand the "Tooned Up" concept. We have been approached on several occasions and it sometimes works out as is the case with our Hellboy statue. Mike Mignola approached me at Comic one one year and our Lone Ranger statue caught his eye. He liked Ruben's retro approach to the sculpt and asked if we were interested in doing a Hellboy piece. Other times we are approached with ideas that just wouldn't fit into our niche.

GF: 6. You include alternate hands with different weapons with some statues. What prompted this? Does it change the sculpting process?

Tracy: We've done it with a few pieces. Sometimes its just because we have more than one idea and we try and come up with a solution that accommodates everything. It does change the sculpting process at times. Mostly depending on the materials a sculptor works in.

GF: 7. You seam to prefer Limited Edition runs, Why? Have you ever considered taking anything back into production?

Tracy: Once again, I'm a collector as well as a manufacturer. I like the fact that there is only a certain amount of certain statues out there. That's what makes them collectible. We generally take pre-orders and go to the factory once an any given statue. Going back and reproducing the exact same piece is out of the question as it seems kind of unfair to the collectors who got in first. I guess we could do some sort of variation and reuse the same sculpt, but I really don't even like that idea. Our first Elvira statue sold out soon upon it's release. We could have gone back and done some paint variation and sold twice as many, but I chose not to. We did finally get to do a second version with an entirely new sculpt last year. I love drawing Elvira and I think we could do a whole series on her alone.

GF: 8. Do you have a specific scale / size for any given license or does the sculpt tend to scale itself?

Tracy: Well aside from the odd size like "Rocker Biker Girl", our scale is determined by the specific line it's in. All of our "Classic Heroes" are in scale with each other. Our "Tooned Up" pieces were in scale, but got a wee bit smaller with the Buffy line as we were trying to get our price point down a bit. The "Teeny Weeny" mini maquettes are size consistent within a series. The Harvey characters are all in scale with each other, as are the Walter Lantz characters. If it's an individual character like Mr. Magoo or Underdog, we can play around with the scale a bit.

GF: 9. Besides the incredible talent that shows in your work what training do you have? What should new sculptors know to try and get into the business?

Tracy: I went to the Columbus College of Art and Design, studied illustration and design, then won an internship with Disney Feature Animation my senior year. College was really the first formal training I had. As far as new sculptors, I think first and foremost they should learn sculpting and drawing in it's classical sense, as in studying the human figure (not learning their craft from copying comics or other peoples style). Most of the best artists have a very traditional background then establish their "style" as they advance their skills. I'm not saying it's impossible to do it the other way, but it's just less likely. The easiest way to get your foot in the door anywhere is to have strong work. All of the smooth talking in the world can't make a weak sculptor better.

GF: 10. What mediums do you tend to work in? Are there any tools or paints that you prefer (or stay away from)?

Tracy: I use good old fashioned pencils and pens for sketching. There are these awesome pencils called Tombow that I discovered at Disney that are great. I also carry Hi Tec-C pens by pilot around with me all of the time. They have a fine point but rarely seem to get clogged up. They also come in lots of colors. I prefer the brown and black. They are a bit hard to find locally unless you have japanese markets. I have been able to order them online though. For color and such it's just good old photoshop. I'm a lazy colorist and it makes it so easy to get ideas across quickly. My entire sketchbook "Tiki, T-Dog & Whatnot" was entirely colored in Photoshop.

GF: 11. You are now several years into a distribution deal with Sideshow Collectables. How has this worked for Electric Tiki? Is the partnership just distribution or are other collaborations possible (Tooned-Up' Star Wars)?

Tracy: I'd like to think it's been beneficial for both of us. The coolest thing is going out there (to Sideshow headquarters) and seeing things the collectors won't see for six months. As far as collaborations, it's always a possibility. The second Elvira piece was one for example. I'm afraid "Tooned Up" Star Wars was done by another company. Our concept, they just called it by a different name. I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, eh?











GF: I want to thank Tracy for taking the time to answer our questions and Zoodak for the questions themselves. With such a clear, fun style and wide range of licenses almost everyone can find something to add to their collection at Electric Tiki. To se more of the art of Tracy Mark Lee check out T Dog Art.