Community Corner
by Cynella, HSM team writer
There are some truly remarkable artists in the Home community, and I had an opportunity to meet one of truly superlative skill.
Featured Artist: Kraven_Laroux (costume designer)
Inspiration: My inspiration has always been pop culture and the fans; I use my costumes as a way to promote and support things that are big in games, movies, comics or books. When I hear that a character has gained a massive amount of attention, I use that opportunity to make them a reality for the fans so that they can have an “experience” as to what it would be like if the character actually existed. Their reactions and compliments are what drive me to top myself year after year.
Creation: For six years I have designed costumes as just a hobby of mine. Friends of mine knew about my talent back in high school and they would come up to me after class to discuss designing one for them since no costume stores held them. I didn’t own any kind of special equipment that a studio might have, or even have a lot of money on me. Just the usual things you could find at a Wal-Mart, for example, and various pieces of fabric and clothes that I may have had or borrowed from a relative, then I would set to work. The process back then would usually take me between three to six months. Now with a higher income coming in for me, plus living in the city with a wide selection of stores, it could take me three months to even a year in advance before I have it finished and perfected.
Display: I take my work to two of the biggest anime conventions in Dallas, Texas year after year. They are A-Kon and A-Fest, and they have thousands of people each year so I get lots of notice and compliments for them. The biggest reaction I had was when I showed up at A-Kon 20 as Jack Skellington on stilts in front of 16,037 people. I was literally surrounded and followed through the whole area everywhere I went for over three days. It was the biggest thrill I’ve ever felt, and luckily I was wearing a mask because I was blushing and smiling like crazy underneath it.
And now, let’s take a look at some of the costumes:
Crimson Viper: This costume was technically my longest to create, taking eight months. I began in August of 2008 and finished in April of 2009. The reason it took so long is that she wanted to wait and grow her hair out to be the exact length as the character, It’s her natural hair, no clip-ons or attachments. Once she had her hair the way she wanted it, it was just the process of finding the right hair color and attire.
Jack Skellington: This was one of my favorite to create, because I love The Nightmare Before Christmas. I designed him in May 2009. Jack took me three weeks to get the act of walking around on stilts down for hours at a time. The head and hands took me one week, and the clothes — which were just once piece — took me four days.
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Silent Hill Nurse: I made this costume last year. It was supposed to go along with the Pyramid Head I created, but Pyramid Head was ruined halfway through due to my dog. The nurse took me six months to create, half of which was spent waiting to get the dress in from a European company called Burda.
This one was just purely an original idea someone had in mind and wanted my help in making it for them. Called the “Hello Kitty Rave Girl”, I made it last year as well, and it took me three weeks just to find a white corset. Then I added on blue strips across it, fishnet stockings, and coloring/braiding her hair.
Darcia from Wolf’s Rain (anime film): This one was my second longest to help create; I started in June 2007 and finished in February. I already had a plain white porcelain mask that we added onto with makeup, and then added the eyepatch. It was finding the right kind of jacket and headpiece that took us so many months to procure.
I’d like to thank Kraven_Laroux for sharing all of this amazing work; it is a privilege, indeed, to spotlight such a talented artist.
If you have work that you’d like to have considered for HSM’s Community Corner, please contact us and let us know.
February 28th, 2011 by cynella | 10 comments
Cynella is a veteran gamer and RPG enthusiast; a member of PS Home Gazette, Home Tabernacle, Imagine!, as well as Hamster Freedom, she runs HSM's ongoing column, Community Corner.
Awesome stuff!
You’ve no idea how excited I was to see this article up, as Kraven is a personal Home friend of mine. He has exceptional talent, and Cynella did a wonderful job of getting him out of his creative shell to share his gift with us.
Bravo to the both of you!
Forgot to add, if you think the pictures of the Jack Skellington costume looks awesome, the picture of him reflected in a bathroom mirror as some guy is washing his hands is flat-out epic.
Would love to see that
absolutely amazing krave. anime convention is coming up here in boston, make me one! lols
i’m like obsessed with your work.
w0w Kraven Home should hire you to design costumes and clothing, I would be the first one in line at Kraven Loroux’s house of fashion
That’s some awesome stuff. My wife loves cosplay and the like, so I see a lot of this and your stuff is epic!!
Good show!
Kraven_Laroux here!
Thanks for all the comments everyone, I really appreciate them they mean a lot to me! I also would love to thank Cynella for doing this piece on me and allowing me to get my work out to the public.
As of this moment, I have just finished work one project and currently working on my next one. The finished project is Nightcrawler from X-Men, and the version I chose to design is from the second X-Men movie as portrayed by Alan Cumming. My current project is Thane Krios from Mass Effect 2, I am hoping to have him finished in time for A-Fest.
Here is that *EPIC* bathroom pic that my “virtual big sis” Terra commented about:
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp96/Rei058/jack3-1.jpg
Again, thank you to everyone!
-The Kraven
WOW. Simply amazing costumes.
Supa stuff!
The Skellington pic in the bathroom and that guys reaction is so awesome