Spotlight on Toy Soldier Designer, Prop maker, FX make-up artist: Lt. JDUK!

This weeks we need several spotlights as we turn them to Lieutenant JDUK! He grew up in South East London. He now I lives in South West London to be close to his Uni. He is also currently working in a pub while attending tending to his higher education.

So Lieutenant tell us..When did you become a toy soldier? and How did you find us?
Well its a long and whimsical tale involve an alien space ship, a rubber duck and a packet of sweets. No in all seriousness it was 2010 at the London expo and I stumbled across the TSU stand manned by Montee and Evelfa. I fired half a ton of questions at them and feel in love with the concept of trying to take over the world with nothing more than a group of creatives and a pocket full of fun *now space ships or sweets where involved * However there was a rubber duck, His name was Gerald.

What first got you interested in prop-making/art?
Well I have loved drawing since i was small but, I was a social wall flower for all of my childhood years.
When I was a young teenager I loved my drama classes because my drama teacher brought me out of my shell and helped me act comfortably like I did when I was home with my little sister and mum. So to capitalize on this, I joined up with a youth acting troop at my local theater and it helped me become more confident. I studied art and drama throughout my secondary/ high school years but stopped drama because I preferred art. Through art class I felt so restricted by just doing paintings or drawings that I think it forced me to want to do more 3D pieces or media like photography and film. In college I did a art and design foundation year and realized I could combine my art and drama by prop making. So you could say my drama teacher is the root cause of the monster I have become today XD

What was the first thing you created that you were impressed by?
I made a small chandelier when I was younger, my uncle thought I was going to blow myself up by screwing with the welding torch. I am happy to say now that I am a rather good MIG welder. No exploding for me!

What are you going to Uni for right now? And what do you hope to do for a living when you graduate?
I am currently studying Technical arts and Special effects for film and theater.
I would love to do a multitude of things when I graduate but I think for now I would like to work for a prop company to get myself better known in the industry, after 3-4 years I will see if I will go freelance. I would like to open up either a hotel or restaurant. design, fabricate, sell product designs or pieces of my art work. build my own house and maybe spend my retirement making furniture.
I will leave out the aggressive marketing strategies and stamping on any big companies that stand in my way bit for when I actually have a business portfolio.

So you have a lot of things you want to do! That is great! I take it you have no trouble with motivation then?
Only if the task is pointless, for example I have procrastinated a lot on some of my uni work because both my fellow students and I believe there are pieces of work that are only there to tick boxes and have nothing to do with the course apart from that yes I am very driven!

Do you have any thing motivational you could say to others who wish to be creative?
If you want to turn a creative project into reality then before you do anything else put it down on paper. I always carry with me an A5 notebook with me so I can draw/ write notes about little things i wont remember.
After you have your Idea rock solid but you don’t know how to do it, find the people who would know. You will be surprised at the wealth of knowledge that your friends and family have. Also in terms of tutorials YOUTUBE IS AMAZING.
Above all NEVER listen to someone who flat out says you’re stupid, whats the point in doing this, what a wast of time. Because its usually those people who are incredibly uncreative and unmotivated.
Surround yourself with people who are creative because a creative environment sparks creativity!

So what projects are in the pipeline for you right now?
I am currently making a prop costume head piece that will be a cross between a bush viper and a sarcastic fringe head fish. It will have an inbuilt camera and monitor plus a working jaw.

Thank you so much for this great interview Lieutenant JDUK. Looking forward to your future designs!:) *salutes*

If you would like to see some of JDUK’s artwork and creations please check out his website:
Defer Design