1.Can you introduce yourself and Electric Tiki?
I am Tracy Mark Lee and I am the owner/ Creative director for Electric Tiki Design.




2.What is your background? (Design school? sculpture school? ...)
I attended the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio where I studied illustration and design.




3.How this adventure starts?
I've always been a huge collector of toys and statues. It seemed that there was a lot of characters that weren't given serious attention and I wanted to to fill the gap.



4.Do you have any preferences between drawing and sculpting?
Well, since I'm not a sculptor, I would have to say drawing is my preference. I don't sculpt our pieces, just design them.




5.What is your favorite comic book’s character and non comic book’s character?
I would have to say my favorite comic character is Superman, followed by Batman and Hawkman. Non comic book could mean anything. I love TV so I would say, Barney Fife and Al Bundy.




6.Who are the characters you don’t like drawing and those you like?
I usually like drawing cute girls. There are none really I do not enjoy. There are some I look forward to less due to their difficulty, but they are usually the most rewarding. Grandpa Munster was tough.




7.What was your very first being produced?
The very first piece we released was Richie Rich from Harvey comics.




8.Who are the sculptors you admire?
There are many in our field. Tim Bruckner, William Paquet, Karen Palinko, Tony Cipriano, Andy Bergholtz, Jim McPherson, Randy Bowen, and of course my good buddy Ruben Procopio.




9.Which sculpture makes you proud of, and the one you prefer?
I think the ones I like best is when the sculptor takes my design and adds something to them that makes them special. My favorites include Mighty Mouse, Elvira, Underdog and Betty Boop. The ones I prefer to not remember would probably the Dukes of Hazzard, but not because of the sculpts. The approval process was draining.




10.Which character you dream to produce?
I have a few, but unfortunately if I mention them here, it will give the ideas to other companies. We will have some announcements soon.




11.I discern a deep nostalgia in your different creations, did your inspiration comes from your childhood memories?
Absolutely, first and foremost. There are so many nostalgia characters that have never been given the treatment they deserve.




12.How many people works for Electrik Tiki?
On staff, just one, me. I use freelance sculptors, but work out of my home.


13.How the co-operation between your firm and Sideshow came about?
Tom Gilliland, Sideshow's art director is an acquaintance of mine and just called me out of the blue one day and proposed the idea.It seemed like a natural in that our products compliment each other. We have similar backgrounds as well, both having started in our garage.




14.What are your next statues projects derive from TV show?
I can't make any official announcement since contracts aren't signed. But it has something to do with cute girls and monsters.





15.Are you going to work with more recent characters like the Desperate Housewifes or others series?
We have no current plans to at the moment.




16.How is your relationship with authors and TV shows actors?
Most have been very generous and supportive. Mike Mignola picked us to to the new Hellboy statue. I really dug Ruben's Lone Ranger statue and wanted to see his characters done in that nostalgic style. I actually got to visit William Katt (The Greatest American Hero) and Catherine Bach's homes to deliver their samples. They both got a kick out of them. Harlan Ellison and Walter Koenig (Star Trek) have become big supporters as well.




17.How do you manage to have such reasonable prices with such few statues produced? Is it your will to have product accessible for everyone?
Our prices are based on what's in the market. We sacrifice profit to keep it in the same range as other similar collectibles, hoping that at some point our numbers will increase.




18.Will you create Buck and Bud Bundy ?
I can't stand not seeing them with the others family characters !!!
Unfortunately, Bud was never produced (Buck the dog was never planned). While Al and Peggy sold OK, sales for Kelly didn't justify producing Bud. There just wasn't enough support for the series. This was partially my fault, since looking back my design for Kelly wasn't very strong. I've done drawings since that I've liked better. I tend to learn my weaknesses a little too late sometimes. If I had to do it over again, I would probably release Kelly and Bud as a two pack. We are doing that with Marilyn and Eddie in the Munsters series to ensure that they get produced.


19.To conclude, can you tell us few words in French (without using traducer!!) for our French readers...?
I had to use the Google translator, but here goes :
"Merci de tout votre appui et nous espérons être aussi réussis qu'un nos producteurs préférés, Attakus, un jour. Nous sommes fiers d'être interview pour ce grand emplacement de ventilateur."



Can you join a picture for illustrating this interview on the website?
How about this one with me and Eva Longoria!, plus one with Teri Hatcher checking out our stuff.

 


Thank you for your attention and your investment in this interview.I appreciate it, thank you.

http://www.electrictiki.com