Judith Y. Kim | Avant-Youth
PixelBash owner Adam Greene shows Henry Thomas the Freeside studio.
Connecting with other young entrepreneurs in the prop-making and 3D printing profession happens quickly in Atlanta, mostly because it’s a small, tight-knit community.
Finding the right avenues to materialize the art in your head becomes easy when you swim the proper channels. It comes down to who you know and where they can take you. Once you’re in, you’re in.
Adam Greene found his vocation as a prop-making artist through the process of 3D printing. As an anime and sci-fi enthusiast, he was able to turn his passion into his career, which lead to the creation of his company, PixelBash Props.
Greene started PixelBash to provide a medium to sell his props and artwork to companies and the average admirer of film, TV and video games alike. As a business entity that offers physical products, PixelBash uses 3D printing technology and creative space provided by Freeside, a non-profit organization that provides the proper resources for creatives like Greene.
Greene positions his prop of the “Shrine of the Silver Monkey” from the Legends of the Hidden Temple television show.
Greene recreates the Dawnbreaker sword from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Zachary Gabriel | Avant-Youth
Greene draws his inspiration from an array of sources, such as anime shows and action role-playing video games like Skyrim. He demonstrates the simplicity of combining personal interests with a skilled profession. The bulk of the demand for his products derive from the film and video game industry as many future productions enter the realm of science-fiction.
The demand for prop making artists and those skilled in 3D printing increases daily as more and more people become attracted to the industry. As put by Greene, Atlanta may be the “geekiest city in the country,” with the emergence of MomoCon, and a longtime home of Dragon Con.
Greene notes that there are two kinds of conventions that cities around the world exhibit: “party-cons” and “table-cons.”
Party-cons exist for the fun and love for the community. People who attend party-cons can share their passion for the world of imagination in a place that they may not be able to find outside of these conventions.
Table-cons are the kinds of conventions where artists showcase their best works to grab the attention of corporate entities that have a demand for quality works such as Greene’s. Artists at Table-cons are very “industry-focused,” Greene said.
The distinction between the two are more apparent for industry professionals. Despite their lack of resources, general fans of these conventions see every convention as an escape from (a more-or-less mundane) reality. Artists who do prop-making as a profession (as opposed to a hobby) understand the implications behind each convention and the kind of exposure their work will receive.
Zachary Gabriel | Avant-Youth
Adam Greene shows off his recreation of Tomura Shigaraki from My Hero Academia.
Greene presented one of his masterpieces at Atlanta’s MomoCon, a fan convention like Comic-Con. He considers MomoCon to be a “balance between a table-con and a party-con.”
What took him the better half of a year, one of his inspirations aligns with the theme of the convention as he replicated the dimensions and styles of a character from a widely beloved anime, My Hero Academia.
Besides being able to work on personal projects for his own pleasure, Greene uses the opportunities circulated by the community to find commissioned projects offered by corporations. Large film and video game companies recognize the value in the craftsmanship that people like Greene want to put into each project they do.
The most important advice Greene wishes to pass on to future prop-makers is that “you can never sand enough… the quality of your work is directly proportional to the amount of time you’re willing to put into a project.”
Becoming a part of the prop-making community itself is easy. People can learn the art of 3D printing by watching tutorials on YouTube, or other video streaming sites. Many professionals like Greene are eager to share their knowledge and techniques.
As Greene learned through his mentors, this industry is more than recreating characters and props.
It’s an art, “bringing imagination to life.”
Judith Y. Kim | Avant-Youth
Henry Thomas listens intently as Greene describes his various resources in the studio.
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