DAVE THOMAS and some of his ANIMATRONICS

A video of some of the animatronic characters that Dave Thomas created over the years

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT DAVE THOMAS

I'm in my 50's, have three kids 30, 31 and 19, married to a wonderful woman (3rd wife).
I am a creative artist that also has mechanical and fabrication abilities. I have an extensive background in animatronics, props, custom themming for interior and exterior, fiberglass, steel and aluminum fabrication, murals, painting, sculpting, mold making and a wide variety of other artistic and creative arts.
The image to the right is my latest creation. I call him "CYBORG". He will be the inside structure for several future animatronic characters I am in the process of creating. The first will be a werewolf character similar to the one I created and fabricated last year and sold to a haunted themed entertainment complex and ride.
The idea behind "CYBORG" is that the customer can use him as he is as a character or put the werewolf or what ever other art exterior they purchase to fit the themming of their complex.
I still have a few months of work to "CYBORG" before he is ready to sell.
You can see other samples of my work on YOUTUBE. Go to DThomasCREATIVE.
I worked for years in the animatronics industry. From 1976 to 1984 I was the vise president head artist and art director for Creative Engineering of Orlando, Inc. after that I started Diversified Designs of Orlando, Inc that I closed down in 2000. I have since continued to design and fabricate animatronics and will soon have an ANIMTRONICS KIT for sale. I also spent a few years customizing Harley Davidson motorcycles.
You can email me for information about animatronics and other custom projects at GORCO6789@aol.com

ANIMATRONICS

I have been designing and fabricating animatronic characters and shows for over 30 years.

I fell in love with this art form in the mid 70's and was lucky enough to find a job with Creative Engineering of Orlando, Inc in 1977. Aaron Fechter had a small shop in Orlando and was just starting his company and was looking for an artist that could create, design, illustrate, sculpt paint, airbrush, make molds and casting, work with rubber and fiberglass materials, etc. I was already an accomplished artist but there was a learning curve we all had to go through back then to figure out how to build these animatronic characters. We of course did that and eventually became the largest manufacturer of animatronic characters and shows in the world. Most of you are familiar with Chuck E Cheese and Showbiz Pizza Time. We designed and manufactured the Rock-Afire Explosion for the Showbiz Pizza Time chain and also created dozens of other shows in the 70's and 80's.

I at that time I was the Vise President and art director. My job was to artistically create the look of the characters and shows, provide initial illustrations, sculpt and cast all the faces and body panels, interface with the mechanical fabrication department and make sure that the art and mechanics would all work together. I of course by that time I had an entire crew working under me. We spent many long hours and all nighters at times to meet the increasingly demanding production schedules. Arron of course was the HEAD CHEESE. I would get all of my directives from him and all of my work and work from the art department would have to meet his approval. There were many other extremely talented and creative people involved in the creation of those shows. People like David (Billy Bob) Irvine, Bo Sherman, Greg King, Tim Inglis, Marve Ratchford, Paul Berg, Mike Demascioi, Alex DeAzuero, Scott Etter, Eddie Gismondi Sr and Jr, Jim Clayton, Susie Thomas, Nancy Decarlo, Burt Wison and many more that I will list and go into detail about at another time.

I left creative Engineering in 1984 and started a company called Diversified Designs of Orlando, Inc. I continued to design and build animatronics but also did a wide range of other creative projects over the years. One of the projects we did as Diversified Designs was to take on what Showbiz Pizzatime, Inc called concept unification. The idea was to convert ALL of the Rock-Afire Explosion characters and stage props to the Chuck E. Cheese characters. They were toying with converting the Chuck E. Cheese characters to the Rock-Afire explosion characters but my old boss, Aaron Fechter, was not interested in selling the rights to those characters to them. This was all after Showbiz Pizzatime bought the Chuck E. Cheese franchise. I will go into all of that later also as I develop this blog.

I now live in the Tampa Bay area with my beautiful, smart and wonderful wife Brionne. I in recent years have done some motorcycle customizing and also still design and fabricate animatronics on a much smaller scale. I am working on animatronics "KITS" that you can purchase. I am also working on a character I call "CYBORG". He is an over 6 ft tall human proportioned animatronic character that is in itself a cool looking character without any rubber or fur art on the outside. I will also have character art, ie rubber masks, feet, hands,fur and fabric coverings to convert him to such characters as a werewolf, zombie, alien, monster or a generic man or woman that can be turned into just about anything. I am hoping to have this character and the kit ready to sell by September 2009.