The man behind C.S. Moore Studio, Clayburn Moore, has long been the sculptor of choice to create breathtaking statues of modern comic book legends—especially curvaceous heroines like Fathom and Witchblade. And through Moore Action Collectibles, he was a pioneer in bringing figures of many unfairly overlooked properties to life. We caught up with Clayburn at Wizard World Philadelphia.
You taught a How To Sculpt panel at Wizard World Philadelphia. How did that go?
It went real well. I've been working on a piece of Conan the Barbarian by [artist] Frank Frazetta. I haven't shown photos before but I thought the occasion merited showing the people that came to the panel how that piece went. It's a good example of how I'm sculpting right now. We had a real good turnout at the panel and based on the response afterwards, I think it went very well.
Have you taught classes on sculpting before?
I hadn't really done a PowerPoint presentation before but luckily Ms. Shelley Myers was able to help me. She does the administration of my company and she was able to put one together for me.
Do you have any advice to give to the people that couldn't make it to the panel?
Well, the main piece of advice that I can ever give is that you become better by doing it. If you sculpt every day, or almost every day, that's how you're going to get better. The second thing is to be your own worst critic. Don't be too hard on yourself but definitely look for things you're doing different, look for things you're doing wrong, and be a critic of your own work so you can continue to improve. Just do it. So many comic artists over the years, when they first get into the business their work is so much more rudimentary. But within three or four issues there's just a marked improvement because suddenly they're doing it all the time and you get better by doing.
You were recently inducted into the ToyFare Hall of Fame. Was that something you were expecting?
No, I had no idea and I couldn't be more honored. I think it's just fantastic that Wizard and ToyFare did that. I'm really glad that they decided to step up and realize the importance of sculpture and 3D items to this industry. It is so much more than the comics which are what people love and get involved with, but suddenly they want something that reminds them of the character. That's almost always a 3D thing. Somebody sculpted that. It's really great that ToyFare did that. They're the ones that have the best magazine in the industry for this and I think it's just fantastic. I'm really glad that someone stepped up and did that.
