Ray Villafane, a natural born sculptor who is doing his breakdown into the prepainted market steping hard with his wax technique and clean works, a man to be look over to what he is doing, cause you'll be amazed with his skills....

Expectations: FUN!! What a blessing it is to be able to do something you love with a passion and disquise it as work or a job.....hopefully it's steady work. If I can make my kids say, "Wow Dad, that's cool!" then I'm happy, but usually they just end up saying, "C'mon Dad.... , you're sculpting agaaaaaain?????" .
Advice to new sculptors or amateurs sculptors: As an art teacher for the past 12 years I would say it is important to push yourself. Never settle for a finished product that "just doesn't look right in your eyes". If you see a flaw in it, tackle that area, no matter how difficult it may be. THIS IS WHERE THE LEARNING PROCESS TAKES PLACE. If you find you are sculpting with ease and not experiencing that slight sense of frustration(fun challenging kind) and uncertainty in your work than the chances are you are not pushing yourself enough. Leave that comfort zone and take your work to new areas of discovery......GROW. Regardless of what your client is paying you, sculpt as if you were getting a million for it. Reference, reference and more reference, you can never have enough. Yikes, that all sounds too serious, the most important thing is to have fun doing it .

Name: Ray Villafane
Birth date: March 5th 1969 .
Studio name: Villafane Studios.
Headquarters location: Bellaire Michigan,USA.
Experience: 12 years as a kindergarten- 12th art teacher and 1 year as a sculptor ....I'm pretty green still (winter 2004).
Material preferences: Mainly castilene and wax .....and almost forgot, pumpkins!.

Sculpture’s size: Between 1/10th-1/6th scale. I have yet to try my hand at miniatures but I can easily see that as something I could take a liking to as well.
Influences: Historical influences Michelangelo, Bernini and Jan van Eyck to name a few. Industry Ifluences who have helped inspire me would be Cipriano Bergholtz and Canale, what a combo! Above all though the artist who most influenced me to become a better artist would be my mom.
Companies: Bowen Designs, DC Direct, McFarlane Toys and Sideshow Toys.