FREDERICK RUGAR - Miniatures

Collectible Fantasy Role Playing Miniatures
While managing the NECA / WizKids digital sculpting department, I directed and supervised the design and digital sculpting of pre-painted miniature collectibles for Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder, the two most popular tabletop Role Playing Games in the world. Recruiting and leading a team of 40+ talented sculptors from around the world, I oversaw the production of nearly 2,500 sculptures over a four year period. I was also instrumental in conceptualizing and launching the successful expansion of their role playing game (RPG) miniatures into the unpainted hobby market, launching of hundreds of additional SKUs. Below are a few samples of the miniatures that we produced.

While I was the Digital Art Director at NECA / WizKids, we were honored to receive awards for various miniature lines and RPG products at the Gen Con World RPG Awards.

Simpsons 25th Anniversary Action Figures
For the 25th anniversary of the Simpsons, NECA acquired a license to produce a series of 5 inch collectible figures based on the core characters and the most famous guest stars including musicians, actors, and pop culture celebrities. I provided art direction for the project and wore closely with the digital sculptors to meet the high quality expectations of he brand.

This was quite a challenging project- we had very little reference and had to maintain the look and feel of the 2D cartoon versions of celebrities while making them work as 3D figures.

HeroClix Collectible Miniatures
During my time with NECA, I managed and directed all of the digital sculpting for the HeroClix brand, producing nearly 6,000 figures over eight years. Recruiting and mentoring a team of sculptors from around the world, As the Digital Art Director, I was responsible for guiding all of the digital sculptures from conceptualization into production and assuring high quality representations of licensor brands. Over 750 million HeroClix miniature figures have been sold worldwide.

Scalers
Scalers were cord accessories. They could be attached to headphone cords or various other electronics cords. I liked to put them on pull cords for ceiling fans. I provided art direction for hundreds of Scalers digital sculptures. Scalers had licenses based on comics, popular movies and television, games, and even Major League Baseball and Hockey.

Body Knockers
Body Knockers were a reversal on the popular bobbleheads- instead of the heads wobbling, the heads remained stationary while a solar powered mechanism would cause the bodies to sway back and forth as if they were dancing.

Head Knockers
NECA produced numerous bobble head figures, based on licensed IP from comics and movies, for which I provided art direction to the sculptors. This is a small sample of those figures. I have art directed the digital sculpting for many dozens of Body Knockers based on licensed intellectual properties.