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Q: What's this site all about??

A: This site is a blatant, self-serving attempt to showcase my work! Like you didn't already notice my name plastered all about.

Q: No, I didn't. So who are you??

A: Just a guy named James Hakola. On the web I am known as "MrDandy".

Q: What are you doing here?

A: Making art, mainly designing and sculpting. Usually I sculpt statue and toy prototypes for companies, big and small. Sometimes I also come up with my own stuff to sell, like resin models, weird jewelry, figurines, and other stuff I think is cool.

Q: How long have you been at this?

A: I started sculpting "seriously" around 1993, and got hired at my first professional sculpting job in 1996. The MrDandy.com website has been online since 1998.

Q: Can you teach me how to sculpt?

A: Not really, no. But you can have the next best thing! If you want to sculpt like me, what better way to learn than to actually own some of my sculpture? Mere words and pictures can only teach so much... you deserve a teaching aid that you can feel, hold before you, and turn in space as you wish. Think of it as a three-dimensional textbook, which is required reading for this course. Yes! You can actually BUY my sculpture, thus saving us both the tedious lessons and punishing grading curves. Don't just tell me you're a fan, or that you're serious about sculpting... PROVE IT! Go here, and here and here, and purchase as much as you can humanly afford. Borrow money from your relatives and friends if you must! And once you've acquired my materials and studied them carefully, then I'll be happy to field your questions.

Q: But.. but...

A: Seriously, sculpting just takes lots of practice. Some people will nail it right away, others need to work harder at it. I was always somewhere in the middle. There are some shortcuts, but it's good to find them for yourself, I pretty much had to. If you push yourself you will come up with techniques that nobody has ever done. Read as much as you can. Study the work of people you like. Get unbiased opinions of your stuff (not just your best friend or your parents). Unless you are a rare genius, your first few pieces won't be very good-- mine definitely weren't!! Unfortunately, you might not even have the ability to see what's wrong-- neither did I. Sculpting and the "eye" for it will develop if it's what you really love. Just keep at it.

Q: What materials do you sculpt with?

A: That I can tell you. I use lots of stuff. Sculpey, wax, Chavant, epoxy putty, Castilene, sheet plastic, wood-- whatever is the simplest, best way to the end form. Some types of materials lend themselves better to different types of sculptures. I try to pick whatever the best stuff is to make the particular form. Harder "carved" type materials work better for mechanical forms (like cars or robots) while softer clays seem best for fleshy, organic forms (like monsters or a sexy lady). Cartoony stuff can go either way. Size is also a factor, I probably wouldn't make an 18" figure in wax, or a 1" miniature in wet clay. But it's possible to make anything out of anything, so I never say never when it comes to materials.

Q: Where do you get your sculpting materials?

A: Try these sites:

www.sculpt.com
www.clayfactoryinc.com
www.dickblick.com
www.burmanfoam.com
www.magicsculp.com

Q: Do you sell any of the commissioned prototypes in your portfolio?

A: 3 Words-- No, no, no. Those are sculpted for a specific client to make product with. I do not have the rights to reproduce or sell those items. Although many of my clients are good enough to allow me to have a personal casting for my portfolio, if I were to sell them off, it would completely break that trust, since prototypes can be retooled into bootlegs. Not to mention that I'd like to keep my portfolio pieces. The only stuff I can sell are my MrDandy original products.

Q: I am looking for a toy you sculpted. Where can I buy one?

A: Most of my toys are out of print by now. So all I can recommend are the usual avenues-- eBay, online toy sellers, and local toy and collectible shows. Try Google! Some of them are very rare. In fact, I don't even have a production copy of my Dark Magician Girl! The Palisades ToysMK figures are also pretty rare, as is the Harry Potter Aragog spider.

Q: I want my own figure sculpted. Can I commission you to sculpt it for me?

A: Maybe. But be warned that it will cost a lot more to have me sculpt it than it would for you to buy one if it were already a product for sale. 99% of people will think it's too much for a figure to admire in their home, and I don't blame them... I certainly would!! That's why this is usually something companies pay me to do. A decent figure takes me anywhere from a week to a month to sculpt, or even more, depending on the size and complexity. This is my fulltime job, and although I enjoy it very much, I will need to charge you what it takes me to pay the bills for that duration. Having said all that, if you are still interested, drop me a line.

Q: What kind of name is "Hakola"? Is that Hawaiian, or Japanese?

A: Neither.

Q: What's "Finnish"?

A: Sigh... You might think I'm just being a smartass by calling this an FAQ. But honest to God it actually is (maybe not through the website but throughout my life).

"Finnish" describes people who live in, or whose ancestors come from the nation of Finland. It is located in northern Europe, part of Scandinavia along with Sweden and Norway, a cold place, known for inventing sauna, Nokia cell phones, and months of continual light and darkness. There is a huge pocket of Finnish people, or "Finns" in the Midwest, especially upper-peninsula Michigan. That's where my great-grandfather made his home upon arrival in America. I have never been to Finland but I hope to find the time to go someday. My dad is all Finn, I am only 1/2. The rest is of me is Euro-mix, some Yugoslavian, English and Irish .

Q: How and why did you start sculpting?

A: Strangely, my first serious attempts to sculpt were aimed at miniatures gaming. My buddies all used to play Warhammer 40K, Dungeons and Dragons, Battletech, and similar games full of nerdly goodness. Actually I played too, but I was no good at it, and got repeatedly whupped, even in the games that weren't supposed to be competitive (like D&D and Shadowrun)!!

So anyhow, you know how all those games have these tiny miniature figures you move around on the battlefield? I wanted to learn to sculpt those so I could write my own war games for my own characters. So I started investigating scratch model building and sculpting, making scenery models and modifying existing figurines for my friends' games. I read great stuff like White Dwarf magazine, Fine Scale Modeler, Shepherd Paines' books on diorama building, and especially Hobby Japan. Ohhh yes. Then soon I got into larger figural work, reading garage kit magazines like AFM, fine art sculpting books like Bruno Luchessi, and anything else I could find. At the same time I was attending Cal State Long Beach, and ultimately got a Bachelor of Art, with an emphasis on sculpting. I never got heavily into miniatures sculpting like I'd intended, but I think it led me down the path I eventually made into a career.

Q: I liked you better when you were just doing resin kits. When is your next kit coming out?

A: Keep checking my Products pages and my News link! And don't forget you can Contact me to join my mailing list too.

Thanks for reading!