I started sculpting about a year and a half ago. I’m about to wrap up my 6th piece. 6 sculpts in a year and a half. That is not a huge amount of work by any measure. While not a great number of pieces, you can see solid growth across those sculptures. An enormous amount of work went into them. An enormous amount of learning came out of them. Also during this time I’ve cast one of those pieces. This means I created a mold and from the mold produced a polyurethane resin copy of the sculpture. Well, I actually created two resin copies of the sculpture, so there’s that.
It goes without saying that it is likely, at least from the outside, a pretty ballsy move to start a side business dedicated to creating and selling my sculptures. But that is just what I have done: Shapeshifter Sculpting.
Maybe it is ballsy? The thing is I just know I can do this. I have absolute confidence. I think part of this comes from my age. I have a better understanding of myself and my abilities than at any other time in my life. It definitely helps that I have much improved mental health (as my wife says, here’s to better living through chemistry). I’m being emotionally supported in this endeavor by my family. This is not only empowering, it also means a lot to me to feel the love that comes with this support. Being employed full-time lessens my risk and sense of pressure as this is a part-time endeavor and is not supposed to look or be like work. I’m not betting our financial lives on this. Which leads me to: it is not a huge monetary risk. The financial outlay to get started is not large. It also helps that I've been self-employed in the past, having created two other LLCs. The whole thing is relatively familiar, and what I don’t know I find out. I ask others. I research. It really isn’t hard. A little time consuming, but not hard.
I’ve gone through my life as a creative person who never realized his full creative potential. This has often been painful for me. I’ve accomplished a lot in my life, but creatively, I’ve always felt as if I’ve let my one, true, inherent super power wilt on the vine. It’s always been pushed to the side. I’m almost 50. I have this one life. I want to create and have the validation as an artist of experiencing people enjoying and finding happiness in my work. This whole sculpting thing started when I saw a YouTube video of someone who created a sculpt and I said to myself, “I bet I can do that. With some practice, I bet I could”. And instead of letting it remain a feeling I decided to make it a reality. Creatively I’ve lived my life as if, for some unknown reason, it was all out of reach to me. I lived with a feeling that I could do anything and yet I also lived with the feeling it was out of reach. Somehow I always let “ out of reach” become the conclusion. Man…what a lot of wasted time. So, fuck that shit. It’s almost embarrassing to even think about.
Yes, I have a shit-ton of things to learn. Sure. But you know what? There is no better way to learn than to dive in head first, fuck some shit up, and learn from it. During the past year and a half I’ve been on a deep dive learning about sculpting and molding and casting. Outside of my job, and my family, my head has been preoccupied with sculpting. I’ve spent countless hours watching and learning from videos on The Stan Winston School of Character Arts, watching videos on YouTube, taking notes from the lessons of other artists, and reading anything I can find about the art and craft of sculpting and casting. I have to emphasize the enormity of The Stan Winston School of Character Arts as a learning resource. For the avenue I am pursuing it has been an invaluable resource.
The kid who dreamt of being a special effects artist never got his chance. But I’ve found a way to have a little taste of that dream. I’ll never work on a movie, but I’ll create a world of characters and monsters and I’ll bring them to life.
So here’s what I’ve done and what is going to happen. I’ve created my LLC, filed all of the necessary paperwork, spoke a bit with my accountant and have begun purchasing the equipment I need to bring what I already have to the next level. I’m putting together the necessary accounts, have a logo and website in process, and in a couple of weeks I’ll be casting my first piece as Shapeshifter Sculpting. The website will be live but it may be a couple of months until I have some items for the store. I haven't registered yet with the tax commission yet for sales taxes, and I've been mentally spit-balling this for the new year.
After this history making casting, I’ll continue to sculpt and cast pieces, building up a small inventory. To start, I will be creating collectible figures, display sculptures and busts, as well as latex masks. My website has a built-in shop where I will make these available for sale. I will be spending some time trying to expand my web and social media footprint, as well as making connection with the local arts community. I’ll be attending the Monsterpalooza convention in May of 2025 for further investigation, note taking, and connection. My plan is to display at some of the local events here in Boise. Long-term I would like to show at some of the conventions around the states: Monsterpalooza, Son of Monsterpalooza, Maskfest, etc.
According to my accountant I have to show a profit 2 years out of 5. I look at this as I have 3 years to get established, have some wins, and work out kinks. 3 years. It’ll be a trip to look back on this in 3 years and see how it has all evolved.
Once the website is complete I’ll be blogging over at Shapeshifter Sculpting in an effort to generate a electronic footprint. Blogging helps SEO a bit and I also want to document the journey. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to post both here and there, but I’m going to try.
So this is the new endeavor folks. I hope you’ll follow along, even cheer me along, as I make this thing come to life.
Author: Jason Jacobs
Jason Jacobs is an artist, project manager, and frontend web designer living and working in Boise, Idaho. Beyond work he spends his time with family, as well as reading, writing articles for Uhmm, and working on his art. All words and opinions, etc., are his and do not reflect the positions or beliefs of anyone other than himself.