Artist Project / Sculpture from Drawings

As a professional modelmaker, I have spent 25 years turning other people’s two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional objects. When working with an artist, my job is often to interpret his three-dimensional intention from a two-dimensional sketch.

Working with my son Billy was exciting for me for many reasons, especially because he is an extension of myself. I have watched him draw and create things over the past few years, and the rate at which he develops is phenomenal. I try to not dominate or influence his choice of project or medium but instead provide as many options for him to work with as possible. He has a wide array of interests, but his staples seem to be trains, whales, ships, planes, and dinosaurs. Billy will frequently start work on one project only to have it transform into another. For example, he will begin to draw an engine for a new variety of train but it will transform into a dinosaur. At the end of the day, however, the dinosaurs have actually become whales in disguise, and the train has become a new, more technologically advanced Concorde plane flying to the moon.

Because of our close relationship, there is a lot of exchange of ideas. He is very outspoken and stubborn about his likes and dislikes. Once I finished the sculpture, he knew exactly how it should be painted—black with red spots. I disagreed.
—Christo Halloway

The drawing is of a T-rex.
His name is Tirano Terry Ferry.
He used purple because the marker he found was purple and he wanted Tirano Terry Ferry to be purple.
He likes the sculpture but not the final color.
He would like to do this again, possibly of a blue whale.
He plans to be a paleontologist, a marine biologist, a train engineer, or a policeman when he grows up.
He is looking forward to seeing the magazine so he can show it to his teacher and friends.
—Billy Halloway, as related by Christo Halloway