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RoboCop was definitely a cool movie, and I was super excited when Dad told me he got the job for RoboCop 2. Though admittedly not as good as the first, it was still really awesome for Dad to have been a part of this franchise. His work on metallic surfaces was impeccable and one of his (many) strong suits when it came to his illustration. Such a cool, imposing painting.

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Behind the Scenes...

Dad often had to go to movie or art studios to take reference shots, and with this one having the RoboCop suit so intricate, it was imperative that he have control over the angles, lighting, and detail of the photos that would be taken for this job.

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He took me down into Hollywood to a studio where they had this small concrete wall set up, and a guy wearing the RoboCop suit would do whatever Dad needed for all the shots.  Eventually, however, Dad did need the real actor, Peter Weller, to take reference shots of his face, and so near the end of the photo shoot, Peter Weller did show up, but just the helmet on, and had Dad take pictures.

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My favorite part, however, was that the prop masters let me try on all the gear.  Talk about an awesome childhood highlight!  I was amazed, as a kid, to find out the suit was fiberglass and the gloves were foam rubber.  I put on the arms, the chest piece, gloves, and helmet, all of which obviously were way too big for me.

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One small side note that I always think of when I see this painting, though.  Oftentimes artists take a great deal of creative license, and this job is no different.  I remember Dad telling me that there was no way for the actor to have his arms situated in that position, nor was it possible for him to have his head situated like that, as you can see the chest piece is almost exactly a top-down view, and he could never crane his neck back like that.  You can also see that the arms are basically unattached to the chest, with no way the actors arms could actually go into that angle.

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Once you see it, you can't un-see it.  RoboCop here is basically four unattached body parts duct taped together for this job.  The end result, however, is amazing.