Rising Stars: Meet Erick Rodriguez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erick Rodriguez.

Hi Erick, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was a creative kid growing up in Echo park in the 80. I have always been attracted to the process of art or how things are built in a sense. In school, I really enjoyed art class and had an excellent art teacher that inspired me to become an artist. All my brothers and sisters are in academics. I think it comes from my mother; she was a seamstress for 45 years so she used her hands and was a very creative soul. So when I was a child seeing her creative fabric into a dress, costumes, pants, etc. was mind-boggling to me.

So from high school, I applied to the Art Center in Pasadena which shows a different level of thinking creatively, SO I took an entertainment class that introduced me to clay and monsters, creatures, etc. I had used prior on my own however this was a much more in-depth technics also looking at professionals. I honed my skills there and did some research on the movie industry. I needed to work on a portfolio. This was my goal from that point on, I sculpted several masks and maquettes, as well as painted and designed. A year later I was hired o sculpt for Spiderman from that point on I was from shop to shop working for art directors for feature films, tv series, and commercials. Universal. Halloween horror night.

At the same time while working in the industry, I open my own studio Imaginerick Studio www.imagierick.com where I provide all artistic services. I have been in business for about 15 years with my own studio making creature suits, and special make effects and designing for films theme parks, Halloween industry.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Yes, there is been several challenges along the way, had to learn the structure of the work meaning how things are done in studios. How this took time to develop my style and design sense.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a creature designer and sculptor, I specialize in creature design meaning how to develop a new monster, alien, or beast we haven’t seen. This process takes a great deal of time of concept work with clay, digital sketching, or digital clay. I love to bring new species of aliens to life threw research and sculpture. I was proud of working on Star Trek bringing new alien spaces to life. I know for SciFi aliens, creatures and special effects makeup.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.imaginerick.com
• Instagram: @imaginerick
• Facebook: Imaginerick Studio
• Twitter: Imaginerick Studio
• Youtube: Imaginerick Studio
• Yelp: Imaginerick Studio

Image Credits
Imaginerick Studio Sleepy Hollow TV series Star Trek