Steve Berry – AKA Robotwig – tells us how lockdown set him on a journey recreating iconic film scenes in toy-art form, employing the use of practical effects and self-taught lighting techniques to create a hugely entertaining series of work.
Could you tell us a bit about your creative journey so far?
I’ve been a graphic designer for over 23 years and freelancing for nine of those. Since a very young age, I have always been able to illustrate. I’ve always had a keen interest in movies, both watching them and finding out what goes on behind the scenes. My dream, when I was younger, was to work in the film industry on special effects and makeup effects, but growing up in Yorkshire at that time, and on a paperboy salary, I just couldn’t afford the commute to London. There weren’t that many opportunities open up here back then, but films have continued to be an interest throughout my life as I find the whole movie experience quite magical and creative.
@robotwig
What or who were your early creative inspirations?
Drew Struzan was and still is a big inspirational influence. For me, he captures the essence of each movie he illustrates and there’s magic in his creations. I can look at his posters for hours. Ray Harryhausen is another creative genius whose work fascinates me. I think watching the movies he was involved with when I was younger really opened my mind to what you could do using creativity to transport you into another world. There’s too many to mention, but I’ve always been inspired by those greats that came after. Stan Winston’s creations are so unique. Rick Baker and Rob Bottin creatively explore the areas I’ve most wanted to be involved in. I don’t come from a family of creatives, but I was lucky to have the encouragement to keep on that path thanks to my Mum and teachers at school.
Robotwig is an interesting name… is there an equally interesting story behind it?
The name actually came before I decided to go freelance and then became my creative brand. It was created on a post-it note whilst taking a brief from a client at my old work, one of those doodles you kind of don’t know you’re doing. I drew a little robot, like the robomaid from the Jetsons, my work colleague came along and drew a little toupee on top of it, and for some reason the concept that a robot would develop a keen interest in wigs was highly amusing. So, then I developed that idea to what you see now. He’s called Lenny, after Lenny Kravitz, because he has the most amazing hair.
“Films have continued to be an interest throughout my life as I find the whole movie experience quite magical and creative”
For those unfamiliar with your toy-art series, can you describe the process behind getting the shots together?
My process works like that of figuring out an illustration. I think about a scene or something interesting that I can recreate or advance on, then I sketch it down and start thinking about the props and tools I need to recreate an environment before finding what I can utilise, like a plant or footstool (which I have used before). I then figure out how to light the scene and give it the look and feel, like it’s a part of a famous movie you may have never seen. There’s quite a lot to think about and a lot of calculation and time to get it right. All the photos I’ve created are shot on a platform no bigger than an A3 sheet of paper; I have little room to work in, so everything you see is within that space and I try to make it look as expansive as possible. I shoot everything practically as much as I can because I personally think it adds more to the shot and it challenges me creatively, whilst also coming from my desire to work with as many physical items as I can. If a scene requires rain I’ll add some real water effects in, or for special effects like an explosion I’ll make it rather than CGI it on. Atmosphere is key for me.
“There’s quite a lot to think about and a lot of calculation and time to get it right. All the photos I’ve created are shot on a platform no bigger than an A3 sheet of paper; I have little room to work in, so everything you see is within that space and I try to make it look as expansive as possible.”
Where did the initial idea for it come from?
Well, I call myself an unintentional toy photographer; it was something I’d never thought of doing or had done previously. I have created the odd portrait shots for a few businesses in the past but had never ventured into actually lighting a scene or anything like that, so this was completely new to me. When the pandemic hit all my work dried up almost immediately, as I worked a lot in retail and those businesses closed quite quickly. I was sent home from a new contract in March 2020 with pretty much no clue what was going to happen. I didn’t know how long I’d be without work; I certainly didn’t think it would be up to this current point, but I needed something to do to keep me occupied and I was always interested in learning studio photography and thought it’d be a great way to upskill. I took a few photos of shampoo bottles, drink cans and after about an hour I’d run out of things to do. So, I went into the cupboard and found some bits of Lego I’d got a few Christmases back and started to take some photos. Then I thought, ‘What if I created movie scenes using these figures?’ which led to a very poor (by my standards today) recreation of Bishop in Aliens. I’d not been on social media for a few years since my alternate movie poster illustration days, so posted the photo up for a laugh and got a good response from it. It was from this response I carried on and developed my ‘brick’ photos, creating famous movie scenes that you’ve probably not seen in Lego before. What really spurred me on were the personal messages I was getting from people saying that my work was cheering them up during this hard time, so my page kind of became a place for people to forget about the external world and have a bit of a giggle. I think it became a sort of comic strip that people looked forward to every day because I always tried to do something different.
“What really spurred me on were the personal messages I was getting from people saying that my work was cheering them up during this hard time”
What appealed to you about that particular medium?
I think that there was something really enticing about creating the worlds and atmospheres of my favourite movies in miniature. It feels really satisfying being able to transport yourself into a film set from a replica in your living room, recreating scenes made 30 years ago.
Your alternative movie posters are wonderful. How do you create those, and do you have a personal favourite?
If you can’t tell I’m a movie fan by now, then I’m doing something wrong! Yes, I had great enjoyment creating my alternate movie posters and there’ve been some great opportunities taking part in some actual film promos. I had developed the idea of a reflection range of posters, reflecting images through the eye of a character. You’d get a recognisable character from the movie and they would be looking at something important that reflected in their eye, sort of to make you feel like you were in a three-dimensional space. Jones from Alien is one of my favourites, his eye reflecting the Alien curled up before Brett gets wiped out. I created the pupil to reflect the shape of the Alien egg and drawing fur was a lot of fun. But I have to put a word in there for Short Circuit too – I love that robot!
“You’d get a recognisable character from the movie and they would be looking at something important that reflected in their eye, sort of to make you feel like you were in a three-dimensional space”
What else have you been working on?
Trying to get this work out there has been my priority, so I’m in contact with a few galleries and would love to be able to carry this on as a full-time profession. I am getting better and better and have a real love for this work. It’s been a tough couple of years, so I’m hoping 2022 will see my work reach wider audiences so that I can make a living from this – and not eating pasta every day would be nice.
