I feel like a kool kat/dog on this “Throwback Thursday” to be blessed with so many badass commissions like “Señor Azul”. His contemporary design, painted symbols and high-heeled paws remind me of Prince - an original badass.
Señor Azul was created, two and a half times, for ABC’s TV show “How to Live with Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life”. I mention two and a half times to illustrate the complex process of production commissions. The project started out as usual, with art direction from two of my favorite creative people in The Industry, the Emmy Award winning Production Designer Randy Ser and über talented Art Director Dan Morski and ended up in a do-over rush job where Ayanna and I pulled an all-nighter while tag teaming to cure fiberglass which can take up to a week to cure. This is not unusual as film and television projects go through many channels of approval. From the writers to the Director, the vision must be satisfied. So while Randy and Dan’s technical drawings were stellar, they had to rely on notes from the crew. Initially multiple materials were discussed and we went with wood. I took the lead and shaped the sculpture, to spec, from laminated two by fours while Ayanna sanded and painted according to design. When we sent “Señor Azul” off, Ayanna was bummed to see him go as he lent a funky presence to our space - be careful what you wish for. 😊 Within hours we got a call saying “Señor Azul” was on his way back with new notes from the script detailing that the actors needed to pick up the dog, tote him around and stage slap him. Those were critical notes that the writers should have passed on initially - the wooden dog weighs over 80 pounds. We went to work for a second time with 48 hours to pull off a fiber glass version, 20 percent smaller (new Director’s note). To make good use of time and materials, we worked side by side. I sculpted the body while Ayanna sculpted the head - we had one shot to get it right. I loved watching my wife’s confidence - it was sexy. We nailed the design and moved on to the fiberglass which is tricky to make smooth and pretty gross, for lack of a better term. To protect ourselves from toxic foam and fiberglass we suited up from head to toe and wore respirators. We cured the fiberglass using a heat gun and fans while tag-teaming to drink smoothies. By 3:30am I painted the base coat and Ayanna worked on painting the details. At 6:00am Ayanna was painting the last swirls and still blow drying the paint when the ABC Studios truck arrived to take him away. We said good bye to “Señor Azul 2” and passed out. A week later we got a call asking us to repair “Señor Azul 2” after Brad Garrett kicked him in half as part of the storyline! We gladly repaired him. What a ride… May peace, Love and the cool factor be yours always, Neil Alan Wicks~
